Into higher altitudes
Door: Hugh
26 Februari 2015 | Peru, Puno
So here we are in La Paz. The city takes your breath away. Literally. Despite seven days travelling at the high altitudes in the Atacama desert and the Altiplano of South West Bolivia, the thin air makes walking a struggle. Tthe city centre lies in a valley with the rest of the city sprawling for what must be a thousand metres up the sides of the surrounding mountains that surrond it. In other words, you don´t wallk in the city, you climb it, stopping for breath every ten paces or so. It´s not a really attractrive city, but it is fascinating. We arrived at five in the morning and the streets were already buzzing. After a short nap to recover we went out and found that about twelve blocks around the hostel were one big market, with women (it was almost always women) selling everything from electric shavers to eggs and fish to fertility charms. Over time we discovered that this is what the city is about. Nearly everyone seems to be selling something, even it it´s just a handful of bananas, in order to earn something. Most of them are out on the street from around five in the morning until late at night. Meanwhile the traffic chaos swirls around them. And chaos it is. The street are constantly jammed with the thousands of small vans and just as many taxis that make up the remarkably effective public transport system. Becuase of the volume of traffic it can take a while to get somewhere, but you only have to stick up your hand and a bus will appear and it only costs a few cents. The city also has a cable car system, although it is not as large as it claims. The map shows seven lines but when we took the yellow line which is supposed join the green line, we were told that it and three other lines were more a figment of the government´s imagination than an actual service. Some day maybe. In contrast to the locals who take it for granted to judge from their reactions , the three lines that do offer a spectacular view of the city from the summits on the two sides as well as an inisght into the weather - in the course of the ten-minute ascent on the ellow line, we started in bright sunshine, passed through clouds that had suddenly appeared, arrived in thick mist at the summit, only for it to disappear for the sun two minutes later. Another nice aspect of the city is that is it littered with nice parks and squares for the much needed rests. I don´t know what it is about the South Americans and military history, but just about every one of the parks is dedicated to a former general. Ironically, the nicest park contains an enormous monument dedicated to the guy who was in charge when Chile defeated Bolivia in a war and seized the small bit of coastline that Bolivia possessed. Just what Chile needed, more coastline.Apart from a few swmall museums La Paz has little to offer, so we were glad only to be staying a few days. What it seriously lacks is proper hostels. They are really hotels with individual rooms so there is very little contact with the other visitors.
In the meantime, we had travelled up from Argentina via the Atacama desert and south-west Bolivia, two of the definite high points of the trip. San Pedro de Atacama is the centre for touring the desert and is a lovely laid-back town with absolutely nothing to distract you from exploring wilderness. It is possible to hire a car and do it yourself, but we heard a number of hairy stories abut how it had wrong for people. All the operators sell the same tours and Fionnuala thought it was a nice idea to get up at three in the morning to visit the geysers. I took another tour and ran into Boris. What are the chances that you actually know one of the three Dutch people you encounter in the entire continent of South America? In general the tours were great, discovering magical rock formations, gorgeous lagoons and stunning scenery- Fionnualas photos say more than I can describe. One mistake we made was to take a full-day tour of the Chilean section of the Altiplano. Seven hours to get to not one but two lagoons with flamingos and nothing else. The problem was we left the next day for a three day trip from San Pedro to Yuyuni in Bolivia. On the firstr day we visited, you guessed it, two lagoons with flamingos. At the end of the day we stopped for the night at a hostel conveniently located for san hour long visit to... a lake with flamingos. Now I´ve nothing against these lovely creatures, but this seemed a bit like overkill. The second day was fairly similar with the exception of a stop at a stunning site with hundreds of kilometres of volcanic rock formations. The centrepiece of the trip came at the end when we arrived at the salt flats in Yuyuni, which stretch hundreds of kilometres and totally defy your sense of perspective. Our 4x4 broke down - for the second time on the trip and the two others in the convoy abandoned us to our fate. Our driver didn´t have the phone numbers of the other two who said later they did start to get worried but assumed everything would turn out well. It did, but only because a driver from another company stopped and arranged for a replacement jeep since our driver kept getting voicemail and was unable to contact his office. This was actually a lucky break becuase the new driver was the best guide we have had and was keen to display his photogrpahic skills, as also shown in the photos.The salt flats made for an unforgettable experience. Later, we advised everyone travelling south to do the trip from San Pedro to Yuyuni, because in the opposite direction everything after the first few hours would be an anti-climax. Then it was straight on to La Paz in a nightmare of a bus journey - ten hours through the night, the first five on bumpy unpaved roads. It was actually the first bad bus ride we have had. We´re now in Puno and will spend a night in a home stay with a family on one of the islands, before heading for Cusco to prepare for a trip to Macchu Piccu.
What we´ve learned so far.
1. Staying in hostels is far better than in hotels, which are far too impersonal.
2. Don´t believe a word tour operators say. Insist on a minute by minute description of what a trip involves. We´ve been sold some real dogs that were a total waste of money.
3. Lonely Planet is right a lot of the time, but not always. We just had an awful meal in a place it recommends.
4. Long live the EU. Borders were created with the sole purpose of driving travellers to distraction and creating work for bored yobs who like wearing a uniform. One border crossing led to an incident that was not recorded by F´s camera - for obvious reasons. Crossing from Argentina to Chile took three and a half hours. It took nearlyan hour to pass through Argenine border control and then there was a 45 kilometre drive through no man´s land beforer reaching the Chilean border. Here there was a 90 minute tail back as every car, truck and passenger was searched by officals of the agriculture ministry to prevent the import of live animals or raw fruit and vegetables. All the bags were taken off the bus and scrutinised by sniffer dogs, which then inspected the carry-on bags. They picked out Fionnuala´s, so she was pulled aside and her bag was ransacked. Luckily I´d told her to get rid of the apples, and they ignored the cocaine. The upshot was that what was supposed to be a three hour journey finally took over seven hours and we arrived in Puerto Montte at eleven at night. The directions to the hotel simply said go south from the bus station. You cvan imnagine the blank stres we got when we asked someone which way was south. We set off for what looked like the centre of an absolutely horrible town and were advised to take a left turn. Imagine our surprise when at the next corner we foubnd ourselves surrounded by a group of six prostitutes, including a 6 foor 4 transvestite, inquiring what we might be looking for. As we made our apologies for disturbing them, a man (the pimp?) came running up carying a box. It appeared to contain chocolate or biscuits, and he demanded that we buy some of his wares. Politely claiming a prior appointment, we walked briskly away. He followed, casting a torrent of abuse at us, but he gave up the pursuit when we reached the main street and stopped two men to ask for directions. The end of the stroy is that we eventually found a bank, withdrew money (a miracle as you will know if you have been following the narrative) and immediately hailed a taxi. The driver brought us to the hotel, which had meanwhile given away our room. After ten minutes of argument, the receptionist offered to call and see if there was a room somewhere else it being midnight by now. After another ten minutes of chatting and giggling with the person at the other end she put down the phone and calmly said she did, after all, have a room free. The final straw was that when we rose after what probably amounted to two hours sleep, we found ourselves directy opposite and just 50 metres from the bus station. This long story was merely intended to explain why hell will freeze over before either of us ever visits Puerto Montt again and why amidst the thousands of photos of pretty red flamingos, there is not a single one of a six foot four transvestite prostitute.
In the meantime, we had travelled up from Argentina via the Atacama desert and south-west Bolivia, two of the definite high points of the trip. San Pedro de Atacama is the centre for touring the desert and is a lovely laid-back town with absolutely nothing to distract you from exploring wilderness. It is possible to hire a car and do it yourself, but we heard a number of hairy stories abut how it had wrong for people. All the operators sell the same tours and Fionnuala thought it was a nice idea to get up at three in the morning to visit the geysers. I took another tour and ran into Boris. What are the chances that you actually know one of the three Dutch people you encounter in the entire continent of South America? In general the tours were great, discovering magical rock formations, gorgeous lagoons and stunning scenery- Fionnualas photos say more than I can describe. One mistake we made was to take a full-day tour of the Chilean section of the Altiplano. Seven hours to get to not one but two lagoons with flamingos and nothing else. The problem was we left the next day for a three day trip from San Pedro to Yuyuni in Bolivia. On the firstr day we visited, you guessed it, two lagoons with flamingos. At the end of the day we stopped for the night at a hostel conveniently located for san hour long visit to... a lake with flamingos. Now I´ve nothing against these lovely creatures, but this seemed a bit like overkill. The second day was fairly similar with the exception of a stop at a stunning site with hundreds of kilometres of volcanic rock formations. The centrepiece of the trip came at the end when we arrived at the salt flats in Yuyuni, which stretch hundreds of kilometres and totally defy your sense of perspective. Our 4x4 broke down - for the second time on the trip and the two others in the convoy abandoned us to our fate. Our driver didn´t have the phone numbers of the other two who said later they did start to get worried but assumed everything would turn out well. It did, but only because a driver from another company stopped and arranged for a replacement jeep since our driver kept getting voicemail and was unable to contact his office. This was actually a lucky break becuase the new driver was the best guide we have had and was keen to display his photogrpahic skills, as also shown in the photos.The salt flats made for an unforgettable experience. Later, we advised everyone travelling south to do the trip from San Pedro to Yuyuni, because in the opposite direction everything after the first few hours would be an anti-climax. Then it was straight on to La Paz in a nightmare of a bus journey - ten hours through the night, the first five on bumpy unpaved roads. It was actually the first bad bus ride we have had. We´re now in Puno and will spend a night in a home stay with a family on one of the islands, before heading for Cusco to prepare for a trip to Macchu Piccu.
What we´ve learned so far.
1. Staying in hostels is far better than in hotels, which are far too impersonal.
2. Don´t believe a word tour operators say. Insist on a minute by minute description of what a trip involves. We´ve been sold some real dogs that were a total waste of money.
3. Lonely Planet is right a lot of the time, but not always. We just had an awful meal in a place it recommends.
4. Long live the EU. Borders were created with the sole purpose of driving travellers to distraction and creating work for bored yobs who like wearing a uniform. One border crossing led to an incident that was not recorded by F´s camera - for obvious reasons. Crossing from Argentina to Chile took three and a half hours. It took nearlyan hour to pass through Argenine border control and then there was a 45 kilometre drive through no man´s land beforer reaching the Chilean border. Here there was a 90 minute tail back as every car, truck and passenger was searched by officals of the agriculture ministry to prevent the import of live animals or raw fruit and vegetables. All the bags were taken off the bus and scrutinised by sniffer dogs, which then inspected the carry-on bags. They picked out Fionnuala´s, so she was pulled aside and her bag was ransacked. Luckily I´d told her to get rid of the apples, and they ignored the cocaine. The upshot was that what was supposed to be a three hour journey finally took over seven hours and we arrived in Puerto Montte at eleven at night. The directions to the hotel simply said go south from the bus station. You cvan imnagine the blank stres we got when we asked someone which way was south. We set off for what looked like the centre of an absolutely horrible town and were advised to take a left turn. Imagine our surprise when at the next corner we foubnd ourselves surrounded by a group of six prostitutes, including a 6 foor 4 transvestite, inquiring what we might be looking for. As we made our apologies for disturbing them, a man (the pimp?) came running up carying a box. It appeared to contain chocolate or biscuits, and he demanded that we buy some of his wares. Politely claiming a prior appointment, we walked briskly away. He followed, casting a torrent of abuse at us, but he gave up the pursuit when we reached the main street and stopped two men to ask for directions. The end of the stroy is that we eventually found a bank, withdrew money (a miracle as you will know if you have been following the narrative) and immediately hailed a taxi. The driver brought us to the hotel, which had meanwhile given away our room. After ten minutes of argument, the receptionist offered to call and see if there was a room somewhere else it being midnight by now. After another ten minutes of chatting and giggling with the person at the other end she put down the phone and calmly said she did, after all, have a room free. The final straw was that when we rose after what probably amounted to two hours sleep, we found ourselves directy opposite and just 50 metres from the bus station. This long story was merely intended to explain why hell will freeze over before either of us ever visits Puerto Montt again and why amidst the thousands of photos of pretty red flamingos, there is not a single one of a six foot four transvestite prostitute.
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley