April 2003

April 01, 2003 - 7:05 p.m.

Well, we have been in Bolivia for less than a week and already we have had some doors close in our faces. What the "·ª@!! that means, is that the roads here SUCK! ¨Gawd man why didn’t we fork out for the 4X4....¨ I am now writing this in a town where EVERY vehicle is a Toyota Landcruiser..... but let’s just say that we MADE it. OUR Journey began on the shores of Lake Titicaca. After a night representing the Peruvian Kayak team and getting some Bolivian hospitality at a fancy beachside resort, we put the van into gear for a nice 100km jaunt to Sorata, looming in a lush valley. Well 95.5 km, twitching retinas, a mudstuffed undercarriage and a girlfriend constantly bouncing on the rear axle-later we said.... Arrrgh!!! once again we turned back with the rains looming. As I write this a whole town nearby was swept away from the mud. We regrouped and made a break for the South and the Salar de Uyuni..... Ahhh the love of pavement..... wait a second what is this? It’s turning to dirt again!! And we still have 200km to go!!! Wa !! Omygosh is that SAND!!! Why doesn’t this river have a bridge?!?! Wot do you MEAN we are only halfway after 5 hours of driving this nightmare...... should we turn back? Yes!!! ....wait... no we can do it... the tires are still attached... the dust is only 1cm deep inside the cab!!!.... Yes we can do this......

April 05, 2003 - 2:37 p.m.

Just finished a four day tour of south eastern Bolivia. We decided that we would not put Norman through another 4x4 road and took a tour through the Salar de Uyuni and the surrounding area. We had a fabulous time (we went in a group of 3 other Canadians, an Israeli and a Swiss) and saw some amazing sights. The Salar was a big expanse of white, and when it was wet it reflected the sky. After that we proceeded to the mountains in the Southeast. It felt as if we were in another world. There were hot springs we bathed in, checked out flamingos in lagunas af various colours (red, green, brown), and walked around geysers of boiling mud and H2S.

Tomorrow (or maybe the day after) we are hoping to make it 200 km to Chile. We checked out the road and it should not be too bad but keep your fingers crossed for us (anything can happen here).

Salar de Uyuni

Laguna close to the Salar

April 09, 2003 - 5:41 p.m.

We made it to Chile!!! What a relief - Bolivia is a fantastic and beautiful place but both of us are very happy to be in Chile. First of all it has paved roads (!!!) and then the people do not feel it is there right to check out what is inside our van (even though it is very hard to see in with the polarized windows but there were many hand and face prints left on them).

Right now we are in La Serana, a very nice beach town. We plan on fixing up the van a bit (minor repairs) and relaxing for a day or two before we make our way south to escape the continuous coastal desert (which has been present since Lima without too much variation). Hopefully we'll be paddling in a week.

But until that time we plan to take our fill of the cheap (but very good) red wine (Santa Rita is between 3-4 Can$ a bottle).

April 13, 2003 - 10:47 a.m.

So after a couple relaxing days in La Serena we hooked up with a couple friends (Matt and Rod). While we were parked outside their hostal somebody decided they would break into our van. Luckily Mark walked out while he was searching through our stuff and scared the shit out of him before he had a chance to take anything.

All of us then proceeded to make our way to Santiago where we caught Sasha playing at this convention center Friday night. It was an amazing show (one of the best we've seen) - the music was awesome. Though the whole atmosphere was a little different then we expected but all good. So yesterday we spent recovering and relaxing and today after a look around Santiago we are off to the Valle del Maipo to check out the kayak scene.

April 19, 2003 - 10:10 p.m.

Ahhhh spring.... streets are dirty and the Oilers back to golf...... In Chile however, the nights are chilly and we are back to wearing pants on a daily basis....We have also pleasantly settled into the standards of Chilean living.... eating dinner at 10pm and getting the day under way at noon! This has partly been enforced by our new friends Alexis and crew who own the rafting company on the Rio Maipo, an EXTREMELY freezing yet beautiful river that has 4 different sections to keep your spirits up.....Otherwise head inland 40km and you’ll find yourself very close to Argentina and the beginning of two more steep creeks. Other things we are also loving a lot is the cheap steaks and the even cheaper vino!!! Tomorrow we’re going to do some hiking before we get back under way and on down South. Our van has mended from the ails of Bolivian roads thanks to some crafty work by mechanics in Santiago too.....

Mark on Rio Yeso

April 29, 2003 - 5:11 p.m.

It’s been a long time since we updated so I’ll try and give a quick run over of what we have done in the time we left San Jose de Maipo. We decided to do some hiking a little further east at Banos Morales (sweet glacier with beautiful view) and then we spent the night at the nearby hot springs, Termas de Colina (have about six natural pools with mountains and a creek right beside).

Banos Morales

Then last Tuesday we headed out of the Maipo valley and started heading south. Our first stop was Reserva Nacional de Seiete Tazas, where I got my first taste of waterfalls. They were fairly high (all 3 of them into beautiful pools), about 4 to 5 m so they scared me good but I came out with no permanent damage. The river was super clear in a gorgeous canyon. I am definitely enjoying the scenery here. We are finally out of the desert and seeing lots of trees and grass (and even a form of Devil’s Club).

After Siete Tazas Mark and I checked out Reserva Nacional Leguna de Laja. That was an amazing park because a volcano dammed a river and created a huge lake. The river continues under the lava and then all of a sudden burst out of the rock into a waterfall - super cool. Unfortunately Mark could not run the river as it was Class V and it was just the two of us (there was no way I was going down).

Siete Tasas

From there we made our way to Parque Nacional Conguillo, which has one of the most active volcanoes in South America in it, Vocan Lliama. It felt as if we entered another world. This park was amazing, on one side it was all lava flow and the other was lakes, trees and hills.

Now we are in Pucon. This town is very touristy (especially in Jan/Feb) but now is the low season so it’s fairly quiet. But it’s still beautiful and there are still lots of rivers to paddle. We met up with a local paddler Rodrigo, who is showing us the rivers before he heads off to the worlds. Haven’t done too many rivers yet but the next couple weeks should be packed full. Yesterday Mark and Rodrigo ran Rio Palguin and today Mark and I did the Liucura. A bonus is that Rodrigo has a couple of spare play boats (a Spin and a Ultrafuge) so we have spent a couple days at the local park and play spot.