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Trekking in Torres
del Paine (Chile) Its perhaps one of the most spectacular national parks in the World. To be honest I hadn't even heard of it, in fact when I arrived in Chile I knew very little about what I planned to do. As it was I eventually met up with my travelling buddies and somehow we made our way to Parque Nacional de los Glaciers in Patagonia, this is an awesome place, but it compares insignificantly to Torres del Paine. However it was hear over a game of '____ Head' with a Dutch couple that we found our inspiration to go. I thought it was a 'no go' in their Winter, but the Dutch insisted and we were off. A quick stop off in Puerto Natales for maps, food and other essentials such as tents and we were trekking. I was still unsure what to expect in terms of scenary, but I was completely
overwhelmed despite the fact that day one was pretty grey and wet. There
are plenty of trails around the national park, but the standard route
is a W shape around the front of the mountains, a longer trek connects
the two ends of the W and takes you around the back of the mountains.
Again not possible in the winter. So what are the advantages of travelling
there at this time of the year, well firstly the interchangeable weather
meant I didn't even see the 'towers' themselves, giving me more of a reason
to return, secondly I only saw about ten other people in the park over
a five day period and thirdly the mountains and surrounding lakes covered
in snow look absolutely incredible, more so than normal. Oh yes! and finally
winter conditions make it feel like you have trekked! So what to expect,
well I won't ruin it for you, but to me it was true wilderness, no one
around and every so often you stumbled across a glacier, a Condor and
some lucky people even bump into Pumas. Gap Years
Dinosaurs in Sucre
(Bolivia) - Around the World in 800 Internet Cafes I finally met up with my buddies and after rewarding ourselves with two nights of generally bad behaviour, we formulated a plan of action. We briefly forgot that we were in fact very cynical travellers and decided to go on the dinosaur tour in Sucre. Archaeologists will have you believe that imprints in the rock face are in fact dinosaur footprints. We like to think that they were specifically designed to attract tourists to the forgotten capital of Bolivia. Either way it was funny trip and certainly very Bolivian. A tractor-train takes you to the site, a journey worth doing if not just for the view. The site is similar to a working quarry in the UK, so you get given a hard hat and the tour begins. It begins with a small introduction to the dinosaurs, demonstrated with those plastic dinosaurs you used to play with as a kid. Equally Bolivian is the fact that the toy dinosaurs clearly are quite different to the ones that our guide was talking about, this didn't seem to stop our expert who proceeded to unravel the mysterious footprints and explain how they represented a full blooded 'Jurassic Park dino fight'. It was quite interesting and typically enough came with a Bolivian twist. The dino prints are under threat from the quarry and it seems like the desire for money could mean there are no more dinosaur tours. Sucre is a lovely little town to relax in and relaxing in Bolivia isn't always easy so it might be worth the stop and if you do stop, the dinosaur tour is 'Bolivia'.
Andrew Liggins October 2007
Salir de Uyuni (Bolivia)
- Around the World in 800 Internet Cafes Now fully back with the team, we headed from
Potosi (the highest city in the World) to Uyuni. If I am honest I hadn't
really heard about the Uyuni Salt Flats and was taking a lazy approach
to travelling. Which was to get my friends to do the organising, while
I coped with life at altitude. The Best Tour in South America Around The World In 800 Internet Cafes The journey from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to Sucre, the colonial capital of Bolivia. A child hood dream had dragged me away from friends
to spend a week abusing my body in Rio. A lot of partying, spectacular
scenery and the most beautiful women in the World had kept me entertained
for a week, but it was time to catch up with my mates who had headed to
Bolivia.
Inca and Amazon Venture
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The
journey to Bolivia was quite extraordinary, the majority of the passengers
are as expected Bolivians with their stash of cheap electrical goods and
the route takes you straight through the Chaco desert where buses literally
get eaten up by the road, a journey that can take up to two weeks in bad
weather or on the wrong bus. Bizzarely enough there is a traditional South
American border somewhere in this forgotten zone, as long as you can dodge
the machine guns and don't mind walking across the hundred yards of no
mans land, you will soon be back on the bus and heading to Bolivia. Two
strange things happened as I arrived in Bolivia, firstly the drivers started
depositing all of the rubbish out of the window, a complete disregard
to the countryside, but I guess it is cheaper for the bus company this
way and in a country that is so poor, money is sadly the most important
factor. And secondly random police checks, where all the locals start
to look very shady and gadgets such as mobile phones start to head south,
until they arrive next to the random Gringo at the back of the bus. I
didn't touch them, for fear that they may be stuffed full of drugs, a
strange concept when you are travelling into Bolivia. The police were
not interested in me and everyone made it to their destinations with shiny
mobile phones, making sure to thank me before getting off the bus. It
was late at night and I was dumped in a shady looking village outside
Santa Cruz, I was a tad nervous, but one of my smuggling friends escorted
me to the bus station in the city centre. An imposing place at night time
and somewhere I didn't want to be, it was a bank holiday and I would have
to stay for two nights. This was not in the script, but a remarkable exchange
rate from a street seller and one of those hotels used by prostitutes
and drug dealers and I was quite happy with life, as well as a little
scared. I spent my time in an area where I was definitely the only Gringo
and maybe one of the first to visit. It was time to travel to Sucre by
bus, the forgotten capital of Bolivia, a beautiful city high up in the
Andes and made even more appealing by the fact I had made my rendezvous
with my travelling buddies.