I know there is a serious lack of enthusiasm going on here with the old blog writing but I will try and get back into it... Flo is leaving in a few days so i'll be riding solo and will have plenty of time on my hands!
So New Years Eve day I started to get a bit of cabin fever so Flo and I headed on out to a place called La Boca, about 30mins away from Palermo (where we had the apt). This is one of the hottest tourist spots we have been to so far I reckon. It was really cool, brightly coloured buildings and lots of tango going on. To be honest after we had wandered around and had some lunch there wasn't much else to do. However I am really glad I saw it and we had fun.
Then we came back and got ready to make our way to Brian and Corisa's for supper, where we were joined by Carlin - Corisa's brother. They have a really lovely apt in Recoletta where we had a scrummy supper and played lots of games. We taught them the celeb game, which went down VERY well... just before midnight Corisa popped the Champagne and took us girls to her (amazing) closet "as it is essential to be wearing heels to see the New Year in" so we each chose a crazy pair of heels (of which she has many) and trotted off to the rooftop to see the New Year in with lots of fireworks. Flo happened to pick the HIGHEST pair in the world and she fell backwards still holding up her glass of champange... she didnt spill a drop - perfect!
We continued to play games and then Carlin, Flo, Al and I made our way out to find a club to partay the night away. We were successful, it was a pretty random club but we had a hoot and made our way back to Corisa's about 6ish (normal for Arg!).
Awoken with the WORST hangover ever... Corisa invited us to stay for lunch as they had friends coming over. However we only had the clothes we had from the night before, so Corisa lent us all an outfit. There I was prancing around this amazing apt with a beige Ralph Lauren knee length skirt with a matching belt and white tshirt. I have never looked so smart and felt so terrible in my life.
Flo and I managed to sneak out of lunch and make our way to the apple TV where we found a whole season of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (a progamme I managed to fall in love with in AZ). Perfect. We just lay on the bed and watched that all day. In the mean time Corisa's friends had been and returned to play the Celeb Game!! Oh great... so another manic night of games and drink and late night. All in all a really good New Year though... loved it.
On the 2nd it was back to the apt to pack it up as we had to be out by 11am. That night we went out for dinner with Carlin and to the Cinema to watch Due Date which we found hilarious.
I really enjoyed our time in BA, it was like being at home. As you can probably tell. All in all we did SOME touristy things, la boca, the gypsy market and we spent our final day in San Telmo.
On the 4th we made our way on a 22hr bus to a place in Patagonia called Bariloche...
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
Punta Del Este
So we arrive in Punta... supposedly the Uruguian equivilant to St Tropez. Never having been to St Trop myself I suppose I can´t really judge, I just hope that for those that do go - its a little more happening than Punta!
Drop our bags and head straight to the beach. It seems like forever since we were last on a beach and it was great to apprectiate the sun as you really can´t do that in a city. We had a lovely relaxing afternoon but by dinner time all was not well. Flo had tonsilitis and A and I were feeling a little under the weather. Not the best situation. Luckily farmacies here will hand out anything over the counter and we managed to get some antibiotics for Flo and had an early night all round.
Next day Al and I head to the beach whilst poor Flo stays in bed trying to get better. Not quite the mini break we had intended... However the people watching was hysterical. The worst sight known to man was found on the beach that day, and we named her Fatty Red Skin. This woman was the size of a medium sized house wearing a size too small purple bikini (disgusting enough). As she walked to the sea I thought she was wearing a red and purple swimming cozie but it turned out the shiny red stuff was her SKIN! You know when people use the term "she looks like a lobster" when in fact they are just a bit too red? Well when I say lobster I MEAN lobster. People were stopping and pointing at her shiny illuminous red skin and I could hear mothers saying "THATS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DONT WEAR SUNSCREAN" as I whipped out my factor 60! I am surprised that woman is still alive. I was mortified to see that she was sunbathing whilst smoking (and as Alice rightly put it) she really needed to go into her house and shut the door! I did feel sorry for her when I realised she had a moustache and her chin was by her ear, but she really had brought it upon herself...
Rant over! That night somehow I ended up in the sea at 5am?! I cant tell you how the night transpired but all I can say was that it was certainly aided by my not so good friend vodka and the over zealous alcohol pouring midget bar tender at our hostel. Oops. As my always-right-mother would say "Your burning the candle at both ends darling". I dont know HOW many times I have heard this and dont learn - but BOOM I wake up that morning with a sore throat. Of course. And all I could hear was a dissapointed¨voice in my head. Sorry mum!
So as you can imagine there was a lot of moping around and feeling sorry for ourselves and were infact quite relieved to back to our appartment in BA where no one would judge us for the lack of Christmassy spirit. Just enough time to get better for NYE! (I can see mum cringing).
Please note, the last few weaks have involved a bit too much drinking I do appreciate that, but please remember you were all doing it to!!!
Drop our bags and head straight to the beach. It seems like forever since we were last on a beach and it was great to apprectiate the sun as you really can´t do that in a city. We had a lovely relaxing afternoon but by dinner time all was not well. Flo had tonsilitis and A and I were feeling a little under the weather. Not the best situation. Luckily farmacies here will hand out anything over the counter and we managed to get some antibiotics for Flo and had an early night all round.
Next day Al and I head to the beach whilst poor Flo stays in bed trying to get better. Not quite the mini break we had intended... However the people watching was hysterical. The worst sight known to man was found on the beach that day, and we named her Fatty Red Skin. This woman was the size of a medium sized house wearing a size too small purple bikini (disgusting enough). As she walked to the sea I thought she was wearing a red and purple swimming cozie but it turned out the shiny red stuff was her SKIN! You know when people use the term "she looks like a lobster" when in fact they are just a bit too red? Well when I say lobster I MEAN lobster. People were stopping and pointing at her shiny illuminous red skin and I could hear mothers saying "THATS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DONT WEAR SUNSCREAN" as I whipped out my factor 60! I am surprised that woman is still alive. I was mortified to see that she was sunbathing whilst smoking (and as Alice rightly put it) she really needed to go into her house and shut the door! I did feel sorry for her when I realised she had a moustache and her chin was by her ear, but she really had brought it upon herself...
Rant over! That night somehow I ended up in the sea at 5am?! I cant tell you how the night transpired but all I can say was that it was certainly aided by my not so good friend vodka and the over zealous alcohol pouring midget bar tender at our hostel. Oops. As my always-right-mother would say "Your burning the candle at both ends darling". I dont know HOW many times I have heard this and dont learn - but BOOM I wake up that morning with a sore throat. Of course. And all I could hear was a dissapointed¨voice in my head. Sorry mum!
So as you can imagine there was a lot of moping around and feeling sorry for ourselves and were infact quite relieved to back to our appartment in BA where no one would judge us for the lack of Christmassy spirit. Just enough time to get better for NYE! (I can see mum cringing).
Please note, the last few weaks have involved a bit too much drinking I do appreciate that, but please remember you were all doing it to!!!
Thursday, 30 December 2010
BA for Christmas
So the appartment is amazing... just perfect. Flo and I made ourselves at home very quickly and spent most of the day just chilling out. We had a lovely supper with Alice's ex boyfriend Alejo. I just need to explain that Al lived here in BA 5years ago for a year, so knows the city and its people well. It was a very pleasent evening and I learnt a bit about Eva Peron and Argentine politics - I am afraid to say I havent been all that good at getting much history/politics in any of the countries we have been to, so I went to bed feeling satisfied that I had learnt something new. Unfortunately - as per usual - I can't remember what exactly I had learnt other than Eva Peron was a radio actress who married the president. But thats enough!
The next day we made our way to the graveyard where my new BFF Eva was buried, along with many other rich Argentine families. This has got to be the coolest (in a rather sadistic sort of way) graveyard I have been to. They have the most ridiculous tombs built for the various families and one of them looked like a mini Canterbury Cathedral. Crazy. The only thing is, its too bloody hot to do anything and just hanging out in the cemetry made us all feel lethargic and in need of a lie down. Instead of lying down we made our way to Al's friend Carisa's house so I could meet her and her husband and cute little boy and for Flo to see them again after a few years. They were just lovely.
Then we realised that we had invited people over for supper tomorrow night for Christmas - as here they celebrate it on Christmas Eve - and hastily made our way to the too-busy-for-my-liking jumbo supermarket. Here we manically ran around picking out the bits and bobs that I needed to make for the lasagne. Finally got home to find that the cooking equipment in the appartment wasn't exactly sufficient and I started to panic! The pan wasnt even the size of my head but I managed to make two lasagnes (one of which I burnt... bugger).
The boys that we had met in Colombia: Dean, Geoff and George came about 8ish with two of their friends Cazz and Nick. We all had a fun dinner with games and then made our way to their hostel at 2am, where the bus was picking us up to take us to Pacha - where we would be dancing the night away. It was an amazing club and we had a great time. The best Christmas morning ever - dancing on the roof watching the sunrise - awesome. We didnt get to bed till 11am.
We then spent the day recovering and then up at 6am on Boxing Day morning to make out way to Punta Del Este in Uruguay for some beach time... yehaa!
The next day we made our way to the graveyard where my new BFF Eva was buried, along with many other rich Argentine families. This has got to be the coolest (in a rather sadistic sort of way) graveyard I have been to. They have the most ridiculous tombs built for the various families and one of them looked like a mini Canterbury Cathedral. Crazy. The only thing is, its too bloody hot to do anything and just hanging out in the cemetry made us all feel lethargic and in need of a lie down. Instead of lying down we made our way to Al's friend Carisa's house so I could meet her and her husband and cute little boy and for Flo to see them again after a few years. They were just lovely.
Then we realised that we had invited people over for supper tomorrow night for Christmas - as here they celebrate it on Christmas Eve - and hastily made our way to the too-busy-for-my-liking jumbo supermarket. Here we manically ran around picking out the bits and bobs that I needed to make for the lasagne. Finally got home to find that the cooking equipment in the appartment wasn't exactly sufficient and I started to panic! The pan wasnt even the size of my head but I managed to make two lasagnes (one of which I burnt... bugger).
The boys that we had met in Colombia: Dean, Geoff and George came about 8ish with two of their friends Cazz and Nick. We all had a fun dinner with games and then made our way to their hostel at 2am, where the bus was picking us up to take us to Pacha - where we would be dancing the night away. It was an amazing club and we had a great time. The best Christmas morning ever - dancing on the roof watching the sunrise - awesome. We didnt get to bed till 11am.
We then spent the day recovering and then up at 6am on Boxing Day morning to make out way to Punta Del Este in Uruguay for some beach time... yehaa!
Wednesday, 29 December 2010
San Pedro
Apologies for the delay...
So at the end of the salt flats tour we got the SLOWEST bus in the history of bus rides to San Pedro. A really dinky little town, that in my opinion had been seriously tourist-erised, but a really nice break from intense Bolivia!! We had booked ourselves into a sweet little hostel where we spent most of the time just chilling out together and recovering from Bolivia. We ate some lovely food (lots of scrummy restaurants) but expensive! In fact Chile has been a bit of a shock to the old bank balance in general.
I had been told that there were lots of things to do in SP so we went to discover what was avaliable... we decided on a FIVE HOUR (why?!) Horseride to the Valle de Luna (Valley of the Sun). It was amazing, and although I couldnt walk the next day, it was a great adventure. Here we were galloping through the desert with yet more scenery and not one more person in sight. Perfect.
Then when we arrived we made our way on the metro to the house we were staying. I might add I was rather impressed with the using of metro thing, how native!
We were staying with the same family flo stayed with on her gap year. I was slighty nervous about it as there seemed to be millions of them: Miguel and Carolina the parents Monica the maid and her granddaughter martina then the children... Lucas, juan Pablo, Fran, sole, camila and ignacio - I had to draw a spider diagram!!
They were such a lovely welcoming family and by day 3 it felt like a second home, I can see why flo wanted to go back... We ended up staying there longer than planed and 5 days later we finally made our way out of there. I am afraid to say we didn't do all that much apart from drink! Apparently that is all they do (dad- you'd love it). I met so many great people, they were extremely friendly.
The best day for me was going to the vineyard Caliterra. Juan Pablo drove us there, a 2.5 hour journey south of Santiago. It was stunning, with the vineyard stretching all the way into the mountains. When we arrived they had lunch ready for us, which was delicious. Then we went for a ride around the vineyard and then onto the wine tasting. Apparently I'm not so good at the whole spitting out thing and found myself a little tipsy - but all good fun. We also spent a day at viña - which is THE beach to go to I hear. As I say other than that it was piscolas (pisco and coke) and dancing for us.
We got ourselves a flight with THE WORST airline ever and eventually made it to Buenos Aries where Alice was waiting for us in a rented appartment.... oh yes an appartment - ooooog the excitement!
So at the end of the salt flats tour we got the SLOWEST bus in the history of bus rides to San Pedro. A really dinky little town, that in my opinion had been seriously tourist-erised, but a really nice break from intense Bolivia!! We had booked ourselves into a sweet little hostel where we spent most of the time just chilling out together and recovering from Bolivia. We ate some lovely food (lots of scrummy restaurants) but expensive! In fact Chile has been a bit of a shock to the old bank balance in general.
I had been told that there were lots of things to do in SP so we went to discover what was avaliable... we decided on a FIVE HOUR (why?!) Horseride to the Valle de Luna (Valley of the Sun). It was amazing, and although I couldnt walk the next day, it was a great adventure. Here we were galloping through the desert with yet more scenery and not one more person in sight. Perfect.
After a few days we decided to take the 24hr bus to Santiago - which turned out to better than anticipated. Naturally we befriended the bus drivers who occassionally checked up on us, came for chats and put English dvds on... Sweet!
Then when we arrived we made our way on the metro to the house we were staying. I might add I was rather impressed with the using of metro thing, how native!
We were staying with the same family flo stayed with on her gap year. I was slighty nervous about it as there seemed to be millions of them: Miguel and Carolina the parents Monica the maid and her granddaughter martina then the children... Lucas, juan Pablo, Fran, sole, camila and ignacio - I had to draw a spider diagram!!
They were such a lovely welcoming family and by day 3 it felt like a second home, I can see why flo wanted to go back... We ended up staying there longer than planed and 5 days later we finally made our way out of there. I am afraid to say we didn't do all that much apart from drink! Apparently that is all they do (dad- you'd love it). I met so many great people, they were extremely friendly.
The best day for me was going to the vineyard Caliterra. Juan Pablo drove us there, a 2.5 hour journey south of Santiago. It was stunning, with the vineyard stretching all the way into the mountains. When we arrived they had lunch ready for us, which was delicious. Then we went for a ride around the vineyard and then onto the wine tasting. Apparently I'm not so good at the whole spitting out thing and found myself a little tipsy - but all good fun. We also spent a day at viña - which is THE beach to go to I hear. As I say other than that it was piscolas (pisco and coke) and dancing for us.
We got ourselves a flight with THE WORST airline ever and eventually made it to Buenos Aries where Alice was waiting for us in a rented appartment.... oh yes an appartment - ooooog the excitement!
Thursday, 16 December 2010
Salt Flats
So after a night in Wild Rover (again! That place became a second home) we spent our last afternoon in La Paz (relief) and then onto our 12hr bus to Uyuni. On the bus we met two guys Matt and Larry, who it turns out, shared a Hostel with Alice in Cuzco! Small travelling world.
Anyway half the journey was ok, but the rest on the bumpiest desert dust track ever. We certainly have had our fare share of bumpy rides. Arrive at 7am and wait until 10.30 for our tour to begin. Knackered, but what a day!
Get into our 4x4 which would be our home for the next 3 days and take one look at goup, heart sinks. 2 Bolivianas and 2 German girls that didnt appear to be all that exciting. First impressions turned out to be right bar the old boliviana, Blanca (63, ok not THAT old, haha) who turned out to be a hoot! Anyway, straight onto the salt flats. First stop the entrance, where there was a memorial for 13 people who had died in an accident in 2008. Wouldn´t say it was the most inspiring of starts, but upon seeing the flats, all scared thoughts were dismissed and taken over with WOW. One of the craziest things I have ever seen. A humungus expanse of salt, probably doesnt sound that great but its pretty cool to see. Bolivia never ceases to amaze with its variety of scenery.
So today we did the whole of the flats, stopping for lunch at this crazy island filled with tonnes of cactus. They seem like random lumps of rock that have come from nowhere, but when you remember it was a lake it doesnt seem so random. The coolest part is when you are driving along they look like they are floating in the distance.
After lunch we continued through the flats stopping off to take some crazy photos...
Its the BEST place to take photos!! It was such a surreal experience, it had rained the night before and there was a layer of water on the salt, but it looked like the water was really deep and we were driving through a lake...
A lake with mountains, floating islands and a volcanoe on the horizon. Madness. Then suddenly the salt flats end and the scenery turns to that of Arizona, dry mountains with cactus. But it really just ends out of nowhere, the back of the 4x4 is on the flats and the front in Arizona?! Odd. Ok not really arizona, although that would have been amazing- Hi Rob!
Then to camp 1 (A Salt Hotel) for the night. Here I realise I havent been to the loo loo since I finished my antibiotics in Isla Del Sol! F***. So I tell our new Boliviana friend Blanca about my loo loo trials and tribulations, and she trots off to the kitchen and comes back with the rankest smelling tea EVER. It turns out they have this plant that they put in hot water to make tea and it helps you poo... 2 days later I could do nothing but!!! A relief, but not the most convenient time to be needing the loo every half an hour.
I wont give you a blow by blow account of the trip but all I will say is that it involved a lot of amazing views and scenery (out comes the white baseball cap and bumbag!) which I wouldnt want to try to explain... But I saw flamingos, lagoons, volcanoes, rocks, rocks and more rocks all in different shapes and sizes, hot springs, deserts, gaysiers (whatever they are) and the highest we got was 5000ft above sea level (yuck).
It really was beautiful and amazing, and that means something coming from someone whos not all that into views and stuff. It is def a must-see-before-dying kind of thang, im sure fellow salt flatters would agree.
We ended on the border between Chile and Bolivia and waited for a bus to take us to San Pedro de Atacama...
Anyway half the journey was ok, but the rest on the bumpiest desert dust track ever. We certainly have had our fare share of bumpy rides. Arrive at 7am and wait until 10.30 for our tour to begin. Knackered, but what a day!
Get into our 4x4 which would be our home for the next 3 days and take one look at goup, heart sinks. 2 Bolivianas and 2 German girls that didnt appear to be all that exciting. First impressions turned out to be right bar the old boliviana, Blanca (63, ok not THAT old, haha) who turned out to be a hoot! Anyway, straight onto the salt flats. First stop the entrance, where there was a memorial for 13 people who had died in an accident in 2008. Wouldn´t say it was the most inspiring of starts, but upon seeing the flats, all scared thoughts were dismissed and taken over with WOW. One of the craziest things I have ever seen. A humungus expanse of salt, probably doesnt sound that great but its pretty cool to see. Bolivia never ceases to amaze with its variety of scenery.
So today we did the whole of the flats, stopping for lunch at this crazy island filled with tonnes of cactus. They seem like random lumps of rock that have come from nowhere, but when you remember it was a lake it doesnt seem so random. The coolest part is when you are driving along they look like they are floating in the distance.
After lunch we continued through the flats stopping off to take some crazy photos...
Its the BEST place to take photos!! It was such a surreal experience, it had rained the night before and there was a layer of water on the salt, but it looked like the water was really deep and we were driving through a lake...
A lake with mountains, floating islands and a volcanoe on the horizon. Madness. Then suddenly the salt flats end and the scenery turns to that of Arizona, dry mountains with cactus. But it really just ends out of nowhere, the back of the 4x4 is on the flats and the front in Arizona?! Odd. Ok not really arizona, although that would have been amazing- Hi Rob!
Then to camp 1 (A Salt Hotel) for the night. Here I realise I havent been to the loo loo since I finished my antibiotics in Isla Del Sol! F***. So I tell our new Boliviana friend Blanca about my loo loo trials and tribulations, and she trots off to the kitchen and comes back with the rankest smelling tea EVER. It turns out they have this plant that they put in hot water to make tea and it helps you poo... 2 days later I could do nothing but!!! A relief, but not the most convenient time to be needing the loo every half an hour.
I wont give you a blow by blow account of the trip but all I will say is that it involved a lot of amazing views and scenery (out comes the white baseball cap and bumbag!) which I wouldnt want to try to explain... But I saw flamingos, lagoons, volcanoes, rocks, rocks and more rocks all in different shapes and sizes, hot springs, deserts, gaysiers (whatever they are) and the highest we got was 5000ft above sea level (yuck).
It really was beautiful and amazing, and that means something coming from someone whos not all that into views and stuff. It is def a must-see-before-dying kind of thang, im sure fellow salt flatters would agree.
We ended on the border between Chile and Bolivia and waited for a bus to take us to San Pedro de Atacama...
Isla Del Sol
As you can all probably gather, I am somewhat behind now, this can be told by the fact that I have had regular bowel movement for about a week now, so I really must catch up...
So when I was ready to brave a 4hr bus ride sin toilet, F and I made our way from La Paz to Copacabana (by Lake Titicaca). Here we stayed in the "Splurge" section of the Bible (aka The Lonely Planet) which was lovely, I got the exchange rate\price wrong, turned out it was a bit more of a splurge than I had anticipated, but sod it I just come out of hospital innit?
Had a wonderful time, a nice night and onto Isla Del Sol the next day. Just super. Lovely views, slow boat ride over, made it. Great. Looked up... er.... what now? There were like 3 buildings and the bloody bible said it was a great place to go and stay the night?! So there we were looking pretty stupid with our overnight bags...
SO taking one for the team, I made my way to the gigantic map of the Island and made some friends: Phil, Gavin and Jhoan and followed them up some rather similar looking lost-city-style-steps. 4hrs or so later, (please note: these steps were at 4,000 ft of bloody altitude) we had made it to the first town and all decided pretty rapido we were going NO further! So we found a nice little hostel owned by a not so little boliviana. WOWZA our bedroom had the most fantastic view of the lake, you would pay hundereds for a view like that at home and it cost us a fiver, bargain! Bloody love Bolivia.
With what little breath we had recovered, that evening we somehow managed to walk to the top of the Isla and watch the sun set. So... being a young smith, views dont fascinate me much, infact not at all. I am not a huge fan of those ¨types¨ you know with the bizzarely flat baseball caps, binoculars and hiking boots that get ¨blown away¨ by scenery and wont bloody shut up about it (you meet many of these as a traveller)
"Oh look Julie, just look at that, look at that view"... bla bla, its just hills love?!
But something changed in me that day and I turned against my better judgement. The views were truly blowee awayee, with the HUGE lake infront of you and snow capped mountains that looked like they were floating behind in the distance. Poor florence thought I had turned into a grandmother, and I am sure was rather fed up with me saying "just look at that, florence, just look at that!" -SHUT UP BECKY... but really honestly, if youd seen them....
Id just like to add, there is something about the altitude. Cant really put my finger on it, but what with all the lack of oxygen to the brain im surprised I didnt buy a bumbag, white baseball cap and hiking boots up the top of that hill?! Thankfully I soon got over my tourist moment and back to the semi-normal human being that I am...
Dinner. Bed. Wake up. Get back on boat back to Copacabana. Back to splurge... why not? Lazing around. Dinner with Phil and Gavin. Who we thought they were about 35ish turns out Phil was 51?! and Gav 47?! Nice company, funny evening. Back to La Paz tomorrow to get oursleves on The Salt Flats tour to San Pedro...
So when I was ready to brave a 4hr bus ride sin toilet, F and I made our way from La Paz to Copacabana (by Lake Titicaca). Here we stayed in the "Splurge" section of the Bible (aka The Lonely Planet) which was lovely, I got the exchange rate\price wrong, turned out it was a bit more of a splurge than I had anticipated, but sod it I just come out of hospital innit?
Had a wonderful time, a nice night and onto Isla Del Sol the next day. Just super. Lovely views, slow boat ride over, made it. Great. Looked up... er.... what now? There were like 3 buildings and the bloody bible said it was a great place to go and stay the night?! So there we were looking pretty stupid with our overnight bags...
SO taking one for the team, I made my way to the gigantic map of the Island and made some friends: Phil, Gavin and Jhoan and followed them up some rather similar looking lost-city-style-steps. 4hrs or so later, (please note: these steps were at 4,000 ft of bloody altitude) we had made it to the first town and all decided pretty rapido we were going NO further! So we found a nice little hostel owned by a not so little boliviana. WOWZA our bedroom had the most fantastic view of the lake, you would pay hundereds for a view like that at home and it cost us a fiver, bargain! Bloody love Bolivia.
With what little breath we had recovered, that evening we somehow managed to walk to the top of the Isla and watch the sun set. So... being a young smith, views dont fascinate me much, infact not at all. I am not a huge fan of those ¨types¨ you know with the bizzarely flat baseball caps, binoculars and hiking boots that get ¨blown away¨ by scenery and wont bloody shut up about it (you meet many of these as a traveller)
"Oh look Julie, just look at that, look at that view"... bla bla, its just hills love?!
But something changed in me that day and I turned against my better judgement. The views were truly blowee awayee, with the HUGE lake infront of you and snow capped mountains that looked like they were floating behind in the distance. Poor florence thought I had turned into a grandmother, and I am sure was rather fed up with me saying "just look at that, florence, just look at that!" -SHUT UP BECKY... but really honestly, if youd seen them....
Id just like to add, there is something about the altitude. Cant really put my finger on it, but what with all the lack of oxygen to the brain im surprised I didnt buy a bumbag, white baseball cap and hiking boots up the top of that hill?! Thankfully I soon got over my tourist moment and back to the semi-normal human being that I am...
Dinner. Bed. Wake up. Get back on boat back to Copacabana. Back to splurge... why not? Lazing around. Dinner with Phil and Gavin. Who we thought they were about 35ish turns out Phil was 51?! and Gav 47?! Nice company, funny evening. Back to La Paz tomorrow to get oursleves on The Salt Flats tour to San Pedro...
Saturday, 11 December 2010
Hospital
This blog contains scenes of graphic imagery, not for the faint hearted. If you read on, you may not be able to look at me in the same way again so read on at your own peril!
So we got back to Rurre after our intrepid pampas tour and had our first shower in a week! Euk. Had a nice afternoon/evening. We met up with crazy Sue and her group for some drinks and dinner and off to bed. Woke up and realised it had now been a week since loo loo!
After breakfast in a delicious French patisserie (random) and a laxative later, all was not well with my stomach. Thank goodness we had opted for the 45min plane journey rather than the 18hr plus bus journey. Having said that, the 18 seater plane did little for my nerves, nor stomach as we flew THROUGH the moutains rather than over them.
Finally we landed in La Paz, F & I, Sue and Cato (from Sues group) made our way to a hotel as a treat, seeing as I wasnt in a good state and they were pretty knackered from the tour. A nice bedroom for 4 with a TV! F and I spent the rest of the afternoon watching TV and then F,S and C went out for dinner. This was when I realised all was not well (clue being I rang mum and dad). Dad told me to pop another laxative and mum, to call the doctor. I did both. The doctor told me I had an intestine infection (looking pretty preggers at this point) and it was necessary to go to hospital. WHAT? OK don´t freak out Becky, all part of the experience. Please bear in mind the only times I have been in hospital for myself was 1. When I was born and 2. When I twisted my ankle (mentioned in previous blog). Instead of freaking out I packed myself an over night bag and in that time, thankfully, F returned - so she came to hospital with me. By this point I was in so much pain that I couldnt even sit down in the car!
15mins later we arrived. Straight into one of those bum-showing-hospital-garments (yuck), in a wheel chair, down to be x-rayed and first blood test. No hanging around, back upstairs and the first of many many drips shoved into my left wrist (2 weeks on, its still bruised). By this point I feel like I am in ER! A flippin´drip, I only need a poo...? The Doc comes in and shows me the xray. Oh dear. My intestine is really quite swollen and there was a lot of trapped gas. On the upside I have a pretty hot spine and hip bone! Other than that I realise that I really am not well.
A nurse comes in, thinking she has come to change my drip, which I am really nervous about as the first one bloody hurt, I was quite surprised as to why she wanted me to turn on my side. Without any warning, she shoves a tube up my bottom right up into my intestine?! F***. (Please note that this is a) The most tragic thing b) The most excruciating c)The most embarrasing thing to have ever happened to me, all whitnessed by Flo - poor sod). The nurse then proceeds to quirt 1.5lr of water up the tube. OUCH!!!
So yes, as my wonderful friend Dev put it... i`ve been "bum pumped!" AND WITHOUT SEDATION! I thought my life was over, but then I went to the loo (for an hour) and thank goodness most of it was out! Ill tell ya, that thing could have made it into the guiness world records. (Sorry family, disgusting). 3am finally to sleep, cannot WAIT to get out of here tomorrow. How wrong could I be?
3 days later, soaring temperature and several hundered drips later (3 at once), the work out that something must be up. No Dur! After various tests and more injections I now have Salmonella. Great!
I cant tell you how many drips or injections or embarrasing moments I had in those 5 days, but I was certainly put in enough pain to last a few centuries. The hospital itself was amazing, my room great and Flo looked after me SO well, but it was seriously depressing. All I wanted was my mummy and daddy.
Anyway, I made it out alive. The day I did finally make it out, I made my way to our hostel, straight to the bar and ordered 20 mal lights, a lighter, a coca tea and bit bottle of water and all was right with the world. F had gone on the worlds most dangerous rd, which I was really miffed I didnt get to go on, but I really couldnt have in my state. She had a great time and it was great to be together outside my hospital room. Its taken a while to get fully better, and im not so sure I am there yet...
ps. Dad thanks for passing on your weak stomach!
pps. Jen, I would just like to point out I wasnt sitting on my arse all day, rather lying on my side!
So we got back to Rurre after our intrepid pampas tour and had our first shower in a week! Euk. Had a nice afternoon/evening. We met up with crazy Sue and her group for some drinks and dinner and off to bed. Woke up and realised it had now been a week since loo loo!
After breakfast in a delicious French patisserie (random) and a laxative later, all was not well with my stomach. Thank goodness we had opted for the 45min plane journey rather than the 18hr plus bus journey. Having said that, the 18 seater plane did little for my nerves, nor stomach as we flew THROUGH the moutains rather than over them.
Finally we landed in La Paz, F & I, Sue and Cato (from Sues group) made our way to a hotel as a treat, seeing as I wasnt in a good state and they were pretty knackered from the tour. A nice bedroom for 4 with a TV! F and I spent the rest of the afternoon watching TV and then F,S and C went out for dinner. This was when I realised all was not well (clue being I rang mum and dad). Dad told me to pop another laxative and mum, to call the doctor. I did both. The doctor told me I had an intestine infection (looking pretty preggers at this point) and it was necessary to go to hospital. WHAT? OK don´t freak out Becky, all part of the experience. Please bear in mind the only times I have been in hospital for myself was 1. When I was born and 2. When I twisted my ankle (mentioned in previous blog). Instead of freaking out I packed myself an over night bag and in that time, thankfully, F returned - so she came to hospital with me. By this point I was in so much pain that I couldnt even sit down in the car!
15mins later we arrived. Straight into one of those bum-showing-hospital-garments (yuck), in a wheel chair, down to be x-rayed and first blood test. No hanging around, back upstairs and the first of many many drips shoved into my left wrist (2 weeks on, its still bruised). By this point I feel like I am in ER! A flippin´drip, I only need a poo...? The Doc comes in and shows me the xray. Oh dear. My intestine is really quite swollen and there was a lot of trapped gas. On the upside I have a pretty hot spine and hip bone! Other than that I realise that I really am not well.
A nurse comes in, thinking she has come to change my drip, which I am really nervous about as the first one bloody hurt, I was quite surprised as to why she wanted me to turn on my side. Without any warning, she shoves a tube up my bottom right up into my intestine?! F***. (Please note that this is a) The most tragic thing b) The most excruciating c)The most embarrasing thing to have ever happened to me, all whitnessed by Flo - poor sod). The nurse then proceeds to quirt 1.5lr of water up the tube. OUCH!!!
So yes, as my wonderful friend Dev put it... i`ve been "bum pumped!" AND WITHOUT SEDATION! I thought my life was over, but then I went to the loo (for an hour) and thank goodness most of it was out! Ill tell ya, that thing could have made it into the guiness world records. (Sorry family, disgusting). 3am finally to sleep, cannot WAIT to get out of here tomorrow. How wrong could I be?
3 days later, soaring temperature and several hundered drips later (3 at once), the work out that something must be up. No Dur! After various tests and more injections I now have Salmonella. Great!
I cant tell you how many drips or injections or embarrasing moments I had in those 5 days, but I was certainly put in enough pain to last a few centuries. The hospital itself was amazing, my room great and Flo looked after me SO well, but it was seriously depressing. All I wanted was my mummy and daddy.
Anyway, I made it out alive. The day I did finally make it out, I made my way to our hostel, straight to the bar and ordered 20 mal lights, a lighter, a coca tea and bit bottle of water and all was right with the world. F had gone on the worlds most dangerous rd, which I was really miffed I didnt get to go on, but I really couldnt have in my state. She had a great time and it was great to be together outside my hospital room. Its taken a while to get fully better, and im not so sure I am there yet...
ps. Dad thanks for passing on your weak stomach!
pps. Jen, I would just like to point out I wasnt sitting on my arse all day, rather lying on my side!
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