Dom takes on the Americas!

Hola Argentina!

Too bad it isn’t the nicest town to begin our Argentinian travels in. We walked over the border from Villazon (Bolly) to La Quiaca (Argy) and it was a nice easy border crossing, but we needed to get out of that tiny border town as soon as we could. We were starving, and just excited to get to the tiny town of Humahuaca – in the northern desert region of Argy, just north of Salta. We have found that bigger cities and even towns are often rather disappointing, so when Nev read up on Humahuaca we thought we’d give it a try, it sounded pretty damn sweet.

We rocked up in our semi-cama bus, no accommodation booked but we’d heard of a really nice hostel at a reasonable price, so we thought we’d check it out. It seemed as though we were walking OUT of town, the bloody place was out in the middle of woop woop and it was extremely over-priced. We walked out in shock! We hadn’t seen any other hostels on our walk and were stressing that that was the only place we could stay, but we walked back into town (more like a very small village) and discovered only a couple more. We de-stressed, decided on one, showered, then went out for some food; we still haven’t eaten properly.

You might already know this, but Argentina is famous for two things – Buenos Aires and beef. The quality of steak here is impeccable and is exactly what we ate for our first lunch in Humahuaca. Nev’s dad is a butcher, so as you’d imagine he’s eaten quality cuts of meat all through his life, but after eating steak at this little family run restaurant (nothing fancy at all, they were watching the Spanish version of Home & Away while we were eating, in the same room) Nev said he could confidently claim the steak we ate to be the best he’s ever tasted in his life. And I had to concur! I can’t stress to you all how BLOODY AMAZING it was!!! It was served on delicious potatoes too, everything perfectly cooked, and a fab sauce to match. Argh! Heaven to my lips! Every bite was a delight! Nev couldn’t get over it haha! Anyway, obsessive rant over, we loved our lunch, and that place became our hidden secret. Giles and Marie never found it. How selfish of us

We wandered around town, grabbed food to cook for dinner, and tried to plan our next day of walking around the valley surrounding the village after we book a bus to Buenos Aires. The hostel is family run (like most things in Humahuaca) and they have a little puppy (12 weeks old I think?) called Rocko, he’s a little boxer and insanely cute! And grandma owns a cat, who loves her to bits.

We had a lazy morning, there isn’t much in town to do, but we fell in love with how rural and quiet it is pretty much as soon as we found a hostel! So we happily walked around the local markets, spotting a huge monument dedicated to the heroes of Argentina up on the hill that again, Nev couldn’t get his head around, much like our tasty steak lunch. We had heard of a daily event that happens in the village where at the church, a statue of Jesus appears at the stroke of Midday and then disappears again not long after. There was nobody in the main plaza at first, but we happened to time it perfectly and wandered back to the plaza to watch it in action. Now there were SO many people here (mainly locals from the area), but we couldn’t see the draw, we didn’t even know what was going on!

The markets attracted us a lot more so after more poking around in them, we knew we needed to go and organise buses. Neither of us had enough money to buy tickets then and there, so our first stop was the ATM. The line was out the door but it was necessary so we hung around and waited. We both tried the same ATM when we got in there, but it didn’t work for either of us! SHIT! “Okay”, we thought, “if we can pay by credit card, we’ll be fine, and we can get money out in BA”. As we were walking out of the room a crazy lady was saying something crazy to me, but Argentinian Spanish is a lot quicker and is pronounced differently so I just thought she was a crazy lady talking jibberish crazy-talk.

We only wanted to pay a certain amount (250 pesos, which in Argentina is a lot when you divide it by the exchange rate of 4.25ps = USD$1 at the time), and most of the buses were over 450ps at the actual bus terminal, which we weren’t paying! 250ps was actually really cheap for the bus ticket we needed so we were stoked when we saw it advertised, but when we needed cash, it was impossible to get it at that rate. We really started stressing now – this bus would break our budget if we used credit cards, but seeing as Marie and Giles were meeting us we thought we could try and catch up with them and borrow the money and pay it back when we got to BA later on. We never managed to get a hold of them, let alone catch up with them!

We sat for AGES at the only very slow internet café around, trying to figure out an alternative. Pretty much we were stranded in Humahuaca because neither of us (even joint) had enough money to put just one of us on a bus to the nearest town with an ATM. What a dilemma! Not only that, we didn’t have enough money for food after we paid for the hostel accom so we knew we had to bite the bullet and pay the 450ps for this bus trip. We went to the guy who was selling these tickets and we asked if HE would take visa cards, of course, he replied with “No, lo siento”, but then asked if we tried the ATM on the right hand side. We both said “No” and then clicked and realised the left ATM is for locals only, the right one is for gringos. YES!! We ran back to the ATM and both managed to get our money out. So the crazy lady wasn’t so crazy. And sadly, apart from a bit of wandering around town and some interesting market finds, that was how we spent our entire time in the beautiful village of Humahuaca.

Our bus was early the next day, but it didn’t actually leave from the village, it left from another village further south called Jujuy (pronounced “hoo-hooy”), which we needed to get to ourselves. That wasn’t the problem, what was to make the events that were about to unfold worse, Nev and I were both sick today, yet again becoming close friends with local toilets. And I mean painfully sick, Nev was a lot worse than me though, poor thing.

So we made it to Jujuy with plenty of time before our BA bus, and when Nev went to find the office to get our tickets (we were only given receipts… bit risky really), the guy at the counter said the lady from Humahuaca hadn’t told him that we’d booked onto this bus, but that he would do everything possible to make sure we were catching either the 2pm or 4pm bus today, but couldn’t guarantee a seat. We were SO annoyed! What a struggle to buy BA tickets, and now what a struggle to even get there! So, sitting in the heat, eating fruit and drinking shit-loads of water for hours, we both went to the office and were told there was nothing available. Nev had given up by this point and ended up falling asleep in his chair while we waited for him to check one last time.

We finally got an answer (after the scheduled 2pm bus was supposed to leave) that if we hurried we could be taken by a random man in a random car to catch up to the bus we were supposed to already be on! So fed up with the system and with the day we didn’t think twice and just grabbed our luggage and followed this stranger round the corner, only to see a big empty bus with it’s passengers all standing around outside, plus numerous sedans on the street with their owners yelling at the top of their lungs in Español. I was told to put my bag in this car and Nev was told to put his bag in that car and we were both piled into the car my bag was in. It was all so rushed that once our car had pulled away from the kerb and onto the freeway doing 120km/h, Nev was sitting there realising “Oh man. That’s it. My bag’s pretty much just been stolen”. He reacted so tamely, and all he kept saying was “Why didn’t I just put it on my lap?!” – it was definitely small enough for that.

We didn’t really understand what was going on – our assumption was that we were chasing out bus but when we got dropped near a bus terminal further along we got confused; why are we getting out and why aren’t we waiting at the actual terminal?? So we sat, with everyone else, and waited on the side of the road. We felt ripped off. We felt duped. It was hot in the sun and remember, we’re both still suffering from bouts of gastro! Nev needed the loo and said to me “Dom make sure you don’t leave without me!” Pretty much as soon as he left 3 cars rocked up (including a vintage blue mustang), everyone piled in and they drove off! I tried explaining in my poor Spanish that Nev was in the bathroom; “Uno momento, mi amigo is in Baños, lo siento” – he finally came out and we left, just not knowing where to. Our car was the mustang and the driver was playing CCR, so in my head to develop a better mood I sang ‘Bad Moon Rising’ and put a smile on my face.

We were dropped at a petrol station in the shade of a big petrol truck, Nev still holding on to a glimmer of hope that his bag will appear. We were taken to a bus parked on the other side of the station and suddenly found excitement – this is our bus! I felt a sense of guilt as I put my bag into the hold on the bus, Nev had lost his things. One last car pulled up and people started climbing aboard. Nev cheekily went to check the boot and a HUGE smile crossed his face – he hadn’t been robbed after all! He hugged his bag and put it in with mine; we can finally make like Spaniards and ‘vamos’ to Buenos Aires! 21 hour overnight bus journey – bring it.

4am and we arrive in Tupiza – cowboy country of Bolivia. We slept all morning and at around midday Nev and I were STARVING so went to a local market and found some cheap local grub. ‘Sopa’, as it’s called which translates to ‘Soup’, or ‘Entrée’. We were tempted for ‘Segundos’ (pretty self-explanatory) but instead went downstairs for banana bread and fresh fruit; a place that quickly became our haven all because of the banana bread. Yummo!

We then made an effort to wake up and organise a 3 hour horse-riding trip through the Quebrada Palala valley, where we rode through incredible red rock formations and desert valley landscape, avoiding spiky bushes and cacti along the way. It was like something out of a film! We were even given chaps and cowboy hats to top off our look, and, of course, Nev wore his poncho. We rode for an hour and a half to an area in the mountains good enough to jump off our horses, walk around and explore. We were there for about 40 minutes when we decided it was time to head back to town. I have to add, I had my hat fly off my head about 3 times, and my waterproof jacket fall off the horse twice, so the young gaucho that was with his wasn’t happy with me – he kept having to stop and get off his horse to pick up my stuff! Oops… All that trotting hurt the boys after a while, and once we left the horses to walk back into town they seemed to be waddling more than walking. Marie and I couldn’t help but give them shit haha!

So we made it back to town, stopping of course for banana bread and watermelon, then back to the hostel for a much needed shower (by the way, the showers in Bolivia and Peru seem to give you electric shocks whenever you touch the taps when you go to turn them off, and can be painful!), and a very early & boring night. Tupiza is famous for its surroundings, not for the town itself. There isn’t much to do here.

Nev and I had an early start today – we decided the best thing to do (to save time in Nev’s case) was to wake up at 5am and try to catch a 5:30am bus to the border town called Villazon, and cross into Argentina that way. We waited around until almost 6 while we listened to a VERY annoying lady yelling “Villazon Villazon Villazon Villazon” reaaally quickly and reaaally loudly to get people’s attention – at 5:30 in the morning. Luckily we managed to pick the right collectivo and made it without any hassles, and just a quick nap on the way to the border.

It’s time to say goodbye to Bolivia. You might have noticed by now that my original plan to volunteer at the animal refuge fell through. You’re wondering why? I felt like travelling more and seeing as Nev was going to Buenos Aires and then into Uruguay, I took the opportunity to cling onto his plans and go with him. After all, I would have only had 2 weeks to volunteer and I was hoping for at least a month there – I travelled longer than I thought, and I don’t regret any of it. It’s been freaking unreal (so far!). And can’t wait for what Argy will bring us…

The day I dialled home for my birthday we bussed it (at night) on the bumpiest & coldest bus journey in my life to the town of Uyuni – they gave us blankets on the bus! Unheard of normally! Remember, tonight’s the 2nd December so once midnight hits, IT’S MY 21ST BIRTHDAYYY!!! We struggled to sleep through most of it, Giles & Marie listened to the Rum Song practically all night long, giggling from the next isle, but Nev and I slept a bit.

As I watched the sun rise after I woke, I tried to think of the song I most felt like listening to for the first song on my birthday to remember; I chose ‘On Melancholy Hill’ by the Gorillaz. Ahhh, what a way to start the day! I was jumped on by Marie who wished me a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY as soon as we arrived, beaten by Nev who woke me earlier in the morning to say the same thing ☺

My trip dream was to be on Salar de Uyuni (the salt flats of Uyuni) ON my actual birthday, and I thought I’d be late by a single day. Fortunately for us, arriving at 7am we were greeted by hawkers who offered us a trip that left at 10am that same morning. My dream was coming true!! We ate a quick fix of breakfast, had a baby-wipe shower (good at those now after the jungle) and paid for our 3 day stint through the biggest salt desert in the world, starting on the biggest day in a youngen’s life – the day you become legally able to drink in the USA (WooHoo!!!!).

Our loop started by going to a train cemetery, which we all thought would be boring as hell, but we all ended up having a shit-load of fun. We found a train that had “Happy Birthday” written on it, and I got a lovely birthday present from Giles – his shiny white ass mooning us. We explored that place inside-out, it was such a playground. But we were all super keen to get to the actual salt flats! So off we went in our jeep, which we shared with two Mexicans – a mother and son travelling on holiday together, who were lovely and always up for a good time, which included karaoke in our jeep! ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ ring any bells?

We stopped at a not-so-impressive area of the flats, the salt was really dirty and still being manufactured; it wasn’t the famous area you see in all the photos. But we played around with the piles of salt surrounding us, Nev falling over one and COVERING himself in salt hahaha, we couldn’t stop laughing! We posed on the salt, I posted a photo of us posing like karate kid on those piles. It was fun while it lasted, but again, we couldn’t wait to get to the famous area and take photos with Dino! On the way out, we stopped at a local market where they sold local produce like beanies, statues made from the salt, etc. It was beautifully sunny every day we were in Salar de Uyuni, but it was also cold, especially at night.

Finally. We arrive to the place I wanted to be at so badly for my birthday – the vast, sparse salt flat desert of Uyuni.

We parked the jeep next to ‘Fish Island’ – apparently it’s shaped like a fish, and covered in coral, but the thing that stood out the most was the dominating abundance of cacti growing on the island. And behind it, the salt flats. Marie, Giles, and the Mexicans (shit! I forgot their names!) all went up onto the island (30 bolivianos to get in – not for us), while Nev and I just wandered around the outside, hugging the tallest cacti we could find. We came back cause we were getting burnt, but I was so keen to start taking photos with the poster I’d made for my birthday which said “Old Box” haha! So we put on suncream and headed out to start experimenting. Most of the photos were terrible, we failed big time (especially with Dino), but we squeezed a couple of keepers out of our time on the flats, and it was still loads of fun! On the way to the hostel we stopped when we drove over the formations in the salt, hexagons of naturally formed salt that you could break off and taste – so we did! Tasted so bizarre; clearly it was very salty, but it didn’t taste like normal table salt – it was pure, straight from the source.

We stayed at a great hostel that night, most of it was made of salt. The boys licked the walls of the room! Who KNOWS how many people before them have done that, so typical. We celebrated the end of my birthday with pizza – “Great”, I said, “Ironically the worst birthday dinner for a lactose intolerant girl on her 21st!” – Nev genuinely felt bad for me (one of the few times on this trip haha), so I ate more soup which we ate for starters. Marie had bought a HUGE apple from the markets and used it as my birthday cake – she stuck matches in it as candles and they sang me happy birthday and everything! Then afterwards Nev, Giles and I went out for a bit of star gazing to top off a great day. Despite being sick (couldn’t even drink cause of my antibiotics) I had the best 21st ever, couldn’t have asked for more. And I felt so lucky to have Marie, Giles and Nev to celebrate it with! Thanks guys!

The first day was the best of the 3 days – let me tell you, there isn’t much to tell! We just spent the 2nd and 3rd day on the tour in the jeep, stopping every 4, 5 or 6 hours to take photos of lakes (really beautiful lakes, though) and flamingos. We did have a great morning where after visiting some geysers, we went to a nearby hot spring – the only natural hot spring I’ve been to on this trip – and spent the morning soaking in 40+ degree water, while the air outside was a mere 4 degrees. SO cold getting out! But a pancake breakfast saw us with smiles back on our faces yet again.

What we saw was spectacular, but the fact it quickly turned into a photo taking jeep tour disappointed us slightly, no, a lot. We thought it’d be a bit more exciting. Never-the-less! We had fun singing in the jeep and keeping ourselves occupied as we drove through very dry, hot, arid red desert.
With our tour coming to an end, we decided the next place we would go would be to Tupiza. We never stayed the night in Uyuni – it’s just a dusty old town full of expensive restaurants to suit rich tourists and travel agencies for tours into the Salar. So we left that night after Nev and my first taste of llama meat – really delicious but VERY chewy.

So the weather today was shocking, even all the way to La Paz. All we wanted (in our hung-over states) was a room with a TV and to have it all to ourselves (not an 18 bed dorm) so we could watch the films we wanted and not have to share. So selfish, but happened to be what we both craved and hadn’t had in a long time. We searched around only 1 block, as it didn’t look like there were many hostels beyond that block. Two famous party hostels, Loki and Wild Rover were on this block, but we weren’t willing to settle for a party hostel tonight. We found a small dodgy-from-the-outside looking place which ended up being perfect – we even had our own bathroom and kitchen! Perfect! My entire time in La Paz was spent in a sick state, having had my ‘special sickness’ come back and really kick me in the guts this time. Nev’s hangover lasted 2 days, so we both became hermits and didn’t do much at all for the 3 days we stayed.

We arrived into La Paz a day earlier than we thought we would, which meant we could contact our young friend Henry (YAY!) and ask if he wanted to meet up. He met us at our hostel on our first night there, we had the TV on and turned it down to chat with Hen and catch up with him and what he’s been doing. He sounded really sick still (from Cusco) but he was excited to be heading home the following day. We chatted until he ended up falling asleep in my bed while we continued to watch whatever film was on. We woke him up to say goodbye and let him go back to his hostel; this is really the final time I’ll see my Hen-dog until I get back home to Sydney – at least 4 months from now! Wasn’t as sad this time though, was great to see him.

The next day our Aussie friend from Cabanaconde – Giles – came and met up with us in our hostel too; I was still sick and ended up being bed-ridden for 2 days so couldn’t do much in terms of leaving. He brought along his Canadian friend Marie, who is lovely, full of big smiles and has a great laugh! Nev and I had been talking about travelling to the Amazon jungle within the next couple of days, Marie wanted to spend a week doing Spanish lessons and Giles didn’t know what to do but was keen for the Amazon idea. We spent that night at Wild Rover, just around the corner from our hostel, for dinner and a few drinks. Nev and I (as usual when teamed up) dominated at pool and people came to try and challenge us. Was a fun night and after I left to go and sleep the rest of them kicked on.

Scary story – that night, Marie had told the boys she was going out with a few girls she’d met at Wild Rover (this was after I’d left), and so she did. When she got into the cab to take her back to her hostel (the sensible thing to do, when her hostel was within walking distance), the driver instead decided to take her up the hill to his place. Marie may have been drunk but she knew where she was wasn’t right and he kept suggesting she stay with him that night. She insisted he take her back to the hostel and lucky for her, he gave up and did. Giles got back before her and assumed she was still out partying, and only the next morning found out what had actually happened! We found out later that day when they came back to see us and organise the Amazon (which we’d all decided to do together), and we were shocked! It’s scary how things can happen so quickly, you have a good feel for a place and you feel safe, you do the right thing when you go out and yet these things can still happen. Nothing bad came out of it, she isn’t scarred and doesn’t have bad memories (she was laughing about her abduction the next day when she told us), but even still, I guess I wrote about it because it’s important to note that these things do actually happen, no matter how many great stories of a place you might have. Don’t get me wrong though, Bolivia is just as dangerous as Peru and Ecuador and the rest of South America, Marie was just unlucky. Poor dear, story to laugh off later I guess.

So! To the Amazon basin we go! We booked tickets to Rurrenabaque, leaving tomorrow, to give me one more night to recover. I researched this bus trip, it can take anywhere between 18 to 36 hours to get to the town, due to dodgy roads, bad weather, landslides, accidents, etc. out of the 19 hours we spent on the bus (nice smooth ride, luckily!) we spent 4 on what’s known as ‘Death Road’. Apparently, stats show that about every 2 weeks, one passenger bus goes over the edge. It was the worst looking bus I’d been in, in real bad shape, and I was sitting on the window side. This means that as we were driving on death road (at 50km/h in a 15km/h zone, I might add) every time I put my head out the window to see how close to the edge we were, I’d practically be looking straight down the cliff.

Nev HATED the trip, he was freaking out – Giles and Marie were shooting swigs of rum straight from the bottle on the other side of the bus. It was terrifying. The reason we were driving so fast was because we’d been stopped earlier in the day by a roadblock – a landslide we hoped, but due to the ambulances we thought an accident was more likely. While we waited we played Pictionary in the shade the bus gave us. So our driver, having had his schedule delayed, decided to drive faster to avoid being on death road at night. But I don’t know what was worse! 50km/h on a cliff during the day or 15km/h in the dark!

By the time we got through the hardest and scariest part of the trip it was nightfall, and the fireflies were starting to come out. They were beautiful, it kind of reminded me of Avatar, the jungle living and breathing around us, with glowing lights glittering everywhere we looked, and the noises the jungle made over the tinny, coughing sounds of the old bus. I took a second to relax and take in the moment. Then, we slept.

Compared to the cooler weather in La Paz, we were greeted to a moist, humid, hotter sort of weather that came with the jungle the next morning. We instantly loved this town. We knew it would bring us great times. We could feel it! The four of us walked from the bus terminal to our hostel, a short 10 minute walk, located right on River Beni. And it was packed full of empty hammocks. We piled our things into our room, then, covered in sweat and stinking like we should for the jungle, we got our free hostel breakfast consisting of two huge, thick pancakes covered in honey, plenty of fresh fruit, omelettes and tea and coffee. Oh. My. God. We’re in heaven! An unexpected perfect breakfast to start the day. We showered then went and explored town. It was very small, the people very friendly (we practically felt like family instantly), and it gave a really warm homely feel. We organised our trip into the jungle with a company called Mogli – HIGHLY recommended. The boys really wanted to go and get porn-staches for their time in the jungle, and so their jungle photos would look epic. The straight-shave cuts they got were ridiculous, but amazing at the same time! We then went in search of jungle accessories – bandanas, facepaint, feathers, the works. We only found jungly looking material to rip into bandanas, but we found natural facepaint when we arrived in the jungle – mud. Our first night in Rurre we went and found a few bars, including a pool bar where, yet again, Nev and I kicked ass. We ended up stumbling back to the hostel later that night.

A very late awakening for us the next day, we had to be at Mogli within 10 minutes before everyone left for the Amazon! So we rushed around to get prepared, ran down the road and apologised for being late. We got away with it, the agency is awesome, just shrugged it off; “It happens!” the lady said. All of our jungle necessities in our bags, we headed out through the Sunday markets to get our 3 hour boat into the Amazon basin – we’re all so excited for the next 3 days; it’s going to be unreal!

We stopped at an office across the river to get our permits for the park, and while we were waiting we picked little green mangos off the trees and ate them – the flesh was delicious, despite the green skin, the actual fruit was incredibly ripe, juicy and sweet! Yum! We all had to wear lifejackets on the boat, which had all been painted with different types of smiley faces on the back of them – Nev’s was a flirty girl. Suited him well!

We arrived in the jungle at around lunch time. As I went to step off the boat, my shoes (the second-hand ones I hired in Cusco which I ended up buying) the sole of my right shoe went and peeled off. Great. I’m in the jungle without waterproof shoes, let alone shoes with soles on them! So, as you do in the jungle, I went and found a bit of dried vine and tied the sole back on. This worked for the entire time I was there. Phew! Quick jungle fixes work wonders. We relaxed and ate lunch, then suited up and prepped ourselves for our afternoon venture through the dense jungle. We put mud on our faces and Nev’s bandana made him look like a pirate. We wore the same clothes for 3 days. We bathed in the river just behind where we slept, but only after our daily ritual of a mud fight. The river, we were told, had anacondas breeding in it, especially in a little quieter part not part of the current we were told not to swim in. And it was so close to where we DID swim! So cool, such a thrill!

We learned so many weird and wonderful things that afternoon in the jungle, things like;

- The different fruits we could eat off the trees (and how amazing they tasted!), and how when you spit them at Nev the pips stick to his shirt
- The red fire ants – those bloody bastards; how they fall off trees onto unsuspecting victims and bite the shit out of you, and how much it HURTS!! Also, how I acquired the nickname ‘Fire Crotch’ for my time in the jungle.
- How when you chop into little coconuts, there you might find a grub that’s eaten the fruit from one of the pods within, which you might find to be a great mid-morning snack, especially after you hear the grub “POP!” between your teeth.
- The “how to” lesson on chasing and attempting to catch bush pigs
- How you can make clothing from the bark of a tree
- How to take on the roles of Tarzan and Jane (literally) and swing from huge vines which had dropped to hang from the giant, hundreds-of-years-old trees above
- How to chew on coca leaves and how they make your mouth go numb when you add sodium powder and tree bark
- I, along wih Nev, also learned that after you put a tarantula the size of your hand on your face, you develop an itchy non-rash that just won’t leave you alone until you distract yourself with yet another mud fight right next to giant breeding anacondas.

As you can imagine, there were swarms of mozzies naïvely buzzing around our faces, unknowingly about to be squashed between our hands. One girl doing the Pampas tour (where you ride a boat for 4 days, catching and eating piranha, being eaten alive by mozzies and loads of wildlife spotting) won the groups’ competition to have the most mozzie bites at the end of the tour, with a grand total of 143 bites. And all she won was a cold beer at the end! We discovered that covering ourselves with mud was a great way of keeping them away.

On our second day in the Amazon, we were given huge black tubes which we used to travel down the river rapids and get out at a muddy bank to do a walk through pure Amazonian jungle – barefoot I might add. We walked up a mountain, dripping with sweat, only to come out at an opening at the top which offered us possibly the best views of the surrounding rainforest that we could have ever asked for! It was literally just a vast blanket of green stretching out as far as the eye could see, and down below us we would see shooting colours of red and green as the Macaws passed by, flying lower than us (we were THAT high). It was incredible. Definitely one of the highlights in terms of having an unbelievable view. We sat up there and watched the jungle living & breathing beneath us, and as the sun started to set we decided it would be clever to leave the deep jungle before the Puma’s and Jaguars came out to eat us. We tubed back to camp for a delicious dinner, cooked by Balu, one of our guides.

That night we had the option to go out and sleep under the stars in the jungle – HELL YES. So we packed our gear, were told to stay silent to prevent from ruining any potential for animal spotting, plus the potential of being attacked by cats, and ventured out in pitch black night to our sleeping site. We tried to find crocs, Bula & Miguel even tried coaxing them out of the water (they’re nocturnal), but to no avail. So we continued on and were all of a sudden told to stop – Miguel had spotted a couple of shiny eyes peering at us, and one by one we walked past very quicetly to get a glimpse. Once we’d all seen them, Miguel asked Balu to hand him the machete. We were all of a sudden thinking “What the hell is going on – why did he ask for the machete, and WHY is he walking towards the Pumas?!”. He slowly edged towards them with Balu by his side, and they turned around and shone to torch at us as if to say “Keep back!”, so we really started freaking out and stayed perfectly still. The Pumas ran away and we felt relieved, but when Miguel and Balu approached us they wondered why we didn’t follow them, as their torch light suggested (really?), so we could get a look at the actual cats! We were gutted! We thought our lives were at stake! It was super exhilarating though, our adrenaline was pumping.

On we went, and we came to our sleeping site not much further down the track, hoping the Pumas hadn’t followed us as we tiptoed through the jungle. We set up tarps and our sleeping bags (as mozzie protection, really) and that was our bed. We started a little bonfire and listened to jungle noises as Miguel told us stories under the stars. And soon it was time for bed. Woke up the next day to a mozzie INFESTED (I can’t stress that enough!) morning, and smothered ourselves in deet and headed outta there as soon as we could! We were back at camp pretty quickly, we had some breakfast and then hung around making jewellery from thing we found in the jungle. We were all getting a bit restless by this point, so we were glad it was our last day, plus we were all excited for a good shower. So the boat came and picked us up and took us past beautiful views of an oncoming storm over the Amazon on our 3 hour boat ride back to Rurre. Cola, beer & Mogli t-shirts await!!

Later that night we met up with Balu for dinner and drinks, we headed to a pool hall and played our most terrible games of pool yet; but Nev and I normally kick-ass at pool! Why were we so shit?!?! We got pretty over it and decided to head back to the hostel, grabbing a bottle of vodka and, OH yes, a toy dinosaur, on the way back. We called him Dino (pronounced Deano). We thought he might come in handy for Uyuni later on. At about 3am, Nev & I decided it would be appropriate to go out and get late night steak sandwiches, so we did!

Had a nice sleep in this morning, a HUGE breakfast to start us off for the day and then we had to run to catch our bus back to La Paz. Unfortunately for me, I realised I’d left my towel at the other hostel earlier in the week, so Nev came with me to grab it but the people there didn’t find anything (doubt it), so, pretty annoyed at myself, we speed-walked to the bus terminal, arriving dripping in sweat only to find Marie and Giles enjoying a cool drink and empanadas, explaining that our bus is full, and we can’t actually get on! So instead we heard about a place (Oscars) which has a pool and great cocktails and headed there for the day. The WHOLE day. Relaxed in the sun with shisha, soothies, hammocks and a pool table, jumping in the pool when it got too hot. The next bus wasn’t until 11pm that night. It was a great excuse to stay in Rurre one more day!

16 hours later we arrived back in La Paz. 2 days were planned to be spent here, I didn’t do anything, yet again – I got sick. So to cut a boring story short, the 1st & 2nd of December were the day we spent here, we went to an internet café, I passed out on the toilet, I went back to the hostel, drugged myself up and on the 2nd I called mum for my 21st. Joyous, right?

After the best overnight bus sleep we have had on this trip, We wake in the morning to find ourselves being told to get off the bus along with others, in the middle of no-where. Confused, we obliged, wondering why the FULL CAMA bus wasn’t taking us all the way to Copacabana like we’d paid for! All of our bags were taken off, the bus drove away and we all filed into a tiny collectivo which would apparently drive us the rest of the way (only 1 hour), including take us over the border and into Bolivia.

At immigration, I was given my Bolivian ‘entrada’ stamp and noticed I only had a 30 day tourist pass, this length of time wouldn’t allow me to spend as long as I’d hoped here! Especially if I wanted to volunteer as well! Shit! Nev reassured me that if we left Bolivia to go to Chile on our Salar de Uyuni trip (some tours do that), then upon re-entering I’ll get another 30 day allowance which would be fine. I relaxed. The thing on my mind the most was what we were going to do once we got to Copa – stay overnight there? Head straight to Isla del Sol? That question was answered once we arrived; Copacabana, the little fisherman’s town on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca, had nothing to do.
Yes, there was typical “gringo alley” as you’d find in most cities, especially those more popular to foreigners, but unless you want to fork out unnecessary amounts of money and buy pointless junk you’ll have to carry around with you for the rest of your trip, then you’re in for a pretty eventless boring stay in this empty little town. We organised for a boat in the afternoon to take us to Isla de Sol, an island just off the coast of the Lake, close to Copa.

To pass the time, we climbed up the mountain we saw that had views overlooking the town and the Lake, and at the top we discovered some sort of shrines built permanently onto the mountain. The weather we had this day was incredible, apparently one of the best days the area had seen in a while, so we felt lucky. The altitude was hitting us as we walked up the mountain, I kept forgetting how high above sea level we were, being near water I got confused again and again.. naturally, of course and come on, you all know what my memory is like! We chose the harder side of the mountain to walk down, but when we got the bottom we were right on the Lakeside and walked past what looked like a really yummy trout lunch. We decided to get one ourselves, and I’ll tell you what – BEST TROUT LUNCH EVER!! Nev even claimed it to be the best fish he’s ever eaten, and apparently, coming from a fisherman’s island himself, that’s a well worthy statement!

Our boat was scheduled for 1:30pm, and after lunch we made our way to the dock where our boat was waiting to be released into the calm waters of Lake Titicaca, to take us across to Isla del Sol. We met 3 guys on the boat, two from Portugal and one from Brazil, who were all travelling together. We arrived at the island after a fairly long and slow ride, and discovered that all hostels were up a HUGE MOUNTAIN. There were no porters or anyone to carry bags up the hill (remember the altitiude here, guys), so everyone was carrying all of their belongings up this steep hill. What a bloody effort! I struggled and nev felt bad, and he kept insisting he carry mine for me. At first I kindly declined, confident that after Huaraz I could do it myself, without winging, or hyperventilating, or crying (haha!). He let me try. After 5 minutes I decided that it really was hard, and he was happy taking my bag up the hill. I felt so bad! Thanks again Nev, you’re a diamond.

As I said before today’s weather is the best the locals had seen in a while, and we couldn’t have timed our visit better! After finding a hostel, relaxing in the sun for a while, taking in the view of the Lake and Andes, walking up to the top to the other side of the island for dinner and a mind-blowing sunset (looked like the Northern Lights!), we decided to share a few drinks with the boys we’d met who also ended up staying at the same hostel. We were in such a good mood from all the Vitamin D we’d absorbed that day, we ended up getting a bit happy and drunk, singing to 80s rock as the night kicked on.

We woke to a freezing cold morning and rain. Lots of it. It was bucketing down! We had a later start than we’d hoped that morning, and when I woke Nev up we realised how little time we had to get down the mountain with all of our unpacked things to be able to catch our ferry back to Copa! We decided to leave that day because of the weather – for us it was more “Well, if we can’t spend the day exploring the mountain and seeing the views, we may as well leave and head to La Paz”.

We actually made the boat, and our shady morning after feelings hadn’t caught up to us until we reached the bottom, cause of the rush of packing our bags and making the boat. Another slow and long boat ride back to town, this time in the freezing wet weather, another –not as good – trout lunch, and a lazy walk through gringo alley was what made up the majority of our morning that day. We walked past a lifesize llama statue made of straw that had a sign hanging off it’s neck – “WARNING: Don’t get too close to Patrick; he spits”, which gave me my morning laugh. We wanted out of Copa as soon as we could so we jumped on the first bus to La Paz which left pretty much straight away.

That’s the beauty of travelling solo and with so much freedom, you can do whatever the hell you want, be spontaneous, and have fun all at the same time while making new friends. At this point, I’m seriously in love with South America; I don’t think anything will be able to stop the love affair I’m having with this magnificent continent. And or the record, my sense of independence and freedom has bloomed! I feel like I can take on life and do all of the things I may have been too scared to try and do before, and do them without a second thought. No doubt in my mind that when I return to Sydney my life plans will have changed dramatically, and I can’t wait to see where my mind leads me, and what dreams I’ll be itching to get onto and accomplish as soon as I arrive home!