The 50th day

Well Ryan may have placed the 50th day blog a little two soon. . . .

Today we crossed the boarder from Bolivia to Peru which proved to be an eventful journey. Firstly, the boarder crossing was relatively simple, other than the officials not understanding our visa extension that we obtain in La Paz (as we stayed in Bolivia more then the standard 30 day visa). Then as we drove in Peru along the edge of Lake Titicaca and were surprised to see snow on the banks of the lake - in summer! Although the summer in the Alpine region of South America is nothing like our beautiful Australian summer. This was the first time Ryan has seen snow - a nice start to the journey. Ryan was also very excited to see the tuk tuk (motocarros) taxis as we crossed into Peru, bring back memories of India.

Now i've had some feedback that I write a lot about food - so not to disappoint -

As we knew it was going to be a long bus ride (7hrs) without a chance to buy any lunch or snacks, we stocked up the night before. Ryan's pick was the buffalo wing flavored Pringles, disappointingly not available in Australia, which were incredibly tasty with a little spice - unlike the jalapeño flavored ones we had in the salt flats, you could only eat a couple before having a big mouthful of water. For sweets we picked orange bitter donuts biscuits, they were so good even Ryan could not stop eating them (unusual considering his sweets aversion)!

However, the journey was not entirely 'pleasant', as we did see two fatal accidents after entering Peru, due to the bad weather conditions. It was a sad reminder of how different life is in other parts of the world - as we saw two dead bodies (a man and women) drag off the road and slung into the back of a ute with hundreds of onlookers crowding the accident scene. It was a very sobering experience that showed us a different side of the local culture.

- Louise -

Ryan has spent a lot of today saying that he wrote the 50th day blog post too soon after all the action that happened on the day. I wrote the above section with 2hrs to go on our bus trip and almost as soon as I finished it became apparent it was my turn to say I'd written it too soon. Not long after putting the ipad away, as we entered a small town the bus rolled to a stop and 4 police/customs officers got on and walk all the way to the back of the bus where we were sitting. Then suddenly the commotion broke out, all entirely in Spanish. The two row of seats behind us were a group travelling together with a lot of bad smelling luggage, the officers had started slashing their bags while the group yelled aggressively and literally dived for their belongings. Given what part of the world we are in Ryan and I expected that we might at any moment be covered in clouds of suspect white powder. After a little arguing the customs officers got off the bus, but we didn't move off but just sat there watching a huge storm roll in. At this point we had no explanation as to what was happening as not one spoke English. So we just sat and waited and waited until the storm was just about to break and suddenly the officers were back commanding us to 'take everything' and pointing to us to get off the bus. As the hail began to rain down we were huddled in the doorway of the bus when finally Ryan got talking to a friendly officer stationed at the door, we told us that the were carrying illegally merchandise (not sure what exactly he was referring too). After about 1/2 hr of fighting and officers throwing clothing (wrapped in plastic ready to be sold) out the windows, the officers all got off the bus and we went on our merry way. We slowly moved back to our seats where the group of people involved were sitting around crying. We are still not exactly sure what was taken from them but there was no white powder everywhere but instead crushed up potato chips . . . . But at least we were finally on our way to Cusco.

We have now arrived (so I feel safe to write the end of the blog post) and are settled in at our hostel home sweet home, looking forward to exploring Cusco.

- Louise -

50 days down

Today marks day number 50 of our great adventure around the world, so I thought it might be a good time to recap on some of our crazy adventures so far and let everyone know how we are feeling at this point in time.

Firstly the recap, over the last 50 days we have visited 2 continents, 3 countries, countless amounts of cities and small towns, bumbled our way through 3 language barriers, travelled more than 100 hours by bus, seen a really big Jesus statue, road the death train, camped in the cloud forest, befriended a spider monkey, got hit by a water bomb, learnt how to make caipirinhas, failed a Spanish language test, eaten piranha, llama and hamster, potentially saw a homicide, learnt that I never want to work in the Potosi mines*, been to the highest city in the world, survived the death road*, seen a Japanese guy get naked at the salt flats*, watch some crazy latino wrestling, bought a new hat and seen the world highest lake.

So after experiencing so much in just a short amount of time how are we feeling you might ask? To be honest...great...tied but great. Most people think that traveling is a relaxing holiday where you sit back and drink cervezas whilst watching the sun set. Well so far there hasn't been much time for that, that's not to say we haven't been drinking any cervezas, but honestly traveling is draining. With the long bus rides, constant thinking in 2 different languages and high altitudes you do get weary very quickly. However would we give it all up...hell no!!! There is still just to much more to see and do. As for getting home sick yes of course we are missing our family but I suppose since we don't actually have a home any more we aren't "home sick". Although I have found myself reminiscing about making Martinis in Perth whilst Louise cooks a delicious meal with Tijuana Brass on vinyl playing the back ground.

What lies ahead for for this traveling couple, next is Peru with its ancient Inca ruins and then on to the Galapagos for some more wildlife watching. So stay tuned for some more exciting posts and videos and feel free to give us some advise or requests via the comments section of the blog.

- Ryan -

* post still to come about this.

Cholita's wrestling

Little is known about Bolivia's 2nd most popular sport (still yet to be confirmed)...Cholita Wrestling, so we thought we would go along and check it out. To give you a little bit of background a Cholita is South American woman who wears the traditional dress, including a large skirt with pedi coat, plaited hair and bowlers hat. Now after we paid our very reasonable entry fee of 80 Bolivianos each, we were handed a very eccentric ticket which not only included entry and VIP seating, but return bus ride, a snack, souvenir and not one but two toilet passes.... I find myself saying this a lot in Bolivia but BARGIN!!!

So after the scenic bus ride, through the back streets of La Paz, we arrived at our destination not knowing what to expect. The hall looked a lot like a typical school gymnasium, just with a few small differences. Firstly it had a WWE style ring in the centre, donned with some shotty lighting and surrounded by a very flimsy steel fence. Secondly it was packed with hoards of screaming Bolivian wresting fans. So grabbing our snacks, souvenirs and an unregrettable purchase we took our ring side seats and waited for the show to start.

The first few "bouts" (and I use this term very loosely) were between what seemed like the amature men's league and were there to warm up the crowd. Although aside from the clearly missed punches the costumes, which included Spider-Man, Batman and a very large man in tights 3 sizes too small, and the Spanish banter really got the crowd going. The wrestles also took it upon themselves to rowel the crowd up by not only taking objects to use as weapons, but also throwing their opponents into the crowd. This was indeed entertaining, until we were reminded that we were ringside.

But what we came to see was the Cholitas and they certainly did not disappoint. Coming out from behind the make shift entry you could easily assume that these women were your typical Cholitas that you see in the markets. However once in the ring these ladies meant business. No matter whether it was another Cholita, a pretty scary clown or who I'm sure was a referee in a previous match these women just would not say die. There was plenty of punches, kicking, pile driving and top rope acrobatics. Just when you think the show couldn't get any more brutal someone pulls out a fork and attacks the other until all they can see is red.

As an added bonus once all the fighting was over and the blood mopped up our bus driver stopped off at a view point so we could take some happy snaps of the La Paz skyline. During the day it is easy to write this city off as a typical over crowded 3rd world city. However just after dusk, with a full moon in the sky and the snow capped alps in the background you do feel a seance of tranquility and an understanding of how beautiful this city truly is.

- Ryan -

La Paz - witches market

Nuzzled in a few blocks away from Bolivias famous San Pedro prison is the Witches Market. Here you can buy an assortment of lotions and potions to cure a wide range of illnesses, as well as a few to help those who are unlucky in love. Some other interesting trinkets and items which are typically bought and used throughout Bolivian homes are the clay statues shown in the below picture. Each one represents a mythical creature which is believed to bring good luck depending on it use. For instance the owl is a symbol of knowledge and the condor is a symbol of good travel. However the most interesting of all the item in the market would have to be the preserved baby llamas. As weird as these may look next to boxes of tea, these have a very strong meaning in the Bolivian culture. When a family moves into a new home, they purchase one of these llamas and bury it under the entrance way, this is meant to give good luck for the entire house. So if you are ever in need of some lucky charms or just passing thorough La Paz definately drop into the Witches Market even if its only for a sticky beak.

- Ryan -