Hi guys....long time no speak...people have been badgering me about doing another blog...i think one every 2 weeks is sufficient!! haha
So since you last heard from us we have been in Bolivia (which we have just left). We headed to Bolivia from Arg on surprise surpise another bus.....this time the bus was just to the border which we got to at some unearthly hour in the morning. Border control here is literally the most disorganized thing I have ever seen....all they had to do was stamp us out of Arg and into Bol....But of course it can´t be that simple. We had to wait in 2 queues whilst we watched Argentinians skipping to the front and climbing over the fence down the hill...pretty classic. I have no idea why we didn´t do that! After about 3-4 hours we were into Bolivia!! WOOOOP We decided to head straight for the bus station to see when/book our bus to Tarija which was our first stop. The bus station was rammed with people and we found out that our bus wasnt until 8pm that night....approx 12 hours later. We had to wait in this hell hole of a town for 12 hours...i should mention that this town is called Villazon and there is NOTHING to do there besides sit in a park the whole day.....and eat. To much eating is occurring on this trip we feel. Especially chip related eating....they serve chips with everything....they are amazing though...thats half the problem.
So we got to Tarija in ze middle of the night as per and went straight to this hostel that we knew the name of....there were Christmas decorations everywhere and statues of Jesus....I didn´t really know what to do with myself. The bus journey to Tarija was SO scary. After coming off the amazing Arg buses we were in for a massive shock. I was actually praying on the bus and almost sent some final goodbye texts to people. We went to Tarija because it boasts the highest vineyards in the world!! Nothng like a bit of wine tasing when you´re on your travels! We wandered around the town for a couple of days, went up the Mirador (viewpoint) and ate ´Fillet Mignon´a couple of times for only 4 squids as you do! On the last day before our bus we went to the ´Campos Solena´vineyard...one of the most famous wines in Bolivia. Before midday we were trying the Reisling which was delicious. We had a private tour and an english speaking guide which was handy! They told us about their sister vineyard...´Casa Real´ which produces Singani...which is basically Ouzo....we had a spanish speaking guide here which was pretty interesting... but we got the gist of what he was saying....and then we tried it.....that is never good before midday...Han felt sick the rest of the day and I stupidly took a massive gulp...after our vineyard trip we had another Fillet Mignon and headed for the bus....which to our dismay was the same coach we got on at Villazon....little did we know that this journey to Tupiza would be worse and that Han would experience one wheel of the coach come off the road.....
Tupiza was a sizeable chunk of our trip and we stayed there 5 nights and booked our Salt Flat tour from there! We were staying in Hotel Mitru....pretty much the best place in town which had a pool and we had a really nice twin room for.....wait for it.....4 pound a night!!!! We basically just chilled out by the pool topping up the old tans!! It was pretty beaut! We got to know these 3 English guys who were on their GAP YAHSSSS and then 6 South African/Zim girls arrived which was pretty sweet!! We tested the local ´nightlife´there....nae ideal...2 karaoke bars one of which we got chucked out of at 11 and the other of which we tried what was meant to be the best shot of our lives...´the springbok´ (it wasnt) and then me and Han got serenaded by the owner...pretty weird....esp the part where we tried to do karaoke to Shakira in spanish....A couple of days later we did this ´triathlon´ thing where we did a jeep ride to ´penis valley´ in the morning, a 3 hour ´horse´ ride and then we got driven up this 17km long mountain pass where we had to jump out at the top and mountain bike back down....the day was awesome and we did it with the english guys and the SA girls so it was alot of fun....pretty sore at the end of the day mind.....We all had dinner together on the last night....and this is where we learnt never to put a time limit on how long Bolivians take to cook for 12 people.....it took about 2 hours for the food to come....as you probably guessed I was almost dying from starvation by the end..it was worth it though ´pique macho´or male itch was the plate of choice.....SERIOUSLY YUM.
SALT FLAT TOUR!!!!!!!!!!
We spent 3 days 4 nights on the Salt Flat Tour with the SA girls which was AMAZING....it involved driving round the Bolivian volcanoes....staying in pretty funny accommadation and seeing the most INCREDIBLE scenery you will ever see in your life. Bolivia is BEAUTIFUL and has so much varying scenery...we drove up into the mountains and onto the Altiplano where we went swimming in hot springs and went to see Lincancabur and Laguna Verde...which I have been told so much about...me and Breen were reeling with the geology! hahah the whole area was literally breathtaking! Probably some of the best 4 days of mine and Breens life! We had a really funny guide who when he spoke English...spoke in a gay accent...priceless!Han had a bit of a mare on the beginning of the tour as we were driving by really steep drops and she is REALLY scared of heights...i swapped seats with her but typically so did the side the drops were on....the food on the tour was EPIC some of the best food we have ever tasted!! That was a relief as we had been told that it was really dodge....we even had afternoon tea!! On our last night...the night before the we headed onto the actual salt flats we sacked off the tea had wine instead....you get pissed seriously quickly at altitude...especially when you start at 4.30.....LADETTES hahah. We were also staying in a hostel made of salt!! The loos....we will not discuss...picture hovering.. and special places to put your feet. The last day of the tour we went onto the salt flats which had a couple of inches of water on them so it just looked like this HUGE mirror...it was awesome! Even though there was water on them we still managed top get some pretty sweet perspective shots which you will see on faceyb soon enough!!! After the tour finished we headed up to La Paz to stay at WILD ROVER a hostel which is essentially just a massive irish bar!!
La Paz was a lot of fun....i don´t want to bore you...i probably did about 3 paragraphs ago...it basically involved buying lots of Bolivian goods for practically nothing, getting really pissed on the first night and being so hungover at altitude it was horrendous and having no memory....a riot in the city which meant we left and being woken up at 4am on the last night because the guy in our room was having sex.....OH MY GOD i am literally scarred for life. We realised some sort of riot was about to occur when we headed for lunch as this place called Olivers Travels....the barman said he was locking us in as the riots got dangerous and they had dynamite...that would explain the amount of riot police we saw the huge explosions me and han heard as we were walking to the place....It was safe to say we were leaving the next day. We then headed up to Lake Titicaca on the border with Peru and spent a couple of days there....on an island called Isla Del Sol which apprently was the birth place of the sun......not sure about that one....there wasnt much to do there so now we are in Peru!!! Updates in about 3 weeks me thinks?! hahah
brrrrappppppp xxxxxx
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
Friday, 4 February 2011
Argentina!!!!!!
Buenos Dias Everybody!
So this is the first post on our blog after almost two weeks away! The budget has been blown and we are coming home.....not really, but the budget is blown. Argentina is EXPENSIVO.
So our first stop on our travels was Buenos Aires! We were only there for a couple of days as it was quite like a lot of European cities so we decided our time would be better spent in other places.....plus the fact that we were staying in a WEIRD hostel with no air con, plastic matresses and people who NEVER left the hostel. The 3 days we were there we walked probably the equivalent of 2 marathons around the city in the blistering heat and felt like we were going to die....We saw a lot of the city by walking around which was good and our favourite place was ¨La Boca¨. It was this really cool area of the city where the Italian immigrants settled. It was a ship yard and they made all their houses out of zinc and wood and painted them amazingly bright colours with the left over paint from the ships. The buildings were all really bright and this seemed to be where most the street tango took place! After getting over some pretty hilarious language blunders we booked an overnight coach from BA up to Iguazu Falls!!
Our hostel in Iguazu was amazing...it was just out of the town and had a MASSIVE pool!! We decided to stay here for 4 nights, chill out and take advantage of the pool and visit the falls. There were 2 big power cuts when we were there that lasted about 10 hours each....nae ideal when we had just decided to buy food to cook ourselves to save money....We had to pay for their rubbish pizza party and then when the power went off again the next evening so we took the ¨all you can eat¨ literally to make up for our food that had gone bad. Whilst we were there we were sat outside when this huge thunderstorm happened....we took shelter and it lasted for absolutely ages!!
We went to the falls the day before we were due to leave Iguazu they were AMAZING!!!! Our first stop at the falls was the Devils Throat which was where 14 different wateralls converged. The power of the falls was incredible, there is absolutely no way anyone would survive going over it. We were told a story about when the falls first opened to tourists they used to take boats to the top of the Devils Throat and row as hard as they could in the opposite direction to stop boats going over...all in the name of a good view over the falls. Obviously the inevitable happened and a boat of germans went over....none survived. So now they have walkways....sounds a lot safe but there was one which had been completely destroyed by a flood on the river.
A couple of hours after we got there it started chucking it down....like you have NEVER seen before, it was proper rainforest styley!!! The raindrops were the size of 5 pence pieces and we got absolutely drenched....we tried to make a run for it but got even more drenched so we sheltered under a tree for a bit until it passed!! Then we went on a boat ride where they drove us under three different waterfalls so we got soaked again!! it was amazing though and so much fun!! The falls were the best thing on the trip so far and it will take a lot to beat them.
Our next stop was Salta....Which we will be leaving tonight. It is a little town in the north of Arg. It´s really pretty and quite small. So we have just been doing our usual and wandering around for the last couple of days. The hostel here is really nice....ran by a family that have a massive dog and a tortoise that I (Vix) almost tripped over this morning!!
Tonight we are off to Bolivia so we shall keep you updated of all our adventures up there!!
Adios
Vix and Han xx
So this is the first post on our blog after almost two weeks away! The budget has been blown and we are coming home.....not really, but the budget is blown. Argentina is EXPENSIVO.
So our first stop on our travels was Buenos Aires! We were only there for a couple of days as it was quite like a lot of European cities so we decided our time would be better spent in other places.....plus the fact that we were staying in a WEIRD hostel with no air con, plastic matresses and people who NEVER left the hostel. The 3 days we were there we walked probably the equivalent of 2 marathons around the city in the blistering heat and felt like we were going to die....We saw a lot of the city by walking around which was good and our favourite place was ¨La Boca¨. It was this really cool area of the city where the Italian immigrants settled. It was a ship yard and they made all their houses out of zinc and wood and painted them amazingly bright colours with the left over paint from the ships. The buildings were all really bright and this seemed to be where most the street tango took place! After getting over some pretty hilarious language blunders we booked an overnight coach from BA up to Iguazu Falls!!
Our hostel in Iguazu was amazing...it was just out of the town and had a MASSIVE pool!! We decided to stay here for 4 nights, chill out and take advantage of the pool and visit the falls. There were 2 big power cuts when we were there that lasted about 10 hours each....nae ideal when we had just decided to buy food to cook ourselves to save money....We had to pay for their rubbish pizza party and then when the power went off again the next evening so we took the ¨all you can eat¨ literally to make up for our food that had gone bad. Whilst we were there we were sat outside when this huge thunderstorm happened....we took shelter and it lasted for absolutely ages!!
We went to the falls the day before we were due to leave Iguazu they were AMAZING!!!! Our first stop at the falls was the Devils Throat which was where 14 different wateralls converged. The power of the falls was incredible, there is absolutely no way anyone would survive going over it. We were told a story about when the falls first opened to tourists they used to take boats to the top of the Devils Throat and row as hard as they could in the opposite direction to stop boats going over...all in the name of a good view over the falls. Obviously the inevitable happened and a boat of germans went over....none survived. So now they have walkways....sounds a lot safe but there was one which had been completely destroyed by a flood on the river.
A couple of hours after we got there it started chucking it down....like you have NEVER seen before, it was proper rainforest styley!!! The raindrops were the size of 5 pence pieces and we got absolutely drenched....we tried to make a run for it but got even more drenched so we sheltered under a tree for a bit until it passed!! Then we went on a boat ride where they drove us under three different waterfalls so we got soaked again!! it was amazing though and so much fun!! The falls were the best thing on the trip so far and it will take a lot to beat them.
Our next stop was Salta....Which we will be leaving tonight. It is a little town in the north of Arg. It´s really pretty and quite small. So we have just been doing our usual and wandering around for the last couple of days. The hostel here is really nice....ran by a family that have a massive dog and a tortoise that I (Vix) almost tripped over this morning!!
Tonight we are off to Bolivia so we shall keep you updated of all our adventures up there!!
Adios
Vix and Han xx
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