April 2010

April 2nd I was in Machu Picchu I know this because my niece Naomi was born that day. After coming back from Machu Picchu I spent a few days in Cusco hanging out with Chu and others from the trip. I had enquired prior to going to Machu Picchu about a tour into the Manu Biosphere Reserve. The tour didn't leave for a few days so I hung out in Cusco trying to get refunded my money from theTour Agency. No luck with that though. I spent 8 days in the Biosphere it was amazing. I like to call it my South American Safari. We saw over 150 species of birds, 10 species of Monkeys, 4 species of Frogs, 4 species of snakes, Tapir, Giant river otters, Capybara, and both black and White Caiman. It was definitely the most abundant wildlife I have ever seen. The only other tourist that were on my trip was a couple from Australia. They were great travel companions and I have made contact with them since coming to Australia to catch up withthem. Upon finishing with the tour of the biosphere I headed towards Bolivia. I made a stop at Lake Titicaca where I paid $135 to enter Bolivia. I didn't know I needed to pay this so I had to change back all the money that I had in Sol's and Bolivianos so I could pay to get in. To make it worse Copacabana doesn't have an ATM so I had to stay on very small budget for the 3 daysI was there. Took a boat out to Isla del Sol and spent 2 nights out there exploring the island. Walking on the trails. Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world. I took a bus to La Paz the capital of Bolivia to figure out what I was going to do in the country. I stayed at a hostel that a friend of a friends family owned. It was a nice hostel. But any one who has back packed with Israeli's knows that they like to party. So that made for an interesting few nights. I randomly ran into John, Maz, and Sophie who I had done the Salkantay trek with. So went and had drinks with them the night before I did the "world's deadliest road" which I do got to say was pretty dangerous. On the paved High section we were passing cars going down. The speed limit was 45kmh I believe so it was pretty awesome. So I have to explain that this road is really dangerous people do die. There was an Israeli girl who had died a week before. The reason its so dangerous is: its a two way road one side is the face of the mountain the other is a sheer drop. So onone of thesecorners a car surprised us coming around a corner. The tour guide got by alright I lost some traction/skidded a bit but put my feet down to steady myself. But one of the other guys wasn't so lucky he wasn't able tobreak in time and luckily jumped off his bike and grabbed the side of the road. The bike landed about 5 meters below on some trees and he fell only a few feet.The craziest part was...it was his birthday. Well he survived. We did the whole hill 2 hours faster then what people usually take. So we were flying it down the hill. That nightI left for Uyuni. I wanted to jump on one of the tours through the Salt Flats I had heard great things. A tour company had told me that there was a little bit of trouble with miners but everything should be fine. Got down to Uyuni and spent 4 ours trying to organize a tour. It took forever. So the miners are blockading the roads so they aren't letting the tourist through. I was lucky enough to get on a Land Cruiser that was going. So headed out and got blockaded after lunch where we ate at the Salt Hotel. We waited a few hours. 10 vehicles backed up. The drivers decided to wait for night fall and go around the blockade. Got lost which is quite easy in the worlds largest Salt flat in the world. Eventually some vehicles gave up we ended up going to a little town to stay at a hostel. There was no space there so we spent a night in an empty building. Sleeping on the stone. Next morning left at 6 am and continued on our way. Got blockaded again this time I was taken in the miners vehicle as an "insurance" that we wouldn't leave. lol. I was the one since when I had looked around the vehicle I was the youngest none female person there. After some good negotiation by our driver we were on our way. It only cost us about 4 or so hours of our day. The rest of the trip went fine. It is a beautiful place. I must note that what the miner's were doing was justified. I would have done the same in their position. No water and electricity in their cities by the mines. I have no problem what so ever of being held against my will for a cause that I think was just. No harm no foul. I ended thistour at the border of Chile/Bolivia. Where 4 of us got off and took a van to San Pedro de Atacama. Time is ticking for me. I need to be in South Africa on the 2nd of May so my flight is on the 29th or April. I have a going away party to go to for Nicole on the 27th so I have little timeleft. So I went sand boarding in the Death Valley. Really good fun I'm really surprised I didn't break my back with as many wipeouts as I had. Don't let the sand fool you. It's a lot harder then snow and its less forgiving. Left Chile and headed for Argentina. I was going to spend time in La Salta and Jujuy but time was running out. I also had planned on cutting across Paraguay to Iguazu but time and money wasn't on my side. It would cost me $135 to enter Paraguay. So that didn't make sense considering I would be there only a day. So I went around Paraguay to Iguazú National Park. This is an amazing waterfalls. I happened to be there while it was raining heavily so they had to close the devils throat walk way. It was being overflowed with water. I had only 2 days at the falls then I left for Buenos Aires. Where I picked up some stuff that I had left at my host families house and went out to dinner with Nicole and her friends. It was nice to see familiar faces. I had no luck with fixing my camera it was going to cost more to fix then it was worth. So I am going to have to use the Cannon 350D that I had bought at the pawn shop when I was here before I had left for Peru. I left South America on the 29th of April knowing I will return some day.

Pictures

Top to Bottom:

Ben Larissa and I at Manu in front of a huge tree.

Me in my Protective clothing getting ready for the Deadliest road.

Me jumping with the Salar de Uyuni in the Background.

Me sandboarding in San Pedro de Atacama.

Iguazú falls.