Ecotourism

After the remoteness of the salt flats, a rather dull day and a half in freezing in Uyuni, we made it to Ouro via train with our Aussie friends who where nastily robbed via a taxi con (fake tourist boarding the cab, trying to share costs and fake bobbies searching through backpacks and passports...only to wait for the occasion to nick the valuables and cash...very NASTY !!). Our journey wasn´t that exciting. We were just not dropped in La Paz - our bus driver just decided to drop us just outside the city, hence it took us another short taxi drive to make it to this most amazing city i have ever seen in my whole life. Not necessarily, because of the beauty, but rather the location of this 1.2m inhabitants city. La Paz, the hightest (non official, i think) capital city in the world 3.700m above sea level, the airport a staggering 4.000m above which is just 400m below the Altiplano. So, no need to think about any sporty activities here as pure walking makes you feel much older...much much older. Actually, in between i thought i was an old 95 year old granny walking with a stick. No kidding..walking up the steps felt like a major achievement to conquer. Anyway, more interesting stuff about La Paz. Great, cheap, colourfull markets with Alpaca jumpers, leg warmers, hats and gloves..anything you want. As you can imagine, all the tourists look the same, like walking lamas, but it is great stuff for nearly no money. We are still hanging out with our Aussie friends and are more or less staying in the same Hotel Majestic (freezing rooms) with our Israeli friends and booked ourself on another downhill moutain biking tour called the "Death Road" or the "Most Dangerous Road of the World". Why ? Well, cleary the approximately 50 deaths per month added to the creation of this notorious road. These days it is used to 90% by mad foreigners racing down the jungle as the Bolivian Government has finally built a new road, hence these days only mad tourist die there as they are too stupid and play around not paying attention to the steep fall of more than 300m in places. Unfortunately Simon and I couldn´t do the trip on the same day as i was ill (yes, poor Lejla). It was supposed to come one way or the other - as everybody panics about food in Bolivia, big times. We just had really good, tasty food, but anyway - somehow it got me....(Mum, no trust me, i am really fine now, nothing to worry). Anyway, lay flat for 48hrs and when i was fit again, it got Simon somehow. Hence, we spent over a week in La Paz, even partying one night, sightseeing, shopping, eating, eating, eating (one of our new favourite food are Dutch Bitterballen..can´t wait to go Holland). Best invention, just funny that i had to travel to Bolivia to try this dutch speciality again. ...not offence to any Dutch readers here. Last adventure was the Valle de Luna. These are conical shaped rock formations, close to one another, giving the impression of a lunar landscape. I wouldn't know. I have never been to the Moon ! Instead of just walking around these, you can actually hire a quad bike (or ATV) and race around the whole are with stunning views on Mount Illimani, the Altiplano, some small remote villages (with heaps of rubbish everywhere) trying to be the next Schumi !

Also check http://www.simonlejla.spaces.live.com
Oh, this is now a while back, so i have to start digging deep trying to remember, but one thing is for sure - the 5 days we had in this beautiful part of Patagonia will remain in my memories for a very very long time.

Ljubi and i decided to bite the bullet and slash out an additional 170 pounds per head to see the place "every Argentian wants to visit once in his life": Bariloche" - don´t quote me on this one, Ljubi read it in a german travel book.

In particular when i read that there is a nice and cosy hostel run by a slovenian family i decided this is destiny as 1) we could speak in "serbo croat" with them after all the fiasco in Brazil and if not 2) we could speak to the son in law who is german. By the time i read the sentence that we could decide for half board and be fed central european cuisine, i knew what we could expect. This would be like going home and being spoilt.

A short taxi ride from our hotel on a boiling day in BA to the local aeroparque which is much easier to get to than the international Eizeza airport...two hours later ...and a bit...(haven´t seen a flight on time in this country so far) we arrived in Bariloche. The airport was in the middle of nowhere (this reminds me of the last BB session.."Jade sits in no where") and i wondered where all the beautiful 9 lakes were and the amazing country side as all i could see out of the plane looked more like some sort of "Steppe" (yes guys you need to learn german again) or kind of desert with nothing really growing. Reminded me actually of landing at Split airport.

Our pickup somehow didn´t work and we arranged a cab to take us to "Katy`s Hosteria" (hosteria kind of translating into B&B). First thing i learned was that in Bariloche you won´t find any street names and numbers as such, obviously there are street names, but that´s not how you tell a taxi driver where you want to go, but that you actually tell him, how many kilometers from Bariloche you are staying. As we decided that we wanted to go for the full monty, relaxation pur, no city, no noise, no telephone and internet, Katy´s Hostel 24.3km from Bariloche seemed the perfect destination.

Set on the Llao Llao peninsula, this part of the world is magic. Never thought i would be such a nature bunny, but i just enjoyed our walks, strolling through natural parks, taking a boat ride on the famous lago de Nahuel Huapi, going for runs and passing one of the most famous hotels and obviously getting lost after misreading the map.

Well, by now i got over it and can admit it, but i am sure that mum hated me inbetween even after tremendous views we got, she was just exhausted after 12km and pretty happy that a bus turned up to take us back home (which only shows every 2 hours and was packed until the last standing space). The only other option would have been hitchhiking which is a no go, but what do you do when you are stuck in the country side....nothing too worry now as we did get the bus :-).

Bariloche town is nothing too special, except the chocolate you can buy at every corner and i must admit i had the best ever hot chocolate in my life.

Overall this trip was particularly special, because oft the special hospitality from Katy, Tone, Andriana and Dirk. We loved chilling in the beautiful hosteria with the beautiful gardens, hence eating organic home grown salads - excuse me where do you get that!! Dirk has also got his own travel agency specialising on Patagonia, hence great for chats to get tips for the rest of my trip with Simon. The hosteria is currently not in the Lonely planet, but the South america handbook and i urgently need to write a good review for them as that´s pretty much how you decide on where to stay in SA.

Highlights:

Day 1: settling in and enjoying Kati´s great 3 course dinner
Day 2: making most of the sunshire, experiencing the country side and getting lost
Day 3: too knackered for any world changing events, taking a bus to Bariloche for hot chocolate and developing the first set of pictures
Day 4: Boat trip on the famous Nahuel Huapi to Isla Victoria
Day 5: Cerro Otto, taking a cute red austrian gondola to a circling confiteria on the mountains, more hot chocolate
Day 6: heading back to BA.