Altitude Record

So yesterday we broke our altitude record again. Took a day trip to 'Chacaltay'(spelling?). Started the day in La Paz (3600m, highest capitol city in the world) then drove up out of the crater to reach El Alto (4000m). Now...this translates to 'The High'. We contiued driving until we reached 5300m...looking a long way down on The High!}! A short walk to the top and our record of 5444m was set. So...little...oxygen.
We're heading out to Tihuanico ruins tomorrow near Lake Titicaca, massive remains of a pre-Inca civilisation. That'll tie us over til new years when we head off south to the mines of Potosi (refered to generally as 'Hell') and then the salt flats of Uyuni!

Wishing you all a Happy New Year,
Steven.

Mas photos

More photos of the amazon for your viewing pleasure.

Everything here can kill you (but it probably won't)

We are back, now, in La Paz, after our week in and around Rurrenabaque ('Rurre'). It's a pretty little town on the banks of the Beni River, a major tributary of what will eventually become the mighty Amazon. We initially went upriver by boat to Chalalan EcoLodge, a journey of some 6 or 7 hours (we have no real method of measuring the time) by canoe, dodging floating logs and other debris unleashed by the recent rains.
The set-up there is fantastic - a number of small, palmwood cabins built on the edge of a beautiful, expansive lagoon (which despite the presence of cayman, was perfectly safe for swimming, and very refreshing at that). The entire place is owned and run by the local village, so all profits stay not only in Bolivia but within the Chalalan community. While there we saw many monkeys, insects (especially mosquitos), amazing plants, boa constrictors, tarantulas and wild pigs - which are apparently the most dangerous animal in the jungle.

After leaving Chalalan we then headed into the Pampas, the extensive swamp and grasslands bordering the jungle's edge. Here we saw many fantastic birds and animals, most intriguingly the Pink River Dolphin, which is as advertised pink, and lives in the river. Best of all, we were able to swim with them on christmas morning, right before going piraña fishing a few hundred metres down stream! Apparently the presence of the dolphins keeps the alligators at bay while you swim, though this didn't reassure the two french girls we were there with. We went on an extensive, exhausting hike in sweltering conditions looking for anaconda on boxing day, but I guess the blighters had a big night previous and were laying in - we didn't see a one.

Two more things - nobody is allowed to complain about the heat, humidity or quality of Autralian Air Travel ever again.
So much nausea.

chao

P.S will attempt to add more images as a gallery - have to sort them a bit though.
P.P.S. there was 3 awesome kittens at our Pampas lodged. Their epic battles across the dining room will not soon be forgotten.

La Amazon

Rimaykullayki,
We´ve just finished our stay in Chalalan Ecolodge, Madidi National Park, Amazon Rainforest, we enjoyed it so much we are now going to stay here and do another tour in the Pampas for an additional 3 days before returning to La Paz on the 28th of December, assuming our flight isn´t substantially delayed.

When we return we will post more detailed information about our time in Madidi along with photos. We hope everyone back home has a very Merry Christmas while we munch on caiman and wrestle anacondas on the same day.

P.S we swam with caiman and pihranas ;)

Death Road.

We were feeling suicidal so we rode down the infamous Bolivian Death Road.
Was a blast. We have photos (though not many, being as we were too busy hurtling to our deaths) but they are taking way too long to upload, so maybe later.

La Paz is a fantastic city - we've spent hours cruisng the Markado Negro (Black Market). Haven't found any rocket launchers or stem cells for sale, but tons of clothes and dvds etc.

We leave for the jungle tomorrow.

We´re in La Paz already!? I don´t Bolivia

Yesterday we left Puno on our 22 nuevo sole bus (which wasn´t all that bad actually.) and drove over the border to Bolivia, the crossing was no hassles thankfully.

Ok so we got to the ferry crossing that we were unsure of whether we´d actually have to do or not, it involved getting the bus from one side of a Titicaca channel to the other. We all got offloaded onto a pint-sized little boating number with about as many life jackets to allow for one between every three skeptical persons. We then witness the bus being driven onto something that can no better be described as a preschool paddlepop stick craft class creation before being shipped in an edge-of-your-seat manner across the channel. This raft (and it was a raft because on atleast one occassion someone manouvered it with a large stick) was bearly wider and minimally longer than the bus it bore and genuinly looked asthough it was about to tip over at one point. Photo credit goes to robert.



La Paz is fantastic, soooo many pirate dvd shops, the hostel we found here is the best yet so everything is running smoothly in the worlds highest capitol city for now. More detailed posts regarding La Paz are sure to ensue, stay tuned.

Lake Titticacca

We went out on a trip around Lake Titticaca today. It is fairly spectacular - nearly 4000 metres above sea level and stretching off beyond the horizon. We went out to two sets of islands - one which was home to a culture apparently completely dominated by weaving, knitting, dancing, and combinations thereof, and the other... well, the other was the Floating Isles of Uros. These are artificial islands created in the middle of the lake thousands of years ago and constantly replenished, constructed entirely of local reeds. The islands are made of reeds, the houses are made of reeds, the people eat the reeds and burn them for warmth and cooking. It is an astonishing way of life and apparently remnants of a culture which predates the incas by centuries. Anyway, some pics.

We leave for Bolivia on the morrow.