Adventures in Peru

i took the over night/12 hour bus from la paz to uyuni for a salt flat tour. just off the bus i met some austrailians to tour with. signed up for the three day south-west tour of bolivia.

i saw a train graveyard,

the worlds highest salt flat/dried up salt lake,

a desert island in the salt flat,

an algae cave in the desert,

a random volcanic rock formations,

including the rock tree,

flamingo lake,

red lagoon,

geysers,

hot springs (with ice puddles around it),
green lagoon,

and more random rock formations.

i spent two nights in the freezing cold desert.

returned back to la paz on an overnight bus.

i have never been in a place were the terrain can change every 5 minutes. solid rock, sand, dirt, salt, oasis.

bus from la paz to uyuni
departure date: nov 24

I survived ‘Death Road’ - the worlds most dangerous road.

I bussed away from the hostel to an altitude close to 4800m.a.s.l. that is the point the of starting. the trip is 65km and descends down to an altitude just over 1100m.a.s.l. 5km up hill, the rest down. the first 20km were on a paved, in-use, multi-lane road, with a speed limit of 35km/h. that part of the trip was to get used to the bikes, get a feel for speed, steering, breaking. one girl, from a different tour company smoked the side-view mirror of an oncoming truck. we had been very specifically told ‘this is a highway, in used by hundreds of cars every day, stay in the right lane.’ she crossed over to the other lane on a blind corner. 20km in we started on the gravel/dirt.

the start of death road. largely out of use since there is a quicker, safer, paved way now. lots of mountain bike support vehicles drive the road everyday. on the way down i passed one car coming up, he presumably lives in one of the few houses beside the road; one of the banana farms.

the road trip was amazing. rivers crossed of the road. waterfalls beside the road. one waterfall went (mostly) over the road. another waterfall landed across the road and needed to be driven through. death road started out misty and cleared up. then it started to get hot, i burnt my nose and cheeks a little. skies cleared, then it rained for 10 minutes, cleared again. we finished the ride and went to a hotel at the end of the road for showers and food. then it started pouring. the full 65km ride, with stops, took about 5 hours to complete.

on the 3 hour bus ride back to my hostel the rain didn’t stop, but turned to snow as we reached the higher altitudes, and back to rain when entering la paz. it was a great day, but 2 days later and my ass is still sore. 5 hours on a bumpy bike ride is a real pounding.

i am on day six of sickness. i have been largely bed bound. my last hostel didn’t have tv or anything, so i stared at the ceiling. my new hostel, here in la paz, has comfy couches in the dvd room. i do not like watching 6 hours of tv in a day, but it hurts to walk; hurts to sit for too long; reading makes me dizzy; my throat is sore so i can not talk for to long.

hopefully i get better soon. i have to ride a bike down the most dangerous road in the world, and visit the great salt flats.

train from cusco to puno
departure date: nov 7

bus from puno to la paz
departure date: nov 12

in the last hour people have found out that it is my last night.
i have double shots of vodka and johnny walker, and a johnny walker cacao mix (on top of the all you can drink vodka,) -and the beer i was given from the restarunt next door.
the free ‘the point’ shirt is the best reminder of peru i have yet. by free i mean 9 weeks at s/. 24 per night plus s/. 10-20 per night on alcohol. (the most expensive artical of clothing i own.)
in the last 48 hours i have had more beer, wiskey and rum than i have had in the rest of my life. i have grown a fondness to corona on a hot afternoon (expecially with lime,) and shots of wiskey. i still do not understand rum.

last night i went to the oddest ’snack bar,’ coco loco. it is a massive 3 story shop. ground floor was narrow, most of it taken up by the kitchen and staircase. a giant menuboard listed everything and had the price of s/. ‘.0′ beside it. up the stairs was a room labled ‘cocoloco pizzaria’ with tables and chairs. next the the washrooms on that floor level was a room filled with couches, ‘cocoloco lounge.’ the stairs to the top floor had a sign hanging above, ‘cocoloco hamburguesa.’
not that the mood is set, the food arrives (before our drinks.) with the food, fries and a chicken sandwich, comes sauces galore. i wasn’t paying much attention when he put down the first 3, but then i heard him say mustard with the fourth, mayo with the fifth, ketchup with the sixth, and aji with the seventh and last. 7 sauces. 3 common in canada, aji is the homemade local version of a chilly sauce (similar to the one you would find in coby’s fridge.) the mistery three can only be discribed as green, pink, and christmas. christmas is a white sauce with red and green chucks in it; green in a light green with green chunks; pink is a pale pink. pink was flavourless, to me. green tasted like a milk bassed thing filled with familiar spices that i could not name. christmas was yogurty and made me grimace.
the drinks are, coffee with milk and iced tea. the iced tea is unsweetened, but good. the coffee is a mug of hot water, a package of instant coffee and a shot of milk. you have to make your own instant coffee.

in the last 24hours i have had my last hoodie stolen (from off my bed), s/.200 stolen (from my locker) and puchased the worst hoodie of my life. i bought a hoodie that says ‘cocksuckerman.’ it was a total mistake. i was desperate to find a peruvian hoodie. i didn’t want an international skate brand. i bought the first one that i could find. it looks, at first glance, like a ’superman’ shirt; instead of the superman ’s’ there is a beer glass. above the beer glass is ‘CHUPERMAN’ - a double entendre. in spanish the verb chupar can mean ‘to inhale’ - cigarets - ‘to guzzle’ - a beverage - and ‘to suck. the shirt can be taken to mean ‘guzzlerman’ because of the beer logo, but all the natives know that it says cocksucker. worst 24 hours of my trip to date.

halloween was a spectical of its own. i played the cardboard/tinfoil robot.
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in the evening i met peruvian woman, the irish devil, 80’s groupy, frankensteins bride, a big smile, builder bob, showgirl, scare clown, hunter s. thompson and many many more.

drinking openly in the streets with 3 peruvian woman, gi joe and the death of free speech. people looked, laughed, took pictures of the crazing gringos. it made me think that new years is only going to be bigger and better.