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;-)