After couple of days in the hectic La Paz we decided to go and relax in a small town called, Sorata.
Last trip Izick missed this place since the road was horrible. Now almost all the way is paved, I told you things changes...
When we arrived to Sorata, we went to a recommended hotel ¨Alti Oasis¨, it really looked like oasis. But, after one night in the darkness and the wildness, we decided that it`s best to be close to the center of town, were we can find good food in reasonable prices.
We arrived to hotel ¨Mirador¨. The hotel was in perfect location, just on the age of the mountain, looking at the valley.
After getting ready in the hotel, we went to look at some cave. According to the HandBook, the walk to the cave is very spectacular,but the cave not so much.
The walk was truly beautiful, but when we got to the cave we decided not to go in. We met a group of France people who didn`t recommend getting in. In their words: ¨It`s Foo Foo Too Too...¨.
The next day we just took it easy and relaxed at the hotel.
The next day Izick went with Revital, Asaf and Naama to a long hike to see some lagoon at the mountain. The walk was quite difficult due to the altitude and long. (Usually, people do it in 2 day trek). Iizck was announced as כלי אמיתי , since he left only dust behind him.
From here we went back to Lapaz and after 2 arrangement days we were on our way to CopaCabana.
יום שני, יוני 18, 2007
יום ראשון, יוני 17, 2007
La Paz
Well, the salar was over and we arrived to Uioni (Alternative exit to the salar).
We weren`t about to stay the night at this unpleasant town. So we booked the night bus, but now the difficult thing was to find what to do for 6 hours when you have all you muchilas (bags) with you.
Luckily enough we weren`t alone (I told you, you can`t be alone in South America). We met Asaf and Revital again and a group of 4 new Israeli people, Naama (I told you we will get to her), Sinai , Lior and Moti.
First we entered to a restaurant and try to spend about 2 hours, still 4 to go. After that we just enter to an Internet who was willing to let us come in with our bags. It wasn`t an easy job.
Finally the time came and we were on our way to La Paz. The ride was an adventure to all of us. For everyone else it was an adventure because it was a Bolivian bus and not an Argentinian one, which is like a shock of it`s own.
For me it was a rough ride since the road wasn`t paved. On top of it at 2 am we had a ¨nice¨ wake up call (to those who get to sleep). The tier of the bus exploded. I don`t want even to compare it to things we are used from back home, but you can imagine how it sounds like.
But, the Bolivian surprised me for the first time. This time they had cell phone and all the equipment to fix the problem. I can`t say it was quickly, but after 3 hours of replacing the melting tier we were on our way. (The last trip, when Izick had a similar problem with the bus, they were just left in the middle of the road and had to catch a new bus the next day. So as you can see things changes after 6 years).
In the morning we arrived to La Paz, the capital.
It`s amazing to see the difference in a 3td country between the capital and the rest of the country, especially if you go to the reach part of town.
La Paz has much to offer, shopping, good food, site seeing and a base to all kind of treks.
We skipped on the treks, jungles and most of the shopping. Don`t forget this is our second time here.
Still we spend quite along time here since the city is very nice.
We went on a quad bike trip (Traktoron) in valle de la luna, which is, in English, valley of the moon.
Izick did the death road, for the second time, this time on bikes.
We saw some Bolivian carnival (apparently this month is the carnival time in Bolivia and Peru).
We went to visit a town called Sorata (next post).
And like every Israeli`s tourist we couldn`t avoid sending a package back home. Although, this time we sent only 3 kilo.
We weren`t about to stay the night at this unpleasant town. So we booked the night bus, but now the difficult thing was to find what to do for 6 hours when you have all you muchilas (bags) with you.
Luckily enough we weren`t alone (I told you, you can`t be alone in South America). We met Asaf and Revital again and a group of 4 new Israeli people, Naama (I told you we will get to her), Sinai , Lior and Moti.
First we entered to a restaurant and try to spend about 2 hours, still 4 to go. After that we just enter to an Internet who was willing to let us come in with our bags. It wasn`t an easy job.
Finally the time came and we were on our way to La Paz. The ride was an adventure to all of us. For everyone else it was an adventure because it was a Bolivian bus and not an Argentinian one, which is like a shock of it`s own.
For me it was a rough ride since the road wasn`t paved. On top of it at 2 am we had a ¨nice¨ wake up call (to those who get to sleep). The tier of the bus exploded. I don`t want even to compare it to things we are used from back home, but you can imagine how it sounds like.
But, the Bolivian surprised me for the first time. This time they had cell phone and all the equipment to fix the problem. I can`t say it was quickly, but after 3 hours of replacing the melting tier we were on our way. (The last trip, when Izick had a similar problem with the bus, they were just left in the middle of the road and had to catch a new bus the next day. So as you can see things changes after 6 years).
In the morning we arrived to La Paz, the capital.
It`s amazing to see the difference in a 3td country between the capital and the rest of the country, especially if you go to the reach part of town.
La Paz has much to offer, shopping, good food, site seeing and a base to all kind of treks.
We skipped on the treks, jungles and most of the shopping. Don`t forget this is our second time here.
Still we spend quite along time here since the city is very nice.
We went on a quad bike trip (Traktoron) in valle de la luna, which is, in English, valley of the moon.
Izick did the death road, for the second time, this time on bikes.
We saw some Bolivian carnival (apparently this month is the carnival time in Bolivia and Peru).
We went to visit a town called Sorata (next post).
And like every Israeli`s tourist we couldn`t avoid sending a package back home. Although, this time we sent only 3 kilo.
The journey to Bolivia
After saying goodbye to Argentina, we were looking forward to enter Bolivia. Izick was looking forward to be in places he already been and I was looking to see south America as I remembered from our last trip.
You can`t really say that Argentina or Chile is the real South America people think about. You can feel the difference from the moment you cross the border...
Our first destination was Tupiza. It`s a town 3 hours from the border.
This 3 hour ride was quite an adventure. For some reason there was no bus from the border to Tupiza that morning so we had to be creative.
And as you know we the Israeli are very creative,people can feel when we are around, for the good and the bad.
So we organized a spacial ride in a jeep just for 6 people, Israelis of course. We were 12 people so we split into 2 rounds, we were the second round.
I must say that I had my doubts about the jeep returning on time like it promised. People who had the chance of meeting the andian people (Bolivoans and Peruvians) knows they have some unlikeable qualities, the worth two is, that they are liars and fraud, so it`s hard to take their word.
Surprisingly enough the jeep came on time. Well, at that moment I thought that maybe something had change after 6 years. But, the Bolivian nature reviled his nature eventually. After 10 minutes ride the driver gave us a note the first Israeli group left us (we take care of each other). In the note there was a warning not to take the ride since he left them 1 hour walk from town, since there was some kind of rally (הפגנה).
At the moment we just laugh and hoped for the better. When we got to the alleged rally, we thought they were kidding us. There were couple of old guys sitting next to some trucks, trying to stop the vehicles. It was very amusing, we thought that they should come to Israel to see what is a real rally.
Not like the first group we didn`t gave up and we didn`t let him leave us in the middle of the road without getting our money back. He didn`t like the idea, but when you have a group of united Israelis, one Bolivian can`t overcome them, and he didn`t.
Finally after asking for the locals for some help he find an alternative way to take us straight to the central. One victory for us!!!
After one day of adapting to the altitude we took a day tour in a jeep to see the views of the area.
We took the tour with a Israeli couple, Asaf and Revital, which after that become very good friend of us.
It`s nice traveling with other people, It`s something we missed in New Zealand, but here you can never be alone. And it`s also nice to get complement about our age. Now after an advice from Naama (you will meet here later) we shouldn't revile our true age!
When we left Tupiza we were on our way to the Salar. The Salar is a big salt dessert high up in the altitude of 3500!!!
Actually, the trip is 4 days but only in the last day you get to see the salar, the rest of the days you get to see lagoons,
flamingo,
gaizers
and hot springs.
The main attraction for Israeli people who taking this tour is producing spacial photos in the salar.
The thing is that because the horizon is very far and because of the color of the slat you can create all king of spacial allusion with the camera.
The truth is, we weren`t about to do this kind of photos, especially after Nataly made laugh at us. But, since there was one Israeli girl with us we had to go alone and help her. By doing this we enter the European tourist to this craziness (there was 3 European tourists with us).
It wasn`t easy staging this kind of photos as you can see, and not all of them came out like we hoped they will...
You can`t really say that Argentina or Chile is the real South America people think about. You can feel the difference from the moment you cross the border...
Our first destination was Tupiza. It`s a town 3 hours from the border.
This 3 hour ride was quite an adventure. For some reason there was no bus from the border to Tupiza that morning so we had to be creative.
And as you know we the Israeli are very creative,people can feel when we are around, for the good and the bad.
So we organized a spacial ride in a jeep just for 6 people, Israelis of course. We were 12 people so we split into 2 rounds, we were the second round.
I must say that I had my doubts about the jeep returning on time like it promised. People who had the chance of meeting the andian people (Bolivoans and Peruvians) knows they have some unlikeable qualities, the worth two is, that they are liars and fraud, so it`s hard to take their word.
Surprisingly enough the jeep came on time. Well, at that moment I thought that maybe something had change after 6 years. But, the Bolivian nature reviled his nature eventually. After 10 minutes ride the driver gave us a note the first Israeli group left us (we take care of each other). In the note there was a warning not to take the ride since he left them 1 hour walk from town, since there was some kind of rally (הפגנה).
At the moment we just laugh and hoped for the better. When we got to the alleged rally, we thought they were kidding us. There were couple of old guys sitting next to some trucks, trying to stop the vehicles. It was very amusing, we thought that they should come to Israel to see what is a real rally.
Not like the first group we didn`t gave up and we didn`t let him leave us in the middle of the road without getting our money back. He didn`t like the idea, but when you have a group of united Israelis, one Bolivian can`t overcome them, and he didn`t.
Finally after asking for the locals for some help he find an alternative way to take us straight to the central. One victory for us!!!
After one day of adapting to the altitude we took a day tour in a jeep to see the views of the area.
We took the tour with a Israeli couple, Asaf and Revital, which after that become very good friend of us.
It`s nice traveling with other people, It`s something we missed in New Zealand, but here you can never be alone. And it`s also nice to get complement about our age. Now after an advice from Naama (you will meet here later) we shouldn't revile our true age!
When we left Tupiza we were on our way to the Salar. The Salar is a big salt dessert high up in the altitude of 3500!!!
Actually, the trip is 4 days but only in the last day you get to see the salar, the rest of the days you get to see lagoons,
flamingo,
gaizers
and hot springs.
The main attraction for Israeli people who taking this tour is producing spacial photos in the salar.
The thing is that because the horizon is very far and because of the color of the slat you can create all king of spacial allusion with the camera.
The truth is, we weren`t about to do this kind of photos, especially after Nataly made laugh at us. But, since there was one Israeli girl with us we had to go alone and help her. By doing this we enter the European tourist to this craziness (there was 3 European tourists with us).
It wasn`t easy staging this kind of photos as you can see, and not all of them came out like we hoped they will...
יום שבת, יוני 09, 2007
Before we leave Argentina...
Well, so after talking about the food in Argentina, how can we leave without having our last meal.
On our last day in Slata, we went to a great restaurant (I forgot the name), Izick had the most amazing steak (according to him).
And I took advantage of the fact that there is something else than steak, and I took a lentils stew (Yamy Yamy...).
In the evening, just before we took the bus to Bolivia, we went to an empanada class. Yes, Izick participate in the class. Now I can say that we are a good team in the kitchen, each of us knows his job in the kitchen. (Hadas, I hope you will be please with my products...)
On our last day in Slata, we went to a great restaurant (I forgot the name), Izick had the most amazing steak (according to him).
And I took advantage of the fact that there is something else than steak, and I took a lentils stew (Yamy Yamy...).
In the evening, just before we took the bus to Bolivia, we went to an empanada class. Yes, Izick participate in the class. Now I can say that we are a good team in the kitchen, each of us knows his job in the kitchen. (Hadas, I hope you will be please with my products...)
יום שישי, יוני 08, 2007
From the Iguazu to Salta
Now that we are back in the digital world we feel like we have lots to share with you all.
I know that our last post was long time ago, but don`t forget we enter to a 3td world country, so everything is happening here in Bolivian time...
Just before we enterd Bolivia we had some stops on the way, still in Argentina with a small stop in Brazil and Paraguai. I know that there is a big hole in our story, where is Buenos Aires??? Well, this is a place I`m trying to forget. Both of us were very sick over there and we don`t have any picture to show from thate place. So, forgive me if I`ll jump directly to Iguazu falls, which was our next destination after Buenos.
To people who don`t know the whole story I`ll elaborate, and explain the whole story. From this point on, in our trip, we are back in places we have already been.
On our first big trip, Izick had been in Brazil, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador and I joined him in Peru. So this time we are trying to go to places we haven`t been or loved and want to go back. The Bolivia part is a chance for me to see the highlights of the country (according to izick recommendation).
Iguazu falls was one of the places Izick had already been, so he made sure that I`ll be ready to the exhausting hit I`m going to feel the moment I`ll get there after the freezing cold of Argentina.
Surprisingly enough, it wasn`t that hot. And I can tell you right now that it wasn`t the last thing izick had mistaken. Apparently age and time have there influence on a man...
Our first stop was in cuidad del esta, which is in Parguai (Yep, another place in our around the world trip!!!), we went to this place to recover our big lost, our Camera!!!
After 2 hours and a short walk to see the big dam (which in the last trip Roie and Shay made fun of Izick who wanted to go there, shame on you!!!), we had the same camera we had before and from this point we were back in the digital world.
Our sells-man
From there we went to see the falls on the Brazilian side. There is only 2 words that I can describe this experience , extremely wet!!!!. Not only that we walked right under the falls we also had the amazing opportunity to be there when they sky opened there gates especially for us. Of course, the only thing I could think of at that moment was the camera, I wasn`t about to lose another one.
Just for, need to know basis, The iguazu falls are the largest falls in the world, by volume!
The next day we went to see the same falls from the Argentina side. Go figure how they decided to split it between 2 countries!?
It was very nice day. We had about 3 to 4 hours of walk around the area, and a short ride on the train around the park.
From the Iguazu we had a long long long ride on the bus to Salta, a nice town still in Argentina.
We took a day trip to Cafayate city and the surrounding area. We had the opportunity to be the only people on the tour, so we had a private guide just for us.
The tour included many stops on the way to Cafayate. The scenery on the way was quite amazing.
Our first stop when we entered Cafayate was a vinery.
We tasted the local wine (Yes, Iizck tasted it also!!!), I can say that both of us enjoyed the tour in Oren`s parents-in-low´s vinery much better. What can I say, the Israelis do it much better.
After we had some wine we went to eat, I can honestly say that on this lunch I had the best food in Argentina. The dish called lorcu, which is a stew with all kind of beans and meat.
It really made me feel like I`m back at my mom home. This dish top any steak Argentina can offer.
The food wasn`t the only thing new and different from the rest of Argentina we knew, it `s also the look of the local people, we definitely felt like we are getting closer to Bolivia. The appearance of the people was less European and more Indian, like Bolivia and Peru.
From Salta we took a bus straight to Bolivia., but this I`ll save for the next story...
I know that our last post was long time ago, but don`t forget we enter to a 3td world country, so everything is happening here in Bolivian time...
Just before we enterd Bolivia we had some stops on the way, still in Argentina with a small stop in Brazil and Paraguai. I know that there is a big hole in our story, where is Buenos Aires??? Well, this is a place I`m trying to forget. Both of us were very sick over there and we don`t have any picture to show from thate place. So, forgive me if I`ll jump directly to Iguazu falls, which was our next destination after Buenos.
To people who don`t know the whole story I`ll elaborate, and explain the whole story. From this point on, in our trip, we are back in places we have already been.
On our first big trip, Izick had been in Brazil, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador and I joined him in Peru. So this time we are trying to go to places we haven`t been or loved and want to go back. The Bolivia part is a chance for me to see the highlights of the country (according to izick recommendation).
Iguazu falls was one of the places Izick had already been, so he made sure that I`ll be ready to the exhausting hit I`m going to feel the moment I`ll get there after the freezing cold of Argentina.
Surprisingly enough, it wasn`t that hot. And I can tell you right now that it wasn`t the last thing izick had mistaken. Apparently age and time have there influence on a man...
Our first stop was in cuidad del esta, which is in Parguai (Yep, another place in our around the world trip!!!), we went to this place to recover our big lost, our Camera!!!
After 2 hours and a short walk to see the big dam (which in the last trip Roie and Shay made fun of Izick who wanted to go there, shame on you!!!), we had the same camera we had before and from this point we were back in the digital world.
Our sells-man
From there we went to see the falls on the Brazilian side. There is only 2 words that I can describe this experience , extremely wet!!!!. Not only that we walked right under the falls we also had the amazing opportunity to be there when they sky opened there gates especially for us. Of course, the only thing I could think of at that moment was the camera, I wasn`t about to lose another one.
Just for, need to know basis, The iguazu falls are the largest falls in the world, by volume!
The next day we went to see the same falls from the Argentina side. Go figure how they decided to split it between 2 countries!?
It was very nice day. We had about 3 to 4 hours of walk around the area, and a short ride on the train around the park.
From the Iguazu we had a long long long ride on the bus to Salta, a nice town still in Argentina.
We took a day trip to Cafayate city and the surrounding area. We had the opportunity to be the only people on the tour, so we had a private guide just for us.
The tour included many stops on the way to Cafayate. The scenery on the way was quite amazing.
Our first stop when we entered Cafayate was a vinery.
We tasted the local wine (Yes, Iizck tasted it also!!!), I can say that both of us enjoyed the tour in Oren`s parents-in-low´s vinery much better. What can I say, the Israelis do it much better.
After we had some wine we went to eat, I can honestly say that on this lunch I had the best food in Argentina. The dish called lorcu, which is a stew with all kind of beans and meat.
It really made me feel like I`m back at my mom home. This dish top any steak Argentina can offer.
The food wasn`t the only thing new and different from the rest of Argentina we knew, it `s also the look of the local people, we definitely felt like we are getting closer to Bolivia. The appearance of the people was less European and more Indian, like Bolivia and Peru.
From Salta we took a bus straight to Bolivia., but this I`ll save for the next story...
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