Long Lost Longworth
 A magical land of salty quicksand! First of all, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone-itīs been a few weeks since Iīve written in here and somehow the holiday season seems to have crept up on me (and 2007 is 5 shorts hours away!) so hopefully Santa was good to you. Lauren and I have found our way to Argentina since I last wrote and are currently in the little town outside of Iguazu Falls- a massive series of waterfalls on the borders of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay- but since weīre catching a bus out of here at 4:45am donīt have any big plans for this evening.. however the guy at the internet cafe has handed out a bubbly champagney concoction and filled up our glasses twice, how nice. So after we left Peru (with the 3 week late visa in our hands thank god!) we made our way over to Bolivia which was a country I didnīt know much about but am very glad we decided to visit. Our first stop was lake Titicaca, the worlds highest lake which lies on the border of Peru and Bolivia. We stayed in a town called Copacobana which was full of hippy travellers who had made themselves comfortable in the town and taken to making hemp jewlery and selling it alongside the poor Bolivians trying to make a living selling their wool hats and gloves. The town was quaint and the lake was pretty, however after a day exploring and taking a short boat trip over to Isla del Sol which we had heard so much about (but were bored with after an hour) we decided one night was enough and bought a ticket onto La Paz for the next day. We quickly discovered that being in a less travelled through country meant having to deal with less travelled on buses and therefore buying a bus ticket from an agency doesnīt always assure you a seat on the bus. After being thrown off and on a few busses, eventually we made it to La Paz and were astonished by the city- it sits sort of on the edge of a valley, almost clinging to a cliff and surrounded by massive snowcovered mountains. The city itself was a nonstop hub of activity, people EVERYwhere selling EVERYthing imaginable, markets lining every sidewalk and smidgin of space that wasnīt cluttered with cars, trucks, people, noise, it was absolute insanity. We decided after being pushed and shoved for the umpteenth time that it was time to move on so headed south to see the great Salar Uyuni we had heard such great things about from so many travellers. We started our 3 day tour in the small town of Uyuni after a rather long and bumpy overnight ride and met up with our group tour companions; an Italian/Argentian couple and a girl and guy from Brazil (great contacts for the next leg of our journey!), plus the driver and his wife who later became known as papito y mamita. The 6 happy travellers were shoved into a not-so-happy jeep which had taken the trip one-too-many times and therefore responded to each and every nook and cranny in the desert along which we drove a total of 900 kilometers. Day 1 was the most enjoyable not to mention smoothest: driving across incredible lakes covered with salt which ressembled ice in look and touch (except they werenīt cold), stopping for lunch on an island in the middle of the salt lake which was covered in cactuses (or is it cactii?) and later passing a volcano also located smack dab in the middle of the glaring white abyss (at the end of the day my eyes felt like I had spent a day snowboarding in the sun). Day 2 involved more driving, but this time across bumpy deserts and stopping at the picturesque lakes of all colours- blue, white, green- as well as the pink flamingos which appeared sporadically along the edges of them. Lauren and I decided at one stop that we needed to inspect the flamingos more closely, so walked along the craters of sand that lead up to the lake. Suddenly my sandal flew off, getting stuck in the middle part of one of the craters. We realized that the sand was actually getting quite muddy and sticky but not before Lauren stepped in one and she started sinking rapidly so grabbed a hold of me and we both started laughing and screaming at the same time- thankfully we got her out but not before she was covered in mud up to her knee so we ran back to the jeep where they thought the whole incident was hysterical. Apparently quicksand has been known to kill people but for some reason we were given no warning and thus didnīt share in their enthusiasm. Day 3 involved a 15 hour drive back to base camp- and after spending 2 full days cramped into the back of a jeep letīs just say that on the 3rd day we were more than over it and had quite sore legs and behinds by the time we made it back to town, thankfully finding a great pizza joint raised our spirits a bit. We had a bus ticket booked for 4am on the 24th so we could make it to our next destination in time for a relaxing Christmas in Tupiza, the deserty town famous for Butch Cassidys death. Waking up at 330am, we trudged in the freezing cold to the bus īstopīwhich was a random street full of buses and bolivians- none of which were keen to help us find the bus we had bought a ticket for, which in the end didnīt even exist. Five long cold hours later (Iīll spare you the details), we were onboard a bus and finally made it to Tupiza that afternoon and booked ourselves into the most expensive hotel in town (at 7$ each it didnīt quite break the bank). The bus ride scenery was amazing, and was perfectly suited to the festive season with all the red canyons and bright green cactus. Christmas consisted of walking around the ghost-town and watching the local kids put on a nativity play in the square, then just narrowly missing the cut-off for afternoon siesta at the ice cream shop and having to settle for cerveza (beer) flavoured ice cream cause it was the only one left! It was probably the most unChristmasy-Christmas Iīve had but memorable nonetheless and overall I think Bolivia was one of the highlights to the trip so far. Internet shop is closing for New years now so will have to write about Argentina next time- pictures of Bolivia will follow soon i promise xo love emilia
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Diary Photos
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Green lake aka lago verde |
 3 wise men in la paz |
 Skating on salt in bolivia |
 Iguazu falls |
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