No Future II

Life is beautiful.

Recent highlights include: watching a group of friends sing Manu Chau's Me Gusta Tu at a Bolivian karaoke bar, watching a very drunk Dave fall through the screen at said karaoke bar*, spending the afternoon lazing with Melanie watching Sucre from a hilltop**, getting soaked to the skin running through the pouring night rain and lightning of Santa Cruz with the same Melanie.

* Afterwards the owner of the bar wanted $500 for a broken guitar, Dave, being a musician, and drunk, demanded to see the "probably just scratched" guitar. The "scratch" was actually a break at the neck.

** Unfortunately this meant we got to the bus stop 15 mins before all the buses left for Santa Cruz and had to travel on separate buses. This made the forced stop behind a landslide at 3:30am quite sweet, after walking a not insignificant distance in either direction I discovered her bus was directly behind mine. The journey was only supposed to be 13-17 hours, it ended up at 24.

Guess Who's Back

Well I am back in the land of civilisation, kinda.

I don't know what springs to your mind when you think of Bolivia, but for me it is certainly not flamingos, but they are here, in their thousands. The four day tour was spectacular, check the photos, just getting up at 5am and into a landcruiser was pretty cool. Yes Mum, we all felt the altitude (we were at 4500 - 5000m most of the time) at various points and to various degrees. I had spent a week at 3000m, and for the first two days was fine, but on the third day had a headache, which turned into a general feeling of ill-being.

So I am now in Potosi (4050m), about to do a tour of a working mine, and since I haven't been able to find a bed for the night, and me mate Dave is there I am going to try to head for Sucre tonight.

It Never Rains

If there is anything funnier than a middle aged Australian couple arguing in an internet cafe over a group email trying to control their voices then I have yet to find it.

"Chris, you are brain-dead when it comes to this stuff!"

So since mentioning the rainy season in my last post it has been raining about 50% of the time. Mostly during the night luckily, but I got caught out last night and am now wearing plastic bags for socks.

The road to Iruya is 56km of dirt track. There isn't one bus a day, there's a convoy of five buses that all leave together. Safety in numbers I think. There were no problems on the way there but on the way back we had 4 punctures between the five buses and had to stop several times to help other stranded vehicles. I suppose it's the rain.

Humahuaca is a black hole. There's nothing here but you can't leave, and when you do leave you come straight back. Not that I mind, we had a really nice lunch at the hostel yesterday, I was trying to work out why the locals were laughing at me, at first I thought it was because I was eating the chili sauce so easily, but after a while the hostel owner showed me how to peel my broad beans(!)

Ok, that was all so long ago, I am now in Tupiza, Bolivia. The internet still sucks. I will be out of radio contact as I am going on a four day trip to the salt flats/deserts/pans/whatever, so don't worry too much if I don't email, I don't think they supply internet on the jeep.

Also this blog has moved to http://blog.kitten-x.com, I thought it might be easier to remember. Over and out.

Alone Again

So Johanna and I finally split, after having a wonderful 3 weeks and then pulling each other's teeth and hair out in the last 3 days. Being alone again feels strange this time for some reason. I am back in the north, the land of multicoloured hills. I was expecting it to be even hotter than last time, but I forgot that up here and in Bolivia and Peru they don't have summer, they have wet season, well done Jamie, a genius time to be travelling! So Antony: I now know what all the bridges are for.

Actually there is a big advantage to travelling Argentina now, it's the holidays, and for the first time I'm actually meeting Argentineans in hostels and having to speak Spanish!

It's funny how things always seem much better when you're desperate. Last night I arrived in Humahuaca 24 hours after leaving Mendoza to find no room at the inn(s), so to speak. After walking across the town three times I finally made it to an extremely basic hostel. So basic that it's not actually finished yet. But I love it. It reminds me a lot of Lockerbrook (target audience) in the good (bad) old days. We even have to do the washing up outside.

I don't care what people say, dogs definitely understand some language. I was talking to the dog at the hostel in English and it didn't understand a word, I switched to Spanish and it was suddenly obedient. It positively jumped when I said "afuera!" ("out!"). Except having just looked it up I think I might have said "a fuerte!" ("to strong!").

I tried some coca leaves properly for the first time today, a few people I have spoken to said that they didn't feel any effects, I did, and I don't think I like it. Obviously there's the numbing of the cheek and tongue, and then there's a sort of light feeling, and if anything it made me more introverted, which wasn't good being with a group of Argentines that I'd only just met trying to speak Spanish. I felt like it made me a bit stupid too (no comments please). Definitely staves off hunger though.

Mum's worried about me going to Bolivia, can't imagine why.

Thought this was quite amusing:

"They all hate the Bush plan. All except Bush, and even he does, if one can judge by the look on his face during the speech."

SHMUEL ROSNER IN ISRAEL'S HA'ARETZ

In other news I hate the internet.

No Future

Apart from electric kettles another thing that Chile has over Argentina is change. I'm not talking profound change, but rather small change. In Argentina you have to constantly be aware of what change you have left, remember to withdraw odd amounts from ATMs and try to get rid of big notes at every opportunity. And it's not just my imagination.

I have to decide soon whether I want to extend my trip, probably for another three months. Since I still have to visit Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela and only have six weeks left it's a bit of a "no brainer", but a few days ago I was feeling a bit jaded about the whole meet new people, make friends, move on, meet new people, make new friends, ad nauseum, thing, which is a bit strange since the last 3-4 weeks in Bariloche and Valparaiso have been some of the best of my trip so far.

I met a really nice girl at a party last night, but I can't help thinking, wtf is the point? She lives in BsAs, I'm leaving the country, blah blah blah. Then I got a lift back with someone who certainly should not have been driving. I would have been scared if I hadn't been so tired and drunk. He spent most of the time on the wrong side of the road overtaking people.

New Year Blues

New Year's... came and went. I had a really good night the night before though, I just find new year's can never live up to the hype. There were supposed to be 3 million people in Valparaiso. And the fireworks were supposed to be breaking records. And unfortunately I didn't stay out long enough to see (or experience) the water cannons dispersing the crowds. I guess old habits die hard. I've been longing to get a photo, these dark green monsters hide in the shadows of ally ways, popping up like some sort of manifestation of malintent just as everyone else is having a good time. I haven't been able to find anything in the news, the BBC seem to think that it's the beginning of April rather than the beginning of January:

• Swedish town's flameproof 'goat' defies arsonists
  
• Stuck fat woman traps SA cave group
  
• French marchers say 'non' to 2007
  
• $100 laptop for children who can't afford shoes
  
• Vancouver is 'best place to live'

Anyway, the highlight was meeting a Kiwi from our hostel, finding his Kermit the Frog (which reminds me, what's the connection between Kermit the Frog and Jack the Ripper? They both have the same middle name) missing an eye, soaking wet because they'd just been for a swim in the fountain together, watching him feed Kermit some beer which he had previously refused us saying "it was a present", then swinging him round spraying everyone with a cocktail of fountain water and beer. Then later seeing the same guy climb the statue in the same fountain, with a brand new, wide wine stain all the way down his previously white T-shirt, remove his T-shirt and do the haka (the Maori war dance that the All Blacks do).

How To Enjoy Beer

• For starters you should let your body get used to a surplus of alcohol in the previous week or so
  
• Now starve your body of alcohol on the day in question
  
• You should be in a really hot, busy city, such as Santiago
  
• You want to travel from this hot, busy city to a really popular destination, say Valparaiso, on one of the busiest days of the year, say for example December 30^th
  
• Don't buy a bus ticket in advance
  
• Get off the metro too early and walk, with all your stuff, through the thronging crowds for at least five blocks
  
• Queue with everyone else, while wondering what the sign about your destination means
  
• The sign means there are no tickets
  
• Queue anyway
  
• Ask for a ticket
  
• Ask when the next available ticket is
  
• Start panicking, you don't want to wait till tomorrow at 3pm
  
• Go to the only other bus operator
  
• Queue in the even longer queues while wondering how this company will have tickets if the other had none
  
• Get a ticket!
  
• Leave your friend with all your luggage while you go off to buy the beer
  
• Take an extraordinary long time
  
• In fact, leave it to the very last second
  
• Enjoy the look of panic on your friend's face when you return
  
• Get onto the bus
  
• Surreptitiously open the beer
  
• Drink
  
• Watch the sunset

Just Another Day In Paradise

How did I celebrate Christmas? The German way, on Christmas Eve, surrounded by Germans. Then a Christmas breakfast of pancakes with fruit salad and cream and chocolate sauce. I really missed the Brighton Crew in the morning, everyone had gone to bed by about 7, but I fancied a walk. Valparaiso is very hilly and a short way up from our hostel was a lovely view of the port, the sea covered with a morning mist. We then ate McDonald's (I know some might find that incredibly sad, but it was fun, and a first for my friend Johanna) on the beach for lunch and had a quiche for dinner. I was able to show some Colombians courgette for the first time in their lives.

So no, it wasn't just like any other day, some of the shops were closed and there were less buses to the beach. And home did sound nice, especially this year, there were so many family members around, but to be honest, being here isn't exactly conducive to depression :)

Kai wrote a nice "final" travel email. (Skip to paragraph five if you want the novelty of hearing him being positive.) Hopefully we can meet up again in California.

Deja Vu All Over Again

I'm back in Chile again, vibrant Valparaiso this time. Thinking how nice Chilean women look. Meeting with Johanna again. I'm waiting for a lift to the beach to watch the sunset over the sea, Argentina doesn't have a west coast. Wasting time on the internet again. Argentina doesn't have electric kettles either, another advantage Chile has.

I have managed to discover the most painful part of the body to get sunburnt, I managed to burn the backs of my knees yesterday. It is really really uncomfortable. The top of the foot is also pretty nasty while removing socks.

Like the Queen I have recorded a Christmas message for you all to gather around your computers at 3:00pm on Christmas day and watch with rapt attention. Unlike the Queen I have recorded an adult version and a universal version. The adult version contains mild nudity and moderate swearing, the universal version just contains the nudity. Remember, the important thing is that I find it funny. But at least it's shorter than the Queen's.

Deja Vu All Over Again

I'm back in Chile again. Thinking how nice Argentinean women look again. Kai's abandoned me again. I'm waiting for a bus again. Wasting time on the internet again.

Bariloche was nice, very like I imagine Switzerland, it's even the chocolate capital of Argentina. It was just a pity that I didn't have any clothes or shoes for walking and had my first piece of bad luck with the weather, though like I said, the cold, wind and rain made a nice change.

I had a slightly odd request to use one of my pictures on a sight apparently dedicated to images of bridges.