Ireland - Shannon / Dublin and the trip home

As you can see it's really not all that far to Tipperary. Today we took the long way back to Dublin, through Limerick, Tipperary and the Rock of Cashel. We didn't have time to stop in either Limerick or Tipperary, but I think the highlight for us is just to see the name on the road signs.

The Rock of Cashel is the former seat of power for the Munster kings before the Normans showed up. St. Patrick is reputed to have converted the kings to Christianity here too. After is was a castle it was converted into a cathedral. Now it is all in ruins and under renovation.

Back in Dublin we stayed at friends of Shannon's. They had a few people over and put on a BBQ. It was a great time. They also let us stay the night. Of course, we stayed up all night before we had to fly home early in the morning.

My mother once told me that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all, so in the spirit of Mother's Day, I won't tell you about our flights back to Denver. We arrived very tired and slightly nauseous. We got back to Boulder all right, and even managed to drive on the right side of the road.

We had a great trip and both would love to go back to see the rest of the island.

Ireland - Clifden / Shannon

We left Clifden via the Sky Road, up into the hills overlooking the sea, then backtracked a bit to go see the Twelve Bens. They are twelve peaks in close proximity to each other. The tallest one is about 750m, so they are not huge, but they are the biggest ones around. You can hike them all in one day if you are keen (and fitter than me). We drove up a dodgy road to a tv/radio mast and got some great views.

Then we began another driving day. We headed down south of Galway and around the coast of County Clare. The scenery was great and we discovered something rarer than a four leaf clover; an Irish town with no pub! We tried to stop to keep the scenery:beer ratio in balance, but we couldn't find a pub in the town. I've erased the name of it from my memory and shall never speak of it again. We did stop for ice cream, which is a distant second.

Then we arrived in the town of Shannon (Insert Shannon joke here - there will be a prize if anyone comes up with one I haven't already used). Some family is having some sort of celebration in the pub attached to our hotel. There is a lot of mutton dressed as lamb. Dinner was good, but loud.

Ireland - Donegloe / Clifden

Breakfast was great. Another full Irish breakfast, this time including black and white pudding (if you don't know what it is, you probably don't want to). Then we had a short drive to Slieve League. Slieve League consists of tall cliffs on the west coast of Ireland. Very windy, very rugged, very beautiful.

Today was mostly a driving day. We got Morag on side again and headed south for a scenic drive along the coast. We drove all the way down to Croagh Patrick. This is the mountain where St. Patrick fasted for 40 days and nights (then came down and got rid of all the snakes). There is a statue at the bottom and a chapel at the top. Of course, when we showed up it started to rain. When we arrived you could see the top of the mountain, but by the time we got out of the visitor center, it was covered in clouds. The rain did make it look more authentic though.

To end the day, we had another long drive to Clifden. Clifden is very touristy, lots of pubs and restaurants and some beautiful seaside scenery. Note: Long drives are long by Irish standards, by North American standards, they aren't that far. But the roads are narrower over here and you have to drive slower (well one of us does).

Ireland - Ballycastle / Donegloe

Today was a very touristy day. We started out with a traditional Irish breakfast. I've noticed over the years that a "traditional" breakfast is ususally an excuse to feed you something unpleasant and they feed you way too much. In this case, only the latter applied. No black and white pudding for us.

Our first stop was the Carrick-a-Rede Rope bridge, which didn't open until ten, so we continued on to the Giant's causeway.

The causeway was built by Irish giant Finn McCool (best name ever) so he could go across to Scotland to beat up a Scottish giant. There is also a legend about ancient volcanic activity and the properties of lava cooling to produce hexagonal stone columns, but how can you not believe anything that involves Finn McCool. The causeway really does look like somebody paved a path into the sea using hexagonal paving stones.

The rope bridge spans a short gap to a rock that is now an island, but I'm sure used to be part of the mainland. It is a long drop to the sea below. The bridge is fairly sturdy and is only scary if the wind is blowing, which it constantly is in Ireland as I'm learning. There may be some great historical relevance of the bridge, but from my observations most people do it for the adrenaline rush. And does it ever deliver.

Our final scheduled stop was Dunluce Castle. The ruins of the castle are perched on a cliff over looking the sea. The castle's history is full of storiea about how the current ruler hired mercenaries to help with such and such battle, but then the mercenaries took over the castle and became the local rulers. Then they had to hire mercenaries, who in turn, took over from them. This happened a few times, so they are not big on learning from another's mistakes. The moral seems to be fight your own battles. Or never trust Irish mercenaries. Now the battlements looking over the sea provide wonderful views up and down the coastline.

For the rest of the day we decided to annoy Morag. We programmed in out destination and then took the most back-roads, winding, coastal, scenic route we could find. The scenery was beautiful, but at every possible turn Morag implored us to get on the highway. By the end of the day you could almost hear the anguish in her voice when she asked us to turn and when she repeated "recalculating" for the 40th time she sounded pissed.

After the full Irish breakfast and a decent lunch, neither of us were up for much dinner. Three full meals a day while sitting in the car is not a good combination. We hit up a grocery store and had a quiet snack in our room at the B&B. We'll see what breakfast is like tomorrow.

Ireland - Belfast / Ballycastle

This morning started with a quick visit to the Belfast City Hall. The marble is beautiful, white with black streaks and they have some nice murals. Getting out of Belfast was a bit tricky, Morag got a little testy - we named our GPS Morag, she's Irish and has a tendency to get annoyed if you don't do what you are told. Unfortunately Morag's knowledge of Northern Ireland is less than perfect (she did ask us to turn the wrong way into a on-way street more than once).

Eventually we made our way to Carrickfergus Castle, a Norman keep just around the coast north of Belfast. It is the best preserved castle around because the royalists keep coming up with money for its upkeep. It is also full of swords, crossbows and trebuchets, everything my nephew could want for his birthday. They do a pretty good job of showing how people lived in the middle ages plus they have a display of cannons through the years.

Just to drive Morag crazy we took the coastal route for a ways. The Irish coast in this area is best described as rugged but beautiful (maybe rugged and beautiful). There are a lot of rocky beaches between rocky headlands. We ventured inland to see Glenariff Forest. It has two waterfalls that are quite scenic and a only a short walk away. It also has a panoramic point where you can see down the glen to the coast.

We spent the rest of the day driving along the coast again enjoying the views. Morag didn't approve of the coastal route, she is less about the scenery and more about getting there quickly. Also, some idiot has been lighting fires all over Northern Ireland, so the part of the drive was smokey. We passed two fire trucks with crews putting out hot spots. We stopped at a number of scenic vistas (just to annoy Morag).

We arrived in Ballycastle (seriously) in the early evening and went out for dinner. It was fantastic - I had a lamb shank the size of my arm. After dinner we went to a pub for a quiet one. We entered just on half time in the Barcelona / Real Madrid game, and everybody left. I'm not sure if it was us or halftime, but they didn't come back for the second half. It was the first time I've ever cleared a pub without trying. Hopefully we'll get along better with the locals tomorrow.

Ireland - Dublin / Belfast

Today we left Dublin and headed for Belfast. The GPS in our car has never heard of Belfast, so that was out and I had to navigate manually. Good thing we were heading for a major highway because I'm not sure I could have handled Dublin's narrow streets.

First we stopped at Bru Na Boine. Bru Na Boinne is an ancient site, they think it might be a tomb or a religious site, but since it is older than the pyramids, they aren't sure. It was discovered 300 years ago, but only brought under heritage protection about 100 years ago, so lots of artifacts have disappeared. Bru Na Boinne is a large stone mound (now mostly covered in grass) with a narrow passage way through to the center. It is lined up so that on midwinter's day, the sun shines straight up the passage. At the center is a round chamber with three ante chambers. There are lots of theories about what the chambers are for, but no consensus. The same is true for the carvings; nobody seems to know what they mean.

After lunch in a country pub, we continued on to Belfast. We signed up for a Black Cabs tour and chose the political tour. We drove all over West Belfast (both the Catholic and Protestant sides) with Pat. Pat was definitely a Catholic. but managed to give us a great tour. We saw lots of murals, and a huge wall. I know I didn't grow up with it and can't possibly under stand what's going on, but it all seems very futile to me.

The rest of Belfast is very beautiful and doesn't seem to have the same issues (but what do I know). We had a nice walk around after our tour. We stopped for a drink across from the most bombed hotel in Europe (it was where the British stayed) and had a nice hunk of lamb for dinner.

Ireland - Dublin / Bray

After a horrible set of flights (the United / Continental merger is not going as well as hoped), I touched down in Dublin early Saturday morning. Shannon has been here all week on business, so she picked me up at the airport and brought me back to our hotel. I had a quick run to help recover from airline seats and went to bed. A subjectively short time later, Shannon woke me up and we went to tour the Guinness factory.

We already know how beer is made, so we went quickly through the first part, but the section on advertising and on transportation is very interesting. The tour is vertical, it is spread over 7 floors, the higher you get, the closer you are to the free beer. The very top floor has a round bar with 360 degree view of Dublin. Apparently, Guinness doesn't travel well, so the one you have at the factory is the best one you'll ever have. I don't know if that is true, but it was pretty good.

After the tour, we walked through Temple Bar and met a friend of Shannon's and some others at the Stag's Head. The Guinness I had there was pretty good too. They had been at the rugby that afternoon; their team won and they were in the mood to celebrate. Many rounds later we found an excellent french restaurant. By the time I got to bed, I think I had slept for four out of the last 30 hours.

Guinness seems to be good for me, I slept in, but felt great when I awoke on Sunday. Shannon and I took the car down to Bray (on the coast, south of Dublin). We drove down along the coastal route, the scenery was beautiful. Bray is a beach between two hills jutting out into the sea. there is a park along the beach and the appropriate touristy bars, shops and hotels. One side is quite scenic, the other side quite garish. We walked along the beach and up one of the hills then headed back to Dublin.

Once in Dublin, we went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. We arrived just before they closed and they let us in for free if we promised to be quick. We went in, saw it and left through the old library. The old library has an exhibit on old medicine (its the 300 year anniversary of the college of medicine). Did you know you can cure a nose bleed by wearing a dried toad around your neck? I assume the medicinal education has improved over the 300 years. I also wonder what current treatments will be looked back on with disbelief 300 years from now.

We walked around Dublin Castle then went out for an early dinner. We went to a Lebanese place, we figure that we'll get enough Irish cuisine as we travel around. Tomorrow we head for Belfast.

Going Home

12/5/09

Tonight we fly home. But first we sleep in - it was a big night last night. Some time around noon we check out and go see the Buenos Aires zoo. It is really good. They have all the local animals plus lots of exotic (to Argentina) ones. My favourite is the puma. The pygmy hippo makes Shannon dance with glee (Seriously, it's something to see - Shannon I mean). There are large water rats and deer-like rodents the size of a medium dog running around free. You can even buy animal feed for them. It is a very civilized zoo.

After the zoo we walk through the botanical gardens, then walk some more through the city. We stop to buy some wine to bring home, grab our bags and head off to the airport.

After all the complaining I have been doing about bus seats and trips, the worst seat I was in the whole trip was the flight home. I still have a bruise on my ass two days later. It was cold when we arrived in Denver and, of course, my luggage with my warm clothes was still in South America. It was a chilly walk to the cab in my short sleeves. Thankfully my luggage arrived intact about 12 hours after I did.

Buenos Aires

12/4/09

We try to finish our trips with a little luxury and it works out again on this trip. We are able to use Marriott points to get two nights in Buenos Aires. After some of our accommodations, it is divine. The girls get up early and go exploring, but I have the sense to sleep in and take advantage of the hotel's amenities. I do eventually leave the hotel and go for a walk around Buenos Aires.

The pink house (analogous to the White House) is quite interesting. Where the red ribbon is in the picture is where Evita would speak to the masses.

It is a Friday night, so we go out big. The concierge recommends a very good steak house. Shannon even manages to spill her wine on the table instead of on somebody. Dessert was interesting. I had lemon ice cream in champagne. It was better than it sounds.

After dinner we went to a tango club. It wasn't a tango show, but a club where "normal" people go to tango. It was pretty full. Some of the dancers were pretty good and other were pretty bad. All of them are better than me.

We get home late and slightly tipsy and fall into bed.

Montevideo

12/3/09

Today we see Montevideo. We start with the gaucho and currency museum. I know that sounds a little weird, but the weird part is the top 40 vinyl through the years exhibit. This museum has a couple of rooms full of Uruguayan currency, a room with lots of record covers and a floor of cowboy stuff.

Then we went for a long walk on an even longer river walk. I think it is still considered a river at that point, but it is right at the mouth, so the only thing to the (south) east is water.

Out next stop is the carnival museum. Montevideo has a carnival that is almost as big as Rio's (according to the Uruguayans). I discovered why it is called carnival. Carne is Spanich for meat and carnival is the end of meat eating (for lent). Carnival is what the original words morphed into.

The carnival museum is in the market district so we get to spend a lot of time looking at cattle-based souvenirs. All of you who didn't receive a cow hide can consider yourselves lucky.

I really like Montevideo. I could spend a lot more time here. If Harvey Economics ever decides to expand into South America, I would gladly head up the Montevideo office.

We finish the day by taking a bus/ferry combination to Buenos Aires.

Best Immigration Ever

12/2/09

This morning I woke up under an overpass in the rain. This doesn't look like a bus station, but who am I to judge.

After a good sleep on the bus (which is still a bad night's sleep in a real bed), the conductor woke us up and told us we were at our stop. I was still sleep deprived and didn't notice we weren't at the bus station (which should give you an indication of some of the bus stations we have been through) until it was too late. There were two things that didn't make me too worried. The first was that we were right beside a police station and the second was that there were two taxis waiting. Of course there were 12 people, but minor details like that aren't going to bother me this late in the trip.

People seemed to get taxis in the order of how good their Spanish was. When we finally left in taxi there were still three Dutch people standing there looking confused. We saw them later so we know they made it.

Our taxi took us to the Uruguayan border and then further on to Salto. The border was the most efficient immigration I have ever seen. Both Uruguayan and Argentinian immigration are in the same building, with desks right beside each other. I handed my passport to the Argentine official and got it back from the Paraguayan official, and everything was taken care of. Best immigration ever!

The Salto bus station was one side of a shopping mall, so we got to engage in a little retail therapy while waiting for our bus. The grocery store had a bottle of scotch (Johnny Walker Gold Label) that was more expensive than the motorcycle in the front. I also saw a real gaucho (Uruguayan cowboy). he had the hat, the belt, the boots and the knife and he looked like he was made of leather.

The drive to Montevideo was very scenic. Uruguay looks like a nice country. It has nice scenery. We drove through a lot of agricultural land, with lakes and forests thrown in to make it look nice.

Montevideo looks very European. Both the architecture and the layout remind me of a coastal town in Europe. Another reason I like it here are the chivitos. A chivito is a steak sandwich. It is a thin piece of steak, some lettuce, tomato and an egg in a roll. They are delicious. A chivito canadiense comes with bacon. It is a beautiful thing. We have dinner (chivitos & beer) at an outdoor restaurant in the square and watch the youth prepare for a protest.

Iguacu – Brazilian Side

12/1/09

(I know I spelled the falls differently, one is Spanish, one is Portuguese)

After last night's late dinner, we sleep in this morning. Some time around 11am, we sneak into Brazil to see the foz (falls) from their side. In Brazil, you don't get as close to the falls, but you get better overall (panoramic?) views. We can see where we were yesterday and how it fits into the overall layout of the whole falls complex. The falls are scattered. It's not like Niagara, where there is one giant waterfall (plus the American one) and nothing else. There is the devil's throat, the center of which is the border. The falls are almost continuous on the Brazilian side, but only continue for a few hundred feed across before hitting the shore. On the Argentine side, the falls also continue for a few hundred feet, then there is an island/cliff, then some more falls, then some stepped falls, more islands/cliffs and this goes on for most of a mile. There are countless small (relatively) falls just bursting out of the jungle.

The walk out at the bottom of the Brazilian side is very wet. We are extremely close to (and downwind of) a fairly large section. We also go up to the top of the tower to get a great view of the whole thing. Overall, I don't think Iguacu is as big as Victoria Falls and it looks like more water flows over Niagara, but Iguacu is prettier.

After sneaking out of Brazil, we buy overnight bus tickets to the Uruguayan border and head back to our hostel for one last swim.

The bus seats are the best yet. They are similar to a business class airplane seat and recline almost completely horizontally. Where were these on my trip through Paraguay?

Iguazu - Argentinian Side

11/30/09

This morning the plan was to get up early and try to see some nature before seeing the falls. Nature, however, had other plans. It is pouring outside. All I have to do to see a giant waterfall is open the curtains and look where the downspout should be.

It has now stopped raining (mostly) so we head over to the park. This time, instead of taking the train, we walk to the first viewing point, the superior loop. This walkway goes across the tops of a number of waterfalls and has some great views of the rest of them. Next, after a stop for ice cream, we do the inferior loop, the walkway at the bottom. I think the views from here are even more impressive, you can really get the sense of how much water is coming over the various chutes. After more ice cream, we take the train out to el garganta del diablo (I told you it was better in Spanish). It is much the same as last night, just not as spooky and you can see more.

Throughout the day we have seen numerous coatis. They are small mammals with long ringed tails. They are a lot like raccoons – same size, same foraging, same aggressive begging. When I finally get the pictures posted, there will be a number of coatis. We went on the nature trail, hoping to see toucans. We didn't, but we did see a cappybarra. It crossed the trail in front of us and then posed for pictures just a few feet off into the bush.

After a dip in the pool and a snooze, we head out for dinner. It was excellent and I highly recommend the Latitude 33 malbec.

Sneaking Through Brazil

11/29/09

This morning our hotel served up a massive breakfast buffet. It is the most I've eaten for breakfast in a long time. After breakfast we walk across the bridge to Brazil. Shannon and Carmalyn walk straight through, but I get tapped on the shoulder and told to report to immigration. Apparently I'm the dodgy one. At immigration, I have a choice. I can pay an exorbitant visa fee and she'll stamp my passport or I can just walk on through without a stamp. I choose to walk on through. A fifteen minute bus ride later, we arrive at Brazilian exit customs. Again, I choose to walk on through. Finally, at Argentinian immigration, I actually show somebody my passport. And it is quickly handed back.

I have a theory that the more upstanding the country, the faster they process you at immigration (providing there are no problems). Some of the dodgiest countries have hemmed and hawed over my passport trying to decide if I should be let in, while in the U.K, it took only as long as it took to run my passport through the reader and ask if I was a tourist. The last time I was in Switzerland, I slid my passport under the 9 inches of bullet proof glass and the official (he didn't smile, Swiss officials never smile, but he came as close as officially authorized) slid it right back without even opening it. The U.S. always takes a long time at immigration, but I think that just confirms my theory.

Shannon found us a hostel with a pool (or, as I think of it, a pool that lets you spend the night). We arrive early and are told to come back in an hour so we go have lunch and walk around the town of Puerto de Iguazu. It is very touristy. Now I am sitting beside the pool typing this up after a refreshing swim. The girls went to see some monument at the corner where you can see three countries. It's going to take a lot more than three countries to drag me away from the pool and my beer.

Tonight we go visit Iguazu falls by moonlight. For that I will leave the pool.

At the park, we take a little train out to the last stop; the walkway out to the devil's throat (it's better in Spanish - Garganta del Diablo). It's about a mile out over the river to the devil's throat. The throat is a really narrow horseshoe-shaped section, right in the middle of the falls. We are standing above one side and the other side is only a hundred feet away. It is really beautiful by moonlight. I took some pictures and I think some of them turned out.

The Most Corrupt Spot in the Most Corrupt Country in South America

11/28/09

We get up at 4am to catch the 4:45 bus. But first we have a 1km walk in the dark. I'm hoping for a puma attack, but instead we find another giant spider web (see previous post). We catch the bus, but it almost didn't stop. I guess three white people jumping around waving their arms with flashlights is just a normal sight in these parts.

Ten very uncomfortable (Paraguayan bus seats are smaller than Canadian backs and even my short legs don't fit) hours later we arrive in Ciudad del Este. Ciudad del Este is right at the corner of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. It has the honour of being the most corrupt city in the most corrupt nation in all of South America. There are lots of good deals on electronics (if they work when you get them home) and, apparently, is also a popular place for human trafficking. We are only offered the former and decline to be involved in either.

We do however enjoy a massive rainstorm. Lots of good thunder and lightening and not that much rain. I don't know if it's the rain or the time, but everything closes right at 5pm. Even most of the restaurants are closed and the ones that are open are only open to get rid of what they have left. We manage to find a street-meat stall and have delicious pork on a stick for dinner.

Parque Cerro Cora

11/27/09

This morning we got up early and stocked up on food and water (lots of water) because we are heading into the wilderness for a night. The bus drops us off at the side of the highway and we start along the 1km track to the park office. Just before we reach the office, we get offered a ride by a Brazilian church group. They are on a day trip to see the monument to the war of triple alliance.

Back in the day the Paraguayan president managed to annoy Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay so much that they put aside their mutual loathing and formed the triple alliance against Paraguay. It didn't work out so well for Paraguay. Paraguay lost over 1 million people out of a population of 1.3 million, including almost all males of military age (and many that weren't).

The Brazilians drop us off at the park office, where we discover that the park has free (which we knew about), air-conditioned (which we didn't) accommodations available (which we were hopeful about). After a little rest, we head out of an evening walk. On the way back from the river we spot a small anteater scurry across the trail in front of us. We also see a few giant spider webs containing dozens of spiders. The webs stretch from trees on one side of the road all the way across to the other side of the road, at least 30 feet.

Dinner consists of cold empenadas, bread and fruit. We eat early and go to bed because we have an early bus to catch tomorrow (It's becoming a trend).

P.S. Ben Franklin was wrong. Early to bed, early to rise actually makes a man hot, tired and grumpy.

Conception

11/26/09

So about 7 hours into a 4 hour bus ride we arrive in Conception. Conception is a small town almost straight north of Asuncion. When we arrive, the whole town is being decked out in white pieces of cloth. We can't figure out why and the guy at the hotel has no idea. It's not a festival or anything. Our hotel has seen better days, but it has style. It has a courtyard, sweeping staircase and balconies, overlooking both the courtyard and the street. It also has air conditioning and is two blocks from the heladeria (ice cream shop). Shannon buys us ice cream (really good ice cream – I'm sure the milk has never been pasteurized) and we wander down to the river. The river is the place to be. All the young couples on their motor scooters are there. Kids are swimming, old guys are fishing. We watch the local ferry service in action. Some guy puts his bike in a rowboat and is rowed across to the other side.

As we are hanging out in air-conditioned splendor, waiting to go out to dinner, we hear an ear splitting siren. I go outside to make sure the hotel is not on fire. I am pretty sure it is not our hotel making the noise mostly because it doesn't have smoke detectors, so the first sign we would see of a fire would be smoke or flames. The sound turns out to be a fire truck, but it is involved in a parade, not fire fighting. Apparently the white ribbons, signs and balloons are all in support of peace and they are having el parade por la paz (the parade for peace). I swear everybody in town is marching (or driving) down the street. The parade lasts for about 20 minutes, then everybody disappears.

Carmalyn seems to have caught what has been bugging Shannon and I, so just Shannon and I go across the street to a Paraguayan Grill. Dinner consists of a large tray of mostly unidentifiable pieces of meat. The tray looks like a mini barbecue. It has four legs, each about a foot long, a pan an inch deep, full of coals to keep dinner hot, with a grill on top, full of animal parts. I'm not even sure what animal. Most of it is excellent. I think the blood sausage is good, Shannon doesn't agree. Neither of us like the heart and intestines.

Asuncion

11/25/09

At 4am this morning we arrived in Asuncion. This is intriguing to me for two reasons. The first one is the obvious one; we just finished a 20 hour bus ride that lasted for over 30 hours. The second reason is that our bus was supposed to go to Pozo Colorado, not Asuncion. Asuncion is only 150 km further down the line and, hey, once you get the bus going, I'd be afraid to stop it too. So we checked into a nice (relatively) hotel with air conditioning and went to bed.

Right now, the girls are out exploring Asuncion and I am in the hotel recovering. I thought I was going to get away without catching whatever Shannon had, but the heat, the dehydration and lack of nutrition on the bus got me. The girls did bring water, juice fruit and bread back for me, so I am being well taken care of. Shannon also brought me back a Paraguayan National Team jersey. It's white with red stripes and my number is 10.

Around 4:00 we all head out to explore the giant market and see a football game. The market was much the same as all the others, just much much bigger. Asuncion is hot. It is 40C (~105) in the shade at 6pm. Out in the sun is much worse. I won't survive very long here.

After we almost get scammed for tickets and thanks to the help of a nice lady (who told us about the scam), we buy real tickets and enter the stadium. It is mostly empty. The seconds teams are about 15 minutes from finishing their game. The thing we all immediately notice is the police presence. There are police everywhere. Mostly in regular uniforms, but there is a squad of riot police, two paddy wagons, and a squad of mounted riot police. I thought I was here to see a football match, not overthrow a government. We have good seats. We paid up for “preferentia” seating. The whole stadium is general admission, but there are two sections. There is the fenced off, surrounded by police, center of the field section and there is the riffraff. We pay the $6 for the fancy seating.

The stadium fills to about one third full by the time the main game starts. It is, not surprisingly, a high level of play. On par with anything I've seen in Europe. We cheer for the home team (along with most of the police). There is no score in the first half, but each team has had its chances and they seem to be evenly matched. About halfway through the second half, the lights go out. All of the sudden the giant stadium lights go black. So, the guy sitting beside me decides that this is the appropriate time to set off his (hand held) roman candle. At least the sparks raining down on us give us some light to see by.

Instead of rioting, the locals start singing the team songs. The police still look nervous. Me too. There are a lot of fireworks going off (all hand held of course). It's not completely dark yet, and it's only the giant flood lights that are out, the stadium still has power, so we can still see enough to get around, just not play football. About fifteen minutes after the lights went out, just as the locals are running out of songs, one of the bulbs flickers on (there are about 40 bulbs per giant light stand). Ten minutes later, enough lights have come on that the game starts up again.

With about 3 minutes left in the game, the late substitution for the home team pays off and sends a beautiful cross into the box. Somebody heads it home and things get exciting. The crowd goes wild, the players all do a choreographed dance and the cops all relax. The villains push hard for the equalizer, but the heroes (I told you I was cheering for them) hold on for the win.

We were talking to one of the guys sitting beside us. He is a player agent and has a couple of guys playing in this game. I also am learning some very interesting Spanish, but nothing my teacher (or mother) would be proud of.

The crowd outside the stadium is almost as exciting as the match, but we take a taxi to a nice restaurant Shannon has picked out near out hotel. Dinner is excellent. I order a small beer – purely for medicinal purposes – and our waiter brings a 660ml bottle out. I ask and this is the small size. If it weren't stupid hot, I could really like Asuncion.

Longest Bus Ride Ever!

11/24/09

I awoke at 4:30am when we arrived at Bolivian exit customs. For some reason they had to check our passports at two different offices before we could get our exit stamp. The next time I woke up was when our bus broke down. About two and a half hours ago (8am) we were told it would take four hours to fix.

It is now 12:45. The bus is running, but we haven't moved yet. I am still hopeful that I won't be stuck here for more than a few days.

3pm: The “mechanic” has gone and returned three times. Each time he replaces a small part, then they start the engine, rev it up, look at it shake their heads, and the “mechanic” starts off again. What is the mph equivalent of one inch in 7 hours?

I am hot, sweaty, tired, and hungry. It is surprising that I am not (too) grumpy. I seem to have gone zen. The baby just started crying. We'll see how long zen lasts.

3:30pm: We are on the move! Let's see how long this lasts. And the baby stopped crying a while ago. Given the number of kids under two on the bus, it has been very quiet.

Welcome to La Jungle (It's got fun and games)

11/23/09

It's actually a crappy ropes course that has seen better days. This is what is replacing our boating excursion because the river is too high. Of course, the person who booked our tour knew that the river was too high, but still sold us on the trip. I believe that is called a “bait and switch”. Since Shannon was recovering, I was coming down with a milder case of what Shannon had and Carmalyn has too much engineering knowledge to trust the structural integrity of the whole place, it wasn't a lot of fun. The girls tried the smallest swing (3m), we all did some sort of flying fox with a seat contraption, but nobody wanted to try the bigger swings, so our tour went quickly.

This is our last day in the jungle, so after La Jungle, we head into town. Our tour will take us back to Cochabamba, but we want to head in the opposite direction. Since we are already halfway (by time, not distance) there is no point returning, only to come right back through again. Trusting my life to the local drivers on the mountain roads once was enough. There is no way I am going to give them three chances. The third bus to go by stops and we end up in the cab. I get to lie down in the space where the alternate driver sleeps. Best bus ride ever.

When we arrive in Santa Cruz, we book a 20 hour bus ride to Paraguay. Our three day excursion into the jungle means we have to cut the wine tour from our trip. We stock up on water and board the bus to Paraguay.

Jungle Paradise Day 2

11/22/09

This morning Shannon is sick. It's nothing serious, but she is not happy, able to eat (or even leave the vicinity of our hotel room). So Carmalyn and I abandon her and go visit parque Carrasco. It is a giant conservation area in the middle of Bolivia. We have to cross the river in a cart that runs across two steel cables. The cart has a runner / pulley at each corner that runs along the cables. It is pretty exciting in itself, but not as exciting as the other way to cross. In our experience, the cart is always on the other side of the river (It naturally rests in the center if not tied up). The way our guide (Jose) has to cross to get the cart looks like fun. He has a rope with three loops in it. Two loops go under his bum and the third under his arms. Then he has a contraption that is two hooks on either side of a pulley. He puts the pulley on one of the cables, puts the rope in the hooks and pulls himself across the river. Carmalyn wants to go across that way, but he won't let her.

Once we get across, we go for a walk in the jungle. We see lots of lizards, bugs and snakes. Only one of the snakes we saw was venomous, but it was a small one, which are more dangerous. If my Spanish is correct (about a 50/50 chance), Jose tells us that younger smaller venomous snakes are more dangerous because they lack experience. An older (larger) snake will only inject the minimum amount of venom in case the kill is not successful. Then he still has some venom left for other attempts. A younger snake will inject all the venom it has, making it more dangerous to humans. In any case, they all run away at the sound of us approaching. Jose is good. He can spot a two inch lizard standing absolutely still from ten feet. It takes me a few minutes to see it even after Jose points it out with a stick.

Our walk goes to two caves. First is the Bat Cave. There are way to many types of bats that live here. Most live on fruit or insects (anything that kills insects is a friend of mine), but some live on birds. A couple are vampire bats and one catches fish. Apparently they swoop down over the water and pull out fish with their claws, like eagles. The cave is really interesting. There are bats hanging everywhere. And more flying around. It is cool to watch them fly up to the ceiling, flip over, grasp some invisible ledge and then swing there for a few minutes. I'm not convinced their sonar is all the accurate. I had a couple of them bounce off me and I'm hardly a hard target to miss.

After the Bat Cave is el Caverna del Repechons (Cave of the night birds). The birds look like peregrine falcons, about the same size with curved beaks, but they eat fruit. They have giant eyes (they are night-birds). It is mating season and most of the eggs have been laid. There were a lot of giant eyes looking at us suspiciously from nests high up on ledges. There was also a lot of flying around, but nobody really left the cave. We walked back through more snakes, lizards and a couple of monkeys. Carmalyn still couldn't convince Jose to let her try the rope to get across the river.

This afternoon is free. Shannon is looking better, but not ready to leave the hotel room yet. We drag her up to lunch for three whole spoonfuls of broth and this almost kills her. So Carmalyn and I abandon her again and take the trails down to the river to look for the swimming holes. We find them. The water is cold! It is wonderful. The first time we enter a pool, we throw a few rocks in and edge in slowly, by the end we are wading from pool to pool with no regard for personal safety. We head back to check on Shannon and discover that she has migrated to the pool. We convince her to join us at the swimming holes. This time we wander upstream and find even more. We even find a natural water slide. There are supposed to be 14 river pools, but we only make it to 12. I reckon that if we keep walking either up or down stream we could find as many as we wanted to.

I was so exhausted at the end of the day that I fell asleep despite the massive tropical rainstorm outside our room. Lots of thunder and lightening and, based on the evidence in the morning, lots of rain, but I slept through the whole thing.

Cochabamba to Villa Tunari - Jungle Paradise Day 1

11/21/09

Our drive through the mountains to Villa Tunari was interesting. Our driver was crazy (no more crazy than any of the other drivers), but his signaling was immaculate. Whether passing around a blind corner on a twisty mountain road or doing 110 kph through a 20kph school zone full of kids, at least everything was properly signaled. We only almost got into three accidents.

The hotel is fabulous. It is in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by jungle. There is a main building with a sitting area and bar inside, a dining area on the patio and an open air hammock room upstairs. There are guest cottages (each containing three hotel rooms) surrounding the main building. There are also two pools.

Our first trip is to the parque machia, an animal sanctuary. We saw lots of rescued monkeys and parrots. And an Andean mountain turkey. We climbed up a hill overlooking the area and got a really nice view. Two major rivers combine just outside Villa Tunari. The Rio San Mateo flows into the Rio Espirito Santo. It's only the beginning of rainy season, and both are already to big for navigation. And looking at the banks tells me they are only going to get bigger.

Later, we walk through town and stop for ice cream. It is a lot hotter here, in the jungle, than it was in the mountains. And it's only going to get worse as we travel into Paraguay. I may be in trouble.

We finish the day with a dip in the pools. One is about 4 feet deep and moderately warm, the other is a foot deep and very warm. Neither is what you'd call refreshing, but both are better than the four thousand percent humidity outside. Dinner is excellent. We all have some kind of fish. And for postres (dessert) I have papaya con chocolate (papaya covered in chocolate pudding).

I get lucky and it cools down over night so I can sleep.

Cochabamba

11/20/09

This morning Carmalyn got hot(ish) water for her shower, but mine, right after hers, was cold. Mine was hot for three seconds. It was hot when I stuck my hand under it, but cold by the time I stepped in. I'm awake!

We went off in search of a tour to the cave of the night birds. What we ended up with was a three day excursion into the jungle. I am apparently traveling with girls who are excited by jungles. Who knew. But if I've learned anything from Harvey Economics it's that budgets are flexible. And how often am I going to get to the Amazon basin. We leave tomorrow morning for three days in a jungle paradise.

After spending all of next week's money, we headed over to the museo archeologique. It has lots of artifacts including some ornate tubes that the medicine men used to snort hallucinogens.

Then we were back to more mundane stuff. We checked into a new hotel. It is 20 Bolivanos ($3) cheaper, quieter and doesn't have scary bathrooms. We dropped off some laundry and checked out the buses for Monday. After walking around the market I came back to the hotel for a rest and the girls went back out for more shopping. Later this afternoon we are going to see the giant statue of Cristo de la Concordia. It is slightly taller than the one overlooking Rio. The one in Rio is 33m, one for every year of Christ's life. Here they say he lived a few months more than 33, so they added a few centimeters.


Aside: They generally make you pay to use a public bathroom (i.e. everything that isn't at a hotel). I am going to be a poor man.

Copacabana to Cochabamba (seriously – I couldn't make this up)

11/19/09

4 immigration offices
3 taxis
2 borders
1 collectivo
1 large coach
13 hours of travel.

Our plot worked. We caught a taxi from Copacabana to the Peruvian border and arrived just as the Bolivian exit migration opened. Entering Peru was also quick and easy. Then we caught another taxi all the way through Peru to the Peruvian exit migration. This one was the problem one last time, but we made it through in about fifteen minutes. Our plan to get ahead of the tourist buses worked. The final Bolivian immigration was a breeze and we climbed into a collectivo for the trip to La Paz (not before I helped load a dozen 5-gallon buckets full of fish on to the top – with our luggage). A collectivo is a mini van packed with locals. It is a cheap quick way to travel if you don't mind sacrificing comfort and some safety (never sit in the front seat).

The collectivo dropped us off by the cemetery, where we caught a taxi to the main bus station. We found a bus that was leaving almost immediately for Cochabamba. Shannon just had time to round us up some saltenas (Mmm saltenas ). Our bus was a large comfortable motor coach, which was good because the road was perilous. Windy, narrow, through the mountains, with large drop offs to the valley below. We were faster than most of the traffic, so we spent a lot of time on the wrong side of the road. Oncoming traffic apparently wasn't a problem.

We arrived in Cochabamba late at night and had trouble finding a hotel. They are more expensive here than in La Paz. We found a cheaper one and discovered why it is cheaper. No water after noon. Not no hot water, no water at all. Not even to flush the toilets. Now try to imagine a shared hotel toilet that hasn't been flushed in 10 hours. Or, by the next morning, 18 hours. Some things are worth paying for.

Copacabana (donde musica y pasione son todos en “fashion”)

11/18/09

Note the alpaca.

Today we took a boat tour to Isla del Sol in Lake Titicaca. It is a two hour boat ride to the north end of the island. Based on how fast the boat was going it would probably be a three hour swim. Our first stop was the museum. It didn't have much but it was the same ticket as the ruins. We walked up (from 3,800 to 4,000 meters) to the ruins. There was an Inca temple, a labyrinth and puma rock (from whence Lake Titicaca got its name). Shannon and I decided to hike the high trail to the south of the island. Carmalyn decided to take the boat.

It wasn't really a hard hike, it was just that it was hilly and at altitude. We were both puffing on then uphill parts and fine on the downhills. I'd tell you what it was like on the flat bits, but there weren't any. We saw some more ruins and had some great views of the lake with the mountains behind them. After about two and a half hours we reached the south end. We almost got run over by a herd of donkeys and llamas on the way down.

We had a while before the boat left, so I went swimming. Lake Titicaca isn't the coldest lake I've ever been in, but it's in the top ten. It was fabulous. The water is crystal clear. I didn't want to get out. Both Shannon and Carmalyn took their shoes off and waded in.

After a long, slow, but scenic boat back to the mainland we hiked up the other hill in town. Apparently there are some more ruins up there but we never saw them. Playing on the rocks was fun enough for me.

At dinner, there were buskers right beside our table. They were quite good and very entertaining. After they finished, we spent the rest of our dinner plotting the best way back to La Paz. I'll let you know how our plan went tomorrow.