Mendoza

Nothing really to report, just thought I would check in. So I have made my way from Cafayate to Mendoza. I haven't really done much here in the three days I have been here. I was forced to take a sleeping bus to get here because it was the only bus that ran between Tucaman and Mendoza at night. It was quite an experience. Seats that convert to completely horizontal beds, free wine and drinks, two full meals... all for only a 12 hour bus ride.

However, I ended up sleeping with my head too close to the window and arrived in Mendoza with a nasty sore throat. The following day it turned into a full blow sinus cold. Sinus Cold plus High Altitude Tour equals No Bueno. While I did get to see the highest mountain outside the Himalayas and a natural bridge crated by hot spring sediment, I think I broke my right ear. Upon returning from the tour my ear would not equalize with the ambient pressure no matter how hard I tried. Currently it is okay unless I tilt my head forward, then it feels like it is plugged with water. Hopefully it will fix itself?


I'm a sucker for sunrises


Sunrise with a vicuña


Snowmen? In South America?


Natural Bridge

Sorry, no pictures today. They are not worth the time it takes to upload them. I think I will be here for a couple more days. I am taking the day off to watch the Argentina game and let myself recover a little more. Then I may rent a bike and go visit some Bodegas... "say it with me now, BO-DE-GA". No, not that kind of Bodega, Bodegas are what they call wineries in Argentina, and Mendoza is wine city. I can visit more than six with less than 12 kms of biking.

I am a little ahead of schedule now so I have to make some additional plans on where to visit. But first I have to watch Argentina beat Mexico... cyas


Post Football Celebration

Beautiful Argentina

Well from my last update you should know I am in Argentina. I spent a couple days relaxing in Salta. I didn't accomplish much in Salta in the terms of a travelliing tourist, however, I did enjoy the ability to get proper coffee. I almost went mad having to drink the Nescafe instant crap in both Peru and Bolivia. So Salta is a quite cheap and beautiful city, full of friendly and beautiful people.


Salta From Above


Putting the God back in gaudy

Leaving Salta, Gerrome and I headed for Cachi, a little town three hours south of Salta. There I visited some unexcavated ruins. In otherwords a series of crumbled walls... not impressive at all. However, luckly that night was holiday for a guacho (cowboy), who was an important general in the war for Argentinian independance. The festival ws quite nice, filled with traditional northern dress and dancing.


North Argentina! C'mon and raise up.

The next day we left for Cafayate. This was my planned destination after Salta, but I'm glad I made the detour to Catchi. There is so much to do in Cafayate... too much to do! I went on a tour to two local wineries and a goat cheese factory...


¡Agentinians drink wine by the barrel!

Hiked to a river valley, but didn't have enough time to reach the waterfall...


You can touch but don't drink

And went on a valley tour/hike of various natural rock formations.


Devil's Throat

I still have some ruins I would like to visit, the largest and oldest in Argentina, and a tour of the local sand dunes on ATVs. I don't know if I'll have time for both though as I plan to leave tomorrow. I'm not sure where but I want to hit as many villages between Salta and Mendoza as possible.

After that I think it will be straight to Buenos Aires by July 9th. I turns out both the World Cup final and Argentina's Independance Day are on July 9th. I can only imagine the party in Argentina makes it to the finals... but with the way they have been playing it is not impossible. GO ARGENTINA!!!

Heaven and Hell

Well I suppose this entry is a little overdue but I have been travelling quite quickly over the last week and haven't had time to update. Well when we last left the adventures of Keith he had just bid ado to Nat who was going to northern Brazil to warm up. I decided to head to the colder south of Bolivia and visit both Potosi and Uyuni before entering Argentina. Arriving in Potosi at 6am I met Sharon, a native Vancouverite that has been in Australia for most of her life. Sharon and I decided that we were both going to the same hostel so we shared a cab. The hostel however was full and we were told we had to wait until 12 to get a room. At this time the foyer of the hostel was filling up quickly. Upon inquiring I learned that everyone was gathering to go on a Potosi mine tour that started in less than an hour. I first thought I would have to wait another day before I could go on a tour so this was perfect.

So, both Sharon and I signed up and were off to some of the worst working conditions I have ever seen. I ended up being in a group with a ragtag bunch of common-wealth travellers, Mickey and Locki (Aus), Matt, Bo, and Dave (Brit), and a couple Scots I can't recall the name of (no Nat, a journal wouldn't have helped. I forgot their names before I could write them). For some reason unknown to me, we dubbed ourselves, Team Flange. First stop, the dynamite and pop store. Yes, in Bolivia it is perfectly legal for anyone of any age to purchase a stick of dynamite, a fuse and blasting cap for a whopping $3 dollars. It was suggested that we buy some soft drinks and dynomite as gifts for the miners and maybe some additional charges for demonstrations.

Next stop, the market. I am not sure why we went to the market but I believe it was to find things to blow up. Our group decided to purchase a melon, seems pretty obvious, doesn't it. However, Bo, being the quick thinking person she is, purchased the coup de grace... for less than a dollar, Bo managed to get us a severed goats head. Sorry to all those that this disgusts.


Demolition Man

It was off to the mines. These mines have been worked for hundreds of years, since 1545. When the Spanish first discovered that silver was present in the mountain, the brought in African slaves to work the mines. However, the cold and the altitude proved detrimental to these miners as millions perished. Now, most miners work in cooperatives. Sharing the ore that is steadily removed form the mountain. Howeverr, as most of the silver has already been removed and the tin market has crashed since the introduction of plastics, the wage these miners make is minimal. The current average life span of a miner is around 40 years. Most death is related to inadequate ventilation and lung diseases. Inside the mines, temperatures range from freezing to 40 degrees centigrade.


Diggin' in the darkness.


Pushin' for a living.

That night, our guide, Pedro Negro (not to be confused with the other guide Pedro Blanco), took us out to a bar and quite empty discoteque. I did not drink as much as the others as I had to get up early to travel to Uyuni and the Salar.


Dave drinking the "black stuff".


More Team Flange

The next morning, slightly hung over, Sharon and I left Team Flange, who were heading north and boarder a bus for Uyuni. We arrived un Uyuani at night and booked a tour for the following morning. Walking up at 7am, well before any breakfast shop was open or any saine local was out, the two of us, along with Matt and Julie (Amer), Gerrome (Fre), and Danella (Bra) left to visit the Salar. The description of the Salar Tour will be mainly pictures as words cannot describe the beauty of Southern Bolivia, or I'm just too lazy.

Day One: The Salar de Uyuni
The salar is a giant salt flat that floods in the rainy season and is sparkling white in the dry. It and other, smaller salars in the region are remnant of an ancient lake that covered much of southern Bolivia.


Matt, Julie, Gerrome, Sharon, and I (right to left)


The fishless Isla de los Pescadores


I know it's cheaper to buy in bulk, but come on!?!


Come on in!


Sunset on Day 1

Day 2: Lakes, Lagoons, and Some Rocks.


Lunchtime Lake


Rocks I forgot the name of


Now, I'm no Lakeologist but...


Sunset anyone?

Day 3: The Lake Verde and other disappointments.


Green my ass!!!


And me without my bathing suit


This is gonna get kinda weird... Two dragons!


By the power of Greyskull...

Well I have a lot more pictures but this is taking quite the amount of time. So there you go. From the Hellish mines of Potosi to the Heavenly scenery of southern Bolivia. Oh, and Ryan, the jumping technique went over big. My pictures didn't come out to well but your became a hero of the group.

Currently I am in Salta, a town in northeast Argentina. Being a completely modern little city it is a nice change from my last month and a half. Well off I go to explore... hasta luego.

WMDR

Do the Dew!

No, the WMDR is not Bush's new excuse for invading Iran (wacka wacka, sorry) it's the World's Most Dangerous Road. I actually didn't take any pictures of the trip because the tour agency, Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking, recommended not to carry our cameras. Besides they took photos for us and put them up on a website (password: photos). I was quite upset that I could not find a Mountain Dew bottle for photos.


Drinking what I assume is rubbing alcohol

So the road from La Cumbre (4,700m) to Coroico (1,100m) is used to access the Bolivian amazon basin. It gets its name from the number of accidents per year on it. Dirt road + one lane + two way traffic + shear cliffs = WMDR. The ride itself was quite excillerating. At the start the road is paved so you get to enjoy the beautiful scenery, however, once you get to the dirt section you are more concerned with dodging the big rocks and staying in control.


Watch that first step. It's a doosey

Besides being a great ride, the WMDR also has many interesting attractions. First there are two check-points constructed with American funding in an attempt to control the transport of cocaine into the amazon basin and into neighboring countries. Second, is the Martyrs of Democracy. It is the location where 5 members of a government party were thrown to their deaths because the ruling government believed thy might lose the election to these people.

Finally, there are the human traffic lights. Volunteers who speend the entire day standing on the roadside near blind corners. They hold giant red and green flags to signal the down traffic whether there is upcoming traffic (vehicles going up have the right of way). It was started by a man who lost both his wife and children when two busses collided around one of these corners. These people live of donations from truck drivers as well as tour agencies. I hope the donation by our agency was large.

And to top it off I did the WMDR with Murray Langdon. That's right folks, the same Murray Langdon that you fills your lunch hour with hard-hitting CH Vancouver Island news. Honestly, I have no idea who he was either but I think it's kinda neat... that's right I said neat.

So stealing pictures of that website is actually quite an effort. So if you want to see more go to the source. Next stop, Potosi and the mines...

Minotaur be shoppin'

So, I went shopping and but a bunch a crap. Well I'm sure some of it is crap. Anyhow, since I did not go crazy shopping I wanted to let you all know what I bought in case there is a mass demand for any of these items and you get left out when I return. Let me know ASAP because I only have Sunday to do any more shopping (tomorrow is the death road, baby). I am shipping things home on Monday and they will NOT be opened until I return. Also, none of these items cost more than $10! Toques are less than $2 when bought in mass. Click on the image to enlage it.


You can not STOP a Minotaur from shoppin'

Some of these items already have perspective recipients, however, let me know either way so no one gets left out. Also, it may reduce the regret of my return for some of you.

In other new, they were filming some football commercial or promo or something while I was shopping. Anyone famous? How the heck would I know, I can't even recognise Canuck players!?!


What kind of sport is that anyhow? Football? What is that five o's or two u's?

Welcome to the Jungle

So leaving the experiance that was Puno without spending a single second on Lake Titicaca, Val, Dympna, Nat, and I sent out across the Peruvian border to La Paz, Bolivia. John and Linsey returned to Cuzco to attempt a homestay at a local's farm for a week, helping out with the potato harvest and teaching the children. Trevor, Alisha, and Dave departed to Copacabana, no... not the hottest spot north of Havana, a Bolivian town on Lake Titicaca from which you visit the Island of the Sun. Although wishing to do this myself, lost days pooing in Puno (sorry) meant that in order no to fall behind my schedual too much I had to skip this journey.

Last night out with my Peruvian crew

In La Paz I again said good-bye to more travel compatriates, as Val and Dympna headed off to volunteer at a wildlife refuge near Cochabamba. Nat, who originally planned to head down to the Salar decided that a trip to the jungle seemed more apealing. So Nat and I booked a airline ticket to Rurrenabaque. Yes, it IS possible to take the bus there the trip is apparently horrendous and 16 times longer than the plan ride. And, although we didn't have the pleasure, appearently, Amaszonas airlines also employs dragons!!


Space or Regular Dragon... you decide!


The view from above


Concrete landing stips are for wussies!

Arriving in Rurren, we went about planning out adventures. First we went to book our nature and wildlife tour. We decided upon a agency recommended in the Guide Book as very environmentally conscious with a more remote camp than the competition. So off we went with two fellow travellers into the steamy, dangerous jungle.

Well, not really the jungle, the pampas. I could have gone to the jungle but since the jungle is so very... ummm... jungley, it is next to impossible to see any animals because of all the junglosity. The pampas, however, are open flood plains with much fewer trees and thus animals are much easier to spot.


Jeeps and boats

After a three hour jeep ride to the river, the six of us, Nat, Danielle (retired social worker?), Walter (retired theoretical physicist), Hector (the guide), Maria (the cook), and I, got into a canoe for a five hour trip to the encampment. Not even thirty minutes into the trip I had seen numerous alligators and caimens, turtles lined up and logs sunning themselves, and pink river dolphins. At one point, after hearing something, Hector pulled the boat along the river bank by a group of dense bushing. After letting out a few called that sounded like kisses the bushes spang forth with activity. No less then 20 squirrel monkeys appeared along the river bank and jumped onto out boat.


Boats are the new barrels... Lord Baboon commands it.

Five hours later we arrived at what would be our home for the next two nights. While I expected that we would be staying in an encampment surrounded by raw nature at its naturey naturosity, we actally stayed on a cattle ranch shared by mutliple local families. So all in all, the extra money I payed seemed kinda pointless. While there were no loud camps nearby to scare off the animals, there were barbed wire fences surrounding the entire ranch. This, I believe, lead to a very boring nature walk the following morning. Especially since the Walter and Danielle opted out of taking horses... old coots! The most impressive time was the time spent on the water. All in all I saw hundreds of alligators and camians (of all various sizes), turtles, toads, frogs, birds of all type (including parrots, hawks, eagles, vultures, etc. ), capybaras (the world's largest rodent), squirrel monkeys, howler monkeys (wish I had a tape recorder... just freaky), a capuccino monkey, and others I'm sure I am fogetting. I also fished parrahnas (sp?). All in all it was enjoyable... I'm just not sure if the cheaper "party camps" would have been just as good.


I am so hardcore


Sunrise on the ranch... damn roosters!!


Helping out the local wildlife


Nesting storks... or herons or some big bird


Returning to Rurren

Well now I believe I will be heading off to Potosi within a few days. First I want to do some shopping and tackle the death rode (EXTREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEME!!!!!).


My $4 dollar shave and haircut

Until next time, same blog time, same blog channel........