Where's Luke?

If you ever want to feel like your on a different planet but want to avoid the overheads of space travel and the side effects of drugs then get yourself down to the Bolivian desert. It really is another world.

It´s a tough journey though, definitely not for the faint hearted. There were 9 of us in a 4x4 designed for 7. The driver, his wife who did the cooking, their 2 year old daughter Karen and 6 of us gringos ready for action.

We started with a tour at the lunar vally on the border of Bolivia and Chile...

I went Sandboarding and actually pulled it off (unlike my snowboarding)

The lunar valley itself is incredible....

From there we started the overland 3 day journey. You realise how remote this ìs going to be when you hit Bolivian Immigration (this is it.. no sh*t!)

From there there´s a lot of driving... and its all rough terrain... so its not good for your buttocks. The altitude is also a killer... the first night was spent in a remote hostel (if you can call it that... more like a shed) with no heating or electricity... and its at 4200m so its freezing at night! and everyone gets altitude sickness of some form... not nice but they load you up with coca tea to try and combat it.

However, despite the pain, the views are worth it....

Its impossible to put across the feeling you have when you realise how remote you actually are. At some points you can stop and hear pure silence (except for the faint ringing from too many years of listening to dance music). Theres nothing for miles, no sounds, no lights, very few animals and only a few people heading around in 4x4s. It´s a strange thing when your used to big cities.

After another painful night in an equally remote place made of pure salt, we hit the Bolivian salt flats. A 4.30 am start saw us get there for sunrise. For as far as the eye can see in every direction its just pure flat white plains...

The best was yet to come... just when you thought you´d seen it all... cactus island rocks up. As a cactus fan this was awesome. Some of the cactii here are over 1200 years old and theres literally 1000s of them, in the middle of this salt desert. I´d love to know how they got there but our guide didn´t speak English so his translation was totally lost on me!

Next on the list was a visit to Potosi, a mining city in Southern Bolivia which also happens to be the highest city in the world (luckily I was used to the altitude by then). The city revolves around the "Rich Mountain" which used to be full of Silver... until the Spanish mined it all. Now it´s rich with minerals and the town has 20,000 miners who work there. They start young... 15 years old and their life expectancy is just 45 due to all the gases they breath. They also work for commission on what they find... they get no salary so its a tough life and thy work hard. Theres 100km of tunnels and loads of accidents as safety is not something anyone cares about.

We did a visit to the mines which started with a visit to the miners market. There we bought presents to give to the miners. There are 3 gifts they want... coca leaves (they chew big clumps of them in their mouth to stop hunger and make them feel stronger while in the mines), hardcore cigarettes that look like joints and a spirit with is 96%.. yes 96% pure alcohol! Don´t think that helps the life expectancy much to be honest.

Safety here is such a non issue that they sell Dynamite at the market too. For 10 Bolivianos (66p) I bought a stick of dynamite, a pack of ammonium nitrate, a fuse and a detonator! Being a terrorist here is cheap!

Dynamite and Ammonium Nitrate...

Down the mines...

After blowing up a bit of the mountain we went down the mines. It was pretty claustophobic and we were dressed in miners gear with hats and lamps. You could hear the rumble of dynamite being down up around the place, very freaky. One tour group told us they were walking down a tunnel when a miner came running towards them shouting "Run" (in Spanish). 10 seconds later a big explosion happened right there... he´d just litthe dynamite. Safety? The place was a total mish mash of tunnels with big holes up to 200m deep all over the place with no barriers. Safety? The conditions these guys work in is terrible.... but its the only option they have.

Next its off to La Paz, the Capital. Then heading West into Peru.

More photos can be seen here....

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=57736&l=57a4f&id=821825071

Adios.

I´m writing this from a desert town in Chile called San Pedro. I'm off sandboarding shortly which finishes with a sunset in the lunar valley... sounds cool. The scenery here is the main attraction and most of the tourism here is based around this. These photos were taken on the bus journey over here...

Tomorrow, a group of 6 of us are doing a 3 day tour to Bolivia, which goes past volcanos, geysers, lakes and salt flats. Its pretty tough as its high altitude. Even here, the nights get very cold, so sleeping above 4000m on the tour in a place with no heating is going to be a feat.

The sky here is also very clear so the area attracts a lot of astronomers. Last night we did an astronomy tour of the sky... the planets, milky way and constellations were all totally visiable which was amazing. It was also just about a full moon, so we got a pretty impressive shot through the telescope...

I almost didn't make it here as it was my birthday the night before a 7am coach departure from Salta. After getting to the bus station with 1 minute to spare after virtually no sleep the driver refused to let us on as he thought we were drunk. After a bit of persuasion we made it... there would have been no more buses for 3 days! I spent 3 nights althogether in Salta, in the North of Argentina. Its a big stopping point for travellers going to or coming from Bolivia so its pretty busy with a good night life... hence a good place to hang around for my birthday.

Here's a viw of the city from a cable car accessed mountain....

Before Salta I was in Puerto Madryn... a pretty dull city as it was off season and freezing cold. The only reason people go there is to se the Whales (see pics below) which were awesome....

I also spent some more time in Buenos Aires. Went to a Boca Juniors match which was crazy. The fans are like animals in that place... and the tourists have to be sectioned off...

It was also Argentinas first day of Spring so there was a big party all over the country. Everyone dresses up and stays up partying til dawn...

That's all I have to report for now... got to dash for my sandboarding lesson. The next post will be Bolivia.

Hasta Luego.

Buenos Aires... the first day of my trip. Interesting start as my bag failed to turn up on the conveyor at the airport... got it back about 36 hours later thank god but was worried for a little while! Luckily managed to do some sightseeing during the first day as once the true Buenos Aires lifestyle takes hold it doesn´t allow for much... it basically involves replacing seeing anything cultural with the all important steaks, wines, beers, bars and clubs. The clubs are open every day and nobody even goes down there until about 2am. Even the restaurants are empty until after 10pm. Hence, after strolling home at about 8am, the next day is a total write off. The meat bbqs or parissas as they´re called over here are amazing... leaves Goucho Grill at the starting line... and its so cheap you can eat and drink like king henry VIII every day. Met loads of other like-minded individuals so we generally had a top time.

Here´s a pic of me with my new best friend...

I decided to get out of there after a few nights before I got too sucked in so I booked a 22hr bus ticket to the ski resort known as Bariloche in the Southern Andes. This is where all the Argentians and Brazilians go to ski during the winter so it´s a proper tourist setup. The hostel was v. cheap... 5 quid a night including breakfast and dinner, free internet and free pool. Bargain! My first day of snowboarding (ever) basically ruinned me. After my lesson I went to the top of the mountain to check the view (see pics below) and thought it would be a good idea to try and board my way back down. It turned out to be a pretty bad idea, taking nearly 3 hours during which time I not only battered my whole body but also became the last guy on the mountain, missed the last bus home and found the rental shops were closed... thereby having to carry all my gear back to the hostel. After 2 more days of trying to snowboard my bum could take no more so I packed it in... I did manage to get down a blue slope without making too much of a fool of myself on my last day so I´m happy The night life is tamer in Bariloche although, as I think will be the case everywhere I go, the main issue (or not really an issue) is that there´s nowhere to chill out in the evenings except the bar, hence the inevitable happens. Its a hard life! Again, met loads of people from all over the world, some of which are travelling in the same direction as me so will be meeting up them with later in Bolivia.

Views from the top of the slopes!!.....

Bariloche is set beside this lake.....

Another overnight bus and I´m now on the East coast in a town known as Puerto Vadryn. Apparently it´s whale season so I´m off on a trip tomorrow to see some of the chaps. Then back up to Buenos Aires to carry on where I left off... as well as taking some sort of Spanish lessons (better do something educational), before making my way up through central Argentina to Bolivia.

So this is going to be my travel blog for the next 12 months as I travel round the world... Cool huh. I'll be starting in style and true party mode by going to Ibiza for a long weekend over the August bank holiday, then spending a week chilling in Cyprus with my old man, before finally heading off to Buenos Aires, Argentina on 5th Sep where the trip properly begins. I'll be spending four or five months in South America before heading west to New Zealand, Fiji, Oz and depending on how I get on time wise, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Still don't really feel like I'm going... I can't quite grasp what a year off work going to random places on my own will acutally be like. Will find out soon enough no doubt, as will you if you read this blog. Keep you posted!