The white water kayaking went well! The canoes we used were short with flat bottoms (although one guy's had a rounded bottom which caused him to flip over a total of eight times while attempting one manouveur; that's what he blamed it on anyway).

We wore wetsuits, life jackets and helmets and had little skirts to wear which you hook over the hole in the canoe to keep the water out. It turns out that a lot of the skill in this type of kayaking is using the water to turn the canoe; this means actually angling the canoe slightly so water flows over the top and pushes to achieve a turn. The down side to this is that if you get it wrong it just flips the canoe over... The first day was about various basic techniques (turn at the waist, don't paddle with the arms) and the main techniques were getting in and later getting out of the current, as well as understanding how the water flows in a straight line from one point to another, and where to expect the current and the eddies (calm water). I was somewhat nervous to begin with at the prospect of falling out of the canoe, but in the end it wasn't so bad; the water wasn't so cold (with the wetsuit) and I was able to get out while being upside down quite easily. This was a marked contrast to my other kayaing experience, which was at a Scout camp, where the only thing I remember was carefully getting into the kayak while remaining dry and then being told the first thing we had to do was practise flipping the canoe upside down and then getting out. Of course this was in a freezing lake somewhere in the depths of England and utterly unpleasant. Of course when you become good at kayaking you learn the eskimo roll, which allows you to spin the kayak back up the right way again. This is a definite advantage because after escaping while upside down you have to recover the paddle, recover the canoe, turn it the right way up, get to a bank, empty the canoe and finally get back in and re-seal yourself. All of which takes about 10 minutes!
 
On dry land Dries tried to demonstrate exactly how it should be done when your imaginary canoe gets rolled over by an imaginary wave (John in this case). The end of this day came for me when I capsized one last time and then got cold because the sun was setting and my aching arms could no longer propel me forward. I slept well that night!

The next day we went down the river using the techniques we had learned the previous day. This was really good fun and there were several hairy moments for me but I managed to stay dry throughout. This was up until the very last rapid which was rated as class 3. We go through all the rapids single file, and for this I was second in line behind the instructor. As we entered the rapid things seemed to be going ok; I can't say I was especially in control but the boat was moving in the right direction, following the instructor's line. And then suddenly I was upside down; still have no real idea what happened; I think the water in the rapid is so powerful it flips you very quickly. I got out the boat and surfaced, grabbed my paddle and then looked back up the stream, to see how the others got on. All I saw were two shiny boat bottoms - as least I wasn't humiliated alone! It was only 15 mins later when I got to shore and then walked down river a little to where the others had ended up that the instructor greeted me by asking me what I had been doing... I had completely forgotten about my kayak in my hurry to get out of the strong current. Luckily one of the other guys had recovered it as it floated off downstream!

The only other thing I did in Bariloche before leaving was a walk to another small hill nearby. This was looking to be pretty uneventful after we had lunch and then lay out on a big rock in the sun. However I then decided to climb to the top and upon reaching a sign which said the path had ended and to return by the path on which I had arrived. This seemed a little boring so I forged ahead and found a path going down the other side of the hill. I followed it, very steep and sandy in places (meaning I could not go back up) until it disappeared into a bamboo forest. When I say disappeared I mean that it seemed to go into the forest and I thought I was following it, but then eventually I wasn't, just the natural gaps that the clumps of bamboo have between them.

It took me about 15 minutes to decide I was really lost. I was a little concerned what the others would do when they found me gone, and hoping that I wasn't going to have to spend the night in the bamboo forest. However I remembered that we were on a kind of penisular, probably only about a mile wide and a few miles long. So I reasoned that if I walked in a straight line I must reach a lake sooner or later (later of course if I was walking along the peninsular rather than across it...). So after about 30 minutes of stumbling under and over fallen bamboo canes (a bamboo forest seems to consist of lots of clumps where the bamboo grows strong and straight like bars and is almost impossible to pass through. Then then is a gap before the next clump and this is filled by all the canes that are dead or just leaning over. The clumps tend to be quite long and not so wide, hence giving the impression that the spaces between are paths.) I finally found what appeared to be a dry river bed and followed this down until eventually things started to become a little less dense and then I could see sky up ahead. I emerged in a clearing that we had actually walked through on the way up the hill and found the others walking down the hill - one of them had gone to the top to look for me, but having not found me they had decided to give up! At least they had taken my back with them!

Around this point I felt that I had had my time in Bariloche and decided that the next place I would go was El Bolson, two hours to the south. This is described by everyone as a 'hippy town'. It has an artesanal market (where I think I saw my first up-close in-the-flesh hippy from the original era of the hippy), and specialises in artesanal beers and organic fruit and vegetables. I ate lots of raspberries and cherries and found gooseberry jam. The beer is very good compared to the standard pale overly fizzy tasteless stuff that is available in Argentina and Bolivia. It even comes with a a sediment in the bottle... I stayed in a hostel called El Pueblito a few km outside the town. This was a big log cabin, which meant everything creaked and my earplugs were very necessary in the fourteen person dorm! A stones throw from the front door a river ran past and I found it very restful to sit on a boulder by the river reading or writing my diary. The river also provided a good supply of firewood; I can not remember the last time I sat around a camp fire at night...

A friend I met in Bariloche was going to a one-day organic gardening course at an organic farm near El Bolson called CIESA. Here they are following the principles and practises devised by John Jeavons to run a Bio-intensive farming system. The basic idea behind this is that you can produce enough food for one person for one year in 500m2 of land (vegetarian of course). This is achieved by packing the plants in close and allowing their roots to grow deep (up to 60cm, as opposed to 15cm or so for normal farming methods). At CIESA they test and adapt these methods to be applied by people living in Argentina (and possible elsewhere) and for their specific climates, water availability, etc. It was a very interesting day covering the whole plant life cycle (actually out in the garden doing and watching the various processes).

From this I also visited another project in near El Bolson, La Escuelita (the little school). This is a really interesting place where volunteers last year build a school from natural materials and techniques and this year are going to extend it, as well as working on and learning other techniques. The idea is to take away what they learnt to be able to apply them in other places in South America and the world. I had a look around the school which was a really pretty building. The workers were having a two-week holiday, but there was one guy left practising archery so he let me have ago, which was great, but another sport where you're really going to build muscles with a bit of practise (I'm also thinking rock climbing and kayaking!).

I also did another day of rock climbing in El Bolson which was once again very good and with perfect weather, but the feet were quite unhappy by the end of the day due to the very tight shoes. (Although my shoes were apparently actually a little too big - the guy I went with had to wear a pair five sizes too small!!! This was after we had turned up in the morning, asked about equipment and found everything was provided apart from the shoes. Suprisingly I don't travel with such shoes and the suggestion to climb in sandles didn't go down especially well. As if by magic they found some though! The joy of being an average size...)

The months of January and February are the holiday season for Argentinos. School and uni are out and Buenos Aires is (apparently) horribly hot, so everyone heads for the country. This means that suddenly rather than meeting the standard collection of travellers from around the world, 90% of the people are from Buenos Aires. This has been very good practise for my Spanish, especially because I took up one girl from BA on her offer of going camping (y camping, nada mas!). First we went to a music festival happening just outside El Bolson called Moonbow. This wasn't quite as bad as the description on the website suggested ('trance festival'). However it promised lots of exciting things such as reggae, jazz and massage which didn't really seem to materialise. On the first night one of the stages had closed by midnight and was showing a video (which was actually probably the best bit for me; a kind of montage of scenes from all over the world; just a shame I had no idea where in the world they were from (would you believe there are factories full of hundred of workers making cigarettes by hand?)). After two nights there we returned to El Bolson and caught a morning bus south into the Alerces National Park (the Alerce being a type of tree). We camped in three separate locations in the park over four days. The first was the best for me, right next to a large and beautiful lake (Lago Rivadavia) followed by Lago Verde. By this time the relationship between me and my travelling companion had become a little frosty. We were meeting lots of Argentinian boys and I think I was perhaps cramping her style a little by sharing her tent... We finally moved to a 'free' campsite just south of Lago Verde. (Free means you save your 11 pesos (2GBP) per night, but sacrifice toilet, shower, running water, shop (which also supplies boiling water), etc. This means one of the key tasks of the day becomes gathering firewood and cooking or heating things and walking several kms to the other camp site to buy things from its shop. The Argentinians I was with drank the river water (the same river that has boats on it, fishermen, people swimming and cows drinking) and looked on me with not a little disbelief when I insisted on boiling mine first...) For me the move to this campsite was extremely painful. The previous day the bus dropped us at the top of a hill. We walked down one side of the hill to get to Lago Verde. Hence we had to walk back up the hill, past the bus stop and then what seemed like several miles down the other side to reach the new campsite. This would have been ok except that I was carrying ALL my posessions - at least 25kg and more likely 30kg. The one thing I have learned travelling is NEVER walk ANYWHERE with all your stuff. It is ALWAYS worth getting a taxi. Unfortunately in this case I really didn't have any options, so eventually arrived, somewhat bad tempered and a long way behind everyone else to find them already bathing in the river; by that point I wasn't in the mood for bathing in the river, although the idea of buying a car suddenly seemed very attractive. It later transpired that the bus did actually pass our campsite but earlier and later in the day, not in the baking 2pm heat that we chose to walk in... We had moved camp with a group of guys 'we' had picked up who turned out to be a football team from near Buenos Aires. This is one thing I can really say about Argentinian guys - they are significantly more friendly and open than English or even European guys, and suprisingly not just interested in girls (for a country which pretty much admits it's men are macho!) (although most conversations do begin with 'what do you think of the Argentinian girls?'). That night we had a big camp fire and sat round playing some guitar and chatting. I popped over to the campfire of our neighbours and discovered they were from Spain and also travelling somewhat open-ended.

The next day we went on a boat trip; I was a little dubious about how good this was going to be (and also it was pretty expensive, at 9GBP) but seeing as I didn't have anything else to do in particular I thought I'd go along. The trip was actually very good though; we were taken along Lago Verde up close to a mountain with a glacier sitting on top, and then to a forest which was mainly bamboo, but had Alerces trees growing in it. These are very slow growing but very long-lived trees, and the national park we were in is named after them. We wandered around the park for a bit, which included an impressive river which dropped 25m through some pretty severe white-water (looking at it from a kayaking point of view!). Eventually at the end of the walk we reached THE Alerce. This particular specimen is 2500 years old, around 60m high and a couple of metres across the trunk. Because it grows so slowly the Alerce is a very dense tree and the bark very hard. This one had great strips of old bark clinging to it and a suitably mangled and aged appearance to its upper branches.

The day before this Georgina had explained to me that (not to put too fine a point on it) she wanted to carry on camping without me! I decided to catch the bus and carry on to Esquel and woke up in the morning to find it pouring with rain and the whole idea of getting out of my sleeping bag very unappealing. I dozed for another half and hour and then it occurred to me that I could either bite the bullet, get up, get packed and get out (on the 11am bus) or I would be faced with spending a rainy day in the campsite with absolutely nothing to do, until the next bus at 7pm in the evening. So less than an hour later I was standing with all my things, in the rain waiting for the bus, with a couple of damp Argentinians (who turned out to be working, or maybe just volunteering, at the park). Thankfully the bus was only 30mins late (!) and over the course of the next three hours I gradually dried off. (On the bus we arrived on there was a large area behind the driver where the bags were stowed; however on this bus the bags went on the roof, and somehow mine got the priviledge of going right at the front and catching all the rain. However I now know that my bag is basically waterproof (which I was rather suprised about) but was also glad I had bought a waterproof liner off someone I met in a hostel in Santa Cruz about 4 months ago!)

And so I arrived here, in Esquel. Esquel is actually a very nice town, not too big but with everything you could really want. Lots of fresh fruit and veg, pasta, meat. Even found a shop to repair the crack in the side of my guitar (the crack also from Santa Cruz), somewhere to repair my new month old Hush Puppy sandles (so no, I wouldn't really recommend them) and somewhere to repair the whole I managed to make in my trousers while horse riding a few days ago and to repair the broken zip in my other pair of trousers. I spent my first night in Esquel in a kind of guest house, horribly reminiscent of a place I lived in Portsmouth for a few weeks when I first went there. More like a hotel than a hostel (you could see, but not touch the kitchen for a start), the kind of place where you don't meet anyone else and the owners give you the impression that having you around is something of a inconvenience. The next day I moved to this hostel Piuke Mapu which has been opened just 6 months, but is a very nice place with friendly people and a good atmosphere. It even has a hammock in the back garden which is on my list of things all hostels should have, along with a pool table (which it doesn't have, yet...).

Here I've taken a ride on a steam train which goes up the valley and back again (once a week it goes much further (160km) but this isn't really any use for travelling as it takes 6 hours and is nothing in terms of the size of Argentina. From the train I saw into a military base and noticed a line of twenty tanks parked up and ready to go somewhere. Presumably Chile as there are no other countries anywhere nearby!

Today I went with some other people staying at the hostel and did a walk right next to the free camping I stayed in before! It was to Lago Escondido (hidden lake, of which there are quite a few in Argentina.) This boiled down to climbing a steep hill and then spending a few hours lying in the sun next to a small lake at the top - very pleasant.

Plans for the near future are to take a stream train trip tomorrow to somewhere 6 hours away and come back the next day. Then head down south this coming week, including popping into Chile to renew my visa (my first 90 days in Argentina are almost up!).

At the hostel I met two dutch 18-year-olds, Tim and Maarten who suggested doing mountain biking the next day. This sounded like a great idea so next day we took a taxi to San Lorenzo just north of Salta and picked up some fairly delapidated but orginally decent mountain bikes. It turned out (again) that there werenīt really any particularly good biking routes, but after riding up a big hill on tarmac and then halfway up a mountain on a very uneven path that we had to carry the bikes for part of we found and excellent trail winding down the other side of the valley. (We had to do the uphill bit twice, because the first time we got up I went to get my camera and discovered it wasn`t there and my back was slightly open. So I was worried it had fallen out somewhere - we went back and looked for it but it wasn't there so I decided to worry about it later (and would you believe it was safe and sound back at the hostel!)).

Two days later we decided to hire a car for four days to do two loops, one north and one south of salta. This was good fun (although the Dutch guys almost sent me over the edge (yes, both a cliff and sanity)). The driving was mostly on dirt roads, some of which were fairly smooth, some rocky, some sandy. I spoke to someone else who had managed to puncture the fuel tank with a rock on route, so we did well to return the car fully functional and in one piece (although I had an interesting (exciting!) skid while driving a teensy bit too fast on a sandy road which suddenly had two sharp bends in it, but managed to keep the car pointing the right way). We saw some amazing scenery and I took my best south america photo so far (I think), visiting places with names such as San Antonio de las Nubes (... of the clouds), Cachi, Jujuy and Cafayate. We saw a lot of Incan ruins, some covering several hills, a restored Incan village, a reconstruction of houses from various different points in history and some amazing natural rock formations. These included moutains made from rocks of seven different colours, places where the road had been cut through the edge of stratas of rock rising 50m into the air, and an enormous squarish cavern with an open roof and a 45 degree sloping floor, with walls 100m high, that had been cut into the mountain by a river. I also visited my first Argentinian vineyard (although I'm still waiting to find a really good (but economically priced) Argentinian wine) and ended up chatting to three seperate groups of school children that were at an exhibition in the city of Jujuy.

After this I returned to Salta where I met Petra from Germany and then Julia, also from Germany, who I subsequently spent quite some time with and travelled on to Cordoba with.

During all this I have been trying to adjust to and decide whether I like (!) the Argentinian style of nightlife. This involves a 3 or 4 hour siesta during the day, then a very late dinner (11pm or 12am) followed by a visit to a bar at about 1am and finally arrival at a nightclub about 2am. For the seriously tough there is then an after-club bar where people arrive about 7am and stay until sometime in the afternoon (though I never made it this far; when it was light again outside I generally headed for bed). This kind of worked well in Cordoba, because it was so hot and humid there that you couldn't do much else during the day.

I had my birthday in Cordoba and decided to treat myself, so booked up and went sky diving. This was great. I wasn't really scared beforehand. I went with Julia but there is only one tandem jumper (the guy who you are attached to) so you go up in the plane one at a time with a few other people from the sky dive club. The plane was a tiny one engine cesna (and even the pilot had a parachute which didn't immediately inspire confidence) with just one seat for the pilot. In my plane I sat with my tandem jumper at the back and the other solo jumpers were in front. It takes about 15 minutes to ascend to 2500m above the ground. I was kind of enjoying the view and not really think ing too much about things when suddenly they decided we were there. I prepared myself to prepare myself, but before I had a chance the first jumper had opened the door and thrown herself out. I was a little horrified by this. Then the next guy moved up, go out the door, stood on the wheel, rocked back and forward and was gone. Oh. So we move up the plane to the door, I stick my legs out as instructed and then sit there for a few seconds looking down at the ground a long way away, but knowing that it's going to happen whether I like it or not - rather like a roller coaster actually. And then we go and I manage not to panic but just to kind of stare with wide eyes and feel strange sensations in my stomach. After a few seconds there is a tug and I have the vague impression the parachute has been let off, although we are still falling very fast (which is actually quite fun; apparently we reached 250km/h 150mph). You can't hear anything apart from wind and I realised after a few second it's best to have you mouth shut otherwise it gets blown up like a balloon! Then after about 30 seconds the guy was tapping me on the shoulder (I had no idea why) and then suddenly whack - a massive deceleration as he realeased the parachute, which lasted for 5 seconds or so (the first tug was just a small chute, as two people fall too fast without it). And then we're just floating. No noise apart from the rippling of the wind in the parachute, like a sail on a boat and I then had 6 minutes or so of gently floating down, with Cordoba city in one direction mountains in the distance and fields beneath. It was great, but there is no real adrenaline rush like the freefall part. My only real concern through the whole thing was that I wasn't strapped to the guy behind me properly, and when he loosened the straps at one point (for the landing) this didn't help the feeling. The landing was quite fun too, because you actually come in quite fast, have to lift your legs in front of you and then start running when you almost touch the ground. So I am keen to do more of this kind of thing in the future!

So after all that fun and a lemon and cream (or cream-that-kind-of-turned-into-butter-when-I-whipped-it-too-much) birthday cake made by Petra I had a few more days of not doing too much in Cordoba before heading to Mendoza with Julia (Petra went straight to Bariloche). There I decided to get out of the whole night-club partying thing and try and do some stuff instead so I went to a different hostel from Julia (hers having a reputation for exactly that) and started by going white water rafting (first time for me). This was really good, although it's actually quite hard work. You have to wedge yourself in the boat with your legs while sitting on the side and paddle a lot, to get the boat to go over the best bits of the rapids rather than around them. There were seven in the boat, plus the guy at the back who had the ability to stick the paddle in the water and turn the boat as if the water were actually something solid. We had just an hour, but it was enough for me for my first time and the rapids were apparently class 3. It was pretty good in a couple of places, but I think ultimately it's much better if you are doing it solo in a kayak, so I'm looking into 2 or 3 day courses here in Bariloche where you can learn. The problem with a big boat of people is that there just isn't enough co-ordination to get the boat in the right place at the right time. And rather than making things more exciting that generally means you miss the best parts!

Other things I managed in Mendoza (which is a beautiful city, cooler than Cordoba and with tree lined streets to give you shade wherever you go) were a bike ride to the local bodegas (wineries) (which turned out to be a fun day but totally exhausting and not very scenic as the bodegas are all in the urban sprawl part of Mendoza) (we had to get a 4x4 pick-up taxi to bring us back to the city as we simply hadn't any energy to ride the 20km back to the city at 6:30pm in the evening), visiting the zoo (totally unplanned until we arrived there but actually really good - not sure I've seen a polar bear before...) (also spent one hour playing on the playground after lunch) and finally a visit to a thermal bath complex, which was actually there for Argentinians rather than extranjeros, where somehow ended up surrounded by a group of 20 teenagers who wanted to chat to us. I only spent four nights in Mendoza (or at least that's all I paid for, I'm a little confused about it all) but managed to do quite a lot of stuff. I also got rather stressed about my Christmas arrangements because the day after arriving in Mendoza I went to the bus station, only to find out that of the two bus companies that had a bus each day, one was booked until 24th Dec, and the other until next year. I considered flying (but there are no planes), hiring a car (but it's a long way, I'd have to find other people and a one-way hire would probably cost a fortune), going via Chile (but that would be three separate bus journeys). In the end I managed to get a bus ticket to somewhere on the way here called Neuquen, but then it looked like I might get stuck there for Christmas (Bariloche is a very popular Christmas destination). Then I (made the mistake) of being nice and telling my hostel what was happening to which they replied that if I had no bus ticket they couldn't keep my reservation. How sweet of them. With a little lying I got that back on track and then managed to get a bus ticket for the rest of the way, so everything ended up good in the end! I hate travelling to a schedule!!!

And so Bariloche. My first glimpse of the area was from the bus just after the sun came up. We were driving along a dead straight road with a few little dips and rises and nothing to be seen anywhere around except for a plain with scrub bushes on - but the biggest plane I have ever seen. Then closer to Bariloche you have mountains and the town itself is a ski resort in (Argentinian) winter and a base for mountain and lake activities in the summer. The town is on the edge of a huge lake with snow-topped mountains on its far side and surrounded by hills and mountains. The weather is much fresher here than the hot humid weather further north - in fact it's almost a little too cold, but it does make it seem a little bit more Christmasy (although it doesn't get dark until 8 or 9pm). So - the things I hope to do while I'm here: mountain biking, kayaking, visiting a nearby active volcano, paragliding from local mountains, kite surfing (on a surf board but holding onto a big paraglider-kite thing), horse riding and relaxing in beautiful scenery. I may stay here a month, depending how it goes!! Yesterday we went and visited a 'bamboo forest' which is really just a normal forest but with a lot of bamboo growing around the trees and this led out to a beautiful lakeside where I was able to sit and lie in the sun and read for the afternoon. Today it rained!! So it was a good day to (try and) catch up with all the internety things that I haven't done for the last month or more! Tomorrow (24th) it seems we will celebrate Christmas (something to do with Germans and Argentinians) but as yet I haven't received any presents...

Since I first wrote this entry just before Christmas (though I didnīt actually post it then!) I have done a few more things in and around Bariloche. I tried some mountain biking on Cerro Otto which is right next to the town. This was quite good with a nice pine-forest path to race along on the ridge between Cerro Otto and the next mountain, but there isnīt actually any single track here it turns out! Iīve been on a few more little walks, got completely lost in the bamboo forest (which gets really thick and disorientating, and is more a case of trying to climb over the dead bits which have fallen over), had my first go at rock climbing, which I really enjoyed, though it left me totally exhausted and hired a car again for a day-trip around seven nearby lakes and up to a town called San Martin. This was good fun, with some amazing scenery and nice driving. Iīve also swum in a pretty cold lake (twice), watched everybody else swimming in a really cold lake on New Yearīs morning before spending a few hours sunbathing to start of the New Year south-American style.... For Christmas and New Year we had parties in the hostel with everyone cooking something. This was good, although the tone of the Christmas party was slightly altered when the hostel ownerīs ex-wife decided to do a strip show... This was better received by the male clients of the hostel than the female!

Tomorrow Iīm heading out with two guys from the hostel to spend two days learning white-water kayaking, which as long as it isnīt really cold and I donīt drown should be good fun!

And suddenly Bariloche has become really busy - everyone escaping from Buenos Aires because of the heat (which has really taken off in the last week apparently) and because it is school holidays. The roads are jambed, the cash machines empty...

And finally - how does Argentina compare to Bolivia? It is very different. The general level of wealth is obviously higher, you can buy more luxury products that you simply couldn't in Bolivia. It doesn't have to be more expensive to live (the basics are often the same price or even a little cheaper) but you have all the more standard European options for disposing of large amounts of cash if you want to. The food is a big improvement; much more variety, much less grease, good bread, good pastries (like France in fact). The steaks are big and cheap but for me they simply don't know how to cook them like the French do - you can't get a perfectly cooked rare steak, although they are generally tender and tasty. The buses in Argentina really can take your breath away (your money too...). The one I got from Mendoza to Neuquen was brand new, two level with just three seat across the bus which reclined a long way, though not flat, and we leather. Unfortunately the bus was so new that it didn't have televisions (although it seems if they do the films will either be dubbed into Spanish, which is normally too hard to understand, or have Spanish subtitles but the sounds turned down so you can't hear....) You get hot meals on the buses like an aeroplane. Very different to Bolivia, although it does depend on the company - there are ones running at a similar standard too. Anyway I think I have another 24-36 hours of busing more if I want to get down to Tierra del Fuego at the far south of Argentina and Chile.

Enough for now I think. I wish you all a very merry Christmas (belatedly) and a happy New Year.

Now Iīm in Bermejo on the border with Argentina. Contrary to my guide book the road was paved all the way. Contrary to the people I bought the bus ticket from (but in agreement with the book) the journey took 4.5hrs rather than 3.5. Spent about half and hour walking quite a long way in order to find a hotel, given various directions including "thereīs only one hotel here and itīs behind you" (delivered with the usual Bolivian certainty). However it turns out thereīs a town centre 7 blocks from the bus station with at least three hotels and more in a complex a few blocks away! Have decided to split the journey to Argentina because itīs 6hrs by bus to Salta inside Argentina and my guide book says it can take 4hrs to clear customs.... Have already had a good number of interesting experiences:
- finding out the bus was numbered in reverse to the sheet so my seat was actually on the left hand side, not the right (where the guide said correctly you got the best view) (but i just sat where I wanted to and that seemed to be ok)
- two people vomitting while on the bus (one out the window quietly, the other one immediately behind me; picked my bag up off the floor to avoid any backwash!)
- slight pang of worry as to whether Iīd actually got off in the right town....
- finding a hotel but the guy saying it was full; going next door to the next hotel. Spending five minutes trying to find someone to get a room from, and eventually discovering them, very fast asleep just next to the entrance. Spending five minutes trying to wake them up without physical contact and eventually having to give up. Taking a room but then realising the window doesnīt lock and the mosquito netting opens in such a way that it looks like a regular entry/exit point. Asking for a different room (once again having to wake the guy out of a deeeep slumber) but the guy telling me there are no other rooms, despite giving me a choice of rooms when I arrived. Then when I point this out he decides itīs a good time to go back to sleep. So shout at him to indicate this isnīt such a good idea. He shows me another room, where he actually opens the door by putting his arm through the window.... So I ask to change hotels and manage to get my money back (somewhat grumpily, but without argument). Go back next door to ask where there are other hotels. But suddenly there is space in the first hotel. So take a room there. The window doesnīt lock, but at least the hole in the mosquito netting isnīt big enough for someone to climb through.
- observing the run up to local elections here. This seems to involve the parties each having their office at intervals along the main street. The gathering flags, people and a vehicle loaded with speakers and trying to drown out the noise from the other parties. This is probably where the Lib Dems have been going wrong all this time.
- managing to get a snack at 4:30pm in a cafe (in Bolivia if you donīt eat at mealtimes you generally canīt find any cooked food). The girl explained she was leaving in seven minutes but then seemed happy to serve me anyway and the place still seems to be open now, two hours later...
- sitting in the plaza and having two fairly respectable looking men sit down next to me, ask me a couple of questions and then ask if I want to buy a bottle of soda for them. They appear to be quite dismayed (hmmm, not sure how to spell that anymore...) when I decline. (Bolivians generally think that those with money should by them things, even though they donīt know them. This is why the rule "never lend money to a Bolivian" is golden; they will simply think that you can afford them not to pay you back. (I believe another rule is "donīt get married to a Bolivian" but for different reasons.)
- lastly - trying to think and write an email in an internet cafe where awful Bolivian music is blasting out next to me :-)

OK - off to go and have some more of my favourite Bolivian meal - rotisserie chicken and chips, after a shower (it is soooo hot here - clammy hot; in Tarija it was on the verge of being chilly, especially if it was cloudy!)

Next stop Argentina!!!

The Pantanal trip was pretty good. We didnīt actually see as many animals as Iīd hoped for but the photos are great. I caught the train fine (although there was a slightly bizarre incident at the station - after being chatted up by a Peruvian woman who was clearly interested in a better life in a Western country I decided to go and try and buy a return ticket. I had decided to come back from Brazil roughly a week later and knew that the tickets for the nice train (air-con, tv, reclining seats, 12-14hrs) sold out quick and that I didnīt want to take the other train (open the windows if you get too hot (and hope the air outside isnīt hotter (take plenty of water to replace that lost through sweating)), entertainment in the form of watching those around you being eaten alive by mosquitoes, vinyl covered seats with backs that can pretty much be described as vertical, people standing in the ailes because the train is too full, 30 stops and a journey time of 19-24hrs). Earlier in the day I phoned a company and said I wanted to buy a ticket and said Iīd pop into their office later to pay. However this ticket cost about 15% more than just buying the ticket at the station (but it indicated in my guide book you might not be able to buy the ticket from the station a week in advance). So I queued up at the ticket office to see if it was possible to buy one and having assertained it was waited in line. After about 10 minutes a guy I didnīt recognise came up to me with a guy from the hostel. It turned out that this guy was from the company Iīd phoned earlier. While I thought that by phoning I had just made a reservation and would confirm it by paying later, he had actually gone to the station earlier in the day and bought the ticket and then gone to the hostel to find me (but Iīd already left) and then brought my friend from the hostel to the station to identify me! So I felt a bit bad (although I found the whole thing really really suprising) and after pointing out that he was selling me a ticket for considerably more than the going rate he dropped his price and I bought it off him! Another 15 mins and I might have had two tickets!). The train took just 12 hours (although I take a sleeping pill on these overnight trips) but wasnīt exactly smooth. They donīt have welded-rail technology like the UK so it was just bumping all the way at each join in the rails - almost worse than a bus actually. At the station tour companies were waiting to pick up prospective clients and they took us to the Bolivian border to get our passports stamped (although they tried to confiscate mine when I asked them why I was paying 10Bs which I suggested was just a bribe for them rather than money for the government (maybe next time itīs not worth it for 60p!!). Then we were in Brazil. Got my Brazilian entry stamp fine and for free and then went and stayed at the hostel of the company Green Track. There I met a group of 5 people (4 English) whoīd Iīd met in the hostel in Santa Cruz and had taken the Death Train across, but survived more or less. It turned out to be hard to find alternative options for tours in Corumba so I ended up booking for the next day with Green Track and another English couple turned up and then a Swiss couple. The group of 5 went out for a night on the town, having booked a tour for the day after me, and ended up arriving back about 6am in the morning with a guy who turned out to be the local drug dealer. But how could they have known?!?

We started off travelling by river from near Corumba (town near the Bolivian border) to a kind of ranch that our tour company ran. It appeared that it was the start of a Cayman farm and so we saw baby Cayman and the eyes of a few full grown ones at night, reflecting red in the torchlight. We went fishing after lunch and I caught four piranhas (which I think might be the first fish Iīve ever caught!). In total the group (7 people + 2 guides) caught 50 piranhas which we had some fried and some as a soup for dinner. It is a really nice fish, probably the best Iīve found that lives in Bolivia (although I think they have trout...). We left that place the next day, back down the river dropped off two of the group and then had a four hour ride to the next place. At this stage I realised I had left my towel in the hostel and arranged that it be brought to me a few days later. The 4 hour journey was a bit long, a bit hungry, a bit wet, a bit bumpy but we did see loads of animals in the area to the side of the roads - cayman, big guinea pig things and loads of different types of birds. However we didnīt really stop; hence no photos (in retrospect we should have told them to stop because this was the best part of the trip for seeing a variety of animals).

We arrived at the camp early afternoon and had lunch. We were sleeping in hammocks and they even had running water and flushing toilets. The food was quite good (Brazilian food seems to be more varied and generally nicer and healthier than Bolivian food) and there werenīt a lot of mosquitoes (although by the end of my time in Brazil I had quite a few itchy bites). That afternoon we went walking with our Brazilian guide. This was through palm forest which I hadnīt seen before although I donīt think we saw any animals, though we heard a number of birds taking off... The next day we went horse riding in the morning which was pretty good (although my horse wasnīt really up for galloping (though apparently this way my fault for not kicking it in the stomach the right way!) and we had a really good time. A lot of the area we saw was kind of flooded meadows and riding through it on horses was really fun. We saw a Cayman just at the side of the path, but once again I failed to stop and get a photo! In the afternoon we made bracelets by stripping fibre from a plant that looked a bit like a very big aloe-vera and then cleaning and plaiting it. Iīm still wearing mine (it currently has a piece of sawn up nut on it (which doesn`t look but tastes like coconut) but I have a cayman tooth which, if I can be bothered to clean and make a hole in, I could use instead!).

The next day (our last day of the trip) we had been told we could go horse riding again so were looking forward to that, but when the time came the guy who runs the business Murillo decided that out of his 50 odd horses only 6 were available for riding and that was for the group he was leading and not us. He then made a concession which was that there was one spare horse for the guy from our group who hadn`t gone riding yesterday because he was feeling ill. However that guy didn`t feel like riding, so I went and asked if I could ride instead. Murillo then explained the horse he had was hungry and thin and really not much good for anything. He then said that our group hadn`t done enough walking. I suggested that perhaps we should be able to do what we wanted rather than what he told us; he told me not to get ironic with him. So unironically I abandoned that one and our group did a bit more (rather unsuccessful) fishing instead on a couple of small lakes near the camp. (It later emerged that Murillo had a more than passing interest in a number of girls in the other group, which perhaps explains his behaviour...)

Mid afternoon some transport arrived and took us out to the main road, where we caught the bus to Bonito. This bus was in stark comparison to the Bolivian buses I am used to. It was new, had widely spaced seats, seat belts, air conditioning... It did cost three times more than a Bolivian bus though. Bonito is a small and pretty touristy town further south in Brazil (4 hours) and is surrounded by various natural phenomena, such as springs, caves and waterfalls. I stayed in the youth hostel (my first in S.A.!). The hostel arranged tours and there were quite a lot of people staying there so it was easy to get a group together. The first day I did a tour where we floated down a crystal clear river fed by a spring, wearing wet suit and snorkels, watching the fish and the strange other-world that exists beneath the surface. I really enjoyed it, but of course photos were a little difficult... In the afternoon we did some more horse riding (although we werenīt allowed to gallop due to various half-explained safety concerns. However we had a good time and saw some nice countryside. That evening I discovered a particularly good cocktail called caipirinha which is ice, sugar, lime and a Brazilian spirit called cachaca - just perfect! The next day I decided to go and visit some waterfalls. This involved quite a bit of walking seeing fairly small, but sometimes quite pretty falls, and finally arriving at a 170m fall which was spectacular (as you will see from the photos). We were able to swim in the pool at the bottom of these falls; it was really cold but good fun. The afternoon we spent at a resort they have, where we had lunch, had a siesta in hammocks, and then sat around the swimming pool until it was time to go home (which was very nice as a change, though I wouldn`t want to do it too often!).

So the next morning I got up at 5am to catch a bus at 6am for a 6hr trip back to Corumba. Getting there just about midday I found the people from Green Track waiting to pick people up from the bus station, so as they were friendly and it was pretty convenient, got a lift back with them to the hostel, grabbed a shower and discovered that my things (torch and book) were probably on the way back with some people finishing a tour today and catching the same train as me in the evening. These people were due to arrive about 6pm. The train leaves (from a different country) at 7pm. I was somewhat concerned that (especially when talking about Bolivia) an hour was not going to be long enough to get to the border, cross it and get to the train station and onto the train. But repeatedly the guys at hostel reassured me it would be fine (I`m quite used to hearing this kind of thing and quite used to it not being true). But I decided to give it a go. So I went and walked around the shore area of Corumba (it`s like a sea shore, but actually it`s only on a river of course) and got back to the hostel just after 5pm. Amazingly the other people turned up at 5:40, we caught a taxi and arrived at the station with half an hour to spare. And my things had arrived with them! So overall I was shocked!

On the train, after explaining that because on my ticket the computer had printed seat number 4 and therefore this couldn`t be a mistake and the other person who had seat number 4 reserved must have it because someone had changed the computer after I bought my ticket, I had a fine journey back - watched a film, took my sleeping pill and woke up in near Santa Cruz.

So back in Santa Cruz. I went to a party with Melissa and some Peace Corps people on the day of the US election (although it appears there wasn`t much to party about) and had a really really good sauna at the hotel they were staying at (Hotel Corteza) in Santa Cruz. I also visited Las Lomas de Arena (sand dunes or literally the hills of sand) which was quite beautiful and spent the afternoon chatting about life and stuff with a Dutch guy I`d met in the hostel. Just before leaving we came across a car which had got stuck in the sand. It was a four wheel drive (although lacking things such as locking differential which might have saved it) and the driver didn`t really have a clue, so just gave the accelerator a good blast now and again, so that eventually the wheels were off the ground and it was totally grounded. We tried to help but even with the aid of another 4x4 couldn`t do anything; I think when we left they were going to call a crane. Unfortunately it was getting dark and the kid driving had borrowed the car from his dad without telling him, so it seemed that a long night was in store for them... And possibly worse after that!

After a week I was getting pretty fed up and down (Santa Cruz seems to have this effect on me) so I decided it was time to leave and go and visit Monica. After a few days here I am feeling a lot better; more `balanced`. In the hostel in Santa Cruz (after coping with new people arriving in my dorm room at 2am in the morning, and then walking me up at 2am the next morning by having sex...) I met two Portuguese and two Polish guys who were talking about going on a boat trip from Chaparč in Bolivia up into Brazil and then on into Peru (taking about six weeks in all). It sounded like a pretty amazing opportunity and it`s something that I wanted to do since I got to Chaparč the first time. However then the guys decided they were going to travelling Bolivia first, which they reckon will take less than two weeks - but given my 5 month experience I`m not so sure... I`m thinking though that rather than hanging around and waiting for them I will just head off to Argentina next. The river will still be there if I decide to do a boat trip some other time (although finding a group to do it with isn`t so easy...) Feel at the moment I need to meet new people and do new things, and probably six weeks stuck on a boat with the same people isn`t going to achieve that...

So - this afternoon we are off to buy things for Monica`s house (mattress, fridge, bin) and then we have to work out how to get them all back to her village tomorrow.

My final week in El Carmen was very pleasant and relaxed. There was a big festival one day in a nearby hacienda (cattle ranch) which was fun and also a car race went through which was pretty exciting and we spent many pleasant evenings listening to music and sipping wine (and some scarce but very delicious English chocolate of which I know need more supplies sent (also more supplies or Earl Grey tea required....).

The bus journey back took a total of 13 hours door-to-door (possible in 6) because the bus was packed full with people on the roof and I had to wait until midday for a 4X4 to go past that could give me a lift into town. Then the bus I caught stopped somewhere for a few hours (San Javier, so I have some pictures of another Jesuit Mission town) and then the bus was in danger of braking down, so drove slowly and kept stopping. And Santa Cruz is now officially hot. In the evenings when it seems cool the temperature is still 27!

I had been thinking about coming home for Christmas but now Iīm thinking that the cost, the interruption to travel, the weather (to name but a few reasons) and the fact it will be quite cool to have a Christmas on a beach in a hot country mean that I wonīt....

Until the other side of the Pantanal!

Iīm starting to wonder about what to do next. I`m thinking I`ll either go to Brazil or Argentina now. Brazil would be great because of the beaches (especially with it being SO dry here in El Carmen) and Argentina has some good waterfalls.... So if anyone has any top tips for these countries...

Oh yes - the entry is brief because out here in the sticks the internet costs a small fortune - 15 BOBs per hour (1 GBP)! How will I ever adjust to the prices of things in England...?

I got back to Santa Cruz yesterday with Melissa after spending a week in El Carmen. It is very different from what Iīm used to so far. The main thing (apart from the lack of running water and electricity) is simply the pace of life. Everything just happens even slower than in the rest of Bolivia; time is no longer especially important. Some of the most important and respected people in the community seem to be the teachers at the school (there are getting on for 200 pupils at the school, with about 400 people or 80 families in the village). This is partly because they are the only people in the village who receive a salary. The previous Peace Corp volunteer in El Carmen worked to set up a library and it is now quite something to see. Currently it is mainly used only by children, but there are normally between 10 and 40 kids in the library while it is open, reading, doing homework and playing games. It is clearly something that is a valuable part of the community. Melissa is still working setting up the library. Currently they have a good number of books, but they are not all fully catalogued yet and the library isnīt yet able to loan books out, only let people use them in the library. It is interesting to try and think of how things can be improved or done more rapidly. Computers canīt really be the solution partly because there is no electricity (although the library does have solar panels which power three lights and a radio) and partly because the whole point of the Peace Corp project is to leave the community with something that is self-maintaining at the end; relying on one computer which could go wrong and no one knows how to fix (or use) isnīt an option. So, Melissa is going to Sucre this weekend for a Peace Corp meeting where sheīs hoping to talk with other people whoīve been doing the same kind of thing for longer and will have some good ideas on how to get adults to use the library for instance.

Iīm going along to Sucre with her (a better option than spending more time in Santa Cruz, despite a 15hr bus ride to get there!) and should be able to meet up with someone else I met in Santa Cruz a couple of weeks back. I like Sucre a lot last time I was there and didnīt feel like Iīd really had enough time there, so it will be nice to go back. Might be able to get some more mountain biking in which is quite exciting...

Melissa knows some good places to eat in Santa Cruz so last night we ate some good food at a German restaurant and today we had sushi for lunch which was really really great! Tonight weīre going to a two-week long fair/expo which Iīm still not really sure what it will be like but sounds good.

Also ordered my replacement camera today which will take a somewhat tortuous route from America (hopefully avoiding import duty...) and be with me in a month or so. The same as the last one, just a little better...

So... hasta Sucre - got to make a call to England before everyone goes to bed... Iīll try and get the photo uploaded of the 70 of use going to El Carmen in a bus with 27 seats and almost tipping over. And us digging out the well more because it had run out of water! (Canīt say Iīve ever had to do that before!)

In the end I got bored of getting frustrated with regular and pointless visits to the migration office (visa still not ready after a week), so decided to go for a tour of Parque Ambōro instead. It is strange but when you seem to have plenty of time to spare (for example to sort out everything before a trip when you are stuck in a city with nothing to do) you always end up running out of time and being in somewhat of a panic. And so it was that after rapidly buying a torch, getting small change for my 100 Boliviano notes that no one has change for, getting some dollars to pay for the tour (again small notes) and finally trying to chuck out half the contents of my backpack that wouldn`t be needed for a three day trip to the jungle, I finally managed to get myself to Buena Vista by midday on Saturday. Buena Vista is a town (maybe it has a good view, but I didn`t really notice) on the edge of the jungle which is a good place to set of on tours. I was hoping to find some other `independent travellers` there that I could hook up with and do a tour. Unfortunately it seems to be the off season at the moment and there was quite literally no one there. On top of this I quickly discovered that the 5USD per day guides were in fact 15USD per day guides (well every penny counts in Bolivia!) and then that 4x4 transport to the edge of the forest and back was going to add another 50USD to the overall cost.

However with some negotiation and help from a friendly tour agency I managed to get a taxi to the edge of the forest (!) (well actually the nearside of a very large river that runs between the forest and Buena Vista), buy some food for a few dollars and share the guide`s tent for nothing (although the guide still cost 15USD per day). So about 9am on Sunday morning we set off, by taxi, for the edge of the middle of nowhere. The first thing we had to do was change to sandals to cross the river, and after this we spent about 4 hours trekking through the outlying areas of the forest, along a track passable by 4x4s to a base camp just inside the forest. This camp was very nice - it even had a flushing toilet, which I still can`t quite fathom... (how it was possible, rather than how to use it!). I met some interesting people there; there were some biology students doing studies of the biodiversity and some Bolivian (well I think one was actually a Russian Bolivian?) who were teaching the people running the camp how to run a tourist business. Some of the stuff seemed pretty basic along the lines of `rather than choose a totally random price for this, look at how much it costs you and add on 25%`. But apparently this is the level that tourism in Bolivia is at...

By this time I was realising that my guide was not the most talkative guy in the world. We appeared to get along fine, but he just wasn`t keen to get involved in any serious/lengthy/time consuming conversations, which would have made the kilometres pass a little more swiftly. I`m not quite sure why this was - we seemed to understand each other more or less and he was quite happy to chat away with the Biology students, but I tried all sorts of conversation starters and they all died within a few minutes.

After sleeping before and after lunch because I was so tired from the walking (!) that evening we walked near the camp (without backpacks which was quite a relief) along a pre-marked trail where various species of trees had been labelled. (Damn - I have managed to activate that most stupid feature of Windows, FilterKeys, which comes on when you sit for more than 8 seconds at the keyboard with your finger on Shift, thinking of how to start the next sentence. And it seems completely random whether you can manage to turn it off again, or the computer becomes completely unusable because all the keys have the effect as if you were holding down shift. My ankle has just started itching like made from a bite which isn`t helping matters either.) After an hour or so we got to a Mirador where there was a beautiful view out over a 180 degree bend in the river below. That night we slept in a tent (the first time I`ve slept in a tent since Canada over a year ago) which was ultimately fairly uncomfortable as the ground was very hard and I just had a sleeping bag and no mat.

The next day we would have started off early except I didn`t quite manage it and the guide wasn`t really forcing the issue, so we left about 9:30am for what turned out to be a full day of hiking along the river bed. There was a river running along it, generally about 3 or 4 metres wide and 20cms deep; in the wet season it fills the channel and is 3 metres deep... It was just a bit to deep to walk in boots so we changed to sandals and set off, which was good fun, but did start to get a little monotonous after a bit, and it is much harder (and slower) walking in sandals with a big pack than boots. I managed not to fall over and get soaked which I (and my camera) were relieved about. Basically there was a fine line between enjoying being out in the jungle experiencing the sights, smells and sounds and staggering for mile after mile along the river bed and just wanting to sit down and stop. Guess which side of it I ended up... That night we didn`t quite make it to where we were intending - apparently it was just 30 mins further down the river (although that was clearly a classic Bolivian estimate as it took us 1.5hrs to reach the next day). We camped on a beautiful sandy shore on a bend in the river, with a cold clear mountain stream meeting the main river on the other side of the bend. It was amazing the difference in temperature between the main river, which was almost hot in places where it was really shallow and slow to the little stream which was icy cold. Unfortunately the main river wasn`t really deep enough to swim in; also I was just too tired, it was getting dark and I didn`t fancy getting bitten any more!

So, bright and early(ish) the next morning we set off again. At this point I should explain that the river meanders, a lot. And with each bend it changes sides of the channel and the bank becomes sheer. This means that at each bend we had to cross the river to walk on the side where the bank continued to exist. This time I decided to try and wear my boots, which basically worked fine (although a little ingenuity was required in places to get across some parts of the river). With boots I could walk a lot quicker, and some of the sore (and sunburnt) parts of my feet from wearing sandals on the stoney river bed the whole of the day before were protected. I did however discover that putting some wax on my boots since I bought them two years ago might have been a good idea. After a few hours the leather literally soaked through and my feet started to get damp, although this wasn`t too bad and they actually dried out while we had lunch. After lunch we just had to cross the river one last time and then we were back on a path heading out of the forest. This quickly came to the boundary of the national park and straight away great chunks of the forest had been cut down. In fact as we were walking past I heard someone chopping and then saw a tree fall down. Although the trees aren`t really big it is primary rainforest and apparently the campesinos (people who live in the country) cut down the trees, grow rice for one year and then move on. This large scale cutting down of the trees at the edge of the forest is also the cause of increased flow in the river we crossed at the end of the day. As a result of this the river has moved 1km (i.e. eroded away 1km of land) over the course of three years. You can see a photo of a bridge which was placed over a small tributary river to this main river. Now this bridge is at the edge of the main river, with no land on the other side of it. Really strange to see. The campesinos also graze cattle on the land and the cattle have a special species of bird which hangs around to eat their bugs. I`d seen that on tv before, but it was really funny to see it in real life!

The trek out of the jungle seemed very long - supposedly only 8km, but could easily have been 8 miles as far as I was concerned. It ended really well though because at a village (also called El Carmen) I was able to rent a horse to carry me the rest of the way to the river. This was really great - it didn`t seem to want to go especially fast, but I really enjoyed riding and I think I might try and learn properly (although I wonder about things like safety helmets in Bolivia....). (My guide didn`t get a horse, but I hadn`t really got the energy to worry about it - he didn`t seem to mind.)

After this we waited around for about 30 mins to get a taxi truffi back to Buena Vista and I watched apparently hip and smartly dressed people arrive, then take of their shoes and socks and start wading across the river to get to their village. Really weird! I passed up the opportunity of taking a taxi truffi that was just about to leave as we arrived. The were seats, but no room for luggage because they had just loaded a pig into the bag. A full sized pig at that. Wow.

And then the next day I spent more than half the day trying to make the 1.5 or 2hr trip back to Santa Cruz. There`s never a taxi-truffi when you want one! Anyway made it back here and found a really good pizza restaurant, so Santa Cruz now officially has one thing going for it.

I think I`m going to spend a week in El Carmen and then come back to Santa Cruz if I can stand to! I would quite like to go north instead to Noel Kempf Mercado, a very big national park, but I think I need a group to make a trip there and I don`t appear to have one...

The park is staffed entirely by volunteers (maybe two or three paid people). This causes a fair amount of chaos as most volunteers arenīt around for very long, and new people appear and leave daily, making it very hard to plan anything. A lot of people are here because they heard about the idea back in their home country and made the trip to Bolivia and Villa Tunari especially. There is a theoretical minimum stay of two weeks (you pay two weeksī accomodation up front) but in reality people stay anything from one week to many months.

Now I got involved in this, because I met some people from the park when walking down the road and thought it sounded kind of interesting. Maybe an opportunity to get out into the jungle a bit more, see some animals and other stuff.... However on my first two days I got landed with looking after birds, which involves cleaning them out several times a day (lots of sweeping, lots of washing), preparing food three times a day and putting up with them squawking all day long.... Maybe Iīm not cut out for this.... After complaining vigorously and persistently, and with the arrival of someone who actually appears to like birds, I am off birds and today had a look at some computer problems (!!!). This afternoon I think Iīm supposed to be helping with monkeys. My first few days certainly havenīt been a fun experience (although interesting to see the various different animals including a puma, various types of monkeys and lots of birds (mainly parrots). Hopefully things will improve from here, otherwise I donīt think Iīm going to last a week. Thatīs the other problem. You work roughly 8am to 6pm (with 1.5hrs for lunch) (which I consider a looong day) and you work 7 days a week, although I believe you get one day off after two weeks!! Canīt wait!!

At the moment there are about 30 volunteers but the place really needs 45 or 60, and I think then maybe things would be a bit more fun. Currently people say īwe donīt like doing it, but weīre doing it for the animalsī. Unfortunately I donīt have quite the same attitude towards crippled animals which wouldnīt survive in the wild and arenīt endangered....

The other problem Iīm experiencing is that the accomodation is somewhat squalid, with matresses that smell of mould, a swimming pool which the family working at the place does their washing up in ("you must shower before swimming!"), lights that donīt work, ants everywhere.... and the whole joy of living communally and sharing a kitchen and eating area. Itīs good to moan once in a while, and you know I donīt do it often.

So - after this I plan to do the river trip for 4 or 6 days to Trinidad, but at the moment donīt know how long Iīm going to spend here.

On the walk an guy from the USA caught us up and we walked with him until, about an hour short of where we were heading for, a guy at the side of the road offered to take us over to the island in his rowing boat. I was walking with quite a heavy pack and so with a little effort we persuaded the American guy this was a good idea and we all got in. It was great to be out on the lake, and very peaceful. Turned out the American used to be his college rowing team, which was good, because night was falling as we arrived at the island and it was getting quite cold, so we were glad to get off the boat. Still not quite sure why but the guy dropped us off on rocks right at the south of the island, leaving us a 20 min walk to the town. It felt a bit like being smuggled in.

We found a nice place to stay on the island and had a good meal of trout from the lake (although in reality theyīve massively overfished the lake and there are only small fish these days). Isla del Sol is an island about 7 miles long and a mile or so wide. It is a very important place in the native culture - something about the sun being born there.... The next day we decided to walk the length of the island and catch a boat from the top to Copacabana (once again having been assured this was impossible). Things started off ok, although the American continued his annoying habit of racing off ahead (which meant that we we spaced out at 100m intervals with me at the back - still not sure what the rush was....). However we decided to walk along the ridge of the island rather than around the edge, which has much more up and down and is a lot longer. However at the first hill we encountered Lauren and the American decided that it was the ridge and raced off up it. I was pretty sure it wasnīt the ridge so walked round the side and sure enough on the other side was a huge valley. However by this time they were half a mile away on top of the hill and for some reason decided to walk down the far side, rather than head for the ridge, so at this point they disappeared and I didnīt see them again for the rest of the day!!!

I waited around for a bit watching the valley to see if I could find them, and after a bit a local guy came up and we started chatting about things. He was planning to open a restaurant and wanted the names of things for the menu in English (well, on this island most menus consist of trout). And he was able to point out his house on the opposite side of the valley. I asked if he had used binoculars before and he said īnoī so I got him to try mine. He put them up to his eyes and said īWOWī which was really great to see.

After this I started walking along the island which was beautiful once again, and the weather was perfect. Another friend had been and it had just rained the entire time.

On the walk I met various people going the other way and near the north end met a guy I had first met on the mine trip in Potosi, which was quite strange! I actually walked too far, to some Incan ruins at the north of the island and was walking back when I met a group of English people who I walked with for a bit. Finally I got to the port, where I was able to charter a boat, with a couple of other people who wanted the same thing down to the south. From the south of the island I got the tourist boat back to Copacabana and went back to the hostel we had stayed at. Lauren and I had left most of our things there, so I hoped we would meet up again there. She hadnīt got back yet which suprised me, but about half and hour later she appeared. At the hostel we met Dorothee who is swiss and turned out to have travelled with Laila who was at the language school in Cochabamba when I first started there.

The next morning we got the bus back to La Paz and that night I got the bus cama to Cochabamba, for the big festival in Quillacolla on Saturday. Lauren decided to stay in La Paz an extra night and ended up staying out until three am (youngsters eh?).

Back in Cochabamba I went back to the same house and it was nice to see my family again, especially Belen who is just wonderful!! Marina cooked a celebratory meal of guinea pig and we had beer (which is a first with my family) which was really nice.

Lauren arrived that afternoon and that evening we went out to a really good concert of Bolivian and other south american music performed by 50 French and Swiss musicians. They were really really good and the whole thing was improved by the fact that the theatre had only been able to come up with four microphones, so the worst part of seeing Bolivian music performed (the appalling sound systems) was avoided.

The next day we went to a huge festival in Quillacolla, where lots of different groups (50 or so) paraded around the streets. The main road from La Paz to Cochabamba was closed for the event, which I found quite amazing, and the variety of costumes was amazing. Unfortunately in one of the big crowds we got stuck in someone stole my Pentax camera out of my pocket (which had the photos of Isla del Sol too), and I am realising that acquiring another one is not going to be a simple matter (although I think it is insured...).

The next week I spent in Cochabamba fairly idly. Went out for quite a few nights, went to Judo, had a couple of guitar lessons (and learnt some music theory which I found really interesting - anyone know any good websites for learning that kind of thing from?) went to another house of the MosoJan group where I had done some volunteering previously and walked up Parque Tunari with Chris and her sisters. And visited some local villages where they make pottery. I also rationalised my stuff, throwing out quite a bit, packaging up quite a bit to send back to England, and decided that I would travel with my guitar, in a soft case, as a hard one is sooo big and heavy (and costs more than the guitar), but wrapped up in a blanket. I thought I got a good price on the blanket when I knocked the guy down from 70 to 55BOBS, (itīs a really nice, light wool blanket) but my mum said it should only have cost 30..... (30 is 2GBP).

Lauren was leaving on Sunday so we went out on Friday night to celebrate (and also Wednesday night, and found a really good chinese restaurant) (3GBP per person including two bottles of wine between us!!). Then on Saturday Chris and I headed off to Chaparé again with her sister and her sisterīs friend. On Saturday afternoon we visited the park where the two of them work, and had a guided tour, which was really interesting. It rained the whole time, but didnīt really spoil it and the rainforest is just so beautiful.... Then on Sunday we went out on a boat trip with the friend of a friend of Chrisī sister. By a bizarre coincidence Dorothee had also hooked up with this friend and there were four Israelis aswell. The guy (Rodrigo) is moving into tourism after having worked in computers and probably lots of other things too. He speaks 8 languages (apparently fluently) and is white, although a native Bolivian. In case anyone is in Villa Tunari and fancies a trip up the river for 25USD per day you can contact him at (rod at unforgettable.com). We had a great meal with him and various friends the night before and he charged us nothing for the meal or the boat trip!!

So... on Sunday evening I said goodbye to Christina at 6pm, as she and her sister and friend got back on the bus for Cochabamba. Iīm going to do some investigation today to work out exactly what to do next. My original plan was to go to Puerta Villarroel by bus and then take a boat for 4-6 days up to Trinidad. At Trinidad I could continue by boat to Brazil, or go by bus or plane west to Beni (the region above La Paz with pampas and jungle). However I need to take anti-malarials to do this (I bought some of one of my American friends who was going home) and these take a week to kick in, so I have at least a week here. There are various parks to visit here, and as I know some of the people involved in running them I can hopefully go out with them, or at least they can provide some help. However there is also a park here where volunteers stay for at least two weeks and look after the captive animals among other things. I am going to go and have a look at this place this evening, having met some of the volunteers on the street. Apparently there are 30 volunteers at the moment, and there are other things to do than look after animals (I like looking, rather than touching....) such as construction, which might be fun to have a go at.

Well - I think thatīs about it!!!