Hasta Leugo Bolivia

I arrived back into La Paz airport to find the rioting and blockades had turned uglier. La Paz is now officially too dangerous for tourists. Those trying to cross blockades in private taxis get stoned, dragged out of taxis and beaten! La Paz city has now closed down and every tourist is advised to stay in the airport and fly out. So I have no other option than to go to Lima in Peru, not really where I want to go but it´s my only option. The cause of the upset is to do with the government selling hydro carbons cheaper to overseas folk than at home in Bolivia. That has angered many of the unions which are very strong.
So its off to Peru.

Welcome to the jungle

The Amazon Jungle is everything its cracked up to be and more (its green and full of creepy crawleys). I took a tour that started in a boat ride three hours up a river (the name I forgot) to the base camp on the edge of the deep jungle. We headed straight into the undergrowth with a guide, an Aymari Indian armed with a huge machette. He pointed out trees and plants and various wildlife. He could a highly poisenous snake, bright creamy yellow and if bitten you have an hour to find the antidote. I had a feel and it wound its body around my hand and pooped on me the smell was disgusting! After setting the snake free we then coaxed a taranchula out of its hole, calmed it by blowing cigarrette smoke on it and then the guide put it on my face! It makes for a good photo, however much like the snake if bitten you have only hours! We tracked a heard of stinky pigs, ate huge worms found in coconuts and made jewelrey from the nut. Its an incredible place with cures for rhumatism, cancer, kidney and heart problems to mention just a few, all found in trees and plants. If you knew how you could eat and drink like a king in the Amazon.

Pampas

Pampas its like the safari but on water. I did two days in the pampas riding rough with a 4x4 four hours to a stretch of river situated in a national park. I saw masses of birds including eagles, I swam with pink dolphins, fed bananas to cappacino monkeys, meat to alligators, fished for parana and had them for my tea (tastes like chicken). You spend all day in a canoe and after a few hours your arse gets pretty sore but its an incrediable experience. On the way home the jeep got really stuck in the mud and had to wait 6 hours for them to dig it out, all while my insect repellent was in my bag on the roof and I was getting bitten to shreds. My feet are covered in mosquito bites and now I can hardly walk. But hey I met a real cowboy who owns a cattle ranch and has passed his email on so if anyone is interested in learning how to be a cowboy/girl for a few weeks let me know I´ll hook you up! Yee har bzzzzzz ow...... slap!!!

CUMON LIVERPOOL!!!

Wow what a result congratulations fletch, I´m so pleased for you it´s been a while but you finally got some silver ware. What a nail biter! So it kinda helps having one of the best goalies in the world! Not many Liverpool fans in La Paz I can tell you, but it has made my day. Felizidad.
(Sorry ladies, to sum up, an important game of football against AC Milan (Italians boo) in the UEFA champions league final. Liverpool won on penalties, a game of two halves with a ball. Ok lots of fit men running around in shorts and t-shirt after a bag filled with air. I know its a man thing).

Coments!!!

Call me fussy but I´m feeling a little like, "Hello no comments where are you all"!!! If you are reading my Blog please leave a comment so I know your there! Its easy to get internet access here so I´ve been keeping you up to date regularly. Leaving a comment really makes my day and means alot to little me and feels less one sided. (girls, communication is like football, a game of two halves, fit men running......anyway your all good at talking, your girls right!)

The Terminal starring Owen Hanks

Ok today started positively had my flight ticket for the jungle, had a taxi come to my hostel at the right time 5.30am (well it came at 2.30am first and they woke me to say my taxi had arrived!!). Got to the airport an hour before my flight 6.45am only to be told it had changed to 12.30pm. So I had a long long breakfast, procrastinating over a piece of toast for an hour. Then my flight was delayed to 14.30, then it was cancelled, then uncancelled, then delayed to 16.40 then at 15.00 it was cancelled. Nine hours in a very small airport (smaller than tom´s), but I did have internet horray. So tomorrow I will go up again and sit all day in the hope of a flight.
The situation is with the airstrip in the jungle, its wet!! theres about 160 tourists stranded there trying to get here. Its a problem. So plan B is to abandon Bolivia and head to Peru on friday as I don´t want to be like Tom Hanks, its a waste of precious time.

Riots in La Paz

Just when I thought today would be boring.
I was a little annoyed at not being able to visit the ancient ruins at Tiahuanaco so I thought I would have a lazy day again in La Paz. Well I just stepped out of my hostel onto the main street for a sandwich, when crowds of people started running like made down the road. They were running from billowing smoke and large explosions sounded all coming in my direction.
Large organised protests (peaceful) were in full swing today on the streets with thousands of marchers protesting about something. I thought this would make for some great photos, so I grabbed my camera and headed to the front line. Riot police and protestors were playing cat and mouse. The police were trying to intimidate and dispurse the crowds armed with tear gas guns and motor bikes. The protestors where armed with their no fear senses (helped by their 96% proof alcohol carried in their 2 litre water bottles). The crowd taunted and the police rushed at them firing rounds of tear gas. It was pretty exciting but got a little out of hand when I accidently found myself in the wrong place and saw tear gas canisters raining down around me. Everyone by me panicked and ran for cover. A guy standing next to me got hit by a canister and then as I ran I experienced the effects of the tear gas. Searing pain in my nose and eyes, my eyes started watering and the smoke choked the back of my throat. I covered my mouth with my top and recovered against a wall out of harms way. Quite effective stuff, makes you really incapacitated, pretty nasty. Hours later my eyes still stung. The media were out in force too armed with cameras and gas masks trailing the riot police. I soon realised that the police didn´t mind having their picture taken and I even heard one policeman shouting "ye Har" as he sped off on a motorbike to fire tear gas into the ground. Clearly it was a cat and mouse game that the cats were enjoying too! I witnessed one young protestor getting caught and beaten by the police to loud boos and whissles from the crowd. He was then arrested and carted off showing the V sign to the photographers. A little too close for comfort but probably the most exciting day in Bolivia! After a while I descided to retreat and get that sandwich. For the record I´m fine.

Stupid Blockades

Managed to make it back to La Paz by bus from Sucra about a 14 hour ride. The blockade into La Paz has shifted, but other blockades remain. Tried to get a tour to a fantastic ancient Andian ruin site for the day but there are still these stupid blockades in and around the villages in Bolivia. It is very frustrating as it just hampers all your travel options. Many backpackers have had enough and hoped across the border to Chile and Argentina. Unfortunatley that is not an option for me. So I´ve descided to fly to the Amazon Jungle next for the next week before heading for Peru.

Star Wars La Paz style

Its Star Wars crazy here believe it or not, so with not much else to do this evening Imade my way to see the final instalment. It was going good the dark sith lord was just enrolling Anakin to the dark side, he was just giving him his first assignment to kill all the jedi nights at the temple when..... 7 min tea break!!!!! We had an interval!!! to make matters worse there where no ice cream ladies! What a strange country.

Feliz Arsenal!

They did'nt show the game here which is suprising cos bolivians are football mad. So I read about the game on the internet. "Jonas, sounds like you were lucky to win with all those shots on goal from united. But hey a least you got some silver ware this year, congratulations!".

Mining

Ok now I know what real machoism is all about. Bolivian miners are probably the toughest dudes on the planet. Took a mine tour right into the depths of the infamous Cerro Rico a metal rich mountain in Potosi. Watched miners drilling holes into the rock in order to shove dynamite into the holes a blow it up. The miners use very loud numatic style drills to bore holes aided with water to supress the dust. While we were there the water pump broke and they were drilling dry. You could see the dust flying through the torch light and it stuck to the back of your throat. We were told that these dust particulars were the biggest danger to the miners reducing their life span to 7 years!! These guys were crazy they knew the risks and did'nt even where dust masks! But we bought them dynamite, soft drinks and coca leaves to make thier lives better. Probably the most dangerous tour yet, just major accidents waiting to happen. The whole mountain has been mined for four centuries with over 300 mines its got more holes in it than swiss cheese. I'm sure one day the whole mountain will cave in! I think I'll stick to my comfortable office job for now.

Shopping Bolivian Style

As I am holed up here in Potosi I decided to check out the markets and buy myself a new pair of pantaloons as I'm wearing the same pair everyday. My clothes for Cuba don´t quite cut it here at 4090m altitude with winter fast approaching. The problem with buying jeans in bolivia is trying to explian in spanish that the jeans you just tryed on are too flared at the bottom you prefer a particular shade but not regular fit cos it aint cool. Also the sizes vary depending on the style and make. So you end up pointing to a pair that the manakin is wearing only to be given a completely different pair but the right size! In all its a complete nightmare. However its worth being pursistant as Diesel jeans are only about eight pounds here (and no I´m not taking orders). So two hours later I settle on a pair that seem to be what I was looking for. And woman actually enjoy this national passtime crazy!

Vale un Potosi

Potosi is the worlds highest city at a wopping 4090m above sea level. My ears where popping like mad on the way up in the bus I can tell you!
History time. In brief it goes like this; a local dude (peruvian indian) in about the early 1500's, stumbled across precious minerals at the base of a mountain called Cerro Rico after lighting a fire to keep warm. The spanish conquerors got wind of it and then started three centries of mining. The spaniards forced the Aficans and Indian slaves to do all the dirty work of course, mining the silver. Its estimated that between 1545 to 1825 as many as eight million slaves died in the appauling mining conditions. For the miners Silicosis pneumonia was the main cause of death with a life expectancy of 10 years, thats if you did'nt die in an accident first. If you did'nt work in the mines you worked the silver smelting process and died of Mercury exposer. In the eighteenth century Potosi became the largest and richest city in the whole of latin America overnight. Even today anything lucrative is said to vale un Potosi (to be worth a Potosi).
So mining still continues today and naturally theirs a tour so I´m off to check it out and expose myself to some spicey gases! (not those gases).

Blockades

An inconvenience more than anything else, local workers maybe farmers block the main routes between towns around Bolivia in protest every couple of weeks. Their beef is maybe to do with either the growth of the Coca leaf or the extraction of the natural gases I´m not entirely sure. So in order to travel from Uynui to Potosi I was advised to take the bus early and get off the bus at the blockade and walk around the town where another bus would be waiting out of sight around the corner. As we approached the blockage the locals fired off dynamite to warn us not to get too close. We all got off the bus and hiked over the mountain around the town with our backpacks about 2 kilometres to the other bus. It is a typical Bolivian experience that most folks just have to live with. The worst blockades are in La Paz and they can get pretty ugley so I´m hoping they will be over by the time I return.

Salar de Uyuni

One of the must sees in Bolivia is the Salt lake in Uyuni located at the southern Altiplano in the Andes. I took a tree day tour riding in a Toyota 4x4 with a bunch of crazy brazilians. It started in Uyuni a completely desolute town in the middle of know where so I had to take a bus and train from La Paz that took a day arriving in Uyuni late that night. I stayed over in a hostel and started the tour that next morning. First we drove to the salt lake and saw the locals cutting out the salt and loading onto trucks. Then we visited Isla de los Pescadores (island of the fisherman) situated right in the centre of the salt lake covered in huge cactus 12 metres tall. I saw pink flamingoes on green, pink and blue lagunas, bathed in the Termas de Polques (hot springs) saw Geyers spewing out hot sulphur in the 4850m high geyser basin in the crator of a volcano (sol de Manana Geyser Basin), visited strange rock formations formed by strong winds, Arbol de Piedra (Stone Tree), saw llamas running about and condors soring high in the air. I travelled right down to the border of chile and back up to Uyuni. The Andes are a strange but beautiful landscape with active volcanoes, deserts, and lagunas with temperatures dropping to -40c in the evening. A real extreme world.

The World's Most Dangerous Road

Yes folks today I descended the most dangerous road in the world on a mountain bike, Yee Harr!! I booked up with a repitable company called Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking and rode the famous road from La Paz to Coroico 67 kilometres descending 3500 metres. You can check out the photos from the following link if your interested;

http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/GravityBolivia/May2005/20050512

The password is photos. I´m wearing my cream shorts with white long johns underneath (yes I know always setting new fashion trends all over the world). I started in a blue climbing top and later stripped to a blue t-shirt. See if you can spot me?
The beginning was mighty cold at 3500 metres but got progressively warmer as we descended. Most of my face was covered as the dust was a problem.

La Paz

Just an amazing place as it is situated in a bowl with the main city sitting at the bottom surrounded by a sprawl of slum houses all up the sides and on the top looking down on the richer dwellers at the bottom. One thing that strikes you is that being at such a high altitude the atmosphere is thinner and the sun that much stronger. Its like being an incubator although the outside temperature is not exactly t-shirt weather with evening temperatures dropping to minus figures. La Paz is such a modern city in many ways compared to Habana with a real western influence. Advertising everywhere like at home, loads of fast food (yey), modern cars that don´t spew black smoke, a mass of transport, modern cinema. Its a real mecca for the brit backpacker as it seems that the whole of Bolivia catters for the english speaking traveller. I´ve found that my spanish is not needed so much here compared to Cuba. I´ve also found Bolivians to be alot more passive as I´ve just been left alone which has been a real novilty.

Family

I will really miss all the christian friends I have made in Cuba, most notably Vicente and his family in Habana. They have been such an amazing blessing to me over the last two months. We had so much in common but we live under totally different politcal situations. The most heart renching thing is how everyone longs to leave Cuba to experience freedom in the true sense. The ability to make your own descisions in life, to go whereever you want, to think and say whatever you feel whenever you like. No restrictions no fear in life of imprisonment. There were may things I wanted to write about my family in Cuba but didn't dare write them over the internet for fear of endangering them all. It sounds dramatic but its a reality in cuba. I've heard some crazy storys of people going to prison for simple stupid things.
We are all so blessed people, we need to realise this. In order to capitilise on our freedom we need do good things in our lives worthy of the freedom. We stand around with heaps of time, opportunity and money but what good are we doing. A cuban has only one dream in life and that is to have one opportunity one crack to experience the life we already have. I saw in Vicente's eyes (as we said goodbye) his dream, I will never forget that. So come on lets pray for freedom in Cuba lets pray for christians in Cuba.

Altitude sickness

Well I was bracing myself for all the classic symptoms, dizzyness, feeling nautious, unable to breath or walk far yeah welcome to La Paz! But I did'nt experience any of that just a shortness of breath. Although I don't want to speak too soon. I'd met some backpackers that had had a bad time of it, passing out needing to go to the hospital for oxygen. You read that altitude sickness is very serious and in somecases can result in pulminary adeama (badness, fluid in the lungs) and death! So far so good for me.

Five countries in one day with Willy Price!

Yep its my personal best, Cuba, Nicuragua, Costa Rica, Peru and Bolivia in a day. A four flight extravegansa with only half hour connection times Willy Price was against the clock! It was just so surreal, "Welcome to Nicuragua the local time is 12noon,(I left Cuba at 12noon two hours ago!) and the temperature today is 93c". Then "Welcome to Costa Rica local time is 2pm temp 80c" "Welcome to Lima temp 11c.....welcome to La Paz temp -2c!!
I got on the plane in tropical temperatures and got off freezing me bits off wearing my sombrello and t-shirt surrounded by inca folk with their coats and bowler hats on! But hey the beard is now coming into its own. Did Willy fogg have a beard does anyone know?

Half way

Half way through off to Bolivia next see you there!

Vinales

What a fantastically beautiful place, the hightlight of my trip so far. Great climbing too (fletch), tobbaco farms, caves and beautiful beaches around the north penicular. Burned some film here I can tell you! Spent three days here exploring.

An Historic Moment

The 1st of May here in Cuba marks another year on the revolutionary calander and an excuse for a big knees up across the country. The Plaza de la Revolution is the venue for the main act FC himself spoke in front of tens of thousands of people, a sea of red t-shirts and fluttering cuban flags, incuding the odd tourist like me!!! It will be day I will never forget seeing the infamous man himself in the flesh. The only think missing was my zoom lens on my camera! Oh well you can't have everything.