Altitude Sickness
As promised here is a quick and hopefully not too gory entry about the joys of altitude sickness!! I can only speak of my own experience but it is strange. Some people on our tour seemed to experience little or no effects and others were really affected by it.
When we got to San Pedro (that is only about 2700m above sea level) alot of us noticed our heart rate had gone up. This is more noticable at night when it feels that your heart is going to jump out of your chest....lovely!! Once we got higher (onto the altoplano) people noticed that they were breathless and even walking up a slight incline was tiring and quite an effort.
Altitude sickness can make you feel nauseas, sick, give you a thumping headache and your responces can be slower. Considering that we got upto about 5300m (1/2 the height that planes fly at) its not surprising that we felt unwell. However we did get used to it and the body is amazing as it adjusts and gets used to having less oxygen going round the system.
For me as a nurse it has helped me understand how some of my patients feel with sympoms of nausea, breathlessness and constant fatigue. Luckily for me it only lasts a few days and once we descend again to a lower altitude the symptoms will subside.
Thats it on the altitude sickness, not too gory I hope!!
Hasta la vista!!! Penny xx
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
Hi, yes we are still alive......... and yes, we know it´s been a while.......... but it´s been an adventure and a half since we set off from La Serena.
We managed to get onto the Observatory tour at La Serena, on a very cold, crisp night where the stars were out in full force and with great visibility (apart from some light pollution from a nearby town, which was a bit surprising). Our guide got us to look through a telescope several times at different parts of the milky way, open and closed clusters (groups of millions of stars that look like nothing much to the naked eye), we also saw Jupiter through a more powerful telescope, and were able to see some of the lines across it and also 4 of its many moons, which was pretty impressive. We then had a powerpoint presentation, which put all of it into perspective in terms of galaxies, the vastness of space, Milky Ways, Mars Bars...... Snickers..... Seriously though, it was a very informative evening and we´re glad we finally got to go on a tour.
The next day was spent trying to find more warm clothes (woolly tights etc, yum yum) for our trip into Bolivia which we were assured was going to be incredibly cold........ and they weren´t wrong!!Read on for more details....
So, after LS we had our lovely 17 hour overnight bus journey to San Pedro de Atacamba, right on the Chile/Bolivia border. SP was a little ¨Indian¨ town and was much more what we were expecting from a S Am town. The main street was just a dirt road, and very sleepy. However, having said that some of us got together and hired mountain bikes and sandboarding equipment to go off into the sanddunes to play! This was incredibly good fun and we even managed to get down the dunes upright (eventually!). One of the local dogs ran with us the entire 6km cycle ride, stayed with us whilst we played on the dunes, then ran back with us all the way to town. He wasn´t much of a tour guide though as we all got lost on the way there and ended up with an extra 30 min off-road cycle in the midday sun. Madness, but fantastic fun. We were both sad not to go skiing this year, so sandboarding has made up for it a bit - it´s a hard life, eh!?
Later that day we hiked up a major sand dune to watch the sunset over the mountains, then all ran down the other side as darkness fell. Considering we´d reached at least 2,500 meters staying at San Pedro, this was all probably a bit daft for our first day at major altitude, but it was then or never.
From SP the fun really began. We all piled into a mini bus which took us to the Chilean border, but then bizzarly we then travelled another hour and a half up hill in the mini bus before we got to the Bolivian border. It was one of those classical moments when we were in the middle of nowhere, no mans land, and on the radio came James Blunt´s song.....¨gotta ask yourself the question, where are you now¨!! How apt.
The Border post was a ramshackle hut, unlike anything any of us had ever seen. Nobody checked any bags, we could have taken rocket launchers through and they´d never have known!! Anyway, it was there that we said goodbye to the mini bus (and civilisation) and piled into our 4 wheel drive jeeps for the journeys ahead.
We continued to climb throughout that day, all keenly aware that the onslaught of some form of altitude sickness was sure to be lurking just around the corner. We saw several different lagoons: blanco (white), verde (green) and Colorado (red), as well as active volcanoes, weird landscapes, geysers and bubbling mud, and where we stopped for lunch there was a hot pool for us to dip our feet and legs in (and one brave/mad soul Rachel actually went for a swim!). Lunch was served at a mere 5,300 meters above sea level, and boy did we know it! Linda was incredibly headachy (and already suffering a bad head cold since Santiago) and Pen was sick and breathless, but she´ll delight you with more of the gory details in a separate entry (bet you can´t wait!!).
Anyway, we eventually arrived, sick as dogs, at our 5 star hotel for the night. There were 2 communal non-flushing toilets, no running water, no heating and the generator was turned off at 9pm prompt.... the joys of the altoplano.....well, it literally was in the middle of nowhere!
Most of us were still feeling the effects the next morning as we set off on the next leg of our trek. It had snowed quite a lot overnight, so was incredibly cold and required all our layers, including woolly tights!!). However, as the morning progressed it then got really hot and sunny - you can never second guess the weather, it´s so extreme and changeable. We saw lots of weird rockforms this day, and a vast amount of pink flamingoes, llamas, vercunas and donkeys. We also suffered incredibly bumpy roads, except they´re not really roads at all, just tracks made by the jeeps going both ways over the planes. Our drivers know the planes like the backs of their hands, which is just as well coz there are no road signs.....well, no roads actually!
That night we stayed at a much better hostel at the beginning of the salt flats. We all enjoyed our dinner thanks to feeling much better, but it was still 9pm lights off as the generator went to bed.
We were all looking forward to the next day (Saturday) when we were going to travel over the salt flats. The day lived up to its expectation, as we travelled for mile upon mile of compacted salt that takes on the look of vast honeycombs. It´s the largest saltlake in the world, and is amazing to think that a couple of meters beneath is just water! We took some very weird and wonderful photos because of the perspective created by it being so flat, vast and white. Watch out for photos on flickr - that´s our mission for tomorrow, honest!
We also stopped at a place called Cactus Island, literally right in the middle of these vast flats, where there are countless numbers of Cactus (funnily enough) and a walk to the top gave an amazing 360 degree panoramic view. It was incredible to see discreetly placed solar panels and a sattelite dish in the middle of this island 3,600 meters above sea level in the middle of absolutely nowhere.......WOW!
Our day included a tour of a salt processing plant, having crossed by the salt mining area, where we saw children filling and sealing 500gm bags of refined salt using a naked flame..... a very challenging and difficult process to witness, but Bolivia is most certainly way behind in terms of what we´re used to in the ¨developed¨world.
That night we reached the edge of the salt flats, and thus ended this leg of the adventure. However, given that we had a popped tyre and ran out of fuel on the salt flats it was amazing that we got there at all!! The drivers we had were fantastic and were top rate mechanics, constructing an emergency fuel tank inside the engine using a plastic 1 litre coke bottle and a piece of string. Marcello was our driver, and was totally blown away when we used an Ipod and Itrip to play the Beatles and other music through his radio....... he just couldn´t work out how we did it! Two worlds definitely collided that day.
We stayed at a really lovely hotel that night, run by a guy from the US who made the most incredible pizza - we had spicy llama flavour, which was actually really tasty. Next day we piled onto a local bus for what felt like a very long 6 hour journey from Uyuni to Potosi. It was a bone shaker ride all the way, and the loo stop was a very interesting experience involving a couple of bushes and not a lot else. Locals are very happy just to squat by the side of the road in full view, but we westerners couldn´t quite bring ourselves to ¨go native¨.
Potosi used to be a very rich city due to silver mining but now all the reserves have been bled away leaving only tin, making it a very poor and depressed area. We could have gone on a mine tour but all decided to boycott it because of unsafe practices and appauling worker conditions.
We´re now in Sucre, a lovely white city where we´ll stay for a couple of days, get washing done, see the sights etc.... more to come hopefully before wemove on to La Paz on Wednesday night.
Well, if you´re still awake at least you´re now up to date. That´s all for today, but hopefully more to follow tomorrow.
Bye for now. Love from Penny & Linda :-)
We managed to get onto the Observatory tour at La Serena, on a very cold, crisp night where the stars were out in full force and with great visibility (apart from some light pollution from a nearby town, which was a bit surprising). Our guide got us to look through a telescope several times at different parts of the milky way, open and closed clusters (groups of millions of stars that look like nothing much to the naked eye), we also saw Jupiter through a more powerful telescope, and were able to see some of the lines across it and also 4 of its many moons, which was pretty impressive. We then had a powerpoint presentation, which put all of it into perspective in terms of galaxies, the vastness of space, Milky Ways, Mars Bars...... Snickers..... Seriously though, it was a very informative evening and we´re glad we finally got to go on a tour.
The next day was spent trying to find more warm clothes (woolly tights etc, yum yum) for our trip into Bolivia which we were assured was going to be incredibly cold........ and they weren´t wrong!!Read on for more details....
So, after LS we had our lovely 17 hour overnight bus journey to San Pedro de Atacamba, right on the Chile/Bolivia border. SP was a little ¨Indian¨ town and was much more what we were expecting from a S Am town. The main street was just a dirt road, and very sleepy. However, having said that some of us got together and hired mountain bikes and sandboarding equipment to go off into the sanddunes to play! This was incredibly good fun and we even managed to get down the dunes upright (eventually!). One of the local dogs ran with us the entire 6km cycle ride, stayed with us whilst we played on the dunes, then ran back with us all the way to town. He wasn´t much of a tour guide though as we all got lost on the way there and ended up with an extra 30 min off-road cycle in the midday sun. Madness, but fantastic fun. We were both sad not to go skiing this year, so sandboarding has made up for it a bit - it´s a hard life, eh!?
Later that day we hiked up a major sand dune to watch the sunset over the mountains, then all ran down the other side as darkness fell. Considering we´d reached at least 2,500 meters staying at San Pedro, this was all probably a bit daft for our first day at major altitude, but it was then or never.
From SP the fun really began. We all piled into a mini bus which took us to the Chilean border, but then bizzarly we then travelled another hour and a half up hill in the mini bus before we got to the Bolivian border. It was one of those classical moments when we were in the middle of nowhere, no mans land, and on the radio came James Blunt´s song.....¨gotta ask yourself the question, where are you now¨!! How apt.
The Border post was a ramshackle hut, unlike anything any of us had ever seen. Nobody checked any bags, we could have taken rocket launchers through and they´d never have known!! Anyway, it was there that we said goodbye to the mini bus (and civilisation) and piled into our 4 wheel drive jeeps for the journeys ahead.
We continued to climb throughout that day, all keenly aware that the onslaught of some form of altitude sickness was sure to be lurking just around the corner. We saw several different lagoons: blanco (white), verde (green) and Colorado (red), as well as active volcanoes, weird landscapes, geysers and bubbling mud, and where we stopped for lunch there was a hot pool for us to dip our feet and legs in (and one brave/mad soul Rachel actually went for a swim!). Lunch was served at a mere 5,300 meters above sea level, and boy did we know it! Linda was incredibly headachy (and already suffering a bad head cold since Santiago) and Pen was sick and breathless, but she´ll delight you with more of the gory details in a separate entry (bet you can´t wait!!).
Anyway, we eventually arrived, sick as dogs, at our 5 star hotel for the night. There were 2 communal non-flushing toilets, no running water, no heating and the generator was turned off at 9pm prompt.... the joys of the altoplano.....well, it literally was in the middle of nowhere!
Most of us were still feeling the effects the next morning as we set off on the next leg of our trek. It had snowed quite a lot overnight, so was incredibly cold and required all our layers, including woolly tights!!). However, as the morning progressed it then got really hot and sunny - you can never second guess the weather, it´s so extreme and changeable. We saw lots of weird rockforms this day, and a vast amount of pink flamingoes, llamas, vercunas and donkeys. We also suffered incredibly bumpy roads, except they´re not really roads at all, just tracks made by the jeeps going both ways over the planes. Our drivers know the planes like the backs of their hands, which is just as well coz there are no road signs.....well, no roads actually!
That night we stayed at a much better hostel at the beginning of the salt flats. We all enjoyed our dinner thanks to feeling much better, but it was still 9pm lights off as the generator went to bed.
We were all looking forward to the next day (Saturday) when we were going to travel over the salt flats. The day lived up to its expectation, as we travelled for mile upon mile of compacted salt that takes on the look of vast honeycombs. It´s the largest saltlake in the world, and is amazing to think that a couple of meters beneath is just water! We took some very weird and wonderful photos because of the perspective created by it being so flat, vast and white. Watch out for photos on flickr - that´s our mission for tomorrow, honest!
We also stopped at a place called Cactus Island, literally right in the middle of these vast flats, where there are countless numbers of Cactus (funnily enough) and a walk to the top gave an amazing 360 degree panoramic view. It was incredible to see discreetly placed solar panels and a sattelite dish in the middle of this island 3,600 meters above sea level in the middle of absolutely nowhere.......WOW!
Our day included a tour of a salt processing plant, having crossed by the salt mining area, where we saw children filling and sealing 500gm bags of refined salt using a naked flame..... a very challenging and difficult process to witness, but Bolivia is most certainly way behind in terms of what we´re used to in the ¨developed¨world.
That night we reached the edge of the salt flats, and thus ended this leg of the adventure. However, given that we had a popped tyre and ran out of fuel on the salt flats it was amazing that we got there at all!! The drivers we had were fantastic and were top rate mechanics, constructing an emergency fuel tank inside the engine using a plastic 1 litre coke bottle and a piece of string. Marcello was our driver, and was totally blown away when we used an Ipod and Itrip to play the Beatles and other music through his radio....... he just couldn´t work out how we did it! Two worlds definitely collided that day.
We stayed at a really lovely hotel that night, run by a guy from the US who made the most incredible pizza - we had spicy llama flavour, which was actually really tasty. Next day we piled onto a local bus for what felt like a very long 6 hour journey from Uyuni to Potosi. It was a bone shaker ride all the way, and the loo stop was a very interesting experience involving a couple of bushes and not a lot else. Locals are very happy just to squat by the side of the road in full view, but we westerners couldn´t quite bring ourselves to ¨go native¨.
Potosi used to be a very rich city due to silver mining but now all the reserves have been bled away leaving only tin, making it a very poor and depressed area. We could have gone on a mine tour but all decided to boycott it because of unsafe practices and appauling worker conditions.
We´re now in Sucre, a lovely white city where we´ll stay for a couple of days, get washing done, see the sights etc.... more to come hopefully before wemove on to La Paz on Wednesday night.
Well, if you´re still awake at least you´re now up to date. That´s all for today, but hopefully more to follow tomorrow.
Bye for now. Love from Penny & Linda :-)
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Hi all,
just a quick one to say that we´re now in La Serena, having set off from Santiago on our Kumuka tour. It´s a bit warmer here but only slightly, and we´re hoping to go to the Observatory tonight, which is meant to be one of the best places in the world to view the stars. Will let you know what it´s like.
We´re not sure what internet access we´ll have over the next 2 weeks and are aware that we haven´t put ay photos on for a while, so will try to do this in the next 24 hours before we leave civilisation. Watch this space............
We had 3 Spanish lessons and so can now speak a tiny bit, but at least we´re trying. Our new phrasebook has already helped out too - especially when we both went to get our hair cut and nobody spoke any English......that was fun!! My blue rinse perm looks lovely and Penny´s mohican is growing on her.
Well, that´s all for now - hasta luego, or as Penny recently said to a street seller.....¨Hasta la vista¨
Chao
just a quick one to say that we´re now in La Serena, having set off from Santiago on our Kumuka tour. It´s a bit warmer here but only slightly, and we´re hoping to go to the Observatory tonight, which is meant to be one of the best places in the world to view the stars. Will let you know what it´s like.
We´re not sure what internet access we´ll have over the next 2 weeks and are aware that we haven´t put ay photos on for a while, so will try to do this in the next 24 hours before we leave civilisation. Watch this space............
We had 3 Spanish lessons and so can now speak a tiny bit, but at least we´re trying. Our new phrasebook has already helped out too - especially when we both went to get our hair cut and nobody spoke any English......that was fun!! My blue rinse perm looks lovely and Penny´s mohican is growing on her.
Well, that´s all for now - hasta luego, or as Penny recently said to a street seller.....¨Hasta la vista¨
Chao
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Hi there Amigos
We are still in Santiago and enjoying staying at Happy House. It is a bit like being at home, with a comfy sitting room and free cups of tea, lovely!! However because it is in a listed buiolding it does not have double glazing, so the street noise is bad and sleep is depleated.
The last couple of days in Easter Island were fun. We seemed to spend alot of time just catching up, but did manage to go to the museum and also to an Umu (I think thats how it is spelt?). It was a traditional polynesian meal which is cooked in the ground will very hot rocks and banana leaves. It was very tasty and consisited of lots of meat and sweet potatoes . After the meal there was a traditional Poynesian/Rapa Nui dance. This consisted of lots of Haka's, guys wearing not alot and lots of singing. It was great fun and we laughed alot!! Watch out for the photos.
Our flight from Easter Island was great because we were upgraded. How good was that? The flight was over booked and when two people turned up to sit in our seats we were asked to move. But were amazed and very pleased to be taken into business class and not chucked off the plane!! It was lovely and the flight was taken up with eating lots of yummy food, playing with the seat that reclined into a bed and watching films. Shame it was only a 5 hour flight, time just flew by!!
We have been in Santiago for 3 days now, it is quite cold and very smoggy. Neither of our mobile phones have a signal here so can't send or receive texts but will endeavour to check email regularly and keep you posted. We have free internet here, so it is much easier to keep in touch.
Thats all for now,
Adios, Linda & Penny
We are still in Santiago and enjoying staying at Happy House. It is a bit like being at home, with a comfy sitting room and free cups of tea, lovely!! However because it is in a listed buiolding it does not have double glazing, so the street noise is bad and sleep is depleated.
The last couple of days in Easter Island were fun. We seemed to spend alot of time just catching up, but did manage to go to the museum and also to an Umu (I think thats how it is spelt?). It was a traditional polynesian meal which is cooked in the ground will very hot rocks and banana leaves. It was very tasty and consisited of lots of meat and sweet potatoes . After the meal there was a traditional Poynesian/Rapa Nui dance. This consisted of lots of Haka's, guys wearing not alot and lots of singing. It was great fun and we laughed alot!! Watch out for the photos.
Our flight from Easter Island was great because we were upgraded. How good was that? The flight was over booked and when two people turned up to sit in our seats we were asked to move. But were amazed and very pleased to be taken into business class and not chucked off the plane!! It was lovely and the flight was taken up with eating lots of yummy food, playing with the seat that reclined into a bed and watching films. Shame it was only a 5 hour flight, time just flew by!!
We have been in Santiago for 3 days now, it is quite cold and very smoggy. Neither of our mobile phones have a signal here so can't send or receive texts but will endeavour to check email regularly and keep you posted. We have free internet here, so it is much easier to keep in touch.
Thats all for now,
Adios, Linda & Penny
Hi folks,
just a quick one to say that we're now safely arrived at Santiago, Chile and staying at an absolutely GORGEOUS hostel called "Happy House". It's newly rennovated and the most comfortable hostel ever - thanks Kitty for the recommendation! We've met some lovely people here but sadly they all moved on today - but it's a great place to meet and chat to people from all over the place - let's see who arrives over the next three days......
We've seen only a little bit of Santiago and are hoping to take some spanish classes over the next few days, but we'll just take one day at a time. On Saturday we begin our 15 day overland trek with a company called Kumuka, using local transport and with a group we travel up through Chile and into Bolivia, ending at La Paz. Should be good - will keep you posted.
Anyway, that's enough for now. Til next we blog,
Hasta lluego (see you later, but probably the wrong spelling!!)
love from Linda and Pen xx
just a quick one to say that we're now safely arrived at Santiago, Chile and staying at an absolutely GORGEOUS hostel called "Happy House". It's newly rennovated and the most comfortable hostel ever - thanks Kitty for the recommendation! We've met some lovely people here but sadly they all moved on today - but it's a great place to meet and chat to people from all over the place - let's see who arrives over the next three days......
We've seen only a little bit of Santiago and are hoping to take some spanish classes over the next few days, but we'll just take one day at a time. On Saturday we begin our 15 day overland trek with a company called Kumuka, using local transport and with a group we travel up through Chile and into Bolivia, ending at La Paz. Should be good - will keep you posted.
Anyway, that's enough for now. Til next we blog,
Hasta lluego (see you later, but probably the wrong spelling!!)
love from Linda and Pen xx
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Hola, buenos dias.......
Here we are in Easter Island, and I (Linda) am trying to remember the few words I learned 20 years ago in Madrid - needless to say there´s not much Spanish going on!
We arrived here around 10am after a night flight, hence hardly any sleep! But..... what a difference! There was an info desk, and several people from different hotels/hostels etc all waiting to help us out, including a lovely guy from the hostel that we´d already hoped we could stay in. We were whisked away immediately in a taxi and arrived only a couple of minutes later at our new home. It´s a Youth Hostelling Interntional place, and is really clean, comfortable and homely (yes, we have a loo seat and even hot water twice a day!). The resident puppy (Titano) is really cute and there is a real extended family feel (and lots of extended family that live around the premises).
It took us a while to catch up on sleep, and then we explored the town. It´s only really one main street but is so laid back and relaxed that time just seems to disappear by itself. We went on a guided tour yesterday around the island to see the Moais (the stone statues that make Easter Island famous) and heard about their history, clan interaction and warfare, the arrival of missionaries etc. We took soooo many photos, but then how often do people get to come to Easter Island, assuming they even know where it is!?
Our hosts were having a big BBQ for their family and some friends last night and asked us if we´d like to join them. For 5 quid we got to scoff as much meat, salad and wine as we could manage - it was lovely. Although we had limited conversations due to language barriers we still managed to laugh and smile a lot - the people here are really lovely and welcoming. We were even treated to an impromptu local dance which was very special.
We´ve also had some great chats with fellow travellers - including a couple with 2 yound kids who gave up the rat race of London 4 years ago and have been sailing around the world ever since (they didn´t even know how to sail a year and a half before they left!!). They´re curently about half way around the world and have no immediate plans to go home..... it´s the floating "Good Life" as they have to bottle all their own food, wash their clothes by hand (using sea water) and have to take 3 hour shifts during the night at the helm, as well as home schooling, doing repairs etc etc. Because Easter Island is so small and the pace is so slow it really does lend itself to long chats, comparing notes and swapping stories....fantastic.
Today we had a much needed lie in, caught up on e.mail stuff and as you can see have now spent hours updating blogger and flickr. We hope you appreciate it! Thanks for all your comments - keep them coming....it´s lovely to hear news from home and to know that you´re following our travels (even when we seem to drop off the planet for a while!).
We´re off to a special local meal and show tomorrow evening which should be good. We then leave on Saturday for Santiago. Apparently it´s much warmer here (and here we are in fleeces and jeans compared to Tahiti) so it´s going to be a real shock in Chile. However, we´re told it´s also about 3 times more expensive here than it is on the mainland, and given that Easter Island is a third of the price of Tahiti we´re looking forward to spending a lot less money for the rest of our time travelling :-)
Well, hopefully that´s brought things up to speed, and given you a flavour of life over the last couple of weeks. We should be able to update things much more regularly over our remaining weeks, but only time will tell.
Our love as always, from across the miles,
Penny & Linda xxx
Here we are in Easter Island, and I (Linda) am trying to remember the few words I learned 20 years ago in Madrid - needless to say there´s not much Spanish going on!
We arrived here around 10am after a night flight, hence hardly any sleep! But..... what a difference! There was an info desk, and several people from different hotels/hostels etc all waiting to help us out, including a lovely guy from the hostel that we´d already hoped we could stay in. We were whisked away immediately in a taxi and arrived only a couple of minutes later at our new home. It´s a Youth Hostelling Interntional place, and is really clean, comfortable and homely (yes, we have a loo seat and even hot water twice a day!). The resident puppy (Titano) is really cute and there is a real extended family feel (and lots of extended family that live around the premises).
It took us a while to catch up on sleep, and then we explored the town. It´s only really one main street but is so laid back and relaxed that time just seems to disappear by itself. We went on a guided tour yesterday around the island to see the Moais (the stone statues that make Easter Island famous) and heard about their history, clan interaction and warfare, the arrival of missionaries etc. We took soooo many photos, but then how often do people get to come to Easter Island, assuming they even know where it is!?
Our hosts were having a big BBQ for their family and some friends last night and asked us if we´d like to join them. For 5 quid we got to scoff as much meat, salad and wine as we could manage - it was lovely. Although we had limited conversations due to language barriers we still managed to laugh and smile a lot - the people here are really lovely and welcoming. We were even treated to an impromptu local dance which was very special.
We´ve also had some great chats with fellow travellers - including a couple with 2 yound kids who gave up the rat race of London 4 years ago and have been sailing around the world ever since (they didn´t even know how to sail a year and a half before they left!!). They´re curently about half way around the world and have no immediate plans to go home..... it´s the floating "Good Life" as they have to bottle all their own food, wash their clothes by hand (using sea water) and have to take 3 hour shifts during the night at the helm, as well as home schooling, doing repairs etc etc. Because Easter Island is so small and the pace is so slow it really does lend itself to long chats, comparing notes and swapping stories....fantastic.
Today we had a much needed lie in, caught up on e.mail stuff and as you can see have now spent hours updating blogger and flickr. We hope you appreciate it! Thanks for all your comments - keep them coming....it´s lovely to hear news from home and to know that you´re following our travels (even when we seem to drop off the planet for a while!).
We´re off to a special local meal and show tomorrow evening which should be good. We then leave on Saturday for Santiago. Apparently it´s much warmer here (and here we are in fleeces and jeans compared to Tahiti) so it´s going to be a real shock in Chile. However, we´re told it´s also about 3 times more expensive here than it is on the mainland, and given that Easter Island is a third of the price of Tahiti we´re looking forward to spending a lot less money for the rest of our time travelling :-)
Well, hopefully that´s brought things up to speed, and given you a flavour of life over the last couple of weeks. We should be able to update things much more regularly over our remaining weeks, but only time will tell.
Our love as always, from across the miles,
Penny & Linda xxx
Hi everyone,
yes, we are still alive, well, and generally happy!
Sorry it´s been so long since our last entry, but life has been a lot more remote (and at times very expensive) since we left New Zealand. Our last few days there were fine, a little bit more time at Christchurch, giving Maisy our motor home back :-( and then flying up to Auckland overnight. We flew out early on the Saturday morning to Tahiti, and then the "fun" began!
On our flight there was a large contingent who were Tahiti´s women´s handball team - we´d never heard of handball, but as I was sitting next to the team´s interpreter I got to understand a bit about it!. We arrived in the afternoon and were welcomed at the airport Tahitian style with guitars, singing and flowers....... but sadly that´s where the welcome ended! After a very long wait in diosorderly queues to get through passport control we discovered that our usual "ritual" wasn´t going to work. First stop is always the ATM for local currency, but neither ATMs would work, which meant that we had no money, and therefore were unable to make any phone calls. The bank couldn´t help us, the airport is tiny and things only open when flights first arrive (including the info desk) and basically we had absolutely no way of sorting anything out (we didn´t even have the money for a trolley).
To cut a long story short we eventually managed to get things sorted (thanks to some emergency dollars) but it was a real test of our patience and imagination that day. The next day, the ATMs decided to work (phew) so we got lots of money out just in case it was our only chance! We then flew off to Moorea, which is only a 7 min flight, so it´s a bit like getting the local bus and they go every half hour! Unfortunately, our frustration only increased at the other end, because there were no buses running and again nobody would help us - they seem very very reluctant to pick up a phone unless they absolutely have to! Cutting another long & frustrating story short, we eventually had to get a very very expensive taxi and stay in a place owned by the taxi service.
It was a really lovely view of Cook´s Bay, and we had a really nice room given that it was a budget place, but again we weren´t really made to feel welcome - more an inconvenience. As time went on we realised that Tahiti, Moorea etc are just not set up for independent travellers. All will be lovely and great if you are part of a package tour, with transfers, gorgeous hotels etc (at hugely expensive prices) but the infrastructure and info just isn´t there for budget backpackers. After a couple of nights in Cook´s Bay we decided to move further around the island where there were more options for supermarket & places to eat - Hauru, or "Le Petit Village". Having booked by phone, we were told to catch the 8am bus "Le Truck" from outside where we´d been staying. By 10.30am we were still waiting, and all the buses that went past just waved to us every time we tried to flag them down. We didn´t know what the bus looked like, just that it was a bus!
We were sitting outside the posh hotel opposite our "pension" and it all wore a bit thin when all these "helpful" American and Moorean people kept walking past and remarking "oh, you´re still here"! What a shame, and then got into their nice hire cars or trucks and drove away...
Eventually, frustration gave way to hiring yet another very expensive taxi, only to later learn that our new host, Billy, had discovered that there were no buses running that day (due to insufficient numbers travelling over by ferry!) and had set out to come and collect us. Unfortunately, we´d already left by taxi (which apparently he later reaslied he´s passed, with us in it) and then whilst he was en route managed to get his truck stuck in a ditch!
Anyway, when we arrives at Chez Billy, we at long last felt welcomed. Through some very "Franglaise" chat and lots of sign language we got settled in to our beachside bungalow. Once Billy had got out of the ditch and returned home, he brought us coconuts as a welcome. I´ve always wanted to eat coconut straight after it´s dropped from the palm tree, so my dream came true....it was delicious.
Because French Polynesia is sooo expensive we had to pay about 20 quid each a night (but had an amazing view) for an incredibly basic dwelling. We had no toilet seat, no hot water, and had to share with several noisy geckos and an army of ants (that got into EVERYTHING) but we always felt welcomed and at home. They even reduced the price once they knew we were staying longer, and did some washing for us free of charge, gave us bananas and more coconuts and were generally really lovely. It again goes back to welcome and hospitality making or breaking an experience, and Billy & Ugene and their staff were a real saving grace in what otherwise was turning out to be a less than idylic setting.
The views and sunsets from our bungalow were breathtaking, and we also hired a car for 2 days and got to see all of the island, sat on the best beach, snorkelled in a very large warm bath of an ocean (or fish tank!) with the most incredible visibility. The biggest highlight had to be our 2 hour trip onto the crystal clear blue lagoons to swim with stingrays and black tipped reef sharks!! The stingrays were the most gentle creatures ever, and would often clamour up to give our guide, Serge, kisses (as much as a stingray can kiss!). It was absolute paradise, and something that we´ll never ever forget, just breathtaking. However, because of the expense, we decided to reduce our trip by about 5 days, but were still there for over a week in total.
So, although our time in French Polynesia started out as a bit of a nightmare, by the end it had been totally redeemed by the amazing beauty of Moorea and, most importantly, the hospitality we received at Chez Billy. Our return trip to Tahiti was smooth and orderly, because Billy had helped us and we knew what we were doing by then, such a different experience to our arrival.
We then had a 10 hour wait at Tahiti airport for our onward flight, but because we were so relaxed by that point the hours went by and midnight came quite quickly for our departure. Moorea was amazing, but if either of us ever went back it would probably only be if we had lots of money, a package deal and a hunky man in tow....... so we won´t be holding our breaths for a return visit just yet then, on many counts!
So, from very rusty and peice meal French to virtually non existent Spanish..............
yes, we are still alive, well, and generally happy!
Sorry it´s been so long since our last entry, but life has been a lot more remote (and at times very expensive) since we left New Zealand. Our last few days there were fine, a little bit more time at Christchurch, giving Maisy our motor home back :-( and then flying up to Auckland overnight. We flew out early on the Saturday morning to Tahiti, and then the "fun" began!
On our flight there was a large contingent who were Tahiti´s women´s handball team - we´d never heard of handball, but as I was sitting next to the team´s interpreter I got to understand a bit about it!. We arrived in the afternoon and were welcomed at the airport Tahitian style with guitars, singing and flowers....... but sadly that´s where the welcome ended! After a very long wait in diosorderly queues to get through passport control we discovered that our usual "ritual" wasn´t going to work. First stop is always the ATM for local currency, but neither ATMs would work, which meant that we had no money, and therefore were unable to make any phone calls. The bank couldn´t help us, the airport is tiny and things only open when flights first arrive (including the info desk) and basically we had absolutely no way of sorting anything out (we didn´t even have the money for a trolley).
To cut a long story short we eventually managed to get things sorted (thanks to some emergency dollars) but it was a real test of our patience and imagination that day. The next day, the ATMs decided to work (phew) so we got lots of money out just in case it was our only chance! We then flew off to Moorea, which is only a 7 min flight, so it´s a bit like getting the local bus and they go every half hour! Unfortunately, our frustration only increased at the other end, because there were no buses running and again nobody would help us - they seem very very reluctant to pick up a phone unless they absolutely have to! Cutting another long & frustrating story short, we eventually had to get a very very expensive taxi and stay in a place owned by the taxi service.
It was a really lovely view of Cook´s Bay, and we had a really nice room given that it was a budget place, but again we weren´t really made to feel welcome - more an inconvenience. As time went on we realised that Tahiti, Moorea etc are just not set up for independent travellers. All will be lovely and great if you are part of a package tour, with transfers, gorgeous hotels etc (at hugely expensive prices) but the infrastructure and info just isn´t there for budget backpackers. After a couple of nights in Cook´s Bay we decided to move further around the island where there were more options for supermarket & places to eat - Hauru, or "Le Petit Village". Having booked by phone, we were told to catch the 8am bus "Le Truck" from outside where we´d been staying. By 10.30am we were still waiting, and all the buses that went past just waved to us every time we tried to flag them down. We didn´t know what the bus looked like, just that it was a bus!
We were sitting outside the posh hotel opposite our "pension" and it all wore a bit thin when all these "helpful" American and Moorean people kept walking past and remarking "oh, you´re still here"! What a shame, and then got into their nice hire cars or trucks and drove away...
Eventually, frustration gave way to hiring yet another very expensive taxi, only to later learn that our new host, Billy, had discovered that there were no buses running that day (due to insufficient numbers travelling over by ferry!) and had set out to come and collect us. Unfortunately, we´d already left by taxi (which apparently he later reaslied he´s passed, with us in it) and then whilst he was en route managed to get his truck stuck in a ditch!
Anyway, when we arrives at Chez Billy, we at long last felt welcomed. Through some very "Franglaise" chat and lots of sign language we got settled in to our beachside bungalow. Once Billy had got out of the ditch and returned home, he brought us coconuts as a welcome. I´ve always wanted to eat coconut straight after it´s dropped from the palm tree, so my dream came true....it was delicious.
Because French Polynesia is sooo expensive we had to pay about 20 quid each a night (but had an amazing view) for an incredibly basic dwelling. We had no toilet seat, no hot water, and had to share with several noisy geckos and an army of ants (that got into EVERYTHING) but we always felt welcomed and at home. They even reduced the price once they knew we were staying longer, and did some washing for us free of charge, gave us bananas and more coconuts and were generally really lovely. It again goes back to welcome and hospitality making or breaking an experience, and Billy & Ugene and their staff were a real saving grace in what otherwise was turning out to be a less than idylic setting.
The views and sunsets from our bungalow were breathtaking, and we also hired a car for 2 days and got to see all of the island, sat on the best beach, snorkelled in a very large warm bath of an ocean (or fish tank!) with the most incredible visibility. The biggest highlight had to be our 2 hour trip onto the crystal clear blue lagoons to swim with stingrays and black tipped reef sharks!! The stingrays were the most gentle creatures ever, and would often clamour up to give our guide, Serge, kisses (as much as a stingray can kiss!). It was absolute paradise, and something that we´ll never ever forget, just breathtaking. However, because of the expense, we decided to reduce our trip by about 5 days, but were still there for over a week in total.
So, although our time in French Polynesia started out as a bit of a nightmare, by the end it had been totally redeemed by the amazing beauty of Moorea and, most importantly, the hospitality we received at Chez Billy. Our return trip to Tahiti was smooth and orderly, because Billy had helped us and we knew what we were doing by then, such a different experience to our arrival.
We then had a 10 hour wait at Tahiti airport for our onward flight, but because we were so relaxed by that point the hours went by and midnight came quite quickly for our departure. Moorea was amazing, but if either of us ever went back it would probably only be if we had lots of money, a package deal and a hunky man in tow....... so we won´t be holding our breaths for a return visit just yet then, on many counts!
So, from very rusty and peice meal French to virtually non existent Spanish..............
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