Day 2 Salar Trip

Dear Mom and Dad,

We woke up at 4:30 am on Day 2 of the Salar trip. Super early for going to bed around midnight. Our car troubles the night before put us behind schedule, which is why we arrived late at the hostel, searched high and low for a place to stay, and ate dinner super late. The temperature was below freezing for it was snowing when we woke up. SO COLD! Our first stop was at a place that had steam shooting up from the ground. This was caused by underground lava heat escaping. The first two pictures are of us next to an artificial made one for photos. Many groups don't get to see the magnitude of the real thing because most do not get up early enough. We were fortunate enough to group with two older couples. The early time did not phase them. 

 

These next series of pictures are with the naturally made "geysers" that shoot steam and not water. Like I said, fortunately we went with people who wanted to get up early. It would have been disappointing to miss these due to Charlie and I wanting to sleep in. 

Look carefully at Charlie's neck warmer. Super sweet flames. We got those for free when we did "Death Road."

After our picture taking at the Geysers, we headed off to breakfast. Our location had a natual spring of hot water. I was too chicken to get undressed in the cold to even attempt to get in the water. Afterall, you do have to get back out in the freezing cold. I became Charlie's personal attendent holding his shoes, towel, and clothes. It reminded me of Winter Games holding all of J.D's stuff when he does the "Polar Bear Plunge." Will he do it again this year?

Some landscape pictures in between our breakfast stop and our next destination. A Lagoon. I can't remember if it was Green Lagoon, White Lagoon, or Blue Lagoon. They all seemed kind of similar.

Here we are at one of the lagoons. It was gorgeous!

Charlie took an "artistic" photo. Looks pretty cool I must say.

I then wanted him to take an "artistic" photo with me in it. 

I then tried to take an artistic photo of Charlie. Mine didn't turn out as cool.... I guess this is why he's the photographer.

More fun pictures from the Lagoons.

After the lagoon, we had to drop two people off at the border of Chile and Bolivia. Two guys were taking a bus and venturing down South. Charlie and I decided to see what it was like to be an "illegal." We snuck across the border to take pictures and say we have also been to Chile on our trip!

Charlie using "baño natural." I only took a picture because we were in a very public place with lots of people around, and I was trying to distract from his actual actions.

Cute llamas...They were everywhere!

We stopped for lunch near the next lagoon. The food on the entire trip was incredible. It was so nice to have homecooked meals made by someone else. We had cooked chicken, noodles, veggies, and a banana for dessert. I hate how they think fruit is a "dessert." It's a component of breakfast, not dessert. Here is Charlie waiting for the food to be prepared. Of course, rock climbing.

After lunch, an hour ride to the next lagoon leads to a little siesta. Naptime. Two early morning wake-ups = Much needed. So tuckered out.

Candy? I didn't indulge in this sweet. It tasted like a sugar free version of carmel. 

We reached our last lagoon. So many flamingos. So pretty to see all the pink.

Look at how close we got to the biggest flamingo...

This is another natural made rock sculpture. They say it's the profile of their ex-president.

It is the rainy season here. With every rainstorm, there is a rainbow. :)

All cars break down. Everybody helps everyone. He we are ramming another car out of a mud puddle. At least we weren't the ones with the problems this time...

One last picture. Charlie got caught taking this in a church and pulled the "I'm a gringo who doesn't speak Spanish card." We kept the picture and got kicked out. Blah.

During dinner, we heard about a jeep rolling due to the slippery roads. I was thankful that our malfunction resulted in us waiting for five hours and not getting into an actual accident. We heard everyone was fine, but the tour didn't continue. Hopefully the people got their money back! This night was much warmer then the last. Again, there was no heat, but we were in lower elevation, which meant a warmer climate.

I had another mental breakdown right before falling asleep, which lead to a plethora of tears. I pulled the sheets up and they weren't long enough to cover my toes and reach my neck. Tears immediately started flowing. Charlie asks, "What's wrong?" The sentence to follow was something along the lines of "My sheets are too small, my back is broken out in zits from not showering, I smell like B.O., my clothes are dirty, I can't use the bathroom in front of everyone listening, it's too loud from the other people staying at the hostel, etc." How Charlie didn't start laughing at my face is beyond me. Instead, he rubbed my back until I fell alseep. I am lucky to be traveling with him, and moments like those only confirm it and then some.

I am behind in my blog due to slow internet connections. Tomorrow, I will update the last day of the Salar Trip and hopefully all the events that have followed. We are currently in Cusco and loving every minute of it. A lot of naps have taken place due to long bus rides and the Salar Trip.

Love always,

Matti Jo and Charles Dale

PS. a super funny quote from John Vauble today. This is the first thing he says to me on facebook chat, "Everyday you aren't dead is a success in my book." He is always so positive.

Well, I hope we keep on succeeding then. :)

Day 1 Salar Trip

Dear Mom and Dad,

I forgot to mention one thing about the "bus ride from hell." There were 15 people sleeping in the aisle of the bus.  We have come to realize  that this is very normal in Bolivia. They sprawl out on the floor and take up all the floor space. It's hard not to get too upset because you have no foot room, and they're laying on the dirty ground.

We have so many pictures from the Salar trip that I will have to make three posts, one for each day.

Day One:

The first day started off horribly. We were told that we would need to be at the meeting point at 10:30 am. At 8:15am, there was a knock on the door. The lady from the company found where we were staying and told us to be ready to leave an hour early. We scrambled to get up, pack, and find a breakfast place. We picked out a breakfast cafe that had no people thinking we would get served right away. No. They ended up running to the nearest grocery store to buy our food. By the time we got our food, it was 9:30am, so we grabbed our breakfast to go. We got to the meeting point, and the owner kept saying, "leave in 10 min." Finally at 10:45am, we left to another agency to pick up four more people. It was clear that our company had sold us to a cheaper company and pocketed the difference. 100 Bolivianos. We were not the happiest because we spent the entire previous day searching/researching which company was the best. We decided to make the best of our situation. Afterall, there was nothing we could do at this point. One hour into the drive, the car broke down.

At first it was all fun because we read that every vehicule breaks down at some point. The Bolivian community is amazing. Everyone stopped to try and help. Some cars just stopped to wait with us. There was always at least six cars waiting. We joked around because we thought for surely someone would be able to help. Our guide, was clearly incompetent about fixing cars because he didn't have any tools on him, and he just kept hitting the car battery.

I even tried to help....

Eventually, everyone left us including the guide. Yes, the guide got a ride back to Uyuni and said he would send someone for us. This just sounded like a bad horror movie. Six strangers in the middle of no where. After five hours of waiting along the roadside, smiles start to leave...and desperation starts to set in.

Finally, the tour company sent a guide who actually knew a thing or two about cars. He fixed the Jeep in no time, and we were finally on the road again. They even sent a complimentary cook to help fix our trip. They both were very nice people, but made the car smell of B.O., the entire trip. On the road again....

Here we are visiting the Lagoons. Flamingos and llamas were everywhere.

Once we reached above 15,000 feet, it got really cold. Here's Charlie getting warmer clothes out.

The next picture is called the "Piedra Arbol." Rock Tree. Made naturally from the dust and high winds.

Pictures from the Colorado Lagoon.

Once we got to the hostel, we were all so tired from the stressful day. Our hostel didn't have any rooms left, so we went from hostel to hostel to find one with six spaces available. I think this is how Mary and Joseph felt. No room in the Inns. I thought we might be camping out in the car or a barn at that rate. We managed to find one without heat or electricty. After two hours, they hooked up a small generator, so we at least had running water and light. The night would have been freezing cold even with the provided blankets, but I had my trusty sleeping bag!

Charlie and I also had a first on this trip. They provided wine with our dinner, but we were actually too tired to have a glass. All we could do was lay down and sleep. Fifteen hour stressful day!

Last night we bused directly from Uyuni to La Paz. Thirteen hours is a very long bus ride! Today we are leaving for Cusco at 2:00pm. I believe we will be stopping in some towns along the way, and I will keep you updated. Salar day 2 and 3 will be coming shortly as we will have some down time in between bus rides.

Love always,

Matti Jo and Charles Dale

Worst bus ride

Dear Mom and Dad,

We had by far the worst bus ride to date so far. First of all we paid extra for a "semi-cama" seats, which means there should be leg rests and the back should recline. The bus was not at all "semi-cama;" it was a dirty typical charter bus. Secondly, our bus was an hour and 45 minutes late. That's a long time to be sitting outside in the cold. The employees kept telling me that it was coming, but I was already freaked out that we somehow missed it. Thirdly, the ticket guy said the bus didn't have a bathroom, but it would stop two times for bathroom breaks along the way. The ride was nine hours, and the bus did NOT stop once. The ride was so bumpy that it was painful to sit through. Charlie and I have decided to NEVER book with "San Miguel" tours again. The company got into a little bit of trouble from the police because their bus was so late, and there were so many people waiting outside for it. They locked the doors so you couldn't even wait inside.

We did make it to Uyuni in one piece. I was terrified the bus was going to get stuck with all the reversing, rocking back and forth action. The grounds are wet and muddy, which makes for awful transportation. A dirt path would be exaggerating the condition of the roads. Today we are researching and booking "Salar de Uyuni." We will probably book with a company for three days and two nights. Most companies depart at 10:30 am, so another post will be in a few days. We can check into our hostel in a couple of hours, and no words can describe the excitment I feel to sleep and not have an alarm to wake me up.

Love always,

Matti Jo and Charles Dale

Pictures from "The Ride of a Lifetime"

Dear Mom and Dad,

Here are the rest of the pictures from our biking trip. You can see the gravel road and the cliff without any guard rails. Thank goodness for our bikes because some of the "pebbles" were large rocks that we had to ride over or around.

Here we are standing on one of the more dangerous corners of the ride. There is quite the drop off. We also started sheading layers of clothes as we decended down the mountain.





This is a group picture. We biked with three other girls. This worked out for both of us because Charlie looked like a professional around us, and I felt really comfortable with the girls. Again, it was a blast! If you want to know which one I am, look for the tallest. :)

The waterfalls were beautiful on the ride!

Here I am riding looking like a pro. We don't have any of Charlie riding because he always had to be the first one. Boys.

After our ride, we got to take a hot shower and hang out at the animal refugee. There were over 100 monkeys, birds, turtles, dogs, etc. This first picture you can see to the right of me is a parrot and to the left is a monkey. Charlie got really friendly with the monkeys, and they LOVED him. As for me, I kept my distance.



Today, Charlie and I are both super sore and riding the bus isn't at all a fun experience. We intended to take the bus from La Paz to Oruro and the train from Oruro to Uyuni. Well, the train is all booked so we must bus the entire way. We have been waiting in Oruro for our 9:00pm bus. We shoudl arrive in Uyuni around 5:00am tomorrow. I can't wait to just sleep. I miss my bed and favorite pillow. Tomorrow we should be booking tickets to tour the Salt Bed Flats. Stay warm!

Love always,

Matti Jo and Charles Dale

BEST ride of my life

Dear  Mom and Dad,

We got the free t-shirts! You know what that means? We survived DEATH ROAD. It was by far the scariest thing we have done so far, and probably the most scary thing I have every done excluding the fact that I just packed up and left for three months to live out of a backpack. It was also the best ride of my life. Dad, you have to come to Bolivia sometime to do this ride. The visa seems expensive at $135 a person, but I forgot to mention it's good for five years, which means you can come and go as you please. :) Next year we can go together.

Our ride started off at 15,000 feet, way up in the mountains. It was miserably cold with all the wind, snow, and rain. I wore my underarmor pants and long sleeve, another pair of pants, a t-shirt, a light long sleeve, my north face, a pair of gloves, a pair of biking gloves, rain pants, jacket, and another top layer coat. The company provided the extra clothing. Charlie wore about half the items I did. Here is a picture of us before we started the ride.

Here we are over a looking point. It was quite the drop off. Many people have died during this ride, but the only fatality our company experienced was due to a heart attack. Our company had the best trained guides and top of the line bikes that had  disc breaks, shocks, hydrolic suspension, and any onther cool biking thing that I'm forgetting. They had it all!

I have so many pictures to upload from this adventure that ended up with us going to a wild life refuge. The internet is really slow, and Charlie and I are very tired from this exhausting day. More posts to come tomorrow after our bus and train ride. We have to be up at  645 am, so it's time for some beauty sleep!

Love and miss you,

Matti Jo and Charles Dale

La Paz, Bolivia

Dear Mom and Dad,

From Arequipa, we bused to Puno, and stayed the night in a hostel located in the bus terminal. It was a little more expensive ($15) then if we would have walked around and searched for the best priced one, but we were exhausted after all that traveling. I was ready for a hot shower and a bed. We arrived in Puno at 8:00pm, so it was dark, rainy, and cold. Puno is the brownest town that I have ever seen, and will not be winning any beauty awards anytime soon. The temperature was 55 degrees, which was a big change. Our hostel in the bus terminal was perfect with our own private bathroom, shower (choices of water were scalding hot dripping slowly or freezing cold blasting full force), restaurants in station, internet, wide selection of desserts, and the option to call home. Mom, I hope you remembered to call Wendy for us!

Our bus to La Paz left at 7:30am, and we still didn't have an alarm clock. I was really nervous about missing our bus because we already paid for our tickets, and once again they were non-refundable. Charlie's easy going attitude was to do like the Indians did and drink a bunch of water. This way he would be able to keep getting up to go to the bathroom and check the time. I didn't rely on this method, which lead to a poor night's rest. We did make our bus with enough time to eat breakfast at one of the restaurants. Dinner and breakfast cost about $5 a person. Super cheap for two meals!

The border crossing to La Paz was hellish or just down right hell. We started our border crossing in Yunguyo, Peru. First, no one told us we needed $135 a person. The visa price was annoying, but we still would have paid it to go to Bolivia. (Americans are the only people who have to pay this visa because the president here doesn't like the U.S. president. A kind Bolivian man explained this to us today over a glass of fresh squeezed O.J.) The bus companies and tour guides rarely warn Americans of this visa cost because they feel it would stop us from coming. Another small piece of information we later learned from talking to fellow travelers. Anyways, there were no atm's to use to take out money and luckly Charlie and I already had about $100 cash with us. We also had soles (peruvian money) that we exchanged back for american dollars. We finally had exactly enough money plus $19. Well, the border guard didn't want to take one of our $20 bills because there was as SLIGHT rip in it. (People here are so picky on money because there is so much counterfeit bills circulating.) After begging him, he finally accepted the money and let us cross. Before we were allowed to cross, we needed to give him copies of our passports. Not a problem you would think because we made copies before we left. Charlie's passport copy had already been destroyed by water, so he needed to make a copy. One copy cost one bolivian dollar. This should seeme easy enough, but the only places to exchange American money were little stands that wanted at least money in increments of $20. As stated before, we only had $19. Charlie says to the little boy "I'll be right back; un momento" and never returned. Sad. I know. We aren't proud of this either.

Our troubles didn't stop there. We waited to switch buses in the town Copacabana, Bolivia. We had a hour to kill, and we were starving. First things first, we needed to exchange money or take money out of an ATM. No ATMs that worked here. Surprise. Surprise. Exchanging money was our only hope to eating. Here the people would only exchange money in increments of $5. They wouldn't take $1 bills though, only $5 bills. Of our $19, we had ONE $5 bill. We exchanged that for $30 bolivianos, which is a horrible exchange rate because we should have gotten $34 bolivianos. We didn't care, hungry had set in. We found a restaurant that we each could eat at for $15 bolivianos a piece, so we had exactly enough money for two meals. (Tipping is not required here and only recommended in finer dinning establishments.) Think our problems were over? Nope.

Once on the bus we thought we would make it to La Paz, find an ATM, and all our troubles would be over. Well, again no one informed us of another small little price. The bus has to be ferried across Lake Titicaca, and the passengers have to pay for a seperate ferry ride costing $1.50 (bolivianos) per person. This is a small price less then 25 cents a person. Well, remember we have NO money except the american dollars that are useless here. Again no ATMs at this location. After begging and pleading with the bus guys, they let us sneak on the bus and hide on it to ride across the lake without paying any money. Thank goodness for good people. Once we reached La Paz, we found an ATM and our money worries were finally over.Charlie and I snapped at each other from lack of sleep and stress, but once we got to La Paz, smiles were back on our faces and we couldn't help but hug each other.

Our first hostel we stayed at was amazing. It cost a little more then the one we are at now, but had a lot of nice ammenities. Free internet, pancake breakfast (no syrup, they use jelly, butter, sugar, and a weird chocolate cream here), the best hot shower and cleanest toliet you could imagine, one free beer a night, and a safe party for New Years. Adventure Brew Hostel brews their own beer, and it was excellent. I'm not a fan of beer but their amber tasting beer was fruity enough that I enjoyed it! Charlie enjoyed the dark bock as well. Our plan was to celebrate New Years at the hostel. They have a rooftop bar that accomodates all the hostel guests. From there, we would be able to view the fireworks and a 360 degree view of the city. Our plan was to drink the two for one beers and not worry about getting home, theif, or any other concerns one might have. Great plan, huh? We were both asleep by 10:00pm due  to a number of things. Charlie's IBS was acting up, and I think he was dealing with slight food poisoning. I felt nauseous from the high elevation (11,000 feet.) Earlier in the day, we did buy a watch with an alarm clock, so we set an alarm at 11:55pm and had our New Years kiss at midnight, sober, in a sleep daze, toasting with a glass of water. How romantic.

We have purchased a new camera. It was a little expense $160 US dollars, but we didn't want to risk buying one off the street and it not working. It's 12 megapixels with other cool features that Charlie keeps raving about. Pictures will now be flooding the blog. :) Here we are wet, cold, and trying to warm up from being outside. It's 54 degrees here during the day and 40 degrees during the night. No summer dress for me.

Tomorrow we are going on the "World's Most Dangerous Bike Ride" aka "Death Rode." Guess who's idea that was? Here's a link with information about it. http://www.gravitybolivia.com/index.php?mod=tempview1&id=1251406369 Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking company is one of the most expensive ($105 U.S.), but it is the most reputable. They have the top of the line bikes and guides here in La Paz. I'm freaking out because the last thing we need is for one of us to get hurt before our Inca trip, but Charlie is dead set on doing this. We get a free t-shirt if we survive. The guy at the juice stand today told us 10 people die a year, but they don't tell you that when signing up. Great. I made Charlie promise that he would go nice and slow. There is a 60% chance that it will rain tomorrow with a high of 54 degrees. What am I getting myself into? This isn't my kind of fun. I'm the warm weather, beach kind of girl. My goal is to take at least one picture of me smiling tomorrow.

Our plans afterwards are to take a bus Tuesday morning to Oruro, Bolivia. Then that afternoon take a train to Uyuni. In Uyuni, there are supposed to be the most incredible salt bed flats. Charlie wants to take a three day tour and then head back to La Paz and directly to Cusco getting to Cusco no later then the 11th. The three day overnight tour in Uyuni isn't my ideal type of fun either. Some nights, it gets below freezing. We might compromise and only do a day trip or two. I'm already risking my life for a bike ride and camping out on the Inca trails during the rainy season. These are our plans and not set in stone. So far, none of our plans have gone according to plan, so we will keep you updated.

Love and miss you,

Matti Jo and Charles Dale