Welcome to Leah & Katies online travel diary!!...

Over the next 7 weeks we hope you join us while we discover South America..

We're plannng on trekking the Inca Trail, Cycling Death Road, traversing Salt Plains, Volcanoes & Deserts and might even try fishing for Piranhas in the Amazon....

We can't wait to share our stories with you along the way and hope you can fill us in on what we missing out on at home.

Can't wait to hear from you all soon. Katie & Leah

Monday, August 30, 2010

Home away from the Homestay

Hi Guys

We´re back in Puno having a bit of a rest day today after being adopted out to a remote island family for a night....

Yesterday morning we boarded a boat for a 3hr trip across Lake Titicaca (the lake is over 160km long! and is at around 3800m or so above sea level).  The first stop was a little island for lunch and a quick tour.. I´d (Katie) tell you about it but i´ve been sick as a dog so i stayed on the boat whilst the others climbed up the hill.  I have a bad head cold and my stomach has decided not to be friends with food...

After another 1hr boat trip we arrived at our Island... the view was seriously beautiful, really clear blue water and for the first time since our trip, fresh air!... We were greeted by our new "mama" who in our case happened to be an 18yr girl!...   We were taken back to the family house that she shared with her parents and brother and a sister... After some time to get our stuff unpacked, we went down to the local football field (which was made of cement!) to have a game with the locals.  I (Leah) was looking forward to playing, but just before we left the house to come down managed to split my head open on the cement doorway to our room...which happened to be a good foot shorter than me!

After soccer we were invited into the Kitchen for dinner..  The kitchen was a separate mud hut-  we were invited to sit at the table whilst the real Mum, Dad and Grandmother sat on stools on the floor to eat.. Dinner was a basic vege soup, then rice with veges... As I (Katie) wasn´t feeling well, i didn´t eat much but the Dad went and got some mint for some tea which apparently is good for your stomach then went and warmed a rock on a fire for me to use as a hot water blanket.. not bad hey!..

After dinner our "mama" and her mum came up to our room with armfuls of traditional clothes and dressed us all up!  We then went down to the hall where they had a band playing and we danced until we fell over (literally.... the altitude made it impossible to dance more than about 5 minutes without collapsing on a chair!)

This morning after some pancakes for brekkie we said goodbye to our "mama´s" and caught the boat back to Puno via Uros - the floating reed islands (check out the photos - pretty bizarre!!!)

Tomorrow we head to Cuzco (where I beleive some salsa dancing is on the cards - and no I won´t let Katie off the hook!!!)

Hope you are all well and talk to you soon....

Katie and Leah

Friday, August 27, 2010

The Ultimate Ride...

Hi Guys!

This morning for breakfast I had a malaria tablet, an altitude sickness tablet, 2 sinus tablets and 2 gastro stop tablets... Similarly, Leah chose to vary her buffet by substituting the last two items for some cough syrup and a caramel biscuit that was scavenged off a bus about a week ago...

Needless to say we weren´t feeling the best, but that didnt stop us embarking on our final Bolivian challenge...Cycling Death Road affectionally known as the Worlds deadliest road.....

The ride started at 4700m above sea level and covered 64km of downhill descent to a final destination at around 1200m... The vast majority of the road is unsealed dirt road which is only about 3m wide and,  requires you to navigate various obstacles like cows, dogs, kids, potholes , water crossings,  hair pin turns and of course the sheer drops of up to 600m with no guard rails.  In some sections of the ride you get up to between 40-60km per hour... 

The scenery (by daylight) was absolutely stunning and it really was a mental challenge more so than a physical one... When you relaxed and enjoyed the ride you seemed to glide over the rocks and it felt great.. The second you actually thought about it and looked over the edge, you would over correct and get all jumpy and start to skid... Due to the variances in altitude, the first part of the ride was quite cold, but by the time we decended below around 2500m, it got quite warm.

The bikes were great quality and the guides very professional.  To keep things safe we didn´t take any photos as we went but there was a team photographer that took shots along the way so we get the CD tonight and cant wait to see them.

Tomorrow we have a travel day as we head towards Puno and ultimately Lake Titicaca in Peru.. at which point we get billetted out to a local family for a homestay.  I think for the most part the most dangerous parts of our tour is behind us and we have survived  !! 

Hope everyone at home is doing well!.  Can´t wait to see you all and seriously can´t wait to see a real toilet.. Constantly paying for toilets that dont flush, or dont have doors and all of which means you can´t put the paper in the toilet is kinda gross...

Chances are our host family wont have electricity let alone internet access so we might be offline for a couple of days, but will definitely check in again as soon as we can.. but dont worry, it will be a tame few days if everything goes to plan...

Miss you all..

Leah and Katie.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Always have a backup plan... even for the backup plan...

Hi Guys

We are writing this safe and well  from La Paz (Bolivia), after a horror 15hr jeep ride (more on that later) and only 4 hours sleep, so we´re pretty exhausted... but let me try and bring you all back to speed....

It was only a few days ago we were sitting on our 18 seater Bolivian light aircraft flying La Paz to Rurrenbaque (Gateway town to the Amazon) and getting precariously close to the Andes when we thought Adventure had reached a new level.. little did we know what was in store for us..

As you may recall, we were never meant to go to the Amazon at this stage, but it became a back up plan when we had to be diverted to avoid some violent protests in several towns nearby.  Unfortunately, noone told us that at this time of year nearly EVERY farmer in the Amazon burns off so the entire place is filled with smoke...(more on this later!)

Given the amount of things we´ve been up to, i´ll just bullet point our highlights....In the last 3 days we have

- Fished for Piranhas in the Amazon river (Our guide caught 7 of them and Leah caught a catfish!)
- After fishing for them, we jumped in and had a swim in Alligator and Piranha invested waters (Sorry mum i know i promised i wouldn´t but it was so HOT)
- After fishing and swimming with Piranhas we figured the next logical step would be to eat one.. so we did (tastes like fish!)
-We´ve been Anaconda hunting (somewhat scary since we had no first aid supplies and ended up walking around in shin high mud looking for a Cobra or Green Mumba)
- Our local tour company that took us out to the Amazon didn´t cater enough water so on the second day we were rationed 2 litres each to last just over 24hrs... keep in mind the temperature was so hot and humid and we were out in the sun all day.. it was torture.. At one point our back up plan was to boil the water in the tank normally used for showers.... which was fine until the water pump broke...

We made it back to Runnebaque only to discover that no flights had arrived or left for the last few days due to the smoke... Our luck continued when we realised we were stuck.. We couldn´t stay another night as the town has no ATM or money exchange and we had all only bought with us 3 days worth of cash so accomodation wasn´t an option....At one point we were told a plane was coming so we went to the airport only to be told that it had to turn around and go back due to smoke..

By this stage we are in the same clothes for 4 days with no showers, no money,   covered in a mixture of sunscreen, mosiquito repellant, smoke and 6 inches of dust (all roads are unsealed in jeeps with the windows down)....

So we had to move to a new back up plan... 

 The last resort was to pool our emergency US dollars that we were all carrying and hire jeeps to drive us back to La Paz...which we soon discovered meant driving for 15hours without stopping (with nothing but choc chip cookies and pringles for food) and having to drive Death Road in the middle of the night... To say the drive was scary is an understatement, and we no doubt tell you all the details when we are home safe and sound... but to our great relief we pulled in around 5.30am this morning...  For those who dont know death road, its a dirt road that traverses the Andes and is only just over one car width wide, with no guide rails... there are sheer drop offs and sitting in the dog box of a jeep with no seat belts or tail lights is an experience neither of us will ever forget.

Hope everyone is well at home... We´ll be here in La Paz until the day after tomorrow for when we head off back according to our original itinerary...

Take Care

Katie and Leah.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Bolivia is mayhem and just a bit feral...

Hi guys

After another 9 hrs on the bus yesterday we finally arrived in La Paz..... The bus ride itself was an experience... To our great fortune we were seated across from some locals who apart from staring at us alot then must have got travel sickness... Unlike us where we would go to the toilet they just threw up sitting down... .. As most of you would be aware I (Katie) have a massive phobia to vomit so had to put my MP4 player on and turn it up and wish i was in a happy place.. .. Leah (closer to the action) was breathing through her jacket for a considerable part of the journey as there was a nice combination of urine, vomit and body odour drifting through the aisles...

Driving in La Paz is the scariest driving experience i´ve ever had.. there are no rules, no ettiquette, you just drive and beep your horn and hope for the best.. Our taxi driver didnt think twice before turning 90 degrees into oncoming traffic... Its crazy.

On the upside, everything is so cheap.. Even the entry tax.. For comparison it cost us $61 US dollars to enter Chile... To enter Bolivia its 200 pesos, which coicidentally is also the cost of going to the toilet in Chile...

Altitude is starting to affect us now.. Leah has a persistent cough, and I´m getting massive headaches.. Everyone gets short of breathe doing the simpliest of tasks... After packing your bags, you honestly need to sit down for a bit.  Yesterday on the bus, our packet of Doritos exploded from the pressure!!!

Ín about 15min we´re on our way to the airport, where we are headed towards the Amazon (our back up plan since we can´t get into Potosi, Uyuni or Sucre).. so we may be out of contact for a few days

On our return we´ll be back in La Paz for a few days so we´ll definitely have some stories and photos to share.

Oh, get this.. In San Pedro Leah used an ATM that whilst saying it had given her money, gave her nothing.. So she had to make an 11 min call to her card company to explain the problem.  As it turns out, the money had already been returned to her account by the time she made the call (had to wait about 5hrs due to the time differences.  She has just told me that call cost her $80 AUS...... The amount she was trying to withdrawal was equivalent to $ 71. OUCH!


Take Care

Leah and Katie.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Desert Yesterday, Seaside Today, Jungle Tomorrow

Hey guys

Just a quick note to let you know we have arrived safely in Arica which is a little seaside town in the North of Chile.. its our last day in Chile  before heading into La Paz (Bolivia) and then the jungle.

Today is a free day so we are taking it easy and not moving too much, given we had another cold shower before going on an overnight bus last night to get here.  Our room is pretty awesome, from our beds we are looking right at the ocean and the sand is about 20m from where we sleep. I´ve never slept closer... better yet we have hot showers so life is good at the moment..Here hoping there no king tides this week.

Our ears are going a bit crazy being at sea level after being at 4000m yesterday.. but tomorrow we´re heading back up to 3700 in La Paz, then down again for the Amazon, then back up again on our return to La Paz.... its all part of the plan to get us used to altitude before the hike.. Our greatest height will be 4900m in the Colco Canyons...

Yesterday we did a bit more sightseeing around the desert.. saw some active (and smoking Volcanoes), saw some salt flats and some flamingo´s and patted some Illamas.. (oh yeah and i ate some for lunch too - tastes like beef!)

Hope all is going well...

Will chat soon and hopefully be able to figure out how to post photos today too.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The desert is HOT.. and VERY cold

Hi Guys,

Long time no chat!!!.. I think we left you in Santiago on our first day and haven´t had any chance to check in until now....

Firstly, as some of you are aware, there are all sorts of political problems in Bolivia at the moment and there are violent protesters blockading the towns we are meant to be visiting... But please be assured, we´re both safe and having a great time.  We have been living each day as it comes waiting for the UK Embassy to give a sign that its ok to enter, but we just found out about half an hour ago that its still a bit too dangerous to stick to our itinerary, so our tour leader has decided to take us on a detour and we´ll hang out in the Amazon Jungle for a few days.. Apparently swimming with piranhas and playing with Anacandors is safer!. ahaha.

What else.... ok, so our tour group is pretty cool. We are travelling with 8 others.. A german couple in their 20´s, a guy from England, and the rest are Aussies.. We are hanging out with the Germans, A guy from Aus and the British guy mostly  - they are awesome value.

We´re writing this from San Pedro De Atacama... it took us 17 hours on a bus to get here and we are basically right in the middle of the desert.. Yesterday a group of us hired bikes and rode around the desert till we found some inca ruins then spent an hour and a half climbing a sandy mountain.. awesome fun.  We also did some spontaneous canyoning-caving on a mini tour, and watched the sunset from the top of a sand dune....

 Health wise we´re both fine... we´re at altitude at the moment, and apart from getting puffed out easily, we´re holding up pretty good  (though Leah is trying to break a new record for hitting her head on stuff, shes fine!)

Otherwise, we spent some time star gazing at La Serena, checked out a local pisco sour factory (crazy cheap local alcohol.. its 12% and only $2!) and spent some time looking at the Vineyards and have tried a couple... so good!.

This morning started at 3.45am, when we were picked up to go check out some Volcanic Geysers (like blow holes).. No one told us it woudl be minus 10 degree so we were all freezing.. so what best to do in those conditions..... swim!!!.. Yep, you betcha we had a swim in a lake... the water was tepid at best, and freezing on entry and exit.. so much fun though.

One funny thing we didn´t notice when we booked this tour is that there is no transport for us, no big truck .... everytime we go somewhere, we´re catching public transport with the locals!!...   Its kinda funny and we´re slowing getting used to the extra security precautions we have to take. (theres lots of them!!!)

The only complaint about this trip is that both sleep and food are not high priorities.. we basically eat on the run most days with food we buy from shops, and we have late nights (often travelling), or very early mornings.. but who are we kidding, this is awesome!!

Hope everyone is safe at home.. Apologies for not replying to individual emails.. The connections here are crazy slow, but we really appreciate it and love hearing from you.


Take Care and we´ll chat soon.

Katie and Leah

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Hola!!!!!

We´ve made it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, we´ve just arrived at our hotel, and its about 5am Aussie time so we´re pretty knackered..... Trip is off to a good start with only a couple of kinks occuring so far ..

Our flight from Australia to NZ went without any dramas, and despite our inital plan not to drink, we enjoyed a few vino´s whilst chatting to a lady sitting next to us... Slightly intoxicated we disembarked, only to stumble into John G from work... what are the chances!!...Also had the bonus advantage of having a rather good looking flight attendant (Alexander) ...

Next flight we continued with our good flight karma and ended up sharing a row of four seats between the two of us... which should have meant we got a good nights sleep ... but it didn´t.... Those damn planes are so uncomfortable...

Anyway, after arriving in Santiago we line up in customs for what felt like 9hrs (prob 20min), only to be told we had to be in another queue..... finally, with our entry tax paid, we went to collect our luggage ... and while standing at the wrong carousel, a damn sniffer dog took a liking to my backpack and started pawing it... i love dogs, but i thought that was the beginning of the rest of my years in a South American jail.... with my bag taped up, we go through customs where its inspected... Turns out Starburst ¨fruit filled¨lollies, really do smell like fruit to an over zealous labrador... phew.

After being accosted by a few thousand dodgy taxi people, we went and withdrew some money... Poor leah ended up accidentally withdrawing most of her holiday savings since we couldn´t understand the ATM or have any idea what the exchange rate is.. So we have plenty of peso´s now! HAHA... After being claimed by a taxi driver, we ended up accepting a lift and paid about $100 US for a taxi fare that shoudl have cost us $37.... too tired to care , or realise we actually tipped the dodgy guy as well. HAHA..  we´ll catch on after a bit of sleep i´m hoping...

We´ve found our hotel, and apart from going in a lift with no doors  - we´re safe and well.. and in good spirits.. just in need of a good sleep i think...

BTW  Mum locke ' DO NOT CALL INTERPOL - I´m not dead, missing or kidnapped - its just my phone doesnt work over here.... If you need me urgently , u can call Leah otherwise its email all the way now...

Big hi to all...till next time..

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

And We're Off.....

Well to be exact we haven't exactly taken off yet - but I'm (Katie) sitting here in the Qantas Club sipping Chandon ( its only 8.30am) but who am I too pass up the opportunity of free champagne (and good stuff at that!).

I'm having my second breakfast for the day (cause again, its free!) - So scoffing my pancakes and sipping my Chandon I'm thinking about everything that I should have with me..

Passport - Check, Money- Check, Phone - Check, Spanish dictionary - Check... Travel Companion.... ... damn - I knew something didn't feel right...

Technically Leah is AWOL- but don't be alarmed - she's in the building somewhere saying an extended goodbye to Ben ;-)... My goodbyes were reserved to a quick phone call, a hug to my parents and a big pat (ok, several of those) for my puppy earlier this am... ... So after clearing customs - given the opportunity of free alcohol, I've made a run for the Qantas Club while Leah's having a bit more time upstairs..

As long as she shows in the next 14.5min, all will be good...HAHAH..

Speaking of, my glass is nearly empty so i'm going to top it up...

Will chat to you all soon ...

xxx K.