4th South American Email - 23.05.05

i love mozzies (03.05.05 - 22.05.05)

hey guys,

apologies for this rather long and dour email... but need to get it out as have sooo much news.

so where were we? ahhh yes, the magical city of cusco...

after the heavy monday night that concluded my previous email, we settled down on tuesday to some admin and bascially sorted out the rest of our trip (that incidentally has taken a slight detour from our original itinery).

the next day saw us take in some ancient inca ruins on horseback - a short learning... always wear underwear when attempting to ride a horse (bear in mind, i can only speak from a boy´s point of view... because i am a boy... apparently). ruins were cool. went out that night (minus steve - who was in macchu picchu)... for details of the night please refer to previous email re night out in cusco (please also remember to blank out the parts that mention steve... because he was in macch picchu). the next day, after a suitably chilled day of hangover-wandering around cusco, we daparted for puno and the fabled lake titicaca on the peruvian-bolivian border.

we arrived in puno at about 4.30am. tried to have breakfast (it didn´t happen) and headed to the harbour at about 6am to catch a fisherman´s boat to the floating reed islands inhabited by fake indian robots pretending to be the real thing... it really was that commercially bad... we departed soon after and headed for the bolivian border.

after successfully negotiating the border post, where we picked up a lone saffer chick from stellenbosch, we headed to the 16th century miracle town called copacabana (please don´t confuse this with it´s rio namesake - they are as different from each other as say... spurs is from arsenal... spurs being the rio version). copacabana is the bolivian version of lake titicaca.

we struggled up a hill with some beers to catch an awesome sunset, then headed off to sample the local night life... it was friday after all!!! it was rubbish, so i went home. steve and pete stayed out a little later... ensuring that the stellenbosch girl drank way too much and... lets just say she didn´t make the ferry to isla de sul at 8.30am the next morning.

so to isla de sul... the mystical island in the middle of lake titicaca where the incas´ believed that the father of their nation was born and where the sun first rose out of the ground... though why the birthplace of the sun was located on the northern most point of the island and the sun generally rises in the east continued to puzzle me. so, with the help of some old british people (damn poms), we found the stone where the sun was born... in the middle of mielie field in someone´s backyard... or did we? we didn´t. despite the numerous poses and photographs, subsequent investigation revealed that this stone has no importance whatsoever and is best known as a picnic table. stayed the night on the island... nothing much exciting happened.

departed for la paz on sunday afternoon... the world´s highest capital city is prob located in one of the most beautiful settings in the world. surrounded by the part of the andes known as the ¨cordillera real¨, these white-tipped giants stand to attention, saluting the splendour of the massive city set in the valley below. la paz, at night (when viewed from the top floor of the plaza hotel - where we decided to dine on our first night in town), is a sight to behold... yellow and orange lights stretch out across the valley, illuminating the towering mountains above, while the stars smile down from the heavens above, bringing a sense of tranquility not apparent in more developed westernised cities.

during the day though, the lights fade to reveal dusty grey streets and old run down brick-faced multi-storied buildings that could do with some plastering and a lick of paint... in truth you can see that this is the capital city of the poorest country in south america. it does, however, have it´s own unique character. amongst the first things you notice are a distinct lack of traffic lights or traffic control... there is no need to drive on the correct side of the road, indicators play no role in urban automile culture, and right of way is decided by who has the loudest (not largest) hooter.

other notable points include massive social unrest in which civilians regularly blockade all major routes out of la paz as well as petrol stations, making it a tacital game as to when you should leave the city (we are likely to get caught in a blockade this week... keep tuned for further news). protests and riots are also a common orrurence. there is also a huge police presence in the city (and in bolivia in general)... not sure why... possibly drugs... but maybe loads of people join the police just so that they can have a jail-free chance to beat people every other week.

anyway... we headed off to the jungle (rurrenbaque) at some stage. decided to catch a 40-seater military plane (to save on the greulling 20hr bus journey), and despite some delays (we departed approx 4hrs late after being told that the plane was ¨not in good condition¨ and needed some running repairs - hmmm... okay then), we touched down on a runway of grass and gravel after experiencing some of the most amazing views in the world ever.

we booked a 3 day tour of the pampas followed by a 3 day tour of the jungle - we asked for the toughest tour of the jungle available... our primary requirement being whether we could kill and eat our guide... to which some agencies surprisingly agreed. we were up bright and early the next day and embarked on a 7hr 4x4 and boat tour to the heart of the pampas... the pampas is basically a huge network of slow-flowing rivers and lakes that support a huge amount of wildlife and an array of different vegetation...

we spent our three days watching sunsets (beautiful), watching sunrises (almost as beautiful), wrestling with alligators (our guide, "negro", had a missing index finger and was bolivia´s answer to steve irwin), hunting for anacondas in stagnant knee deep sludge (apparently if you see one, you should grab it by it´s tail... thankfully we never saw one), swimming with pink dolphins (pink because of their colour... not because they are gay), fishing for pirahnas, making jewellery out of local seeds (the energy is strong it that necklace), being amazed to see the local wild pet alligator wolf down spaghetti bolongese for supper (strange!), meeting the whole 22yr old population of israel (not sure why they all go to the jungle... may it is more civilised than israel... sorry i´m in a weird mood), looking at some animals (sloths, parrots, monkeys, etc), and last but not least, supplying a fresh supply of blood to the local mosquito population (that numbered in the trillions).

actually i was about the only one who attracted the mozzies. i have this theory... everybody in the world has a kindred animal species... not sure why... some people can choose them... some people can´t. take steve for instance... his kindred animal species is dog... this i know from the amount he seems to attract... it´s not his fault, it´s not his choice, it´s just the way it is. it is the same with me and mozzies... every mozzie in the western amazon basin must have come by especially to say hi to me and to have a suck... it´s just the way it is.

so we then headed off to the jungle of 3 days (the jungle is where a whole lot of trees live). we spent our days watching sunsets (beautiful), watching sunrises (actually we missed them), cutting down some bamboo sticks to build our camp, watching our guide build our camp, fishing for pirahnas (imagine being able to say that the first fish you ever caught was a man-eating pirahna... well i can... impressed?), hacking our way through 5hrs of jungle walk with machettes (your util values rapidly decline when you realise that the last 4hrs are exactly the same as the first 1hr), fishing for catfish (steve caught a 15kg monster... we ate it for lunch... it was terrible), chopping down balsa wood (in fact you can substitute the word "jungle" in jungle tour for "hacking, chopping and cutting with machettes"... cos that´s basically what it is) in order to build a raft and float down the river, and last but not least, supplying a fresh supply of blood to the local mosquito population (that numbered in the ka-trillions... the pampas mozzies evidently told their jungle mates i was on the way).

sorry, just another quick note... we roomed with a local family in the jungle (in fact it was more like camped on their front porch). despite the fact that they lived a pretty simple life, a hand-to-mouth sort of existence, the amount of deforestation it takes to support them is truely amazing. a number of isolated but fairly regular occurences of deforestation are evident all over the jungle and the pampas... it is really sad... especially considering trees play a vital part in producing the inherent energy that is supposed to feed our soul (but you guys knew that already... it is the 5th insight).

they took all the trees
and put them in a tree museum
and charged all the people
a dollar and a half to see them
they paved paradise
and put up a parking lot

so after 6 or 7 days of ruffing it, we went back to our flash-packing routes and to the mozzie free town of rurrenbaque. we hit the mosquito bar (the omens were good) and got stuck into some cervecas and israelis... actually i didn't... and neither did pete... or steve (apparently).

we were woken up by the hostel owner. he informed us that our 40-seater plane had been cancelled and that there was only an 8-seater plane that was going to take off on a dirt runway, fly over a whole lot of uninhabitable terrain, up into vicious turbulence and cloud cover, through a gap in the andes, and land (hopefully) safely in the highest airport in the universe. it was a no-brainer... we despatched our best sweet-talker (steve) to snap up the remaining 3 tickets. we are still alive.

not satisfied with the near death experience that was the 8-seater plane flight, we decided to mountain bike the (possibly self-titled) "most dangerous road in the world" the next day. according to who you speak to, between 0 (the tour agencies) and 7,000,000 (fellow travellors who have already completed the route) people have died pulling this stunt. the lonely planet states that 1 car goes over the edge every 2 weeks... we witnessed a wreckage being winched (what a great word) up from the bottom of the valley - so it must be quite dangerous. so we went down the "most dangerous road in the world" on a mountain bike... and have the t-shirt to prove it. worth doing.

unfortunately, after we went down the "most dangerous road in the world", a limb was ripped off of team south africa. steve left to go home. tearful goodbyes were said and many hugs were thrown around... i could reminicse (sorry i don´t know how to spell that), but i´ll just sing a song...

the space between our wicked lies
is where we hope to keep safe from pain

severely handicapped (team south africa was now a body missing an arm - dopey, don´t get any ideas), we decided to take our mind off of things by inflicting as much pain on ourselves as possible. so we stayed in and didn´t drink. then we went on a 2 day hike, the "takesi" trail along a inca pathway.


then we charged 200m metres up an unused ski slope (unused because it has no snow) to our new personal best altitude of 5400m.

then it was saturday night... so we didn´t go out (steve... see what you´ve done to us). i won´t mention the fiesta or street party that took place on sat... because that would prolong your agony and prob cause you to work over-time.


and here we are... sunday writing this email.

you´ll be pleased to hear that we are looking into obtaining a prosthetic arm, and the latest news is that we may well be close to full operating condition in the next few weeks, as one of pete´s mates is currently in brazil and looking to hook up with us.

cool.

later
d

it´s times like these
you learn to live again
it´s times like these
you give and give again
it´s times like these
you learn to love again
it´s times like these
time and time again