The top of the world

I am writing this from about 4000m above sea level. That is higher than any point on the Pyrenees and just a shade under Mount Blanc. Which is pretty high. Spontaneous nose bleeds type high. Not had proper altitude sickness yet, although seem to be out of breath doing just about anything.

Am in Bolivia. It is well poverty. Everyone looks exactly as you would expect a Bolivian to look which means they have a fantastic array of hats. Everything has been pretty dusty since the border. Loads of llamas and Mike has found his perfect donkey, which is a relief to the rest of us.

The road from Salta to the Bolivian border was ridiculous scenic. And it was topped off with some crazy ass sky, with an inexplicable sunshine rainbow. So weird even I took a photo, if this was not the slowest ever internet connection I would upload it.

Mainly been travelling for the last few days. Stopped at Tupiza (small and poor) and Potosi (bigger, still poor, although it used to be rich) and am now in Uyuni where, so far, we have not done much except play in a train graveyard. well tetanus.

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Weirdest food so far - llama pizza.

Ready Salta

I went white water rafting - how very extreme-sport? It was fairly mediocre but then I'm particularly hard to impress. Didn't fall in. Jumped in at the end. Didn't get eaten by piranhas. Job's a good 'un.

Went zip-lining across a canyon too - check me. That was fairly silly. Crossing a 100m ravine on a wire with only a baseball mit as a brake.

Last night I ate the biggest steak I've ever eaten. The size of Wales, no word of a lie.

Just been chilling around town today. It's in the Andes foothills so is all surrounded by mountains (see Dan, some people will talk about them) took a cable car up the nearest one. Didn't get eaten by piranhas.

Best cactus - the one half way up, second from the left.

Power, Corruption and Drives

Back in Argentina after a marathon drive. In Salta and it's almost a sensible temperature. Wearing trainers rather than flip-flops for the first time in a month.

We got our first bit of South American corruption the other day. Our massive yellow bus got pulled over by Da Fuzz and Wes got his wrist slapped fro driving in flip-flops. He managed to avoid a trip to the station by slipping the Police 200,000, which sounds a lot but really isn't.

We'd been running alongside another tour bus for the last two weeks - we left them in Trinidad - see you later Team Frank, it was fun while it lasted.

Pirates, Jesuits and a road called Colon

Strangely the time in Asuncion didn`t turn out to be especially cultural. But I did do karaoke two nights running. And I went to a pirate themed night club, so I feel as though I made the most of my time. Also, I didn`t mention in the last post that the hotel we stayed in was on a road called Colon. I`m still giggling about that. I`m such a child.

In Trinidad now, it`s pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Stopped at the Jesuit ruins at Parque Manantial yesterday, apparently it`s Paraguay`s foremost tourist attraction. It wasn`t quite as touristy as The Redeemer, I`ll tell you that for free.

Parag-Why?

Because it's bonkers.

Dan got 700,000 out of a cash machine yesterday. Really what's the point in a currency like that? Everything here seems to be a bit more South American than what I've seen so far. We seem to be the only gringoes in town and strangers keep taking photos of us.

In Asuncion at the moment. Spent 90,000 on a night out, how decadent? Went to a karaoke bar - I screeeched Ring of Fire at some bemused locals - they loved it (does that count as performing on stage, Pete? I'm cruising through your challenge).

So far the most ridiculous thing I've been bitten by is a toucan.

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Shouts

Pete and Sue - you made a new human all by yourselves - who'd've thought?

Dan and Rach - happy wedding, you wee tinkers.

Treeful of Toucans

I've joined an overland tour. Like a sellout. It's kinda cool though. It's probably the closest I'll ever get to being on Big Brother. Two months in the company of strangers, although I can't vote off the idiots.

Been camping in the middle of nowhere for the past few days. Now I'm in Foz. Went to the Iguazu Falls today. Words probably aren't going to do them justice, so let's just say that they are very big and very wet. Full of nature too. Saw a fistful of butterflies, a treeful of toucans and a whole heap of other walky bobbins.

They're probably worth a visit. Understatementastic.

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Shouts:

Cat: Hope you are liking your new house, lass.

Carnaval Pt.2

So I´ve been Rio-ing it up good and proper. Managed to fit just about everything Rio-y into the last 48 hours: Samba, rum, football, beach, Jesus, carnival and crime - managed the lot.

The Carnival's pretty all dominating here. Stomping around the city like a feather-hatted stompy thing. Bloc parties ago-go. Got pickpocketed, serves me right for not having a bra to put my money in.

Went to the Sambadrome and saw Carnival proper. It was pretty amazing, a mile of tightly-packed, sequin-clad, dancing monkeys all trying to out-samba each other. Well spectacle. But it went on for 9 hours and I was over it within about ten mins. Each Samba school has an hour run, wherein they play the same song constantly. The costumes and the floats change but the song and the dance stays the same. Then the next Samba school comes out and does the same thing again for another hour. Once again, I've got no proof that I was there, so you're going to have to believe me. If you want pictures you'll just have to google some.

Visited the Redeemer statue. It´s the first proper tourist attraction I've been to on my trip. It reminded me how much I hate people in general and people with cameras in particular. Everyone there was taking exactly the same photos:
1. Them in the foreground with the bay behind.
2. Them with their arms out with The Big Man behind.
This was made even more ridiculous by the sheer volume of people trying to take the same photos without anyone else in them. Idiots. Neither photo comes out well. It's not the best view of the bay. It's not the best view of the statue. So do people just need proof that they've been? Won't their friends believe them? For my part I completed that dare (you know the one) and have absolutely no proof, so you´ll just have to take my word for it.

Went to watch football at the Maracaña stadium. Loud, I tell you, and full of crazies. The match for its part was pretty mediocre but there were some sendings off, so, you know...

Been away for a month now. I celebrated by having a shave, which isn't normally newsworthy. But equally it doesn't normally take an hour, I can see me getting my face burnt before the day is out.