Bolivian Altiplano, Iguazu Falls and many BA blocks walked

So we've made it! We've made it through and this is the end of our oddyssey (or almost!). Here we are in Buenos Aires again with our flights to old Europe confirmed. Couple hours to sleep yet, backpacks to be packed, one more lunch (destined to be "Peruvian", not Argentinian;-) to be eaten, last Radio Taxi to be taken. Home sweet home is calling....

But let's talk about what has been, yet hasn't been described... Some days ago I was suffering in Bolivia. I soooo wanted to include Bolivia in our itinerary and then Bolivia gave me a big thank you for that! Just joking...But it ain't no joke that my head was hurting most of our time there and more often than not it threatened to split my head in two halves, plus I also had difficulty breathing, moving and even sleeping. Oh, well...high altitudes (that I never used to have problems with)!
And what have we seen? We've seen the National Natural Reserve of Eduardo Avaroa with beautiful lagoons, multicolored flamingoes, numerous volcanoes, lots of vicunas (wild lamas) and we even bathed in natural hotsprings there. We've traversed the biggest salt pan on the planet - Salar de Uyuni. We slept in a salt hotel where - guess what! - everything was made of salt, beds included but not the sheets;-) We've had an incredibly sweet and informative driver/guide and a great cook (his wife). We've had nice company of a UK couple. The highest point were the geysers Sol de manana - 4 875 metres above the sea level. The highest we slept was 4 275 m. After three days in and around a 4x4 we reached the town of Uyuni (3 660 meters above the sea level) where temperatures were low.
From there - after a quick consideration - we headed north to Oruro. We simply had no strenghts for Potosi (over 4 thousands meters again). At Oruro we met up with the great and the only Juan Carlos, my friend from ISFiT 2003. The same night we had a cozy room in his family's house and the next day his dad cooked his special occasion Quechuan meal for us. Delicious. Wonderful. Sweet. JC took us a bit around Oruro together with his cousin Mauricio as well before we headed to La Paz.
La Paz is phenomenal! We never expected to find the most attractive South American city in Bolivia, to tell you the truth. (Keep in mind we're only judging based on where we have travelled, so no Peru included here.) La Paz is situated in a big canyon, downtown and posh parts being at the bottom, the poorer you are the higher you live (and the better view you have;-) In the night the city reminds of a Christmas tree. The historical part has plenty of colonial architecture (really pretty) and there's even a street remindful of Prague! Wow!
After checking out La Paz we went to the gate to Isla del Sol on the Titicaca Lake - the town of Copacabana. This used to be a religious center and the goal of many pilgrims...nowadays it's tourists and more tourists. Copacabana is quite a small town nestled among hills and it has a pretty cathedral and a charming chapel of candles. Isla del Sol is about two hours away (slow boat ride, there are no faster boats for mortal beings) and it's beautiful. There's quite a few Inca ruins, friendly village people, amazing nature, doable trek the trail of which reminds of the Chinese wall;-). We walked the island north to south, enjoyed the scenery, I bought some little trinkets from little girls and old grannies on the way and we slowly went back.
Next day was spent at Tiahuanacu. I first read about this place when I was 14 or so in one of the Erich von Daniken's books. Ever since I've been wanting to see the Puerta del Sol etc. And so here we were. Yes, some ruins are less authentic than others...but overall it's quite a nice experience. And mysterious, given that nobody knows where did this civilization dissappeared to...and it did dissappear completely!
This last Monday we flew out of La Paz to Buenos Aires especially to cook knedlo-hovezo-speno (a variation on the Czech national meal;-) for our friend Gabriel on the same night. The meal was great, although the dumplings showed some signs of lacking the hruba mouka (it's impossible to get here). The next day we were off to the famous Iguazu Falls at the border of Argentina and Brasil.
Water and more water, that's what was expecting us. The region was even warmer than Buenos Aires, that is, short sleaves and shorts or a summer dress were a perfect match. But soon enough it rained from above and the waterfalls were smashing the water over us from all sides. But it was well worth it! Amazing site, amazing feelings. We spent the whole day looking at that miracle and walking around (they are multiple and the area is, therefore, huge)....I didn't want to leave:(
And today the last must-does of Buenos Aires: The local museum of contemporary art (we got the support of the trotamundos Jenni and Libor;-), our favorite bife de chorizo place (the waiter recognized us after the month-long absence and shook my hand;-) and our favorite milonga, which featured the metropolitan tango championship! ;-) Crazily enough, we walked half of the city to Gabriel's home after enjoying that. ;-)

Time to get some sleep/energy for packing.
See ya soon...hasta pronto!

More Latin America pics

comments::: salt mine at Salar de Uyuni, Bolivian woman in the traditional dress of Spanish origin (colonial), train cemetery at Uyuni, a brand new reconstructed car:-) (very popular move in Bolivia), Copacabana cathedral, Isla del Sol and more of the same island, traditional boat made of wicker, La Paz goes India-like, Tihuanaco - Puerta del Sol (the famous Gate of the Sun, see Erich von Daniken or google it up;-), more La Paz pics, Iguazu Falls...incredible amount of water and more of it, the coatis (don't feed them or they'll bite ya!), our "black horse" - butterfly number 88! ;-))))

Konec vyskove nemoci

Ne aby jste se mysleli, ze jsme meli nejake vazne komplikace, ale prece jenom po tydnu stravenem v Bolivii, prumerne ve 3.700 m.n.m. se cas od casu muze objevit bolest hlavy. Dik za ty coca listky a 'Mate de coca'. Meli jsme se tam paradne a to i diky nasemu kamaradovi Juan Carlosovi z Orura (cca 150km jizne od La Paz), ktery nam byl oporou a stravil s nami i nejaky cas v La Paz. La Paz je mesto posazene v kotline, kde na jejim okraji zije ta chudsi cast populace a dole v downtownu pak prave naopak ta majetnejsi...{takze chudsi maji lepsi vyhled} My jsme meli moznost videt oboji a to prave diky J.C. a jeho bratranci Mauriciovi. Krom La Pazu jsme si dali i trek na slunecnim ostrove (Isla del Sol) na jezeru Titikaka a hned den pote i bajne sidlo z doby jeste pred Inky - Tiwanaku. Obe tyto pomerne hojne turisticky navstevovane mista se v tomhle rocnim obdobi daji zvladnout hodne prijemne a alespon na chvili mate pocit, ze na Vas dycha uplne jina doba a ze byt tady nekolik set let pred Kristem by musel byt peknej mazec 'o) Budem muset nahrat nejaky fotky na net, aby jste si udelali predstavu, protoze jinak nas budete povazovat za blazny. Dnes uz tedy zpet v Buenos Aires a pred nami uz necely tyden do navratu. Do BA definitivne dorazil podzim. Nektere stromy jsou jiz uplne bez listi a je tu trochu posmourno s teplotami okolo 16'C. Na nasledujici 2 dny mame pred sebou jeste cestu na vodopady Iguazu a pak uz jen nejaky ten steak, vinko, tango a zase zpatky na rodnou hroudu :::

Sul, Sul, Sul...

Mame za sebou 3 dny na nejvetsi solne panvi na svete - Salar De Uyuni. Nase cesta zacala v San Pedru de Atacama, kde jsem se kochali gejziry, koupelema v horkych pramenech ve 4.320 m.n.m, solnym jezerem uprostred panve Atacama a jizdou na kolech v Udoli mesice. Nabidka atrakci pro turisty je nekonecna a po 3 dnech v mestecku plnem tursitu, jizdnich kol a mikrobusu jsme zamirili smer Bolivie. Cest je nekolik, my jsme si vsak zvolili cestu jeepem pres nekolik lagun, sopecnych pohori az po Salar de Uyuni. Mnohe z lagun jsou v nadmorske vysce nad 4.000 m a podle toho to tady vypada s pocasim. Naprosto cista obloha, nikde ani mracek a teploty pres den okolo nuly anebo neco malo nad nulou, jak vecer si asi dokazete predstavit sami. Po zazitcich jako koupani v horke lazni ve 4.200 m.n.m, prespani v ubytovne ve 4.300 m.n.m, gejzirech v 4.800 m.n.m, prespavame posledni den v solnem hotelu (rozumej vybudovany ze solnych kostek). Rano se pak vydavame na svitani na solnou panev o rozloze 12.000 km2 a neverime tomu, ze neco tak ohromneho, co je od nevidim do nevidim rovnou bilou plochou, je jen sul. V 7h rano pripomina spis zamrzle jezero, coz podporuje i okolni teplota, ktera bude nekde pod nulou, a my tu postavame, podupavame, ocekavajic prvni hrejive paprsky. Projizdime napric celou panvi a nekolikrat zastavujeme, aby jsme si prohledli Ostrov rybaru, solne doly, muzeum soli apod. Nase cesta konci ve vesnicce Uyuni, kde se nachazi ´hrbitov´ masinek a vagonku, vzniknuvsi vyrazenim z provozu z duvodu modernizace zeleznic. Nase dalsi kroky povedou smerem k La Pazu, tak si posolte chleba namazany maslem a teple se oblecte *o)))

Oasis of Tranquility

Long time no words...sorry about that! We are in San Pedro de Atacama (northern Chile), a true oasis in the middle of the Atacama dessert, perfect for relaxation and recuperation of our energy. Time goes by slower here, or so it seems, the sun is shining, the sky is piercingly blue every day. We´ve probably seen everything we could around here - we biked to the Valley of the Moon, we took tours to Tatio Geysers, Puritama Hotsprings, salty lagunas in the Salar etc. So lots of bathing in warm or hot water (just like I love it) and some floating in the Laguna Cejas that is 70 percent salt so no need to go to the Dead Sea for us;-) San Pedro is a little village, very touristy but still feels nice and we were able to find restaurants that served locals first and last and we met some really sweet Chilean people here too. Well rested we´re heading to the Salar de Uyuni tomorrow, a three day trip in 4x4, ...SdU is the largest salt pan in the world and we should see some amazing things these upcoming days. Cannot wait! Not to forget - today we lived magic! We went sandboarding on the dunes in the Valley of Death and we were there all alone with the company of full moon only! Incredibly beautiful!

Next time from Bolivia! Be well and ciao;-)

Patagonia Briefing

Hola amigos!
So we flew on a hop-off hop-on airplane-bus to Ushuaia (the southernmost city of the world, as they say and the Wikipedia does not confirm;-), took us 5 and something hours (it´s more than 3 000 kilometres) and we´ve enjoyed some pleasant sights..especially that of the Beagle Channel where we were landing (on a peninsula). Then we checked out the pretty ugly town (the old, shabby and poor mixing with the new, hip and rich) and explored its tenedor libres, that is, the all-you-can-eats. Our second evening the typical Patagonian lamb was even better than the first and moreover half-priced! We hiked up to a tiny glacier Martial and walked down through an incredible fairy-tale like forrest...reminded me of horror or Lord of the Ring movies...On the second day we hiked to Tierra del Fuego National Park, which was simply incredible...with similar kind of jungle like andean forrest, lots of lagunas, channels, colourful leaves (it´s autumn here;-), islands with golf field-like banks...we even discovered a beaver dam (first time I saw it ever) and saw how beavers change the landscape (will post a pic soon).
Then we took a bus to Puerto Natales in Chile (16 hours or so), where we stayed with a Chilean family, old matron, old man, both really nice and trying to please us. The dwelling was pretty poor (only on the inside though) and bathroom not much inviting, but we enjoyed our stay and met some nice Spaniards who are travelling the world there. We took a tour of Torres del Paine National Park..had luck with weather and saw it all (or almost;-), guanacos (lamas) and condors included. The best was the Grey glacier I guess, since we´ve never seen such big chunks of ice before...and since we were able to hike there too. We had a wonderful fifty-something guide, all in Spanish, he reminded me very much of my Papa Espanol...with his gentle manners and readily available information about anything in the area. He was simply a sweetie.
Then we took a bus to El Calafate, almost home of Perito Moreno glacier and the Los Glaciares National Park. El Calafate is a very touristy little town, reminds me of Telluride in Colorado, but it´s mostly empty at the moment. The glacier is about 80 kilometres away, again we took a tour, since it offered an English guide and the price wasn´t much different from a regular bus service (we did have a choice here, as opposed to exploring TDP). The guide was nice and proved to be pretty informative. ;-) Perito Moreno is increible, unforgettable...one of those things you glare at and you cannot tire, and then you feel tired and wanna walk away..and then you have to turn back and don´t want to leave..want to have one more look at least ;-) More on pics soon...(if time and connection permits)
Next we took a bus to El Chalten (3 and half hours) and we hiked towards Fitz Roy on day one and towards Cerro Torre on day two. Both hikes were great but we did not see the peaks in their entirety. We saw a big part of FR but none of CT. Still the locals claimed we had great weather and local diaries confirmed that...it´s usually really windy and rainy...we only had drops of water and some fog...few snowflakes. It was great to be one of the very few on the trails and in the town itself. And what a blast to find a pivovar there! There´s this Argentinian lady Blanca who learned to make Medlesicky lezak from the owner of that brewery and she makes that right there in the back room and serves it to the guests withou filtering etc. Incredible taste!
We´re heading north now, skipping Bariloche due to Chaiten´s (the so-thought inactive volcano that errupted in Chile) ashes there. We´ll hop on a bus tomorrow and should reach Mendoza in wonderful 38 hours! ;-) We ride on semi-camas (half-beds) and the meals (hot) are included! ;-) Great deal ;-) I´ll write you more on South American hostels, toilets, bus rides etc. soon. This is just a quicker sum up from a very slow net connection while we´re also checking the progress of the Chaiten´s activity and political troubles in Bolivia where we thought we are heading....;-) Enjoy and write comments so we know you´re alive and well too!

Fitz & cesky pivo

El Chanten a destive pocasi. Asi tak by se dala popsat nase navsteva v malem mestecku, vzdalenem cca 3,5 h od El Calafate, jez obklopuji hory ze vsech stran a neni tedy videt az do posledniho momentu. Stravili jsme zde celkem 2 dny turou k vrcholkum Fitz Roy a Cerro Torre. Prvne zmineny byl uspesnejsi nez druhy zmineny, nicmene ani v jednom pripade jsme to nemeli s pocasim nejlepsi. Prvni den nam to vyslo alespon z pulky a videli jsme skoro 3/4 celeho pohori Fitz Roy, ale u Cerro Torre uz jsme nevideli ani upati ... No nic, i tak to v obou pripadech byly pekne vyslapy a mi se vecer mohli potesit u praveho ceskeho piva v mistnim "minipivovaru", kde se vari pilsner podle ceske receptury (Medlesicky lezak) a chutna jedinecne. Vylet se vydaril a my jsme zas zpet v El Calafate po veceri a cekajic na zitrejsi odjezd do Mendozy. Hasta Luego.

Leeeedovec

Opet Argentina a tentokrat ledovcova oblast okolo mestecka El Calafate. Cely dnesni den jsme stravili na lodi a pozdeji i na vyhlidkach u ledovce Perito Moreno. Takova velkolepa podivana se Vam nikde jinde nenaskytne, snad leda tak jeste na Antarktide. Ac neni Perito Moreno ledovcem zdaleka nejvetsim, vdeci za svoji popularitu sve dostupnosti po silnici z jiz zminovaneho mestecka. Pocasi nam neuveritelne pralo a my jsme meli tedy cely den uplne nadherne podminky pro kochani se a fotografovani. Skoda jen, ze zadna z fotografii neprenese ten pocit, kdy stojite jen par desitek metru(cca 50m) od vysokych vrcholu ledovcovych vezi a slysite praskani ledu! Musi se zazit! Plni dojmu a pametovych karet nasich fotoaparatu se zitra vydavame na cestu do oblasti jen o par set kilometru vyse do El Chanten. Tady by jsme radi okoukly na ture horu Fitz Roy. Kdyz pujde vsechno i nadale tak jak doted, presuneme se nasledne do Mendozy a preskocime tak zastavku v Bariloche. Oblast Bariloche je totiz jiz taky pomalu zasazena vulkanickou aktivitou z El Chalten v Chile a pada tam jemny popilek. Nektera mista muzou byt i nadale evakuovana, protoze se ocekava nova aktivita vulkanu, radeji se tomu vyhneme. Tak Adios Amigos.

Buenos Aires Visual

A couple of pics from the city of tango: El mejor "steak house" we found so far, incredibly delicious and cheap beef with vino de mesa;-) simply the best!...Maradona, of course...the famous Caminito in La Boca neighbourhood, dancing tango in La Boca, one of many graffitis (especially for Iva;-) , Galicia in BA (especially for mis gallegos!), everybody watches TV in the BA Subte (metro), BA planetarium and our dear Gabrosek (BTW, Argentina has the second biggest meteor in the world)

Ohen nebo voda?

Ohnova zeme na konci sveta nebo destive pocasi v Chile? Tezko si vybirat, kazdy kousek zeme, co jsme tady zatim navstivili, ma sve. V Ushuaii, kam jsme se premistili z Buenos Aires letecky, jsme si uzili moc pekne dny, jednak vystupem k ledovci Glaciar Martial jeden den a druhy den pak probehla navsteva narodniho parku Tierra del Fuego. Podzimni barvy s pohledem na prilehle more udelali svoje a my se zde zdrzeli az do pozdni seste hodiny. K Argentine samozrejme patri i jidlo a tak nam nemohla uniknout zastavka v mistnich restauracich a pod heslem "All You Can Eat" jsme si za par argentinskych pesos nacpali briska tak, ze nam az bylo spatne. Nutno podotknouti, ze jsme po celou dobu v Ushuaii meli stesti na pocasi. To zminuji zamerne, protoze jsme se vydali do Puerto Natales, vynechajice Punta Arenas s tucnakama, kteri tu uz v tuhle dobu nejsou. V Natales jsme si uz za vyrazne chladnejsiho pocasi (uz tady opravdu prituhlo, ale jeste to porad dobre snasime) nasli pekne ubytovani u mistnich (nazyvane hospedajes), coz je hezkou alternativou oproti hostelum a clovek tak lepe nasaje atmosferu toho, jak se zde zije. Za uplne tmy jeste napul spici nasedame do minibusu a po vzoru japonskych skupinek se ritime do NP Torres del Paine, ktery je tak znamy, ze se o nem nemusim rozepisovat. V tuto rocni dobu je uz po vrcholu sezony a park zeje prazdnotou. O to vic je pro nas prijemnejsi, ze se pocasi dopoledne vyloupne a muzeme alepon na chvili zahlidnout vrcholky tech povestnych Torres a pak uz si uzivat solnych jezer, ledovcovych lagun a narustajiciho vetru s prichodem odpolednich hodin. Navsteva druheho NP v Chile byla stejne tak ojedinela a krasna jako ta prvni v Argentine. Pred nami je ted presun do El Calafate a nafoceni ledovce Perito Moreno. Zatim jsme meli led akorat tak ve sklenicce whisky nekde v baru. Ted nas ceka reka ledu pres 30km dlouha.

Pro ty, co by snad meli vetsi prehled o nasi ceste nez ostatni a domnivali se, ze jsme v nejakem nebezpeci kvuli erupci vulkanu Chaiten v Patagonii - vezte, ze nejsme! Chaiten je od nas daleko a ani do dane oblasti nemame namireno. Vice o erupci ZDE.

La Boca et al.

For those of you who are not so fluent in Czech I'll try to add some lines in English (or Spanish;-) now and then. Today was a great day (as somebody sings;-) and we're pretty tired again, yet our feet and legs are much worse off, that is, completely dead. We had a slow morning with a proper bodily clean-up, nice breakfast and some arranging of our upcoming future (we bought tickets to Ushuaia, the southernmost Argentinian town located, naturally, in Tierra del Fuego). Off by metro, we took it to the southernmost station (we were practicing going south;-) and then walked....I better admit we first ate again and we ate like kings! Shabby cafeteria packed with locals, mostly older men, fun and friendly camareros in the middle of the space, long U-shaped table all around them. A bit like sushi bars in Japan but there was no sushi passing by...but same as in Japan the waiter kept our dirty plates in front of us until we paid - as a reference of how much and what we have just consumed. Guess what we had...steaks, of course. A bit bloody and totally delicious! ;-) And a liter of beer for Jan (smaller bottles were not available) and some vino tinto for myself. Then we walked....we walked La Boca, which seemed a bit weird, a bit dangerous...and was felt so more and more as people told us "don't go that way, there are weird "chicos", "hide that camera", "put your backpack on your belly" etc. ...then we walked San Telmo, where we suddenly saw luxurious bars and shops yet there were some buildings that were falling apart too, ...and we walked el Microcentro, where Argentinian communists were holding a protest in front of the famous Casa Rosada (we took a pic of Evita's balcony) and where we saw our favorite street musicians (our second day here we saw them for the 3rd time and each time at a different place;-) (Still haven't bought their CD, we know we'll see them again;-) I must say the lunch and La Boca were the best. Not the dangerous La Boca, but the colourful, touristy La Boca, which is only three tiny streets big but worth the visit. Juan got to dance tango there with a professional dancer, but I did not manage to persuade him (I am glad!) to stay for a drink - he did not feel safe since the sunset was not far from arriving. We finished our outing at a traditional milonga (tango dance hall), where we had a cafe con leche and watched the tanguistas. Next time we'll dance...;-)