Surfing Waves

Heyho!

Right well, I'm outta here a week tomorrow, so thought I'd set myself up a thread before I go so I can let y'all know what I'm up to in quite possibly the most landlocked country in the world! (Help!) And yeah, I know it's still a week to go so I'm being a little keen doing this now but knowing me I'd forget if i left it any later and I probs won't have very long in internet cafes while I'm there so best to have the thread pre-made! (It could also be coz I'm just a teeeeeny bit excited...)

Ok, I'm a lot a lot a LOT excited! HEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Only thing is I feel a bit out of it right now as I'm taking so many tablets and have had so many injections! Oh - if anyone has any tips for keeping the mozzies away...or helpful Spanish tips...

Take care of yourselves!

Maddy <3

I'm so glad that you are actually going to Bolivia. Have a fantastic time, remember Apa Apa if you get the chance. Its hard work and the Andes and the Amazon are tough places but it will be worth it. Im in New Zealand now but will be watching on here to see how you get on. The internet cafes in La Paz are plentiful and cheap but anywhere else (apart from Sucre/Santa Cruz) you will be a bit limited. Good luck and looking forward to hearing all about your adventures!

Libs

Hey Libs - New Zealand! Wow, how come? Lucky you. That's next on my list of must-go countries! (My gap year next year is filling up fast)

Um....just having a last minute panick! was it really hard sorting everything out when you first arrived? (Ie: the whole british embassy/ accomodation thing!) Any recommended places to stay in La Paz?!! Also - the WC people gave you your budget on build-up day right? (I'm sure i already know the answer to that but just checking!)

And did you have any group money when you went? Coz if you did, how did that work? I mean, what did you do with it / how did you split it etc....

EEEK! 3 days...

Maddy x

I'm studying over here for a year at the university of auckland, been here for 2 weeks now but my lectures start tomorrow

Ok it was really easy when we got there, i wasnt in the group that went to the embassy but i dont remember there being any problems, make sure you have a lonely planet guide they are good for directios and opening hours of embassies etc. The lonely planet guide is also a good place to suss out accomodation. We stayed in the hotel Andes on Manco Kapac street (no idea if thats how you spell it!) but that was the easy option as at the time the guy who owned it had some affiliation with world challenge. If they dont suggest it anymore that might not be the case. To be honest we should have looked around more there is loads of choice in that area of La Paz, you wont struggle to find accomodation, like i said use the lonely planet guide as a basis maybe find somewhere easy and just book there for a night so you have time to explore and find somewhere nicer/cheaper.

Yes we did have a group fund, as far as i remember we just gave everyone a bit of it at a time as personal money, in dribs and drabs and i think we used it to subsidise our world challenge budget as well. I cant exactly remember to be honest, it was two years ago now

Dont worry, and try not to plan in too much detail, Bolivia/travelling in general has a way of messing plans up and you will get very good at making new plans on the spot.

Ok think thats everything, you will love it trust me. And yes definatly come to New Zealand, i havent been here long and i love it already, in fact seriously thinking (well more or less decided) that i want to emigrate her once my degrees finished. There is sooo much to do here for someone (im guessing like you) whos into the outdoors and adventure. Anyways take care, have a safe journey and remember to drink lots and lots of water to avoid altitude sickness.

Oh and on last thing, even when staying in ok hostels always use your sleeping bag/liner not the sheets - Bolivian bed bugs are mean!

Thank you muchly oh Bolivia guru! Seriously, that's really helpful. We haven't really planned anything...that's the problem! But it's all good - like you say, plans never stay put when you're out and about in the world, so I'm just rooting for the go with the flow outlook! It'll all work out. And hopefully I should be able to get on here occasionally to tell you all about it! tough maybe not when I'm half way up a mountain...(Or even the whole way up!)

Ok, gotta go and start getting the pile of stuff off the floor and into my backpack...Wish me luck, it's gonna be a mission! And thanks for the sleeping bag liner tip...mine is my best friend! Hehe.

Keep on loving New Zealand - never know, might bump into you there one of these days! Take it easy,

Maddy x x

Ok dudes and dudettes,

I'm outta here!

Adios

x x Maddy

woohoohoohoo! have tons o fun!

... later dudette ... take care , have fun and check your lugage on the way out !!

hola chicos y chicas!

i´m having so much fun here - coca leaves galore! hehe. la paz (the capital city) is amazing - the people are so friendly and the scenery (i hate that word but can´t think of a better one right now) is sooo incredible, been here for...um...four days - though it feels like years already! did a day trek up to 4200m the day before yesterday which was awesome...saw some fantastic mountains. have been painting an orphanage today so am sitting in this internet cafe covered top to toe in paint splashes!! i look SO cool. ha ha. staying in the orphanage til thursday, then off on a 5 day trek through the lowlands and up over a mountain pass. apparently the vies are to die for so i should have some good non wave related photos for yáll when i get home! anyways, gotta be going,off to a local restaurant for llama steak...but basically it´s amazing here and you should all come. now. let´s have a surfing waves partAY in la paz!! only prob is there´s no sea here!! x x x

Good to hear your trip is going well. I was there a couple of years ago (was in La Paz for new year). I totally agree with you - it is such a beautiful country and the people are incredibly friendly. I would like to go back to South America again in the future. This time I plan to learn more Spanish. I did a course before I went but it would have made the trip much better if I could have spoken better Spanish.
How are you finding the altitude? exercise can seem like pretty hard work can't it.
I played footie against the locals on the Inca Trail and on Lake Titicaca and it was unbeliveably tiring.

Post some photos when you have them.

Hey Malibu'

Glad to hear your trip is going well , keep us posted on everything you do and see ! ( makes me feel better whilst stuck in this pokey room )

Take care and enjoy

Peace and love ... cheeZee

kk! I thought I´d bore you all to death by telling you all this stuff, but looks like at least two of you are interested! YAY! Good to have other people to share the excitement! Ok so i don´t really have any news since yesterday...ha ha. typical. uuum...llama steak is good! maybe it was coz i´m permanently starving, but hey. whatever! i´´m finding the altitude ok actually, SP - i thought i wasn´t gonna be able to breathe when i stepped off the plane but it´s fine. i notice the difference when i´m going up hills or doing anything remotely enerjetic (just realised that sounds highly dodgy but can´t be bothered to retype!) but it´s better than i expected. it´s just a bit weird coz i´m perfectly fit (i mean, you have to be when you come to one of the highest countries in the world to do 2 week long treks!) so it makes me feel like a bit of a fat munter going up hills and panting but then i remember that everyone else is the same! Think i may avoid football matches though - you did damn well if you managed that! i´m knackered just from being forced to run around with the kids at the orphanage and carry them everywhere! my spanish is also fairly limited and you´re right, it´s annoying. especially when you wanna tell small children to get off you and walk coz you´re dying!! hehe. getting so excited about the treks now - we´re leaving the day after tomorrow YAAAAY! i must admit, amazing as this city is, i have developed the mother of all coughs from all the pollution and general crap in the air. but on our second trek (through thhe cordillera real) we´re going up to 5200m so the air should be pretty damn clean up there! if not, there´s no hope. all though, in some ways, it seems as though there is no hope already...as the Backstreet Boys are no 1 in the Bolivian charts!!! AAAAH NOOOO! Is there no escape from rubbish music?? think i´ll have to introduce the next generation here to a bit o´Jack J..!!

Right, gotsta love you and leave you, but will try and make a trip back here before i leave to go to the Yungas on friday - and then i´ll definitely come back on our ONE rest day in la paz before the secong uber hard trek to tell you all about it!

love you all, keep smiling in sunny ingleterra!

x x x your bolivian chica!

ps: cheezee, where is your pokey room outta interest?! work? x

hehe, had to edit this coz i spelt EVERYTHING wrong and it was completely incomprehensible. (Bolivan keyboads are so stiff! and confusing...everything´s in different places)

oh - and are coca leaves illegal to bring back into the uk?! I don´t know these things, but have been told to bring some back by the lovely boy in my life and don´t wanna get arrested for it! x

oh - and are coca leaves illegal to bring back into the uk?! I don´t know these things, but have been told to bring some back by the lovely boy in my life and don´t wanna get arrested for it! x

...lol...

As far as im aware coca leaves can be exported but only under licence ! .. i .e .. selling to Coca cola !!

I reckon id leave them there darhlin ! .. tell your man to chew on some 'Salvia Divinorium' that'll have a similiar effect and is legal in this country !!

My pokey lil' room " ?! ... yep its at work , i built my lil'office in the smallest most uncomftable part of the unit .." Doh "!!!

peace and love .. CheeZer

looks like at least two of you are interested

! make that three ! sounds like you on a great trip hope i can only go somwhere half as beautiful as you are one day in t life

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I just realised that i would have been there this time two years ago....ah the memories Nice to here your getting on well and good luck with the treks! La Paz at new year? Wow is all i can say to that surf patrol. I want to go back too, and likewise my spanish needs to be a lot better before i can properly appreciate the place and the people.

looks like at least two of you are interested

Me too! Hope you have a fantastic time, it seems like you are! I'll be checking back on a more regular basis to monitor the happenings out there!

Hellooooooo!

Back from the first trek! It was so amazing...As soon as we woke up every morning we opened the tent door to see huuuge snowy mountains right infront of us. It was totally knackering, though - we arrived back in la paz at 4am yesterday morning after 5 days of trekking (and the camping in the freeezing cold didnt help!) and we leave on our second, even longer trek tomorrow moring and 6.30...aah! But on that one we´re gonna climb Pico Austria - woohoo! I love climbing mountains...must get it fom my dad. But anyhoo, we finished up in Chunyavi (a little village way up in the andes) and had to hang around til 10pm in the dark for the nigt bus back to la paz! Then a whole bunch of Bolvian blokes arrived, who were all completely off their heads (the stuff they were drinking looked suspiciously like the stuff we use as fuel for cooking!) and started a spontaneous pan pipe and drum playing session which went on for about half an hour, before they grabbed us and made us dance with them, and then invited us to a house party! It was so surreal...especially as this was is a teeny village in the mountains! The bus took 6 hours and I was squished in next to an old fat Bolivian bloke and his massive sack of rice. I had started feeling really dodgy an hour or so before we got the bus, and sure enough, 5 mins into the journey, I chucked up...7 times in a row! Not pleasant...then I had to sit there in the same place for the next 6 hours! even less pleasant. None of the people on the bus batted an eyelid! It was so funny. well, not at the time, but it is now. anywy, feeling fine now, just psyching myslef up for another 5 nights in our bloody tent. This trek is gonna be way colder so think I´ll head off and buy myself some llama wool leg warmers in a bit!! Thanks for the coca leaf advice cheezee - I don´t get what all the fuss is about, they did absolutley nothing to me, but I think I´ll leave them here!

Hope you´re all good, and talk to you in 6 days...!

MWUAH! x

" Hey , there she is " !! .. we were gonna send out a search party

Glad to hear that your first trek went well ... sounds like your having a top time darhlin
lol.. spontaneous panpipe and lamaskin drum partaaaaay " bring it on !!! ... and yes your probably right , the stuff they were drinking was very likely to be some kind of fuel

" fat old bloke with a large sack of rice " ?! ... thats where me dad got to with me shopping

If the next trek is gonna be way colder then yes .. only this time mind you , but yes ..i will allow you to purchase yourself some llama leg warmers ... " i can see it now .. next months issue of Bolivian FHM .. (photographer) " work with me baby ..more ..more , give me more llama darhlin

hehehe no worries on the coca bizznizz ... i think to get any noticeable result you have to have a sustained intake for at least a few days and then you kinda get to a top up situation ! (dissclaimer) obviously only to be tried in countrys where legallity is not an issue (dissclaimer ends ..lol )

Carry on carrying on mali' ...wish i was there with ya

oh , and if your sat next to me dad on the next bus ..ask him to at least send on the pot noodles & hobnobs

Peace and love darhlin