Um...ouch?
28 December 2010
THE FURRY, FEATHERY AND THE WOOLEY...
And then...I spot a Llama farmer in the distance, LLAMA'S!!!!
SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA DESERT - CHILE...Breakdowns and Blow-Outs...
We again took another 20 hr bus ride across the Andes to a remote yet thriving dusty little town called San Pedro. The ride freaked me out somewhat as Russ and I chose to sit at the front of the upstairs double decker, the coach screamed to a halt, moments before a truck came onto our side of the road and then flipped rolling off the embankment, the man was dead, it was the most eerie feeling and very sad, this happens quite often apparently. Besides being over 3500m and havig major altitude sickness San Pedro was awesome. We took a tour to go sandboarding (see pic below looking like a complete douche!) and climbed a mountain at the Valley De Lunar to watch the sunset with a whisky sour in hand, incredible...
With copious amounts of research we went with a company with the least complaints to take a 3 day tour 4x4 across the Salar. I noticed prior to getting into our so called 'safe' 4by that 2 tyres were completely bald...he eh, wouldn't it be that within half a day the back tyre blew out, followed by a breakdown, another tyre blow out, the driver had no phone or radio, we relied on a bike pump and passers by (not too many in the desert!) with spares (as we didn't have any!) a breakdown and finally the car just died...
Besides the 'dramas', the salt lakes, hot springs and geyser's of the Salar were unbelieveable...
Besides the 'dramas', the salt lakes, hot springs and geyser's of the Salar were unbelieveable...
100 HOURS OF BUS COUNTRY - IGUAZU FALLS, SALTA - ARGENTINA AND CIUDAD DEL ESTE - PARAGUAY...
We took a 20 hr bus ride to Iguazu Falls - Nth Argentina, the diesel fumes were a killer, happy we both woke up after a nights sleep!
Iguazu Falls was incredible, the sheer power of this thundering natural wonder was definate cause for an earthly moment of appreciation. I still have not yet seen a Llama...
Puerto Iguaza (the small town) was hippiesqe, Argentina's answer to Byron Bay, the locals loved doing laps in their barely drivable rust buckets, seriously one guy lapped us 17 times with 'come on barbie, lets go party' on repeat!
Oh and yeah - did a day trip to Ciudad Del Este - Paraguay, known for its 'black' market, basically a dangerous giant Paddy's markets full of electronics, we bought a laptop and fled back accross the border...
We then took another 24 hr bus ride to Tucaman and a final 5 hr bus ride to Salta, an inland city with not much going on other than the town's pride and joy Gondola ride to view the city, so with nothing else to do...we took it. Needed to shake off some of the DVT from the hours spent sitting down on the bus...I take back the years spent whining about our transport system, its a walk in the park in comparison. The one thing Salta did have to offer was the most random vintage shop I have ever seen, on the top of the mountain at the Gondala, this little gem was incredible, leather coats, boots, vintage silver jewellery AMAZING! The prices were also, nothing was affordable so I left empty handed and very devastated...
Iguazu Falls was incredible, the sheer power of this thundering natural wonder was definate cause for an earthly moment of appreciation. I still have not yet seen a Llama...
Puerto Iguaza (the small town) was hippiesqe, Argentina's answer to Byron Bay, the locals loved doing laps in their barely drivable rust buckets, seriously one guy lapped us 17 times with 'come on barbie, lets go party' on repeat!
Oh and yeah - did a day trip to Ciudad Del Este - Paraguay, known for its 'black' market, basically a dangerous giant Paddy's markets full of electronics, we bought a laptop and fled back accross the border...
We then took another 24 hr bus ride to Tucaman and a final 5 hr bus ride to Salta, an inland city with not much going on other than the town's pride and joy Gondola ride to view the city, so with nothing else to do...we took it. Needed to shake off some of the DVT from the hours spent sitting down on the bus...I take back the years spent whining about our transport system, its a walk in the park in comparison. The one thing Salta did have to offer was the most random vintage shop I have ever seen, on the top of the mountain at the Gondala, this little gem was incredible, leather coats, boots, vintage silver jewellery AMAZING! The prices were also, nothing was affordable so I left empty handed and very devastated...
BUENOS AIRES - ARGENTINA...City Sutra.
First stop - Buenos Aires...a city just like any other city i.e. physcologically disturbed steet people, bums, rip off taxi drivers, our first impression was mixed. We were thankful to the family who helped us with the menu on our first night, evident that Spanish lessons probably would have been an idea back at home, we pulled tables together shared food and broke bread - this would never happen in a million years with total strangers at home! There was a hell of a lot of garbage on the sidewalks, the few less fortunate would tear open garbage bags, make a bigger mess and collect cardboard for which they could recycle for cash. We stayed at Tango & Bandonean...which was, interesting. The worlds smallest blonde Argentinian old lady named Rosa (equipped with fluffy slippers and rollers in hair) answered the door, spoke no word of engligh and held 50 sets of keys, heavier than her hands could handle.The hostel smelt strangly like Ma's old house (my gran who once had a 50's style Avalon house...very cool), we felt like we were in someones home, this was great until we had our 'big night' out...courtesy of a visit from Tom and Chris Morgan (the Morgo's, Russ mates from home, no relation fyi)...
We really got this one out of our system, the night resulted in 'letting ourselves in' to a local carnival park, thinking we had the place to ourselves, made the most out of the merry-go-round, spell house, donkey rides etc, I thought it was a great idea to get some electical power happenin, brighten the place up so I poked my head into a ticket box where I startled a sleeping worker, we were chased out abruptly! We then proceded to head to parliment house for a game of handball doubles and climb some city statues until the sun came up and we went back to the hostel, we were like naughty kids, dragging ourselves in at 9am, the hostel people were a little suss at our antics...honestly the best night I've has in ages!
Overlooking the rubbish there are beautiful parts of Buenos Aires; San Telmo Antiques disctict, La Boca for its coloured houses and Palermo - Surry Hills style bars and restaurants...
We really got this one out of our system, the night resulted in 'letting ourselves in' to a local carnival park, thinking we had the place to ourselves, made the most out of the merry-go-round, spell house, donkey rides etc, I thought it was a great idea to get some electical power happenin, brighten the place up so I poked my head into a ticket box where I startled a sleeping worker, we were chased out abruptly! We then proceded to head to parliment house for a game of handball doubles and climb some city statues until the sun came up and we went back to the hostel, we were like naughty kids, dragging ourselves in at 9am, the hostel people were a little suss at our antics...honestly the best night I've has in ages!
Overlooking the rubbish there are beautiful parts of Buenos Aires; San Telmo Antiques disctict, La Boca for its coloured houses and Palermo - Surry Hills style bars and restaurants...
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