28/02/2012 - 01/03/2012 Copper Canyon trek.

  Waking up at 3 am to start this trip was unimaginably horrible, and to only drive for 4 hours to the town where we would be staring the trip.
There was really no need to leave so early in the morning as the day was short with only 4 hours of hiking.
Our crew for the trip were great, fantastic banter with alcohol and card games, there were 9 of us all together from all over and we all had the same attitude. This included guys I met in Bolivia with the absolutely stunning Franca and 2 dutch guys who were a fun laugh. As always I showed off some magic tricks confusing the masses but all good times. I can't tell yu how many games of Shithead we played but a hell of a lot.
The towns we stayed in offered beer and rum but at an extortionate price and bringing alcohol from Arequipa was something we should have done.
The hiking for the three days was good but really not long enough only hiking for a maximum of 4 hours each day.
Although the last day that was suppose to take 3 hours to get up and out of the valley was tough but didn't stop me pushing hard to make it to the top in 1 hour 15, doing his however kind of ruined my right knee, something that has irritated me for many of the hikes I have done in south America, especially when I hike downhill.
I had a great 3 days and on return to Arequipa I had a bus booked to Ica for some sandboarding action, it would have been awesome to have a night out partying with the group but unfortunately I had to go.
Now the exciting part, Franca who I got to know over the past few days who also is mindblowingly hot changed her plans to join me to Ica, it really was increadibly spontaneous, but I'm certainly not going to complain. I get to spend the next 2 days with her sandboarding outside Ica.
It was only after I told franca that she was incredible and stunning she decided to join me. Now a girl like this Who incidentally likes similar metal music to me, is in a band back in Switzerland and is as fit as hell changed her plans at the last moment to come with me.... If things go well, meaning I dont fuck up, would make the icing of the cake of this trip.
Seriously, this girl is everything!

 

27/02/2012 return to Arequipa.

I was suppose to only stay in Arequipa for one night but because I bumped into some boys I had met in sucre back in Bolivia a couple of weeks ago I decided to join them on the 3 day trek of copper canyon just outside of the city.
We had to organize the trip for the following day and as I only had a week before going back to Canada I could only squeeze the trek in if I left the night I returned.
I was pretty tired all day and just hung around the hostel until the mid afternoon where I headed to the market with some of the others to buy some food for dinner.
I cooked up a great meal feeding the eight of us who most would be having to get up at 3 am to start the trek.
This included an absolutely gorgeous Swiss girl named franka who loved metal - get in! She was quiet (surprisingly) but would put a smile on most faces.
I wanted to have an early one but I was pulled into watching a film - the fighter, won a bunch of awards but it was... Meh.

26/02/2012 - Outta Bolivia.

  On one of the buses to took to the border town to get back into Peru I saw that I have accidentally outstayed my visa by 4 days. I was stressing for the journey thinking I would have to pay some ridiculous price but checking online it's only $3 for everyday you stay over. Not too bad.
It was just a basic traveling day with not much to mention other than meeting an incredibly attractive German girl who was half Iranian, those eyes, oh! It didn't stop me from telling her how attractive she was (in German) when parting ways.

25/02/2012

What a stupid day of playing the waiting game.
My flight was booked for 12pm Departing from Rummenbarque to La Paz and at first it was only delayed 2 hours, we waited for the airplane to come but another hour, then when it finally arrived there was an issue with the engine and some warning light was showing. Here we were told it was going to take 30 minutes to repair. It took over an hour before we were told it would be another 15 more minutes.
Shortly later we were told the flight won't be going till tomorrow and we would be set up in a hotel back in town.
After collecting our luggage from the airplane we had to hop back on the bus to go into town to check in. As soon as we arrived and after we checked in the woman organizing the whole dilemma told us the plane was repaired and that we had to get back on the bus and go back to the airport.
I'm writing this now after spending the entire day at the airport 6 hours after the original time of departure.
Oh bolivia! What a place.
This morning I did hike up to the viewpoint to see the vista over the town, not so impress but at least I did something other than hang around the airport all day.
Arriving back at wild rover where I had stayed the last 2 times I've been in La Paz I ran into a group of people I had briefly met in Sucre, they were all good banter and so I joined them in the restaurant upstairs. I wanted to hit up the town but I was exhausted with the bullshit of the day.

22/02/2012 - 24/02/2012 The Pampas Tour.

  The 3 day pampas tour was great but with one exception. I was thrown in a group with only isrealies; in all my years of travel with all the tours I have done with all the groups of people I have met, this 3 day tour was where I felt the most left out, for the majority of the time it was me and 20 other isrealies.
Their English speaking ability is on par with most Germans but still with as much as I wanted to socialize It was limited to a short amount of time until they reverted back to hebrew.
Also not the politest of people and you will find difficulty in hearing a thank you when doing a favor - its not in their culture as one of them described to me but when someone does you a favor, for example lighting the wooden path with a flashlight with drop offs either side to where alligators dwelled you should really expect a thanks.
Ok, about the tour, 3 days 2 nights, we spent a lot of the time on the small river boat with our guide Bisma - he wasn't the most informative of guides but he did know the area incredibly well, navigating his way through the rivers and flooded areas with many alleyways and turnoffs. There were no signs nor maps to the area but we always made to place that we needed to be as listed on our itinerary, often having to protect our faces from the twigs and branches that would hit us as we coasted there.
For the most part the food we were served was great, tasty and plentiful, and eating in a group with only kosher eating isrealies meant that I could get more food.
Did you know that one of the rules of eating kosher is no milk with meat? The waiting time is different between these two too - 1 hour wait from drinking milk before eating meat and between 3 to 6 hours for the other way around.
I suppose I'm learning something when hanging around with these guys.
Our accommodation for the two nights were pretty decent supplying us with a mosquito net and resident caymans and alligators surrounding the area around the accommodations with narrow platforms without handrails to balance on to keep us entertained.
Pepé the name of the alligator was fed very well always hanging around infront of the kitchen waiting for the scrap meat that was sent his way.
One of the highlights of the trip was swimming with the pink dolphins these playful creatures would nibble on your feet when playing with you. Sometimes they draw blood but I suppose I was lucky - i'm talking about the isrealies too ;)
I got many great shots of the animals we did see with monkeys, birds and a couple of snakes. But the main Pampas area where we had to trench though waist deep swamp for about a kilometer to a small island to see anacondas was disappointing, only finding a small snake, an owl in a tree and a spider.
I took advantage of every opportunity I had to meet others on other tours to get away from the hebrew speaking isrealies just so I could enjoy some commonalities with people who speak the same language or could and would speak english.
My observations on this trip were not about the animals within the Pampas but rather the animals that participated in the tour with me.
As i write this entry I am wearing a pair of 150$ noise canceling headphones and even they cannot drown out the noise the isrealies are making behind me in the truck back to Rummenbaque. They are like annoying drunk children.

 Swimming with Pink dolphins! Sounds fake no?

21/02/2012

Having to hang about la Paz all day waitin for my flight was hungoverly boring and with no other place to rest properly other than the tv room I rested through several films.
All set and ready to get my midday flight I found out my flight was delayed till the late afternoon, this was frustrating meaning that I would be arriving in Rummenbaque in the evening and won't really get a chance to see the amazon town.
I had to walk half way across town to the tourist info center where I had organized the flights and Pampas tour from where many, if not all the people who book tours here are from Israel.
Israelites are people who make names for themselves by being arrogant, forward, cheap and certainly loud but in my experience this is only the case when they travel in groups.
There was a free taxi from the tour agency to the airport that the office filled with these Israelis that I met on the trip, really nice enough people but something was off with them, I can't explain exactly what I mean, something I couldn't put my finger on, until we made it to Rummenbaque on the small propeller propelled airplane that flew over the mountain ranges surrounding la Paz over and into the amazon jungle.
These Israelis complained so much about not having a tshirts for the pampas tour and made such a huge deal about it, it was embarrassing to be around them.
All together there were about 9 of them most of them couples but I honestly thought it would be a one off thing where they would complain but when we headed to the hotel we were staying in they complained about the noises from the street outside, demanding to change rooms - Guys, your in the Bolivia, quit fucking complaining and shut the fuck up!
I honestly didn't want to eat dinner with them so I headed out alone and met with 3 Brits that were on the plane and headed out for dinner with them. Filet mignon, beer, pool and most of all good banter, it was a relief from all the complaining.

18/02/2012 - 20/02/2012

Back in la Paz! last time i was here I didn't really make it out partying. I certainly made the effort to go out this time round.
I made good friends with a Dutch guy named Eric and a Belgium guy named chris, both of which were great guys and we spent a lot of time (and money) together in many of la paz's night life not getting home till the brighter hours of the morning - always a terrible thing exiting a bar squinting until your eyes adjust to the sun.
I must admit that the reason why we had such late nights and money spent was because of a certain bar called Route 36, this after nightclub bar openly offered what they served as coke - really it wasnt coke but speed and other random substances.
Still it was a cool place to hang out and chat away for many many hours not being tired from the effects of the stuff that was offered.
During these few days I organized to do the Pampas tour in the Amazon costing a fair bit of money but apparantly (according to many people I had met) well worth the visit.
Also during my time here was the first few days of Carnival - a huge south American celebration Of drunk people in the street with kids spraying people and one another with water and foam. This is only fun for a short time until you are soaking wet from not only the kids but as this is la Paz, the rain too.
It was a short few days this time in la Paz but nights that were longer - great high times - and I'm talking about the altitude.