Well after a little bit of a struggle I now have 100 pictures for you to look through!!!
The pictures loaded are from Iguazu Falls and our jeep trip.
Here is a link to my photobucket page where they are hosted. Enjoy.
http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a55/slowring/
Friday, April 24, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
La Paz
Well we made it, and I'm tempted to say barely, but we made it. We left Tupiza arround 11... Good thing we were up at 8 ready to leave at 8:30 or 9. I suppose we are going to have to get used to "Bolivia time". Our ride was a nice Toyota Landcruiser with two captins chairs up front, and two sets of benches in the back, a roof rack with our bags, food and three barrels of fuel. Looked exactly like the blue barrels that farm chemicals come in just on a smaller scale. Not sure they were gasoline approved but all the rigs seemed to have the same. Since Sage and I did the most waiting for the others we opted to grab the more comfortable first bench seat. We went about 75 feet where we stoped for about half an hour. God only knows what for, but after that we were FINALY off.
We headed up a dry river bed into the hills where we saw some wild erosion formations, including a little road erosion where we got a little puckered up for the first of many times. About 30 minutes into the trip our Toyota died, but luckly after a little kicking of the fuel tank and wiggling some shit under the hood we were off and running. All our guide had to say was "no problem, no problem". We bounced along for another few hours through desert until it was lunch time. We stoped at a little mud hut in the middle of knowhere and had some wicked sandwiches with sheep and lamas running arround in and out of the hut! It was a long day, as we covered 350kms of dirt. When we got to the village where we were going to spend the night our driver didn´t seem to be able to find the hostel. After some sitting in the dark our driver came back and led us through a gate, where we ate a delicious diner and got a little sleep. We all definatly felt a little ill. Im guessing it had something to do with the hours of bouncing around and the fact that we were at 4200 meters elevation.
The second day we finally decided to take our altitude pills. I Don´t know why it took us so long to start, but we figured that it was time to use a little modern medicine along with chewing on coca leaves. This greatly inproved the way we felt, but our guide pedro didnt seem to happy that we had to stop ever 5 minuates to pee. One of the side effects! I suppose that side effect is better than the temporary blindness! We set out around 6 in the morning and the first thing we found was on old Spanish ruin built in 1500. This place was really cool. It was an old mining town and everything was built completly of stone. As soon as we stopped we all scattered to see what we could find. I headed into the old church, then into one of the larger buildings. I think got completly creeped out when I found the graveyard! Bones included!
We continued bouncing through the desert where we saw a few lakes (bigger versions of stinky lake). Finally standing on the edge of one of the lakes we saw a few flamingos! No idea that flamingos live in the desert. They are quite the birds, looking like their legs could snap at any moment. We also drove by a lake that is full of borax that they mine out and sell as soap. We finaly arrived to the "hot springs" for lunch. Unfortunatly every other jeep in Bolivia was there as well. The small hot spring pool was completly packed! We opted to eat lunch before taking a dip, this was an extremly good choice since when Sage and I went down to the water we were the only ones there! It was realy nice to get into some hot water after bouncing around in a dry dusty jeep for a few days.
After lunch we went and checked out a volcano, and a few other lakes, then headed to the highest part of our trip at 5000 meters to see the geysers! We all seemed to be expecting huge amounts of water flying out of the ground, but it turned out to be more like a witches pot mixing up some sort of brew. Huge puddles of mud just bubbled and spat everywhere, and hot air seeping from the ground with amazing pressure. After our "10 minutes we were off to the hostel. I swear the only english Pedro could say was, Hello, 10 Minutes, Pictures and GO! and he really liked the word GO! We ran out of gas about 300 feet from the hostel, but after the toyota drank a blue barrel of fuel we were up and running.
The third day was all lakes. The first one being the Red lake that was absolutly packed with flamingos!!! Sage and I spent well over our 10 minutes here taking photos of the odd looking birds. But of course we were called back to the toyota by the horn and forced to move on. We did ALOT of driving on the thrid day and didn´t get to see much except desert. We did stop at the stone tree, wich is a rock that was cut by water, a long long time ago to take the shape of a tree.
Pictures are needed to describe this work of art, so you will just have to wait, or maybe not if this computer cooperates like I´m hoping it will! We did finally get to see some salt on the thrid day and we headed across a little section to get to our hostel that was built completly of salt. Salt beds, salt tables and even salt floors. It was actually the nicest place we stayed on our whole journey.
We were up early the next mornign to head to the flats to watch the sun rise. This was definatly a different area than we had been to the third day. Salt for miles! It was incredible, and as the sun came up our shadows must have been 50 feet tall. There was nothing for miles. We got some great sunrise photos then headed to an island for breakfast. Our guide didn´t seem to enjoy telling us much, but luckly in the other group there was a guy named Simon who seemed to get along with his guide very well. He was the one who told us all of the interesting facts. The most amazing facts were that the salt was 10 meters deep on most of the flats and in the middle of the salt lake the salt was over 150 meters deep! The island was realy cool the intire thing was coral from 40,000 years ago when the salt flats was an ocean. And it was covered in Cactus and all sorts of wild rock formations that had to have been made by water. Standing on the top of the island you could look for miles, only to see a white landscape with a few other islands here and there. After a tasty breakfast we drove for some time to where we could only see salt, no islands or land. These salt flats are 12,000 square kms, so I guess that´s not too hard to do. There were also wild holes in the salt where water was showing. Apparently quite a few jeeps fall into these water holes and have quite a bit of trouble getting out. Luckly Pedro was on his toes and led us around them all, though he let us all take turns driving, which was lots of fun and we managed to avoid them as well. Taking photos on the salt was fun since there´s no depth of field and you can make some cool pictures.
We then came into the town of Uyuni all a little relieved to see a little pavement and civilization. We had one more stop to make on the tour which may have been one of my favorites of the trip. It was called the locomotive graveyard. It was just a few lines of old old locomotives that seemed to have been parked there for hundreds of years. Just piles of rust everywhere. Some of the trains were buried a few feet into the ground. We spent quite a bit of time here, gathering some really neat pictures, and climbing around on the old hunks of iron. Pedro finally got a little anxious and started blaring the horn for us to return. We all jumped into he toyota and headed for town. None of us had paid for our trip yet so he took us to the only ATM in town. Just as I somehow had figured it was closed for maitenance and we had to wait about 40 minutes on the sidewalk for it to open up so we could pay poor Pedro who I can only imagine just wanted to go home and take a shower.
We met up with Simon and a few others from the trip at the ATM and decided to try to get to La Paz that night, since we realy didn´t want to spend any time in Uyuni. Very very touristly town, with absolutly nothing to do except explore that salt, wich we had just finished doing. We found a bus that left in a few hours and got the last 7 seats. Yes we had a crew of 7. 4 Milasians, Simon our spanish speaking "guide" and the 2 canadians Sage and Orin. We grabbed a little dinner and hit the very slow internet cafe to do a little networking.
The bus ride was a little crazy. We had a grandma beside us with 2 small children probably 6 and 1. And this bus ride was no place for children. The bus was packed and freezing, and Sage and I woke up a few times in mid air as the bus flew over some huge bumps. Most of the ride was dirt and washboard like you wouldn`t believe. They seemed to give blankets to everyone except for us. After a little bartering with the driver he gave Sage and I one to share. Let´s just say we spent the next 11 hours of our lives freezing our asses off. Amazing how cold it gets here at night. It was definately a lesson learned and we won´t be traveling without the hot core again. A few times during the trip the bus stopped for bathroom breaks, where the grandma would jump off the bus in no shoes, leaving myself to tend to her crying baby. She was CRAZY!
After that wild night we were very excited to see the city. I had no idea what to expect in La Paz, but we found a HUGE city built on a very steep mountain side at 4000 meters. Just walking up the street to grab some food takes it right out of you. We talked to a girl at the bus station who reccomended a hostel, so we headed for it and crashed as soon as the man opened the door to our room. Today we hit a few local markets and got our first taste of La Paz. We went to a truly wild market this morning called the "mercado negro" for those of you who lack a little spanish that would be the black market, wierd. There was anything you could ever want for sale there. Realy creepy looking food, old ladies with tables stuffed with tools, nuts and bolts, all sorts of rubber seals????, and god knows what else. We did hapen to find a UNO card set and are excited to branch out our 2 known card games. Later this afternoon we went to the witches market and enjoyed picking up some true Bolivian woven goods.
We are planing to stay in La Paz for a few more days, then hopefully meet up with Simon and head north into the jungle to do a little wildlife watching! Looking forward to seeing some gators!!!! We are having a great time in Bolivia and are looking forward to our travels north. Well maybe just being north. I´m not particularly keen on these bus rides. We have it worked out now that we shouldn´t have to spend more than 5 hours on the bus at a time. This is good news.
Im going to attempt putting up some photos now, so wish me luck!!!
Orin
We headed up a dry river bed into the hills where we saw some wild erosion formations, including a little road erosion where we got a little puckered up for the first of many times. About 30 minutes into the trip our Toyota died, but luckly after a little kicking of the fuel tank and wiggling some shit under the hood we were off and running. All our guide had to say was "no problem, no problem". We bounced along for another few hours through desert until it was lunch time. We stoped at a little mud hut in the middle of knowhere and had some wicked sandwiches with sheep and lamas running arround in and out of the hut! It was a long day, as we covered 350kms of dirt. When we got to the village where we were going to spend the night our driver didn´t seem to be able to find the hostel. After some sitting in the dark our driver came back and led us through a gate, where we ate a delicious diner and got a little sleep. We all definatly felt a little ill. Im guessing it had something to do with the hours of bouncing around and the fact that we were at 4200 meters elevation.
The second day we finally decided to take our altitude pills. I Don´t know why it took us so long to start, but we figured that it was time to use a little modern medicine along with chewing on coca leaves. This greatly inproved the way we felt, but our guide pedro didnt seem to happy that we had to stop ever 5 minuates to pee. One of the side effects! I suppose that side effect is better than the temporary blindness! We set out around 6 in the morning and the first thing we found was on old Spanish ruin built in 1500. This place was really cool. It was an old mining town and everything was built completly of stone. As soon as we stopped we all scattered to see what we could find. I headed into the old church, then into one of the larger buildings. I think got completly creeped out when I found the graveyard! Bones included!
We continued bouncing through the desert where we saw a few lakes (bigger versions of stinky lake). Finally standing on the edge of one of the lakes we saw a few flamingos! No idea that flamingos live in the desert. They are quite the birds, looking like their legs could snap at any moment. We also drove by a lake that is full of borax that they mine out and sell as soap. We finaly arrived to the "hot springs" for lunch. Unfortunatly every other jeep in Bolivia was there as well. The small hot spring pool was completly packed! We opted to eat lunch before taking a dip, this was an extremly good choice since when Sage and I went down to the water we were the only ones there! It was realy nice to get into some hot water after bouncing around in a dry dusty jeep for a few days.
After lunch we went and checked out a volcano, and a few other lakes, then headed to the highest part of our trip at 5000 meters to see the geysers! We all seemed to be expecting huge amounts of water flying out of the ground, but it turned out to be more like a witches pot mixing up some sort of brew. Huge puddles of mud just bubbled and spat everywhere, and hot air seeping from the ground with amazing pressure. After our "10 minutes we were off to the hostel. I swear the only english Pedro could say was, Hello, 10 Minutes, Pictures and GO! and he really liked the word GO! We ran out of gas about 300 feet from the hostel, but after the toyota drank a blue barrel of fuel we were up and running.
The third day was all lakes. The first one being the Red lake that was absolutly packed with flamingos!!! Sage and I spent well over our 10 minutes here taking photos of the odd looking birds. But of course we were called back to the toyota by the horn and forced to move on. We did ALOT of driving on the thrid day and didn´t get to see much except desert. We did stop at the stone tree, wich is a rock that was cut by water, a long long time ago to take the shape of a tree.
Pictures are needed to describe this work of art, so you will just have to wait, or maybe not if this computer cooperates like I´m hoping it will! We did finally get to see some salt on the thrid day and we headed across a little section to get to our hostel that was built completly of salt. Salt beds, salt tables and even salt floors. It was actually the nicest place we stayed on our whole journey.
We were up early the next mornign to head to the flats to watch the sun rise. This was definatly a different area than we had been to the third day. Salt for miles! It was incredible, and as the sun came up our shadows must have been 50 feet tall. There was nothing for miles. We got some great sunrise photos then headed to an island for breakfast. Our guide didn´t seem to enjoy telling us much, but luckly in the other group there was a guy named Simon who seemed to get along with his guide very well. He was the one who told us all of the interesting facts. The most amazing facts were that the salt was 10 meters deep on most of the flats and in the middle of the salt lake the salt was over 150 meters deep! The island was realy cool the intire thing was coral from 40,000 years ago when the salt flats was an ocean. And it was covered in Cactus and all sorts of wild rock formations that had to have been made by water. Standing on the top of the island you could look for miles, only to see a white landscape with a few other islands here and there. After a tasty breakfast we drove for some time to where we could only see salt, no islands or land. These salt flats are 12,000 square kms, so I guess that´s not too hard to do. There were also wild holes in the salt where water was showing. Apparently quite a few jeeps fall into these water holes and have quite a bit of trouble getting out. Luckly Pedro was on his toes and led us around them all, though he let us all take turns driving, which was lots of fun and we managed to avoid them as well. Taking photos on the salt was fun since there´s no depth of field and you can make some cool pictures.
We then came into the town of Uyuni all a little relieved to see a little pavement and civilization. We had one more stop to make on the tour which may have been one of my favorites of the trip. It was called the locomotive graveyard. It was just a few lines of old old locomotives that seemed to have been parked there for hundreds of years. Just piles of rust everywhere. Some of the trains were buried a few feet into the ground. We spent quite a bit of time here, gathering some really neat pictures, and climbing around on the old hunks of iron. Pedro finally got a little anxious and started blaring the horn for us to return. We all jumped into he toyota and headed for town. None of us had paid for our trip yet so he took us to the only ATM in town. Just as I somehow had figured it was closed for maitenance and we had to wait about 40 minutes on the sidewalk for it to open up so we could pay poor Pedro who I can only imagine just wanted to go home and take a shower.
We met up with Simon and a few others from the trip at the ATM and decided to try to get to La Paz that night, since we realy didn´t want to spend any time in Uyuni. Very very touristly town, with absolutly nothing to do except explore that salt, wich we had just finished doing. We found a bus that left in a few hours and got the last 7 seats. Yes we had a crew of 7. 4 Milasians, Simon our spanish speaking "guide" and the 2 canadians Sage and Orin. We grabbed a little dinner and hit the very slow internet cafe to do a little networking.
The bus ride was a little crazy. We had a grandma beside us with 2 small children probably 6 and 1. And this bus ride was no place for children. The bus was packed and freezing, and Sage and I woke up a few times in mid air as the bus flew over some huge bumps. Most of the ride was dirt and washboard like you wouldn`t believe. They seemed to give blankets to everyone except for us. After a little bartering with the driver he gave Sage and I one to share. Let´s just say we spent the next 11 hours of our lives freezing our asses off. Amazing how cold it gets here at night. It was definately a lesson learned and we won´t be traveling without the hot core again. A few times during the trip the bus stopped for bathroom breaks, where the grandma would jump off the bus in no shoes, leaving myself to tend to her crying baby. She was CRAZY!
After that wild night we were very excited to see the city. I had no idea what to expect in La Paz, but we found a HUGE city built on a very steep mountain side at 4000 meters. Just walking up the street to grab some food takes it right out of you. We talked to a girl at the bus station who reccomended a hostel, so we headed for it and crashed as soon as the man opened the door to our room. Today we hit a few local markets and got our first taste of La Paz. We went to a truly wild market this morning called the "mercado negro" for those of you who lack a little spanish that would be the black market, wierd. There was anything you could ever want for sale there. Realy creepy looking food, old ladies with tables stuffed with tools, nuts and bolts, all sorts of rubber seals????, and god knows what else. We did hapen to find a UNO card set and are excited to branch out our 2 known card games. Later this afternoon we went to the witches market and enjoyed picking up some true Bolivian woven goods.
We are planing to stay in La Paz for a few more days, then hopefully meet up with Simon and head north into the jungle to do a little wildlife watching! Looking forward to seeing some gators!!!! We are having a great time in Bolivia and are looking forward to our travels north. Well maybe just being north. I´m not particularly keen on these bus rides. We have it worked out now that we shouldn´t have to spend more than 5 hours on the bus at a time. This is good news.
Im going to attempt putting up some photos now, so wish me luck!!!
Orin
Friday, April 17, 2009
Tupiza Bolivia!
Well we made it, It was a little bumpy but we are in Bolivia now and loving it. Iguazu falls was amazing. We got a firly early start but were distracted my the hostels delicious breakfast. Definatly the best breakfast we have had yet at any hostel, or realy anywhere for that matter. The maid must have been there bright and early making a fresh batch of medialunas (delicious mini really dense croissants). I must have ate 10, or mabie a few more.
The falls are absolutly huge. Unfortunatly it was easter weekend so it was a zoo out there. Had to wait in a little line just to get a good view, but when you did it was just amazing. The water at the top of the falls must be half a mile wide so it spreads out realy far. The main falls, named Devils Throat catches about half the water and tosses it off the U shaped cliff. The mist just soaks you instantly when the wind is right. So after snapping a few pictures, we headed to check out where the other quarter mile wide river goes. Turns out it splits into about 20 other falls that can be seen from really well made viewing areas. I found these falls more beautiful than the Devils Throat. There was water running down the cliffs everwhere and so much green green grass clinging to the walls under the water it turned the water to a foam. I could try to explain the falls for pages but its really inexplicable place. Hope that some of our 350 pictures (that we slimmed down to about 150) will do it some justice.
We were a little stupid again and didnt but bus tickets out of Iguazu for the day we wanted. Luckly this time we only had to wait one day and it turned out great. We headed back up to the falls tp try out the swimming area. It was a little sad since the little area they had roped off for swimming in the huge river (below the falls) was like swimming in the back of a pickup truck. We figured that we could sneak out a little but that just wasnt happening. There was a poor kid on shore trying to keep people with the roped area. His wistle blew costantly. Sage and I even moved the ropes outwards when he wasnt looking, but before long he was waist deep in water moving the anchor points back twards shore. Shitty deal, but we delt with it and had a great day.
The bus ride to Salta was a little tedious. There were no Cama (big comfly seated) buses, so we had to opt for the more cramped up ride. Definatly the worst bus ride yet. The fact that it was 23 hours probly didnt help. We got to Salta in the late morning and headed for the campsite, wich we had read in our guide book had a huge swimming pool! When we got there we were absolutly blown away by the size of the pool it was probly between 5 and 7 ACRES! Unfortunatly I dont think it has had water in it for a few years. Very very lame. We grabed a campsite and got some stretched out sleep.
Salta was a nice city about the size of Kelowna. We did a little cruising arround on foot and found a realy cool metal art exibit. A bunch of metal hens and roosters made out of scrap. Lots of forks and knives and even a motorcycle head and a few valves here and there. There was also a Gondola that went up the mountain in the middle of town. I have never gone on any type of ski lift that went this high up. It was a little scary actualy. The view from the top was quite worth the little scare, and we hung arround up there for a while and got some pictures as the sun went down. Then headed to the bus station to get our tickets to Bolivia the next day.
It was a nice bus ride to the bolivian border. We had front row seats in the top of a double decker bus so the view was nice, we even got to see the sunrise! It was 7 hours to the boarder and it went by in a flash. The landscape was very green at first but as we climbed through the grass covered mountains we broke out into a desert with alot of wild rock formations and cactus everywhere! I happened to catch a glimpse of the summit sign that rear 3890 meters. I could definatly notice that I was a little short of breath. Especialy when we had to walk the last mile into town since they were sealing the last bit of the road with tar. I was a little upset till I saw all the elderly carrying as much weight as I, but tied on their backs in woven blankets. We got right through the boarder without a second look and we were in.
Bolivia has been quite a bit of a shock since its quite a bit poorer than any other country we have been to so far. The roads are rough and the buses are shit. But most of the people are very nice and willing to lend a hand. The clothing here is very cool, the women all wear these really elaberate dresses and sweaters with tiny little leather shoes. I have been trying to convince Sage to pick up a full suite but so far she hasent gone for it. Mabie by the time we leave. We arrove to Villazon then caught a bus to Tupiza where we are now. Sage and I are both feeling a little wierd due to what we believe is malaria pills and probly the altitude. Tupiza is at about 3500 meters and you can definatly feel it. We are staying in a nice hostel wich offers the 4 day jeep tours that visit all the attractions in southwestern Bolivia and ends up in Uyuni. Where we will grab a bus to La Paz and base probly the next 2 weeks there. Venturing out on a a couple 2 or 3 day trips to some national parks.
We are really excited about the jeep trip and have heard exelent reviews about the company we are using. Hopefully all will go well. Its just under 3 weeks till Jordan and Riley arrive and we are getting more and more excited to see them. Going to be great to see some familiar faces. I imagine things are warming up in Canada now and I hope you are all out enjoying the hopefully nice weather.
Orin
The falls are absolutly huge. Unfortunatly it was easter weekend so it was a zoo out there. Had to wait in a little line just to get a good view, but when you did it was just amazing. The water at the top of the falls must be half a mile wide so it spreads out realy far. The main falls, named Devils Throat catches about half the water and tosses it off the U shaped cliff. The mist just soaks you instantly when the wind is right. So after snapping a few pictures, we headed to check out where the other quarter mile wide river goes. Turns out it splits into about 20 other falls that can be seen from really well made viewing areas. I found these falls more beautiful than the Devils Throat. There was water running down the cliffs everwhere and so much green green grass clinging to the walls under the water it turned the water to a foam. I could try to explain the falls for pages but its really inexplicable place. Hope that some of our 350 pictures (that we slimmed down to about 150) will do it some justice.
We were a little stupid again and didnt but bus tickets out of Iguazu for the day we wanted. Luckly this time we only had to wait one day and it turned out great. We headed back up to the falls tp try out the swimming area. It was a little sad since the little area they had roped off for swimming in the huge river (below the falls) was like swimming in the back of a pickup truck. We figured that we could sneak out a little but that just wasnt happening. There was a poor kid on shore trying to keep people with the roped area. His wistle blew costantly. Sage and I even moved the ropes outwards when he wasnt looking, but before long he was waist deep in water moving the anchor points back twards shore. Shitty deal, but we delt with it and had a great day.
The bus ride to Salta was a little tedious. There were no Cama (big comfly seated) buses, so we had to opt for the more cramped up ride. Definatly the worst bus ride yet. The fact that it was 23 hours probly didnt help. We got to Salta in the late morning and headed for the campsite, wich we had read in our guide book had a huge swimming pool! When we got there we were absolutly blown away by the size of the pool it was probly between 5 and 7 ACRES! Unfortunatly I dont think it has had water in it for a few years. Very very lame. We grabed a campsite and got some stretched out sleep.
Salta was a nice city about the size of Kelowna. We did a little cruising arround on foot and found a realy cool metal art exibit. A bunch of metal hens and roosters made out of scrap. Lots of forks and knives and even a motorcycle head and a few valves here and there. There was also a Gondola that went up the mountain in the middle of town. I have never gone on any type of ski lift that went this high up. It was a little scary actualy. The view from the top was quite worth the little scare, and we hung arround up there for a while and got some pictures as the sun went down. Then headed to the bus station to get our tickets to Bolivia the next day.
It was a nice bus ride to the bolivian border. We had front row seats in the top of a double decker bus so the view was nice, we even got to see the sunrise! It was 7 hours to the boarder and it went by in a flash. The landscape was very green at first but as we climbed through the grass covered mountains we broke out into a desert with alot of wild rock formations and cactus everywhere! I happened to catch a glimpse of the summit sign that rear 3890 meters. I could definatly notice that I was a little short of breath. Especialy when we had to walk the last mile into town since they were sealing the last bit of the road with tar. I was a little upset till I saw all the elderly carrying as much weight as I, but tied on their backs in woven blankets. We got right through the boarder without a second look and we were in.
Bolivia has been quite a bit of a shock since its quite a bit poorer than any other country we have been to so far. The roads are rough and the buses are shit. But most of the people are very nice and willing to lend a hand. The clothing here is very cool, the women all wear these really elaberate dresses and sweaters with tiny little leather shoes. I have been trying to convince Sage to pick up a full suite but so far she hasent gone for it. Mabie by the time we leave. We arrove to Villazon then caught a bus to Tupiza where we are now. Sage and I are both feeling a little wierd due to what we believe is malaria pills and probly the altitude. Tupiza is at about 3500 meters and you can definatly feel it. We are staying in a nice hostel wich offers the 4 day jeep tours that visit all the attractions in southwestern Bolivia and ends up in Uyuni. Where we will grab a bus to La Paz and base probly the next 2 weeks there. Venturing out on a a couple 2 or 3 day trips to some national parks.
We are really excited about the jeep trip and have heard exelent reviews about the company we are using. Hopefully all will go well. Its just under 3 weeks till Jordan and Riley arrive and we are getting more and more excited to see them. Going to be great to see some familiar faces. I imagine things are warming up in Canada now and I hope you are all out enjoying the hopefully nice weather.
Orin
Friday, April 10, 2009
Iguazu Falls
Well im sorry to all for my weak attempt at my previous entry. I realy didnt feel like writing it so it got a little rushed. Just ask me about that part of the trip when you see me and I will tell you all about it. Our layover on Santiago went by prety quick. We got the cheapest meal yet in the food court. It was a little salty but not a bad plate of food. Our bus left arround 10:30 and we were off. I was a little upset that it was a night bus because we were crossing the andes through a very high pass that I wanted to see, but thats not the way it worked out, oh well. We did see a little by moonlight of a big hydro dam and some very very steep roads, but that was about all of it. Again we had a little trouble with our avocatos crossing boarders. Our problem this time is we just couldnt eat them fast enough. So we had to toss two beauties that we had been ripining for a week. Sad day for all. Other than that crossing the boarder was a breeze and we awoke in the Mendoza bus terminal arround 5 in the morning, After hitting 7 hostels with a girl taging along from the bus, we finaly found a room. Of course it was arround 6am, and check in time was 11 so we had some time to kill. So I spent that time sleeping (since I cant seem to on the bus) on 3 bean bag chairs sprawled out across the floor. Good recipe for a sore back. I was awoke by Sage bringing me some breakfast from the kitchen. I quickly wiped the dool from my beard and ate some toast. Sage had already been chatting with an american couple who had come from where we were going so we did a little brain picking then headed to our room.
Later that afternoon we set out for a bit of a walk. We hapened to stumble into a cigar shop that had cards for sale in the window. And actual cards with 52 cards in the deck as apposed to "spanish cards" with 32. So we finaly had cards and we headed to the park to play some games. While playing a some cards Sage spotted a few girls walking by with ice cream. I stare and bikes and Sage stares at ice cream, or mabie it was the girls. Anyway we set out to find some frozen goods for ourselves. We found a nice looking place on the way back to the hostel and had tip top service. This kid was handing out samples of all the special kinds that are not even on the menu yet. And after about 20 minuates of trying flavors and trying to deside between 50 different types we were on our way back to the hostel for dinner. We were a little late by the time we were hungry enough to start thinking about dinner after all that ice cream. And everything was closed so we ended up ordering some pizza, wich arrove in a speedy fasion on the rear of a motorcycle. Luckly we picked a winner from the list and got a pizza that was delicious compared to the other guys at the hostel that were supprised by there entire pizza being covered in a cool layer of shitty ham. That morning we had made plans to hit the town with the two americans. Unfortuanatly they had there passporsts, cash, bank cards and all but one soon to be maxed credit card stolen from the bus station. Right out of her bag while it was on her back! Needless to say they wernt exactly in the mood to party. So Sage and I bought them a litre of beer, sat and drank it with them, then took off with two eatern europeans. Odd few they were.
Out on the main drag of town we sat waiting for a cab, you can usualy see at least three cabs at all times but on this night there were none. The one that finaly stoped, wouldnt allow us in the car and continued to tell us that the taxis were on strike that night. After a little research we learned that someone had shot and killed a taxi driver earlyer that night while robbing him, and that the taxis were not working and had blocked off strees with there cars as a sign of protest. Apparently abuse on taxi drives is quite frequent in Mendoza over the parst few years. We desided that the night was prety much a bust, and as we were heading back to the hostel a man pulled up in a car and asked us were we needed to go. We told him and before we knew it we were off. He was a smart man, whenever the taxis go on strike, he just takes his car out and runs his own little taxi service. Bet he made a bunch of money that night as there were people everywhere trying to get cabs. We got to Villanueva street prety late but there were still alot of people out. We did a loser lap and grabed a table outside of some pub, ordered a torpedo of beer. (big chilled tube that sits on the table and you can pour out your desired amount over the night)
They party a little different in Mendoza than we do in Canada, everyone just kinda sits arround at tables in there little groups and dosent talk to anyone else. So we did just that till we got one of the tool tables and team Canada dominated team Europe. We headed home arround 4am, and the way home worked out even better than the way there. We stoped in a hostel on the street to ask about the cab situation and a guy in there said he was heading that way "ish" and offered us a ride. He had lived in Toronto for 4 years or so and had no trouble helping out his "fellow Canadians".
We lazed about the next day and the following day headed to the big park for a picnick. We spent most of the day by the "lake" (concrete hole in the ground full of dirty water) listening to music and relaxing. When we both had to pee realy bad we disided to move. We headed twards the Carosel, it was realy cool. Looked like it was from the 50's, the horses were all beatup along with the few cars and airplane that also spun arround the big center post. The music at this place was terible, it was so loud that it forced us to leave. We began walking back twards the city when we stubled upon the bigest fountain I have ever seen. We then grabed a cab to the top of the park where there is a huge monument that is on the back of there 5 peco bill. It was huge and sat right on the tip top of the highest mountain in mendoza. It was turning dark by the time we left and headed back to the hostel for some Lord of the Rings. That took us till 5am some how, and now a little pissed that we had become completley nocturnal we luckly were woken by the maid at 10 and had our asses kicked out of bed and onto a bus out twards wine country to do a bike tour. We rented some bike from Mr. Hugo and headed out into the counrty side. First we went to the wine museum, where they run a small winery aswell. It was cool to see all there old wine making equipment from way back. They have some of the first wine making equipment where they would just smash it all up with there feet in a stretched out cow hide. After some sips of there finest we took off south twards the olive farm. Sages eyes lit up when she read that on the list. Little did we know it was a 6 km ride down a stupidly busy road to get there. After a little diesel smoke inhalation we got there and got a quick but informative tour of how they make olive oil. Had an olive oil tasting with bread and sundries tomatos, then had our own lunch under an olive tree. About 20 minuates after we finished eating a lady came out and kicked us off the property and told us that we were not allowed to "picnick" there. We left without struggle and headed north now for Trapiche winery. The map that Mr. Hugo gave us was crap, even the cop on the moped couldnt figure it out. Anyway we ended up riding a few Km's to the middle of nowhere and by the time we got to the winery it was closed. Luckly the chocolate factory was still open so we slid in for a tasting. We were expecting a tour but apparently they dont do that, but they did do tastings. This one was a little wired, they give you a shot of chocolate liquer, a little basket of chocolate then give you 4 spoonfulls of random marmolade with nothing to put it on? We packed up the choclate that we couldnt eat (I didnt realy feel like eating and drinking chocolate after riding a bike for an hour) and headed to return the bikes, when we got there it seemed there was a party hapening, so we stayed for a while, and after falling into conversation with a gal that had a little to much to drink and loved vancouver just a little to much, we bailed.
Our bus to Cordoba left that night at 10:30, It was a prety easy 10 hours that put us there arround 8. We spoke with a couple from the Mendoza hostel that were on the same bus as us and they had said that they had some trouble finding a place to stay in Cordoba. This made Sage and I a little nervous so we disided to call arround a bit first to save some taxi time. Luckly the first place we called had room. Out infront of the "Cordoba Backpackers Hostel" there was a strictly motorcycle parking area. I have never seen this many bikes in one place. There was probly 125 bike all packed in to one side of the street, so tightly infact that you had to walk all the way arround the line to cross the road to where our room was. We only had one night in Cordoba with our bus leaving to Iguazu Falls the next day at noon. We did a little sleeping in the morning to catch up for the terrible sleep had in bus seats. We awoke just in time to catch the tour to Che Guevara's house in the town agacent to Cordoba. Apparently the family moved there because of the clean air since he had very bad asthma. It was prety cool to be in his house. They had alot of artifacts including the old Norton that him and his friend took over the Andes.
It was a 20 hour bus ride to where we are now. The longest trip yet, that actualy wasnt that bad. I got a little cramped up, with my legs falling asleep a few times and getting one realy bad charlie horse. We also were worried about getting a room in Iguazu since its Easter weekend and this place is realy busy apparently. But again we got lucky and the first place we went had room. So today we headed out the the park where the falls are, but not to see the falls. Our hostel manager told us that today is the busyest day of the year to see the falls, but there is a nice walk through the jungle where you may catch some wildlife. We desided this was a great idea, and headed off at about 1. Its a quick half hour bus ride to the park gate. We grabed a map and headed into the jungle. The first ant sighting was terifying. This is the jungle! and as we watched a ant the size of my pinky finger eat a big grasshopper, we realized we might be in for some crazy wildlife. We did see alot of wildlife, more butterflys than you can emagine, in all sorts of colours and sizes, lots of birds with huge tails and way to many spiders the size of my hand. The little jungle hike we were on was supposed to lead us to a smaller waterfall with a swimming hole at the bottom. When we got there we were both a little choked. The waterfall looked like me peeing off the roof, and the pool at the bottom was covered in flying red ants! We quickly ate a sandwich and headed for home. Just as we approched the road, we heard a big russle in the bushes and all of a sudden 15 or so ant eatters came barraling accross the trail noses down and digging up whatever they could find to eat. Luckly they crossed the trail right at a sharp tuen so they had to cross it twice. They were just rippin arround, climbing trees and jumping from tree to tree! They didnt seem to mind Sage and I that much and just continuted mulching everybug they could find. Some were almost the size of Dom with other baby ones that could alomst fit in your hand. All sizes seemed to have tails twice the length of there bodys tho. It was our first real forign wildlife sighting since we got here besides the penguins but that was at a reserve. I still didnt get to see any moneys but hopefully that will come soon. We are going to go back tommorow and catch the big falls, hopefully its a little more impresive than the water we saw today. We are going to be here for 2 more days then we are heading back east to Salta where we can head north to Bolivia.
Later Orin.
Later that afternoon we set out for a bit of a walk. We hapened to stumble into a cigar shop that had cards for sale in the window. And actual cards with 52 cards in the deck as apposed to "spanish cards" with 32. So we finaly had cards and we headed to the park to play some games. While playing a some cards Sage spotted a few girls walking by with ice cream. I stare and bikes and Sage stares at ice cream, or mabie it was the girls. Anyway we set out to find some frozen goods for ourselves. We found a nice looking place on the way back to the hostel and had tip top service. This kid was handing out samples of all the special kinds that are not even on the menu yet. And after about 20 minuates of trying flavors and trying to deside between 50 different types we were on our way back to the hostel for dinner. We were a little late by the time we were hungry enough to start thinking about dinner after all that ice cream. And everything was closed so we ended up ordering some pizza, wich arrove in a speedy fasion on the rear of a motorcycle. Luckly we picked a winner from the list and got a pizza that was delicious compared to the other guys at the hostel that were supprised by there entire pizza being covered in a cool layer of shitty ham. That morning we had made plans to hit the town with the two americans. Unfortuanatly they had there passporsts, cash, bank cards and all but one soon to be maxed credit card stolen from the bus station. Right out of her bag while it was on her back! Needless to say they wernt exactly in the mood to party. So Sage and I bought them a litre of beer, sat and drank it with them, then took off with two eatern europeans. Odd few they were.
Out on the main drag of town we sat waiting for a cab, you can usualy see at least three cabs at all times but on this night there were none. The one that finaly stoped, wouldnt allow us in the car and continued to tell us that the taxis were on strike that night. After a little research we learned that someone had shot and killed a taxi driver earlyer that night while robbing him, and that the taxis were not working and had blocked off strees with there cars as a sign of protest. Apparently abuse on taxi drives is quite frequent in Mendoza over the parst few years. We desided that the night was prety much a bust, and as we were heading back to the hostel a man pulled up in a car and asked us were we needed to go. We told him and before we knew it we were off. He was a smart man, whenever the taxis go on strike, he just takes his car out and runs his own little taxi service. Bet he made a bunch of money that night as there were people everywhere trying to get cabs. We got to Villanueva street prety late but there were still alot of people out. We did a loser lap and grabed a table outside of some pub, ordered a torpedo of beer. (big chilled tube that sits on the table and you can pour out your desired amount over the night)
They party a little different in Mendoza than we do in Canada, everyone just kinda sits arround at tables in there little groups and dosent talk to anyone else. So we did just that till we got one of the tool tables and team Canada dominated team Europe. We headed home arround 4am, and the way home worked out even better than the way there. We stoped in a hostel on the street to ask about the cab situation and a guy in there said he was heading that way "ish" and offered us a ride. He had lived in Toronto for 4 years or so and had no trouble helping out his "fellow Canadians".
We lazed about the next day and the following day headed to the big park for a picnick. We spent most of the day by the "lake" (concrete hole in the ground full of dirty water) listening to music and relaxing. When we both had to pee realy bad we disided to move. We headed twards the Carosel, it was realy cool. Looked like it was from the 50's, the horses were all beatup along with the few cars and airplane that also spun arround the big center post. The music at this place was terible, it was so loud that it forced us to leave. We began walking back twards the city when we stubled upon the bigest fountain I have ever seen. We then grabed a cab to the top of the park where there is a huge monument that is on the back of there 5 peco bill. It was huge and sat right on the tip top of the highest mountain in mendoza. It was turning dark by the time we left and headed back to the hostel for some Lord of the Rings. That took us till 5am some how, and now a little pissed that we had become completley nocturnal we luckly were woken by the maid at 10 and had our asses kicked out of bed and onto a bus out twards wine country to do a bike tour. We rented some bike from Mr. Hugo and headed out into the counrty side. First we went to the wine museum, where they run a small winery aswell. It was cool to see all there old wine making equipment from way back. They have some of the first wine making equipment where they would just smash it all up with there feet in a stretched out cow hide. After some sips of there finest we took off south twards the olive farm. Sages eyes lit up when she read that on the list. Little did we know it was a 6 km ride down a stupidly busy road to get there. After a little diesel smoke inhalation we got there and got a quick but informative tour of how they make olive oil. Had an olive oil tasting with bread and sundries tomatos, then had our own lunch under an olive tree. About 20 minuates after we finished eating a lady came out and kicked us off the property and told us that we were not allowed to "picnick" there. We left without struggle and headed north now for Trapiche winery. The map that Mr. Hugo gave us was crap, even the cop on the moped couldnt figure it out. Anyway we ended up riding a few Km's to the middle of nowhere and by the time we got to the winery it was closed. Luckly the chocolate factory was still open so we slid in for a tasting. We were expecting a tour but apparently they dont do that, but they did do tastings. This one was a little wired, they give you a shot of chocolate liquer, a little basket of chocolate then give you 4 spoonfulls of random marmolade with nothing to put it on? We packed up the choclate that we couldnt eat (I didnt realy feel like eating and drinking chocolate after riding a bike for an hour) and headed to return the bikes, when we got there it seemed there was a party hapening, so we stayed for a while, and after falling into conversation with a gal that had a little to much to drink and loved vancouver just a little to much, we bailed.
Our bus to Cordoba left that night at 10:30, It was a prety easy 10 hours that put us there arround 8. We spoke with a couple from the Mendoza hostel that were on the same bus as us and they had said that they had some trouble finding a place to stay in Cordoba. This made Sage and I a little nervous so we disided to call arround a bit first to save some taxi time. Luckly the first place we called had room. Out infront of the "Cordoba Backpackers Hostel" there was a strictly motorcycle parking area. I have never seen this many bikes in one place. There was probly 125 bike all packed in to one side of the street, so tightly infact that you had to walk all the way arround the line to cross the road to where our room was. We only had one night in Cordoba with our bus leaving to Iguazu Falls the next day at noon. We did a little sleeping in the morning to catch up for the terrible sleep had in bus seats. We awoke just in time to catch the tour to Che Guevara's house in the town agacent to Cordoba. Apparently the family moved there because of the clean air since he had very bad asthma. It was prety cool to be in his house. They had alot of artifacts including the old Norton that him and his friend took over the Andes.
It was a 20 hour bus ride to where we are now. The longest trip yet, that actualy wasnt that bad. I got a little cramped up, with my legs falling asleep a few times and getting one realy bad charlie horse. We also were worried about getting a room in Iguazu since its Easter weekend and this place is realy busy apparently. But again we got lucky and the first place we went had room. So today we headed out the the park where the falls are, but not to see the falls. Our hostel manager told us that today is the busyest day of the year to see the falls, but there is a nice walk through the jungle where you may catch some wildlife. We desided this was a great idea, and headed off at about 1. Its a quick half hour bus ride to the park gate. We grabed a map and headed into the jungle. The first ant sighting was terifying. This is the jungle! and as we watched a ant the size of my pinky finger eat a big grasshopper, we realized we might be in for some crazy wildlife. We did see alot of wildlife, more butterflys than you can emagine, in all sorts of colours and sizes, lots of birds with huge tails and way to many spiders the size of my hand. The little jungle hike we were on was supposed to lead us to a smaller waterfall with a swimming hole at the bottom. When we got there we were both a little choked. The waterfall looked like me peeing off the roof, and the pool at the bottom was covered in flying red ants! We quickly ate a sandwich and headed for home. Just as we approched the road, we heard a big russle in the bushes and all of a sudden 15 or so ant eatters came barraling accross the trail noses down and digging up whatever they could find to eat. Luckly they crossed the trail right at a sharp tuen so they had to cross it twice. They were just rippin arround, climbing trees and jumping from tree to tree! They didnt seem to mind Sage and I that much and just continuted mulching everybug they could find. Some were almost the size of Dom with other baby ones that could alomst fit in your hand. All sizes seemed to have tails twice the length of there bodys tho. It was our first real forign wildlife sighting since we got here besides the penguins but that was at a reserve. I still didnt get to see any moneys but hopefully that will come soon. We are going to go back tommorow and catch the big falls, hopefully its a little more impresive than the water we saw today. We are going to be here for 2 more days then we are heading back east to Salta where we can head north to Bolivia.
Later Orin.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Santiago
The trip to Santiago went alright. Our bus left arround 2pm and the guy we rented our bikes from was "busy" apparently till 4 or so, but we realy neded to catch that bus. So after some running arround trying to use pay phones in this country, we decided to go talk to our campground owner. He was super nice and helped us by calling the guy and arranging that we leave them at the campsite. He even gave us our 10 thousand peco deposit back. (12 dollars) The bus cruised by the campground gate as soon as we got out there, so we jumped on and were on our way. The bus kinda sucked because it stops every few minuates to let people off and pick up more people, normal in a city bus but not a greyhound thats taking us 300 kms.
The minuate we got into Santiago we grabed another 2 hour bus to Valpariso. We got in at arround 10 or 11 and were met by an elderly woman who said she had some rooms in her house. We desided to take a look so she let us the 1/4 block to her house. There was the steepest set of stairs I have ever seen that led up to her place, and probly 100 feet of them. Once we tackled that, we were in. The place was a little cluttered with crap but on the whole prety clean. We asked her for some directions to a good place to grab a meal. The map was a little hazy and we had a little trouble finding the place but after some walking around in what felt like a sketchy city we found it. The windows in the front had the security doors pulled down already and the doors were yellow glass that we couldnt see through but we decided to poke our heads in. The place looked a little empty but we were craving some chinese food so we went for it. As we walked in we got a little more uncomfortable seeing that the place was completley empty. As we were looking at the menu Sage noticed a cockroach crawling on the table......the waitres showed us a different table.......we left quickly. A little turned off of eating at this point we settled for some cockroach free (hopefully) pizza. There were other people in there so we felt a little better about it.
The lady we were staying with, whos name is Sonja didnt have a spare key for us, wich we didnt find out untill after we had paid, but she left us her cell phone number to call her when we were comming back. She did leave us a lock and key for our room so we figured our stuff would atleast be safe even tho we might never get back to it. So after dinner we headed to the bus station to hopefully find her or give her a call. Luckly we found her prety quick cause she didnt seem to answer her cell phone. She led us back to the house while she told us, in terribly fast Chillian spanish (different from the others) that she had locked her keys in her house and had the police on the way to get in. GOD, Sage and I were worried now. Here it was midninght and we are sitting on the street with a crazy lady locked out of the house. She quickly ran off for some reason and told us to wait for the cops. The bottom 2 doors she left unlocked but the top one was the problem, I ran upstairs quickly to examine the door and figured that I could break it in 2 with a swift kick, if things got bad. We desided to call the cops ourselves and headed next door to a closing down shipping company. We spoke with the man and got him to call the police, I realy had no idea what was going on at this point and I figured if this thing wasnt resolved in 5 minuates I was kicking in the door and getting the hell out of here. The guy who called the cops for us came over and gave Sonja his keys, just then the cops showed up and Sonja and an officer went upstairs. While they were up there we asked the guy who gave his keys if this woman was crazy. He said shes very nice and gave us the thumbs up. The key worked somehow and we got in with all our stuff the way we left it. Our nerves cooled a little and we went to bed.
That was definatly some excitment that we didnt want to go through again, so we checked the book found a place and grabed a cab. Both feeling like mabie we should be leaving the city, we were blown away at how much nicer the northern part of the city was. It reminded me of San Fran but a little steeper and the building and roads a little tighter! The hostel was beautiful and gave us top notch service. We took off for a day of wandering arround the city enjoying its crazy architecture. There are few streets, but lots of little pasageways leading arround the city with old elevators on tracks to take you up and down the hills. We took alot of pictures and headed back to the hostel for some sleep. In the morning they had a great breakfast waiting for us, and after we headed for a museum. Im sure Sages blog will tell you more about the museum, but I can tell you it was a poets house, I think, whos name I will never remember.
We are out of Valparasio and killing our 5 hour layover in Santiago to catch the next bus to Mendoza, Argentina. Its about a 6 hour ride over the Andes so it should be exciting.
Orin.
The minuate we got into Santiago we grabed another 2 hour bus to Valpariso. We got in at arround 10 or 11 and were met by an elderly woman who said she had some rooms in her house. We desided to take a look so she let us the 1/4 block to her house. There was the steepest set of stairs I have ever seen that led up to her place, and probly 100 feet of them. Once we tackled that, we were in. The place was a little cluttered with crap but on the whole prety clean. We asked her for some directions to a good place to grab a meal. The map was a little hazy and we had a little trouble finding the place but after some walking around in what felt like a sketchy city we found it. The windows in the front had the security doors pulled down already and the doors were yellow glass that we couldnt see through but we decided to poke our heads in. The place looked a little empty but we were craving some chinese food so we went for it. As we walked in we got a little more uncomfortable seeing that the place was completley empty. As we were looking at the menu Sage noticed a cockroach crawling on the table......the waitres showed us a different table.......we left quickly. A little turned off of eating at this point we settled for some cockroach free (hopefully) pizza. There were other people in there so we felt a little better about it.
The lady we were staying with, whos name is Sonja didnt have a spare key for us, wich we didnt find out untill after we had paid, but she left us her cell phone number to call her when we were comming back. She did leave us a lock and key for our room so we figured our stuff would atleast be safe even tho we might never get back to it. So after dinner we headed to the bus station to hopefully find her or give her a call. Luckly we found her prety quick cause she didnt seem to answer her cell phone. She led us back to the house while she told us, in terribly fast Chillian spanish (different from the others) that she had locked her keys in her house and had the police on the way to get in. GOD, Sage and I were worried now. Here it was midninght and we are sitting on the street with a crazy lady locked out of the house. She quickly ran off for some reason and told us to wait for the cops. The bottom 2 doors she left unlocked but the top one was the problem, I ran upstairs quickly to examine the door and figured that I could break it in 2 with a swift kick, if things got bad. We desided to call the cops ourselves and headed next door to a closing down shipping company. We spoke with the man and got him to call the police, I realy had no idea what was going on at this point and I figured if this thing wasnt resolved in 5 minuates I was kicking in the door and getting the hell out of here. The guy who called the cops for us came over and gave Sonja his keys, just then the cops showed up and Sonja and an officer went upstairs. While they were up there we asked the guy who gave his keys if this woman was crazy. He said shes very nice and gave us the thumbs up. The key worked somehow and we got in with all our stuff the way we left it. Our nerves cooled a little and we went to bed.
That was definatly some excitment that we didnt want to go through again, so we checked the book found a place and grabed a cab. Both feeling like mabie we should be leaving the city, we were blown away at how much nicer the northern part of the city was. It reminded me of San Fran but a little steeper and the building and roads a little tighter! The hostel was beautiful and gave us top notch service. We took off for a day of wandering arround the city enjoying its crazy architecture. There are few streets, but lots of little pasageways leading arround the city with old elevators on tracks to take you up and down the hills. We took alot of pictures and headed back to the hostel for some sleep. In the morning they had a great breakfast waiting for us, and after we headed for a museum. Im sure Sages blog will tell you more about the museum, but I can tell you it was a poets house, I think, whos name I will never remember.
We are out of Valparasio and killing our 5 hour layover in Santiago to catch the next bus to Mendoza, Argentina. Its about a 6 hour ride over the Andes so it should be exciting.
Orin.
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