Adventure Accounting

I didn't know what to expect from Bolivian cuisine. There wasn't a lot of familiar fastfood chains when I wandered around the streets of La Paz . It took me a while to find an ATM that accepts my card so that I could get more Bolivianos. I was hungry and I picked up the delicious scent of friend chicken. Sold! Pollos Copacabana With my hand gestures and limited Spanish, I ordered a meal set with a sad chicken leg, sad plantains, soda and some fries. It was a sad meal for BOB 27. That dang fried chicken scent! Sad chicken meal. We stopped at Mercato Lanza during the walking tour. has a lot of stalls that serve fruit salad, fruit juices, fruit shakes and fruit sandwiches. There were also stalls that serves meals but we didn't go there. I learned that Bolivia grew 600 different types of potatoes. For someone like me who loves fries...that...is...awesome. Fruits fruits fruits

I was looking fo r a pla ce to stay on the day of my flight from La Paz to Uyuni , and the night when I return from the Salt Flats tour. I though it would be good to catch some rest when I arrive and before I leave Uyuni. Somewhere w ith h ea t : hot water, heater rooms and hot break fast. Hostel reviews in the Uyu ni area are mixed - some sing praises while throw curs es in their reviews . I we nt with Hostal Oro Blanco . B ooked 2 nights in Booking.com ($29/ BOB 200 per night).  This i s quite expensive for a backpacker like me but I've been travelling for a while so comfort and wa rm th are a must as t his point - I'm not 21 and backpacking for 8 months, y a k now. ;P . T he hostel is just a couple minutes away from the small Uyuni airport . T axi fare from Uyuni airport to Uyuni town costs 1 0 BOB. The frontdesk staff spoke limited English but we managed. There was one helpful guy who spoke above average English and he came to the rescue when I ran out of hand ge...

I had another restless night. I fell asleep because I tried to lull myself to sleep while reading. I tossed and turned around because I has wearing four layers of top and two comforter blankets. And I was in a winter sleeping bag. Brrrrrrr. Our third and last morning started as cold, as expected. With chattering teeth, we brushed our teeth, had a quick breakfast then packed our stuff to the ever reliable Toyota Land Cruiser. Seriously, I have a whole new respect for Land Cruisers nowadays. That vehicle has a lot of traction that can withstand the terrain of Uyuni.  After an hour of driving (wherein I spent my time sleeping), we arrived in the geyser area. We were warned to be careful because we might slip and end up in the geyser. You don't want to end up in the geyser because the nearest medical facility is miles and miles away.  Geyser in Uyuni Not a lot to do there. We were still sluggish and it was freezing cold even with all that geyser smoke. I took some ph...

I woke up early. I was able to sleep but I was not able to rest. After a quick breakfast and toilet time, we hauled our now salty bags back to the vehicle. Here comes Day 2 ( here's Day 1 ).  We were miles and miles away from the Uyuni (Funny how I use miles and miles as an expression but I have a better idea of what a kilometer is vs. a mile. It is not nice to say kilometers and kilometers away). Good morning Uyuni view. We drove so early in the morning and stopped in these tracks. Our driver told us to get down from the vehicle because he had to get over this train track and we were heavy (He said that in Spanish) It was a beautiful sunny and cold morning in Uyuni. Here's my lying-down-in-the-tracks pose. I should've ditched the bag. We drove for almost an hour to our next time. The landscape in Uyuni reminded me of the Savannah in Indonesia , but it is emptier. And definitely colder. 

You are  here! I peppered this post with a lot of photos.  It will probably take a while before they are all loaded but do stay with me.  After countless hours of research and a whole day of preparing for the 3-day trip, I was still worried about... lots of things. Looking back, those were all useless worrying. The strip of restaurants and travel agencies in Uyuni are busy and bustling from 9:30AM to 10:00AM everyday. The tourists just keep on coming and it seems that the supply can meet the demand. I saw Toyota Land Cruisers scattered all over, piling up the stuff of the tourists for the next 3 or 4 days.   I met my jeepmates (what should I call them?) for the day: me, Julia - a female fresh graduate from Canada, Maud and Julian - a couple from France, Jairo - a male professor from Columbia and a couple from…I cannot recall, but the guy spoke English and they both spoke Spanish. That makes 7 of us in the van. A typical Uyuni tour consists...

South America is a huge continent, with countries differing in their terrain. With all the variety that the continent offers, choosing which countries to visit can be daunting. Matt Harding dancing in the Salt Flats convinced me to choose Bolivia.  Matt Harding of Wheretheheallismatt Salar de Uyuni  is the world’s largest salt flat. The Salt Flats. Uyuni, Bolivia. That is not best photo to capture the magnificence of the Salt Flats. Magnificent is an understatement to begin with. I wasted a couple of minutes trying to select what photo to put in here.  Getting to Uyuni is not easy. Getting to Bolivia is already a challenge , from where I live. While there is an overnight bus from La Paz to Uyuni (which is is only around $30), I was scared of bus robbery, and I was a female travelling alone. I bought expensive tickets from La Paz to Uyuni airport via Amaszonas for BOB 2,272 (approximately $330). As far as I know, this is the only airline that ...

H ostel Ananay was an easy choice. They have high consistent reviews in Tripadvisor and they have a website (this is impor tant for me). I also appreciate how the y responded to all my emails swiftly . The hostel's location is perfect to explore the city. The cobblestone street is a picturesque sight. Every major sight is walking distance from here. The hostel gave me a map and showed me some city tour flyers. Wifi was spotty, so don't expect to be online for a long time. It also worked in the common areas only. The staff was really helpful, spoke good English, and warned me about scams.   One particular scam is the fake Bolivian police scam . Someone approaches you, claim they are also a tourist, chat will you, try to gain your favor, and they speak good English. Then a person pretending to be the Bolivian police approaches you and asks you guys to show him your passport for inspection. Your new tourist companion (the accomplice of the fake police) says that...

Next country: Bolivia. Do you know anything about Bolivia? Nadah? That’s fine. I didn’t associate Bolivia with anything either. Then I learned about the Salt Flats from Matt Harding’s video in 2006 . When I saw this, I asked, IS THAT REALLY IN EARTH? I am not kidding here. I got inspired and motivated to go to Bolivia because of this video. I saw this video in 2008. Seven years later, I stepped foot in Salar de Uyuni.  But I'm getting ahead of the Bolivia series. Before that, La Paz first. I was extremely happy that there was a direct flight from Cusco to La Paz. No need to fly back to Lima to catch an international flight Most backpackers, who have a lot of time, travel via bus. The bus does a stopover at Puno and some spend time in Lake Ticticaca. If you have time and you want to visit some places in between, then by all means, take the bus.  Peruvian Air.  I did not have time.  So I spent $128 on a one way flight from Cusco to La ...

1 Peruvian Sole = approximately 15 Philippine Pesos Peruvian cuisines vary per region. It depends on what crops the region grew. Peruvian cuisine is influenced by the Spanish, German and some Asian techniques. I didn't come to Peru with a food gameplan, so I relied on recommendations from my hostels. Shortly after I arrived in Lima Backpackers , Marco, a really awesome host, brought us to this restaurant blocks and blocks away from our neighborhood. Marco ordered his usual soup and appetizer order while the rest of us went for the authentic Peruvian options. The appertizer is this some type of dried corn, which tastes like popcorn. I ordered the meal combo calamares + rice + ceviche. I ordered a lemon slush while most of them got a beer. Ceviche is raw fish flavored in lime, lemon, salt, pepper and other spices. In some variations, ceviche can be lightly cooked.  Lunch plate and drink for 27 soles Ceviche can seriously put kilawin out of business. It as ...

I like staying in dorms. They are cheap and you get to meet a lot of new people. But I scored a nice deal at Booking.com for Kamila Lodge. I got a double room for $30 for two nights. That’s $15 a night, cheap enough like a dorm, and I get my own bathroom.  Charming cobblestone streets, but lined with street vendors The location is perfect: near Plaza de Armas (a 10-15-minute walk, some uphill) lots of restaurants, ATMs, money changers, supermarket laundry and souvenir shops. The guy at the reception was very helpful in giving me tips and spoke good English. The lodge is in a preserved part of Cusco, I believe, so the building is quite old. I got here by taking a taxi from Poroy station for 30 soles.  The gate. Looks can be deceiving. They have a pretty nice area inside. Now for the room. The room had no heating – they did mention that when I booked. I was here during winter so it was really cold! I asked for an extra blanket because it was so cold. ...

I arrived in Kamila Lodge in Cusco shortly before midnight. If not for my hunger, I would’ve snuggled into my bed but my appetite wins. Almost all of the restaurants I passed by was closed so I was so happy that there was still a restaurant with their lights still lit-up. I got educated in Disney popculture. I learned that Kuzco is a name of a character from The Emperor's New Groove. I started the day late. Very late, that I missed breakfast. I drank the free tea and grabbed some of my snacks from my emergency stash. That's enough fuel to get me to the next food stop. Now for the Cusco gameplan, I wasn't really into creating one. I was tired from the Machu Picchu the previous day and I've been travelling for a week. I decided to take it easy. While other sites in the General Touristic Ticket can be visited from Cusco, I decided to skip the temples and museums. After Pisac, Ollantaytambo and Machu Picchu, temple burn out kicked in. The hostel gave me...

I got back in Aguas Calientes at almost 1PM. I was soooo hungry at that time, I needed real food. I didn’t have the energy to scout for the best-authentic restaurant in AC so I ended eating where I had dinner the previous night. I ordered the same thing. Their trout was that good – it costs 22 soles but as I said, this is a touristy town. Why not have trout and fries again? With Inca Cola this time. My train going to Cuzco departs at 5:23PM so I had hours to kill. Aguas Calientes is not a big an interesting town. It is touristy. If you’re thinking to spend another night in town, choose a nice hotel. There’s not a lot to see.    Hello guard dog My hunger was sated but I was suffering from this hygiene guilt, caused by my Filipino habit of starting the day with a bath. I’ve conquered MP but I haven’t had a bath. I grabbed stuff from my backpack and headed up up up to the hotsprings.  The town   The town is really called Machu Pichu...

Machu Picchu town or Aguas Calientes is the gateway town to Machu Picchu. As expected, this is a very touristy place. The town thrives on tourists. I just selected whatever accommodation fit my budget. Booked a night in Ecopackers.  The hostel's location is pretty nice. Easy to find and the bus station to MP is 5 minutes away. Reception spoke pretty good English.  I stayed for 18 hours at a 4-bed girl dorm ensuite. Room costs $19. They were a bit choosy with the dollars they accept. The bills had to be new with almost no crease. The beds were comfy, there was heater (a must a night!) and hot water was really hot. There were 4 beds but only 2 were occupied for the night. Lucky me.