Nepal

There has been hardly ever a place where I stayed so many days during my travels – Kathmandu, in the Thamel area which is the central point of stay for the most people in Nepal. The Nepali are little quieter than the Indians and entering Nepal from India feels like a relief for everyone who is tired of any Riksha drivers or intimidating Indians. The weather is truly pleasant, after having experienced India’s hot summer weather, currently at around 20-29 degrees as Kathmandus elevation is at 1100 meters. Although in Thamel, you will still be prompted from Riksha drivers and company, the athmosphere is a traveller’s paradise. Thamel offers everything – ranging from laundry places to the best bakeries and used bookstores. It’s hard to draw yourself off of Thamel’s comforts to see ‘real’ Nepal. Not very far from Thamel, you will find the Durbar square which is the home of Kumari Devi, a living goddess. The Kumari Devi is a small girl before puberty who is elected according to strict physical requirements. Walking through the streets feels like in a museum where I was able to spot monuments which are most likely more than 500 years old. Anywhere else, such monuments would be treated with extreme cautiousness but in Kathmandu, they are used for laundry being hanged upon or simply from the homeless lingering on them.

The political athmosphere these days is tense, but better than it has been back in 2006 where I met a traveller who had described being in Nepal was like being in a war zone. Although the political stability is still developing, with the first president of Nepal elected at my arrival day – the 21^st of July, a medical doctor who has made his way into politics I could not see any seriours riots or Maoist rebels, which would be more likely to encounter in the countryside anyway. Nevertheless, I witnessed a (political?) demonstration in Thamel’s streets during my stay. Road strikes are not uncommon and there have been strikes throughout my stay in the Kathmandu valley from students who requested the government to lessen the transportation prices 45% off for students, as it was agreed so with the previous government. Thankfully, I have always been able to get around transportation strikes, even so in Bolivia where some strikes went on for a few weeks.

The country is unstable altough hard not to love, being the home of the mother goddess of all mountains – Everest. The Himalayan area is for obvious reasons not easy to reach and a visit to the highest mountain of the wold is definitely a reason to come back as my time right now is too limited for the Himalayan trek. Meanwhile, I finally could draw myself off from Thamel’s comforts and used the day for strolling around Kathmandu valley which offers many attractions from sacred sites, day trekking to mountain (especially Everest) viewing. Nagrakot is the place to stay fo mountain viewing and the best at sunrise (5am) Extremely crowded buses leaving from Bhaktapur, a city close to Kathmandu are leaving for Nagrakot. Being unfortunately here in off season (it has many financial pluses though, getting heavy discount for most services) but it also means that the views are cloudy and there is a very small chance of seeing Everest from Nagrakot. The hotel offered gorgeous views though towards the Himalayas straight from the bed, including a nice balcony to relax on.

India: first impressions

After spending one week in India, I have some first impressions to share. My entry point to India was Mumbai and I didn’t intend to stay there for long, instead I tried to book the first available train to Delhi (it ’s a 2 days train journey). The train booking system seemed a little intimitading at first, having to fill out a forms and to queue up in counters (usually the ladies counter or the one for foreign tourists for me) but after getting used to the system, the booking system seems to be very well organised, especially when dealing with such crowds. The Indian men are quite laddish and I was fortunate that the local trains in Mumbai did have separate compartments for males and females. The rush hours are the worst, being squeezed into the train like a fish into a can and the probability of not being able to descend is very high if not close enough to the exit door.

I remembered once I asking a fellow traveller, Dirk with whom I was travelling through south east Asia: ‘So how was India’  and I still remember the answer ’India? It was a large shithole but I liked it’ Laughing at his answer back then but how true this is.. More about the hygiene later.

In the train to Delhi (I got the seat regardless of my waiting list status) I catched up with a fellow traveller, an Indian from Pune and spent a few days in Delhi with shopping and drinking. I was amazed about the book street, Nai Sarak, and how books on though subjects like operations research or higher maths in general are available for a fraction of the cost in Europe or the western world.. And they are even as good or even better than the ones which can be found in the western world. Walking through of parts of Delhi (and this applies to anywhere so far in India) is a nightmare, where you need to pass cows, their excrements, dogs and many other undefinable creatures. The smell of India is another thing hard to describe yet unique to this country. Once in a while it smells good, but  suddenly (after having passed any dirty corner) a stench comes up. After Delhi, I passed Agra (Taj Mahal) and Gorakphur, both places not being any different from Delhi in terms of hygiene, but close to the nothern parts of India, I also passed a lot of flooded areas. Also, the scammers are quite present in India and at every corner, someone expects that you are waiting for some kind of transportation (usually for the triple of the cost locals pay..) But having travelled South East Asia, the scams don’t differ that much and can be avoided easily with common sense. Back to Gorakphur - where it was raining thoughout my stay and everything got wet and muddy. The small town isn’t much more than a stopover place for travellers, either for visiting Buddhas birthplace Lumbini in Nepal or Nepal in general. More about Nepal will follow.

Ciudad del Este and Iguacu

My arrival in Ciudad del Este was after sunset and perceived that this is not the place to be after dark. Argentina and Brazil aren’t far away from Ciudad del Este but the journey would have involved a few border crossings and I decided to opt for a hotel close to the bus terminal, which was it’s only value. Ciudad del Este is interesting for shopping, but not much more as the tourist attractions (waterfalls) are just across the border. In fact, almost every traveller before and after Paraguay has been asking me if there is really anything to see there, and I would agree that there probably isn’t. But this made my stay in Asuncion even nicer in terms of having a nice rest and a few evenings with entertainment which made Asuncion a laid back stopover destination without seeing any particular tourist attractions.

I stayed one more night at the Argentinian side (the same place I stayed a few weeks ago) and had another delicious steak, and a short sleep before my worst travel itinerary (from Puerto Iguacu, AR  to Rio de Janeiro) ever started. The bus was announced to leave at 0300am, the travel agent told me to show up at 0500am and the bus left at 0900am. I was waiting in the freezing cold (-1 degree celsius) for 4 hours and had a stroll through Porto Iguacu in the predawn. The bus arrived in Sao Paulo at 0230am in the morning (definitely a safe place to be on that time of the day…) and the buses leaving for Rio started only at 0630am. Another 4 hours during the night to kill in the gigantic bus terminal of Sao Paulo (nevertheless safer than in the city) By then, the journey has already been taking 24 hours, with very little sleep in between. The bus from Sao Paulo to Rio took 6 hours and i finally reached Rio at 0100pm.

Highlights from this trip:

• The Bolivian Altiplano and the culture of the highlanders. The scenic landscapes, which make you think being on Mars rather than on earth along with the andean culture so different from the western world, albeit the indigenous people seem to be more or less aware of the western civilisation, yet maintaining their own traditions. In this context, it is worth to mention that the highlanders are very quiet, almost cautious towards westerners, it is noticeable, especially if entering from a westernised country like Argentina or (parts of) Brazil. The cautiousness towards westerners is most likely even increasing in Peru. Definitely going back to the Altiplano to see Peru’s and Colombia’s share of it, too.

• For the adventure seeker: the dusty bus ride through the Gran Chaco (including the very special border crossings), but passing the high Chaco during the daytime. At the time of my visit, no other departure times were available except 0800pm from Santa Cruz, but it could be probably done the other way around.

• The Argentinian beefsteaks and their luxourious buses.

Trans-Chaco and Ascuncion

The bus journey wasn’t as long as expected (17 hrs instead of 30). The journey is supposed to take longer during rainy season when the roads are hardly passable. At around midnight, the bus started to shake and toss around, so no sleep was possible.. The road wasn’t as bad as others I’ve encountered in Bolivia, but definitely the continent’s dustiest as the whole bus was coloured in a dark brown film (and so was I, my face was three tones darker than it used to be before, unfortunately not resulting from sunshine) The Bolivian border crossing meant one official sitting between two torches, in a completely dark surrounding area, but regardless, I received my Bolivian exit stamp. I was woken up again a few hours later for the Paraguayan border formalities and I found my bag lined up with all the others and the bus passengers standing in one line in front of their belongings. All the luggage was checked first by a dog and afterwards thoroughly manually. Understandable, as the Bolivian -Paraguayan border crossing is a main smuggle route. The customs official looking at my bag seemed to be extremely interested in my Maths book (how dangerous!) As the Chaco is mainly flat, no great scenery passed. Unfortunately, the bus passed the high Chaco, which is supposed to be the wildest part, during the night. The middle and low Chaco are just Palm fields along with grass fields and the road is paved starting from Marsical Estigarribia (apparently, this part of the Trans-Chaco has been just paved recently, which meant less dust and bumping). The Mennonites (mostly religious German immigrants) inhabit the middle Chaco and the wild high Chaco is inhabited by indigenous natives (which would have been definitely interesting to see).

The Hostel in Asuncion was a real winner, an extremely large room with 5m high ceilings in a colonial building and a nice kitchen for common usage. I planned to stay in Asuncion for 1 day, but stayed 4 instead and used the days for strolling around the city and the nights for drinking and partying in the local British Pubs, in karaoke Bars and Discos with an american who stayed at the same hostel. The president’s governmental building was surrounded by shacks and very skinny looking horses in the grass fields in front of the palace, such extreme contrasts are hard to find, even in South America. The day of my arrival, the 12th of June was a national holiday (the End of the Chaco war) and Lonely Planet writes: don’t walk around the city during public holidays when the city is deserted. As it was raining throughout my stay in Asuncion, I didn’t get to see the sourrounding area (which was supposed to be a nice recreation area..) Asuncion lies definitevely on the ‘off the beaten path’, but nonetheless, a lot of long time travellers and Gringos obviously find their way to the Paraguayan capital (so did I).

Having had a conversation for 10 minutes, only to discover that your counterpart is Swiss too! (this has been already the case a couple of times on this trip and is a quite nice surprise each time) I woke up with a noticeable hangover, but managed to get to the bus station and head to Ciudad del Este which is 6 hrs away and the border town which connects Paraguay with Brazil and Argentina. This journey makes my round trip almost complete as the Iguaçu falls are just across the border.

View Larger Map

Santa Cruz

Unfortunately, I didn’t stay in Sucre for more than one day (the city is wonderful, laid back and still the constitutional capital of Bolivia, La Paz is de facto the capital now) I won’t find such great accomodation for this value but I need to make the loop back towards Rio and I am longing for some beaches, too. You won’t find any beaches here in Bolivia, being one of the landlocked countries in South America (and being famous for it as it lost it’s coastline to Chile in the War of the Pacific in the 19th century and is still claiming the coast area). Sucre has a nice center including a large plaza with many colonial buildings and I spent the day with walking around the town and having a nice dinner. I headed towards Santa Cruz in the evening (one of the biggest cities in Bolivia which meant another 15hrs bus ride) Fortunately, I opted for a expensive bus which meant more sleep and less hopping as the road didn’t get any better than on the journey from Uyuni to Potosi. It is my second time in Santa Cruz (the first time was Santa Cruz, CA, US though) so I wont’ start to compare! The bus arrived in the morning and I used the day for lingering around Santa Cruz as the previous days have been full of rushing through Bolivia. My next matter of business was going to buy tickets for the horrific bus trip through the Gran Chaco to Asuncion in Paraguay (as in of my loop needs to get towards Rio) The journey is supposed to take 30 hours or more and I opted for the bus which was $5 more expensive in hope of getting one which doesn’t beak down and has proper wheels as this has been the case on the journey from Uyuni to Potosi. But it will might be a Paraguayan bus and I have no idea how their standard of vehicles is.. Also, I have been warned by some people taking this bus ride, already back in Rio as it is supposed to be an adventurous and torturing trip. The Gran Chaco is located between the Paraguay river and the Andes and is sparsely populated having a unique, more or less unexplored ecosystem. Also, I will be definitely leaving the standard ‘Gringo trail’ with this journey, as Paraguay is less visited by travellers.

From the highlands to the lowlands

The saltflats were wonderful, with clear blue sky and just white salt as far as one can see, so white that I got the snowblindness, with the sun burning down in the noon.. The saltlake developed from a prehistoric lake which dried out and resulted in the gigantic white salt desert. We visited an island, which had all kinds of different cactus formations and a salt hotel in the middle of nowhere, which was supposed to be illegal, but nevertheless, tolerated. Another, newer salt hotel has been built to the edge of the lake. The climate at 4000 meters above sea level is rough, dry (during that time of the year) hot during the day, but ice cold during the night. The saltlake is very touristy, and so is the village (Uyuni) which is the starting point for most of the tours, except if crossing from Chile (San Pedro de Atacama). Every tourist in Uyuni seems either seeking a tour operator or buying tickets for the onward journey. It is advisable to get recommendations from fellow travellers if choosing a tour operator (Lonely Planet doesn’t recommend one in particular) but in the end it seemed that they don’t differ that much (except in food quality). At least a little comparison is necessary in order to not get ripped off (the prices can range from $80-$150 for a 3-day trip, and I am sure that there have been people who paid even more) The tour was supposed to start at 1030, but none of the groups left before 1200 noon. And so far, I haven’t met anyone who actually had an english speaking tour guide.. Which was ok with me, as I have started to understand basic spanish, if spoken slowly.

The dark stripe on the photo is a road (even on a such a plain, roads seem to exist)

I wanted to head straight to Sucre after the trip but all the buses were booked out for the evening. It didn’t seem to be easy to get out of this remote village. I opted for a cheapie hostel ($3) this time, for a quick night’s sleep, having no idea how cold it could get. After sunset, the cold started to bite.. I had 6 layers of clothing on for sleeping (including the jacket!), gloves and two pairs of socks (wool socks) and was still freezing. Not to forget the 4 additional layers of thick covers which were provided by the hostel. The bus towards Potosi (highest town in the world, at around 4800 meters above sea level) left in the morning at 10pm (and was supposed to take 7 hrs) and the journey was by no means driving. I could call it bumping, jumping hopping or crusing as the road was horrible and I was again all covered in dust. But I was glad not having taken the nightbus as the landscapes in the central highlands of Bolivia are incredible. After every hour, a different setting of landscapes appeared, mountains in yellow, dark brown or white, occasionally a small settlement passing by with the light brown houses surrounded by walls built from rough stones which is a typical style for the highlands and the only animals I spotted were lamas, as they seem to be the few ones who can handle those extreme weather conditions.

I stayed one hour in Potosi and didn’t plan to stay there overnight as the experience of the night’s cold in Uyuni was enough and I didn’t want to retry.. Sucre in the lowlands of Bolivia was only a 3 hrs additional bus drive away. Sigh! Only 3 hrs (this is an exeptionally short amount of time for a bus ride in South America) At my arrival, the town just seemed to go mad – carnival time! Fireworks and the streets were full of people. I found my way through the people to the hostel which was in the middle of the happening. The hostel is wonderful, $5 per night for a nice colonial room with an inviting courtyard. As we weren’t that high up anymore, the weather was comfortably warm, and heaters were’t a topic either. Also, the people changed dramatically. In the highlands, a lot of traditional dress is worn by the women and most the people seem to be of homogenous, of indian descent, whereas In Sucre, I felt almost underdressed in my travellers gear and I also encoutered many mestizos.

Culture shock Bolivia

We arrived in the cold morning hours at the Argentinian border town La Quiaca and the night has been horrible, screaming children in the bus, so no sleep for us all (we hooked up into a group of 5) It was freezing cold! The border crossing went without any problems, and we headed to the train station to buy onward tickets to Uyuni, which meant a 30 minute walk including the backpacks across the town. Bolivia is one hour ahead of Argentina, the train was supposed to leave at 0330pm and it was 0700am. Almost another 8 hours to kill.

We headed back into the town, (by now already a group of 8 groggy backpackers) and located the only open cafe at this time which was right across the bus terminal (I had troubles identifiying this as a bus terminal though) for breakfast. After having a delicious coffee and a sandwich, I found some time to have a stroll around the small town (Villazon) Just transfer yourself 200 years back in time and the description would fit.. Many women wearing the traditional Bolivian dress, noone speaking english (not that I would have expected it), horses used as a transportation, straying dogs, and the only supermercado meant a couple of schacks behind the bus station. On the other hand, a couple of the newest offroaders passed the road. Otherwise, this eerie village doesn’t hold one’s attention for long except for that is, having a first impression of Bolivia.

The first hours in the train showed a nice and unbeliveable Bolivian landscape, no trees, some cactuses, the colour brown dominant in the deserted landscape, as we were already high up at the plateu (altiplano) at around 2000 above sea level. However, the concept of garbage recycling hasn’t arrived yet in Bolivia as rubbish was spread all over the place, especially when coming close to a city. I was all dusty, I felt like having a flim of dust overall. We arrived around midnight in Uyuni and I opted for a splurge ($10 hotel including heaters, and with a room just for myself, wow..) I have caught the cold and am having fever and at least little bit of comfort should lessen the symptoms. Being at 3600 meter above sea level probably won’t help getting better soon as well. The temperatures here can range from anything, -20 during the nighttime at the saltlake to plus 25 (around noon in the border village) I will look out for a one to two day trip to Salar de Uyuni and not for a 3-4 day one as the most of the people do, as time and my health is an issue. I think I could not handle currently -20 during the nighttime!

Another day in Salta

The walk to the top of the hill felt quite like doing sports (many locals were actually jogging up the stairs) and I think that I have been loosing some weight during the trip as well. The walk was supposed to be to be 1000+ steps. The view over the town was pretty nice and definitely well-earned after this steep walk.

Back in the town, I tried to sort out my camera problem (I forgot the USB to camera adapter at home and have been asking about every traveller if he/she has a Sony camera) The solution which a guy from the hostel came up with was to get a CD burned in the local photo store (which was quite expensive in the end) But – the computer here doesn’t have a CD-Rom and seems to be 10 years old.. Aaaagrh.

I met a French guy who has been travelling for years through India, Spain, Ireland and South America and is originally from Paris. He made me some really nice spaghetti! (the hostel has a nice kitchen but he was still hunting for salt for a while) In general, I seem to be currently on the long time travellers trail as I have met a few people who are travelling for a few months and started their trip in Ushuaia (southernmost city) But by far, the most people I have met so far were Israelis. The whole country seems to be into travelling.. The evening was nice, with a large BBQ and with two tango dancers. I will be leaving Salta with the nightbus at around midnight to the Bolivian border and arrive in Bolivia in the morning where I need to take another train to Uyuni which will arrive again during midnight. The distances are getting shorter, but I don’t feel like I need less time for travelling. I am currently already about 1500 kms away from Rio where it all started and all this in just about one week.

Iguaçu falls and heading towards the northwest

For the next day after my arrival in Argentina, I planned the waterfalls (they were supposed to be incredible) I passed over to the brazilian side, got my exit stamp, stayed in front of the customs officials 1 minute later to get my Brazil entry stamp again. I earned a few raised eyebrows but got my entry stamp and headed towards the waterfalls, which are only a short bus ride away from the border. The waterfalls were indeed incredible, the largest I have ever seen.

After my re-entry to Argentina, I bought tickets for the day after to Salta, which is in the northeast of Argentina. Another 26 hrs bus ride starting the next morning at 1100am. The approximity to Bolivia should be already noticeable in the Salta and Jujuy provinces, which are one of the northenmost ones in Argentina. The bus ride was incredible, I didnt’t see any civilisation apart from cattles and horses in the pasture for hours. During the middle of the night, the driver woke me up and told me to change the bus (I was told beforehand I don’t have to…) I arrived in Salta during the siesta time (1300 to 1700) and the city looked deserted. During siesta, no shops or cafes are open and it is very difficult to find anything. On top of that it was a sunday and most of the clothing stores were going to open only by the next day. I urgently needed some warm clothes though as the thermometer has been climbing upwards but not enough yet to wear shorts. And as I am heading towards the high Andes next, the climate won’t be getting any warmer. I used the siesta time to do my laundry (which immediately reminded me of Southeast Asia where I used to wash clothes in the beach bungalows) As the hostel did not have any laundry facilities, I did my laundry manually (when have you been doing your laundry last time manually?)

Salta is located in a nice valley and close to the hostel, there is a path to the top of the hills. I planned the daytrip to the hill for tomorrow as I felt like I have caught the cold and decided to have a rest for the day (of course with a nice beefsteak in the evening as I am heading to Bolivia soon and it would be one of the last opportunities to have such a great dinner!)

A 25hrs bus ride and Argentina

After departing from Rio, the bus passed Sao Paulo and a couple of other cities. A 25 hrs journey.. Quite exhausting. Sao Paulo is one of the world’s largest cities (5th) having about 20 million habitants. The sad part of the journey happened just as we departed from the bus terminal in Sao Paulo and headed towards the highway. Suddenly, I heard two gunshots, first not realising that there were gunshots. I had a look to my left and outside of the bus, about 30 meters away, on the highway, someone was killing someone else with a gun. I witnessed two more gunshots and saw the man laying on the side of the highway. I couldn’t believe what I saw and the whole bus supposedly felt the same. As we were just heading towards the highway, the bus slowed down initially, but after a half a minute, the scene was gone. As crime is a serious issue in Sao Paulo, such situations are going most likely to happen daily, we were just unlucky to witness it.

The rest of the long journey is not worth to mention, but I was happy to get out of the bus after 25 hours and headed straight to the Argentina side (a small town with about 24 000 habitants, Porto Iguacu) Admittedly, I started to feel quite unsafe in Brazil, even if I was a couple of hundreds kilometers away from Sao Paulo, but the insecure feeling obviously won’t pass that fast. The hostel I was staying in was great, including a swimmingpool and 5 bungalows. As a cold wave has started to pass the night before over whole South America, it was freezing cold in the bus and so was the evening, the swimmingpool was not much of use. I went to the town with two girls (a danish girl and an israeli girl) from the hostel and enjoyed a nice (and huge) $5 black pepper steak for dinner.

This felt already quite like real Argentina! I wished I had brought more warm clothes with me though. For the next day, I had planned the waterfalls and also to get my Brazil exit stamp as I did not get one on the way into Argentina.