So... What next?

Once again an early morning wake-up and off we go to form waves on lake Titicaca. 20-odd people on the boat, along with our guide Juan Carlos, we set off towards the islands of the lake.

The surface of the water within the port area has a strong green color, which although looks interesting when the boat tears through it and leaves a blue track behind it, it still is not very inspiring to touch at all.





Within a couple of hours we had made our two first stops at two of the Uros islands. These are floating islands, artificially made out of dirt from the bottom of the lake and bamboo, onto which live native Quechua families. Personally... not impressed. To me all it seemed like was a tourist trap which although possibly once genuine and fascinating, now it is just being taken advantage by the big boys of local tourism and it seems completely fake. I couldn't stop getting the feeling that to those families (which I doubt they were actually native and having lived all their lives on those villages) saw us like walking dollars. They didn't care about our interest to see their life, the same way that most tourist don't really care about their life. All they go there for is to take a photo of the brave native man that lives in the middle of the lake and the cute little girl and rolls on the bamboo sticks and licks the crap of them. I just wanted to get out of there...





We sailed a few more hours and reached Amantani, one of the biggest villages of the lake and where we would spend the night. Here's another tourist trap. Local women took us all and offered us a room to sleep in and also a plate of food for dinner and breakfast. Later on in the night they even put up a show for us. Dressed us up in local costumes and we all gathered in their community centre (equiped with a mini-market of course) to dance their local dances. Yes, let's take the tourists and show them what our life is like. Please... As if this is how they live. You could see it on their faces that they were not awfully excited to have us there and they were certainly not in the mood to be jumping around and dancing with a bunch of people that don't even know why they are doing what they're doing. This is what the travel agent put on our plates and we are simply eating it. Oh, how original. I bet no one has ever done this before...........
Touristy part aside, this is a very interesting island. Peace and quiet all around, old people working hard, magnificent views of the lake, both from the shore as well as from high up at the Pachatata and Pachamama temples and no electricity! Too bad we're experiencing it through the tourist funfare...





The following morning we set off early to go to one more island before setting course back to Puno. Taquile was the name of it and once again,everyone waiting for the "wealthy" tourists to charge them two dollars for a snickers bar. Nothing impressive about it, especially as my earlier fears have by now been confirmed. Other than the fact that this lake is gigantic and is reaching the clouds, it has nothing more to show me compared to the greek islands that I've visited in the past.



So, having followed the most touristy path ever, we're back in Puno and planning to leave towards Cusco tomorrow. But nooooooo.... We'll just stick around another day, doing nothing, because I got food poisoning by the delicious meal that family is Amantani offered us. Lovely...

Yes. Lake Titicaca. Been there, done that, don't want a friggin t-shirt, stop trying to sell it to me!!!

M.

By the time we arrived in Puno until the following morning that we'd start the tour, we had a good few hours to spend and we spent it very wisely; we slept and we ate very well! :)

Apart from the hotel in which I bargained one hell of a price, we discovered two gems of the culinary category. First it was Sayary, a small, local-looking restaurant, outside the whole touristy hype with great prices, relaxed atmosphere, great food and HUGE portions!



That was only the beginning though, because while looking for a good dosage of chocolate we found... COLORS (dramatic music here please)!! This was not Puno. This was not Peru. It was an oasis in the middle of the desert. It was a fluffy couch in the middle of a construction site. We could not believe this place.

To start with, it was classy. It wasn't run down and it wasn't cheesy. Design chairs and sofas, nicely decorated lighting, a semi-transparent staircase... And what started off as a joke, became reality. It had wireless internet! It was a place to relax for hours.



And then the menu comes. What it this?? What do you mean you provide a lamb dish with tzatziki?? Why am I seeing the word "saganaki" in a restaurant's menu in Peru? What are all these thai curry based creations?? Marquise de chocolate for desert???? My pills!!! Of course I asked the waitress about all this and it all made sense. The chef is Greek. A lady who left Greece at some point and moved here and apparently built the menu of this restaurant! Incredible! I really wanted to have a chat with her, but unfortunately she was in Lima at the time...

Oh well. I'll just... You know... Sit back and have another marquise de chocolate with my cappuccino! I'm just stocking up before tomorrow's tour, that's all!



M.

Bus from Uyuni to Oruro that offers the experience of being inside a baby rattle: 11 dollars
Bus from Oruro to La Paz that goes through every single possible stop: 2 dollars
Bus from La Paz to Copacabana (not the brasilian one. The bolivian one) that crosses the lake on its own personal boat: 4 dollars
Accomodation and food (trout of course. We're not next to the lake for nothing) at this beautiful but kinda indifferent village: 8 dollars
Bus (yes, yet another one) from Copacabana to Puno, the peruvian "capital" of lake Titicaca: 4 dollars

Gazing at the beautiful dark blue waters of the largest navigable lake of the world at high altitude: priceless!

Priceless my arse!!! Did I really go through all this for three days just to see the same images I would see on the greek islands? Ok, joking aside, I am a bit dissapointed. I don't know what I was expecting, but I wouldn't say I'm left speachless by what I've seen so far over here...
Tomorrow we are going on a 2-day tour on the lake and some of its islands. Let's see...


That's our bus sailing away...


...and us on a separate boat chasing after it.


Believe it or not, that's our shower. Hooray for health and safety!

M.

We didn't waste any time. As soon as we arrived in Tupiza we searched and found an agency that organizes tours to the Uyuni salt flats (What is that? Read below you lazy sods!). We arranged everything, got a well-deserved good night sleep and first thing in the morning the following day we were already on our way.


The team. The dog is a stunt act.

Myself, P., two canadians, Rafael our driver and Margarita our own personal cook (yes, you read correctly. I could be talking about her cooking for hours. One night I nearly married her when she brought us a chocolate mousse!), all together in a 4x4 jeep which looked to be in a good shape, we headed for the mountains. And I mean it! From the first moment, the altitude at which we were travelling did not drop below 3600 meters! Bolivia is a very mountainous country with, most of the time, little to none vegetation: an ankle-high bush here and there and a few 2-meter tall cactuses... Other than that, rocks and dirt as far as the mountains allow us to see.


On the way...



Lots of little villages in the middle of nowhere, at altitudes of more than 4000 meters, whose residents add up to between 40 and 500. People cut off from everyone and everything, living off their plantations (when the ground allows it), their animals and their products.


For some reason this lama was looking at me in a very seductive way...

We spent our first night in one of those villages, in San Antonio de Lipez. The houses of all those villages are made of bricks constructed by the villagers, made of mud and hay.



After the first 24 hours, the altitude is starting to get to us: we can't breathe properly, our heart is pumping extra fast and headaches have become part of our daily routine. They say that the human body gets accustomed after 48 hours. So they say...


4855 meters above sea level...


We can't even breathe and those damn kids are playing basketball!

The second day kicks in in a pretty adventurous way. We got up at 5.30am in order to go and see the sunrise through the ruins of a deserted village near by. The jeep however did not do us the favor and had no desire to start up. Two hours had passed, Rafael was still struggling and the cold was so unbearable that we wouldn't dare to get out of our blankets not even to turn off the light. We were throwing shoes at the switch and when we ran out of ammo, we simply left the light on. However, lo and behold, a while later our fantastic driver performed the miracle and we set on our way.


It's all bloody frozen!

It was the liquid element that conquered the day, driving from lake to lake, with a couple of in between stops at some thermal baths and some geissers. After visiting lakes Morejon and Kollpa, which although impressive, were nothing to write home about, we arrived at the stars of the day.

- Laguna Blanca: The baby of all lakes with light blue waters. It reminds an oasis, as it appears after having reached the top of an uphill ride after many kilometers of dead ground while crossing Dali's desert (Yeap, the artistic element is present. This desert has earned its name thanks to the bizzarely colour formations of the mountains that embrace it).

- Laguna Verde: The most impressive of them all. Despite the fact that it begins only a few meters off the shore of the former, the scenery is spectacular. Bright green waters on the foot of a volcano, thanks to which the hill in front of the lake is full of large, black, volcanic stones, offering an intensive contrast to its exotically green surface.



- Laguna Colorada: The red, endless home of 25000 flamingos. The largest part of the lake has a bright red colour thanks to the red alge off which the flamingos feed. Arriving at the lake near sundown and watching dozens flamingos flying just a few centimeters over the red waters and dissapearing in the horizon, was a truly marvelous view.





Third day and the cold is absolutely unbearable! Each one of us slept with seven blankets and any reason to exit this warmth seemed like punishment. The morning was a true torture. Despite our desguise which resembled an onion (two pairs of pants, two pairs of socks, three jackets, gloves and hoods) and the warm cup of coffee in our hands, the cold was winning this battle. Frozen fingers and toes, ice on my beard and rattling teeth. We had no more clothes to put on and running was not an option, as at this altitude we couldn;t even run to the bathroom. The final blow came when Rafael told us that just half an hour before, the temperature had reached -20 to -25 Celcius below zero. Knowing that was enough to make the cold even more penetrating...

Leaving the morning chill aside, the day did not include anything remarkably worthwhile. After all we had seen up to that point and with the salt flats (I told you, I'll explain later what this is) looming ahead, the deserts and little lagoons of the day seemed pretty insignificant.


At least we know where to park now.



The most important fact of the day, and for various reasons, was tonight's choice of accommodation. It was a hostel, situated just outside the Uyuni salt flats and constructed entirely out of salt! The beds, the benches, the walls, the decorations, everything was "salty"! However, sleeping innovation aside, the best part of it all was that there was a hot water shower!! We finally had the opportunity to wash off all the dirt that our bodies had accumulated. Besides, the pleasure of sitting on salt chairs around a salt table goes to a whole new level when you smell of soap instead of 60 hours of adventure.


A salty living room...


...and a salty bedroom.

Fourth and final day and the very early wake up call was well worth it. 6am and we're already on our way to the salt flat. So what is thing thing after all? Imagine a flat surface of 12000 square kilometers that consists of nothing but salt. Salt as far as the eye can see and at some parts, even 50 meters deep. The salt flats of Uyuni are a gigantic source of salt, located just outside the equally-named town. Once upon a time, there was a salt-water lake here which in time dried out and left behind millions of tons of salt. The companies that take advantage of it have employees who shovel 20000 tons of salt on an annual basis! In other words and to put it simply, we're talking about A LOT of salt here! In the middle of this salt flat there is also the island of the fish (isla de pescado) which does not offer much more than plenty of cactuses and a marvelous view.


Waiting...


The sun is rising over the endless acres of salt.


The view on top of the island of the fish.


It's the choo-choo shoe!! (For those who are in the know...)

After leaving the salt flat, there wasn't that much more to see. What else would we want to see anyway after four activity-filled days? Around noon Rafael and Margarita has already left us in the town of Uyuni, where we would go back on the road....

M.

My arrival in Buenos aires and my short stay have managed to push me once more towards believing that everything happens for a reason.

Sunday noon and I'm already at L.'s place who is still half asleep. The idea was to stay here for a day and set off monday morning on the train to Tucuman. L., however, managed to convince me not to get on that train, so I decided to stay one more day. In the meanwhile, 2-3 people that had figured out in a very sneaky way (I hadn't told anyone I would be here) I was back, were trying to convince me to stay until the weekend and to go to Rosario with them. I didn't see it likely, as I needed to be on the road and not wasting time in the same ol' places. The chapter of Buenos Aires is for me completed at the moment, so I didn't feel comfortable staying here being idle.

Monday morning I bought my ticket to La Quiaca, the argentina-bolivia border and after various things I had to take care of, I met up with P. for a beer.

- hehe hihi, I am going to Bolivia
- hehe hihi, the idea of joining you is appealing
- hehe hihi, go ahead then
- I will (no more hehe's here)
- I don't believe you

The following morning my jaw dropped when I saw her coming on the bus! Obviously, I am dealing with a loon here!

So, after a 29 hour ride on the bus (watching Steven Seagal in spanish - kids don't try this at home), two new stamps on my passport and a good run to the station, I have ended up chilling inside the train that will take me from Villazon to Tupiza, with P. as a co-traveller. Welcome to Bolivia. The big trip is only about to begin...

M.


The photo is horrible, but due to serious lack of technology, it´s the only proof of entry in Bolivia that I can provide... :)

Madrid then. It's the second time I come here. First came I came to visit M. and had stayed approximately 10 hours. This time I came to see L., but I'll stay longer: 30 hours! I can confidently say I know Madrid like the back of my hand by now...

Apart from the pleasure of seeing an old friend, I'd say that my experiences here worth mentioning are two. First of all, the gigantic park they have in the heart of the city, called Parque de Retiro if I remember correctly, which is a valuable oxygen source for the spanish capital. Countless acres of land with trees, grass, lakes, fountains and walking paths, all available for the people to spend their time any way they like. Numerous rollerbladers wizzing here and there, musicians playing, athletes running, jugglers practising and young kids being a pain in the backside for the parents and anyone else around and all this on a daily basis. In my opinion, this is a wonderful space that would be great to find in all cities around the world.

This of course is a daylight activity. During the night one needs to eat and drink, right? tapas and beer to be more specific and L. and F. took me to the ideal place. A well-known little bar (you can tell by the number of not only tourists but locals every night) where with every three glasses of beer you buy, they give you two plates of tapas. And all this for five euros. Now don't tell me that this place is not worth spending all your nights at! I for one, if I had one more night here, I'd pay this little dungeon of culinary goodness another visit. The only bad thing is that it gathers the worst examples of both aforementioned categories. Most tourists that go there are of the type that intend to get drunk and end up making fools out of themselves (rather than the ones who intend making fools out of themselves and end up getting drunk - we have nothing against those). As far as the locals, most of them get there because of the mass appearance of species of the first category, as an attempt to find easy sexual education. Both these groups can get rather annoying, but we did our own thing and had a blast.

It's already saturday night and I'm walking towards the airplane that will take me back to the south american continent (no, this time I actually made it on time). I can't help feeling a strange sadness... I don't know if it's got to do with the fact that I'm leaving again (from wherever that may be), if it's because I don't know where I'm heading, because once again I hung out with people that I will seriously miss or just because I'm quite tired. Whichever the case, I have a loooong way ahead of me that holds numerous joys and an equal number of suprises (both pleasant and unpleasant obviously). Ready or not, here I come! You joining? :)


With my lovely L.

M.

Having had to run like hell for my flight, I eventually reached Barcelona where I'm planning to stay for two days. I've been in this impressive city before and I have a soft spot for it. This time though I will be staying a bit further outside its center, in a little village called Santpedor. The reason of my visit? To see my friend G. who I had met two years ago in Mongolia and have not seen ever since, so it's a good opportunity.

In the center of Barcelona I met up with her husband D. and after a sleep-filled drive on the bus, we had reached Santpedor where G. was expecting us. There was havoc all over the place that night, because Barcelona with in the football finals of... something... (my connection with football is similar to the one of vegetarians with jam: they know it exists but they don't give a crap.) Anyway, we went into this bar (the only one in the village) to have a beer and a chat. It was really nice to catch up with her. We had so much to say and we had changed so much, we were talking for hours and hours and we kept on going. The following night in fact, we went for dinner with another friend, C., who I had also met in Mongolia. With my now being able to speak spanish, we could chat and connect on a different level.

While G. was at work and we couldn't talk each other's ears off, I had a good stroll around the village to see what it's all about. One of the first things that caught my attention was that there were no people. The place seemed deserted. I was walking from street to street and could not find a single soul. At some point I asked a girl why there place was so quiet and she replied: "This is a village. The time of siesta is sacred". No wonder I thought. I looked at the time and it was 4pm. Like in most place in Argentina, everything and everyone goes to sleep from 1pm to 5pm.

Other than that, this little village kept winning me over more and more by the minute. Initially with its peace and quiet, then with its beautiful, narrow, stone-paved alleys and finally with its anarchistic architecture. I simply could not believe it. Every balcony and every face of each building was completely different to the one next to it. And we're not talking about neighboring suburbs. We're not talking about two blocks side by side. We're talking about having 3-4 different architectural fantasies come to life from one corner to the other! This is a 7000 people village and it gives the impression that each one of them once said: "This is my house, I'll build it the way I want to and I don't give a damn about what the rest of you have to say."! Don't get me wrong, I fully support them, but this being the kind of behaviour you normally do not come across in today's conservative societies (even less so in a very traditional catalan village where many of its residents don't even speak spanish), I personally am left speachless. Building fronts made of wood, stone, brick, cement, various colors, aluminium and glass, ceramic tiles, gold-plated decorations, but most of all, with no coherence whatsoever!! A village totally different than any other where I would gladly stay for a few more days to discover more of its hidden aspects if I had the time.

On friday morning I left early to catch my flight to Madrid. Needless to say I caught this flight also at the very last minute. This is getting ridiculous...



With G. and D.


Alleys of Santpedor...


Paved walkways...


And the village's central square.


The creativity begins.


Architectural fantasies...


...that have nothing to do with the ones next door!

M.

Time is around 16.00 on a very sunny wednesday afternoon and I have only JUST made it for my flight out of Athens and towards Barcelona. This was the closest call ever. To give you an idea, when I entered the airport terminal and hadn't even started running towards the check-in desks yet, the notice boards had already announced the final boarding call! I'm surprised they let me onboard.

So, that's it when it comes to my being in Greece this time round. Even though I managed to do something which I never imagined it would be possible in this little time I had here, it was a tiring few weeks and in fact, my only work-free day during my stay was the tuesday after the opening night; day of the depeche mode concert and only hours before I'd leave the country. Couldn't wait for this! Besides, this was one of the reasons why I came here specifically these days in the first place.

It was 4 of us driving to the concert area: Danae, who came from Giannena for this, Alex, Paulina from Argentina who also arranged her travel dates for the concert and myself. The drive to Terravibe in Malakasa is neither short, nor easy. Not only do we need to drive well out of the city, but parking there is incredible. Thousands of cars spread out as far as 5-6 kilometers from the concert. All we can think of though is "DEPECHE MODE", so it's well worth it.

Thousands of people are loitering all around the large green area in front of the huge stage where depeche mode will perform, straight after Motor and Puressence. As scheduled the first two come out, to warm the crowd up and to set the atmosphere for the featuring artists. And after that, we wait for the big name. They seem to be late though...21.30 and they're still not out. People start getting frustrated and express it either be shouting and clapping, or swearing at the organisers. Others just wait patiently.

And then it happens. The music stops and two persons no one had seen before come out on the stage to announce what? Yes, you guessed it! That the concert is canceled! Dave is ill they said! He wanted to perform and went all the way out there but the doctor told him not to at the last minute they said! They had to take him to the hospital but the whole thing may be rescheduled for tomorrow they said! Please leave in an orderly manner they said!

If the crowd was annoyed before, now they were driven up the wall! People were throwing bottles, breaking parts of the screens, swearing, booing and arguing! Obviously nobody believed them! Do they really expect us to believe that it was only at 21.30 that they decided he was not well enough to perform? So everyone had to spend all the money they spent to buy tickets, water, food and get there for what? For nothing! And we're not even talking about people that drove from Athens. People had drove there from all corners or Greece and even from abroad (Argentina for example!!)! A whole lot of frustration because someone is not responsible enough to do what they are supposed to do. That being, depending on the scenario, either the artists who got too drugged up and were not in a state to perform any more, or the organising company who knew from well before that Dave Gahan was ill, but decided not to say anything until the very last minute so that they would not miss out on a big part of the revenue from food and drink, tickets, advertising etc.

A huge dissapointment, especially considering that this was one of my main reasons for coming to Greece these specific dates and had no choice but to leave the following day, as it was scheduled. Of course with the other guys we made the most of the rest of the night, but this is simply something that we lost and cannot regain. Anyway... The trip goes on... On spanish ground for the next few days.

M.

My time in Greece is almost up and to be honest, I don't feel having realised being here. The first days where, however, fun and food filled, spending easter weekend at Stelios's house in Amarinthos. It was all I wanted it to be, with some good friends, lots of new people, immense amounts of food and enough laughter to stock up till christmas.


I don't think we left the table much...


The delicacies


Stelios, the co-organiser! :p


A swim was definitely in order. :)


In the 25 days I was going to be spending back in my home country, I had several things in mind I wanted to do. However, my priorities suffered an unexpected shuffle when I got an incredible stroke of luck and was offered the possibility to set up a photo exhibition and even hold the opening night before leaving the country. Myself and two friends who were helping me contact some places regarding this issue, were left gobsmacked when we were told by the owner of a very classy theatrical space that she was willing to host my exhibition for a month and even hold the opening night on the 11th of May.

Needless to say, I was ecstatic, but that left me with only two weeks to do all necessary work. That involved getting the photos ready, ordering the materials, printing, preparing and building, finding live music for the opening night, arranging a DJ, contracting dancers for a show, preparing the actual space, designing the flyers, printing hundreds of posters and flyers and distributing them all over the city, compiling a press release and sending it out to all the media and various other little jobs... Obviously, this was a mountain of work but thanks to the priceless help of several people (mainly to name Vasilis, Carmen and Kiveli who did an excellent job), we pulled it off and were 100% ready on time. Thanks guys. I couldn't have done it without you!



The actual opening night was a huge success! Lots of people, lots of good feedback for the photos and the presentation, the music, thanks to my beautiful DJ Claudia Matola, was brilliant, the dance was beautiful, everyone had a brilliant time and I was receiving the best of comments when everyone left. Not to mention, I couldn't stop smiling. All in all, I am overly pleased with how the event turned out and do believe that something good will come out of it.

And now... not much left... Tomorrow I am leaving. But before that... Depeche Mode Live!

M.