Lago Titicaca
Lake Titicaca, South America’s biggest lake and the world’s highest. We decided the best way to see the lake was to stay on one of its islands with a local family. Im not sure where else in the world you can get a double room for £2/night. Mind you, you don’t get running water or heating and you have to bring your own loo roll. We took a boat from Copacabana to the ‘Isla Del Sol’, which takes nearly 1hr 30 by a painfully slow boat. When you arrive and climb the steep hike up the ancient Incan stairway, you are rewarded with some of the most spectacular views of the lake. Although there is very little to do on the island, the views make it well worth the visit, as well as several inca ruins and long island walks, which, at 3800m were no walk in the park. Lake Titicaca sits on the border between Bolivia and Peru, so it was our last destination in Bolivia as we moved in to Peru…
Salar de Uyuni pt.1
The largest salt flats in the world at 3650m above sea level. We arrived in Tupiza just in time to book ourselves onto a tour for the following day. By chance we teamed up with another couple who were really lovely from Holland which was lucky as we were spendng the next 4 days and 3 nights sharing bedrooms and a cramped 4×4 with them! Both Santos our tour guide and Janet (our cook) only spoke Spanish so we were once again maxing the phase book.
Day 1 we headed into the mountains reaching 4200m. We passed several remote villages (how do they get their post!) finally arriving in San Antonio De Lipez (4260m) to spend the night. The food was fantastic and with coco leaves, vino and backgammon all was going well… until we discovered we nearly hit the floor on the seriously old matress and Chris caused a village power cut trying to charge his camera!
Day 2 and we were feeling the altitude with banging headaches among the group. Today was our favourite with inca ruins, old mining villages, first sightings of flamingos (love love love), colourful lagoons, desert landscapes and hot springs (bliss). The Laguna Verde although looked inviting with its colour was actually given its colour by the high arsenic content (so swimming was off the agenda). At over 5000m the freezing temperatures set in for the evening (as well as Sophie´s night-long headache). When the power was suddenly cut at 8pm we were forced to bed early.
¡Hola Buenos Aires!
Buenos Aires; the start of our South American adventure. We were immediately stuck by the vibrant atmosphere of the city… lively people, vivid colours, tango and history. A completely different city experience to Cape Town, Buenos Aires is much bigger, older and almost entirely flat. It feels a lot more like a european city, with a mix of old buildings and ultra modern architecture, and being built on a grid system. It also soon became apparent that the residents of Buenos Aires are very proud and passionate about their city and country. We flew in just days after former president Nestor Kircher had died, and the city was full of posters and graffiti mourning him and supporting his wife Christina. It’s hard to image similar scenes if a British political figure were to pass away.
On arrival we were told that Sunday was market day in Palermo, the chic and stylish area of BA filled with small boutique shops. On market day many of cafe’s and bars are also converted into make-do stalls where independant designers and traders sell their goods. Needless to say I made Chris drop the bags immediately and head straight there for the remainder of the day. We returned several hours later with more clothes to fit into our already full luggage.
We spent the following day in San Telmo, the oldest part of the city which has tons of character with piqturesque cobbled streets and plazas lined with dusty antique shops and cafe’s. Chris found much excitement in the ornate hand-painted signs on everything from shops to buses. After a gruelling 2hr Spanish lesson we head to Puerto Madero , a modern harbour deveopment (not dissimilar to London’s South Bank) for an evening walk and dinner. Dinner consisted of a large steak and a nice bottle of wine – this was to become a consistent theme in Argentina…
Goodbye Cape Town
The past month has flown by and it was now time to say goodbye to friends (old and new). On our last day at school we were made to feel very special, recieving more cards than the Girls Aloud fan club and being swamped with hugs and marriage proposals. We made a small thank you speech in the assembely to the 550 kids and gave out lollipops as a Friday treat. Its strange that altough we’ve only been at the school a month we feel we have got to know some of these kids so well and felt both guitly and sad to be leaving them.
We had a lovely farewell meal with Syl and Ray at the Waterfront and have loved seeing them so much. Its also been amazing to spend lots of quality time with Darren and Kirsten (her baby bump growing even more during the time we have been here – 5th Dec is not far away now). Very strange but exciting that they will be parents when we are next in Cape Town.
Bye friends, bye Vrygrond, bye Cape Town. Buenos Aires here we come…
False Bay (The Southern Peninsula)
The Southern Peninsula is often overlooked and doesn’t have the best reputation, but after staying there we decided it was one of our favourite areas of Cape Town. We stayed in Muizenburg mainly out of convenince (it’s not too far from the school in Vrygrond), but soon became quite happy with the laid back, surf-orientated lifestyle it had to offer. A short but stunning run along the coast took us through St.James and on to Kalk Bay (now our favourite spot in Cape Town). It has a great selection of boutique shops, cafe’s and restaurants and all with an authentic quirky vibe. Further round the bay Fish Hoek, Simon’s Town and Boulder are all also well worth a visit. False Bay seems to have avoided much of the 70’s concrete development that other areas of Cape Town have fallen victim to… maybe why we liked it so much… that or the breakfast at Olympia Cafe.
Mzoli’s Madness
At the other end of the culinary spectrum from the likes of Jardine, The Codfather and Sevruga, is Mzoli’s. After several recommendations from Captonians we decided it was worth a visit. Situated out of town in the Gugulethu township, Mzoli’s is essentially a roadside butcher come braai (barbeque), which has grown into a massive all-day eating/drinking/dancing extravaganza. There must have been around 300 people either squeezed under the tin roof, or spilling out on to the streets. Nearby houses sell booze as the venue isn’t licenced and you can also use their toilets as well for a small charge (which was quite an experience in itself). The fayre is strictly dead animal, you bring your own salad, sauce, plates and anything else you want. As a group of 10, we must have eaten approximately 1 cow and 3 or 4 chickens for a very reasonable £50. The food was really good, but the best thing about Mzoli’s is the atmosphere; Notting Hill carnival meetsIbizan beach bar…right up our street and a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon!
(Note: Look out for ‘Fish’s Mum’ in the video…)
Southern Hemisphere Shenanigans... 