Route 66

                                                                       ROUTE 66


After a quick holiday (from our year long holiday) in Florida and New york we got straight back into the travel life of night buses and cheap accommodation. Our next part of the adventure was Route 66, so after a 12 hour night bus from New York we arrived in our starting location of Chicago. We got there nice and early so got to explore the city all day. It was Father's Day so luckily for us there was a lot going on, from markets to music festivals. Later on that night we found out that Damien Rice was playing in the local park, and since I've loved him for years we found a spot on the grass to drink a few ciders (finally found it yasss) and watched him play.

 


The next morning we finalised our car hire (if you're thinking of doing Route 66 don't leave it to the last minute - it doesn't get cheaper), we were expecting to get a tiny 2 door car but were pleasantly surprised when we got a Nissan Sentra - I don't know anything about cars but it was big and spacious enough for the 3000 mile drive we were about to do.

The salesman suggested that we buy a Route 66 travel guide (apparently it's not wise to wing it completely) so we opted for the Lonely plant version as it was up to date, having only been released a month earlier; we later found out that this would become our bible for next two weeks.

Day 1: Chicago - Springfield, IL. Miles Driven: 300

 We opted to go without a sat nav, and downloaded the Navmii app instead on our iPads. As soon as
we set off in the middle of the city we realised this was a mistake, so what should have been a straight forward drive to the old Route 66 starting point turned into an hour of us driving around, getting lost
in the one way streets of Chicago. Luckily, our travel guide came with a map so I reverted back to life before technology and along with the MapsMe app Chris has on his phone (which couldn't tell us anything more than that we were going in the right direction) and got us out of the city and onto old
Route 66. Our first stop was the Gemini giant, a 28 ft statue of a spaceman, pretty ridiculous.

As it was the first day we were both like excited little children so we made the effort to stop at EVERY Route 66 highlight, passing through the towns of Atlanta and Lincon on our way to Springfeild, IL. the home of Abraham Lincoln. By the time we arrived it was around 11pm, and as usual we hadn't pre booked anywhere. After stopping by a few motels to discover they were either full or over $200 a night (not ideal when you need to budget for a year) we were starting to stress out. We'd purposely avoided a few because they looked like the kind you see in horror films but as we 

were running out of options we decided to give a couple a try. The first one looked like we would be 

killed as soon as we stepped foot into the reception so as soon as we got close enough to notice the toothless woman behind the counter we done a swift u-turn and tried the next one. The next one didn't look too bad from the outside so we paid for a room and went in. We only opened the door and turned the light on before we turned around again and demanded a refund. The room was DISGUSTING. The bed itself was covered in cigarette burns and the whole place smelled like someone had died in it. It was completely unsanitary and there was no way we were staying there. We quickly left and got back into the car, by this point it was after 1am and we were quickly running out of options, so we decided just to go to a rest point and sleep in the car for a few hours. Although it was probably really stupid and unsafe if it was better than sleeping somewhere that would result in burning all of our clothes due to bed bugs or spending over $200 for a few hours. And at least it made us pre book our hotels for the rest of Route 66!

Day 2: Springfeild, IL - St Louis, MO. Miles driven: 120

On the second day the drive to our destination was much shorter so after we had freshened up a bit we didn't mind too much that we didn't get a proper sleep. We paid a visit to the Abraham Lincoln
museum and house before we set off and we even managed to go for lunch at Cozy Dogs, a classic Route 66 diner specialising in corn dogs.

We stopped in a few more towns along the way, getting advice from locals and hearing about all of their old Route 66 stories  before crossing the border into Missouri. By the time we got to St. Louis we were excited to get our hotel and have a well needed hot shower. Due to our fate the night before we decided we needed a bit of luxury so had opted for a hotel with a pool and spa, so spent the night relaxing.

Day 3: St Louis - Springfeild, MO. Miles driven: 240

The next day we got up early and spent the morning exploring St. Louis, but as soon as we saw how much the city had to offer we regretted wasting the night before. We still managed to see the gateway arch and the Laumeier sculpture park before we had to head to Springfield.

The drive was a little longer but Chris had gotten over driving on the other side of the road by this point and I was even getting good at being a human sat nav. We made a stop at the Meramec Caverns, and although it looked pretty cool we decided not go in as we felt like we'd had a big enough of an experience with mines/caves in Bolivia!

Day 4-5: Springfeild, MO - Oklahoma City. Miles driven: 320

After a quick breakfast (of bacon and pancakes obviously) we set off for Kansas, the smallest part of
Route 66! It's only 10 miles of the Route 66 road and most if it is a ghost town, but we still managed to stop and get lunch at the cutest diner and pay a quick visit to the Marsh Rainbow Bridge.

We stopped at a few more towns along the way, including Catoosa, where we made a stop at the 80ft blue whale!

We started to notice that the further west we were going the quieter the towns were getting. Our last stop before OKC was retro Tulsa, we didn't get out of the car but we enjoyed driving through the vintage feel town! By the time we got to OKC it was late so we didn't explore until the next day. In the morning we went to the National Cowboy & Western museum, which is exactly how it sounds! Chris even joined the kids in dressing up like a cowboy...

Later that night we went into the city and there was a beer rally racing competition on, in which people had to drink 4 beers while running a mile, although it was pretty cool we couldn't help but think that if it had been in Scotland it would have been 4 bottles of Buckfast! We also went to a Coyote Ugly bar, and after a couple of beers I got talked into doing a 'draw something blindfolded' competition - which I obviously won and got a Coyote Ugly shot glass to take away!

Day 6: OKC - Amarillo, TX. Miles driven: 270

Our next stop on the route was the mighty Texas! It was a shorter drive so we took our time and made a few more stop offs. Including McLean, a town that literally has nothing apart from a barbed wire museum. Everything in Texas was exactly as we had imagined it to be, from cowboys to ranches to steak houses. We had dinner at the big texan steak ranch, and even though it was over an hour wait it was worth it and the steak was the best we'd had since Argentina!

Day 7: Amarillo - Santa Fe, NM. Miles driven: 350

Before leaving Texas we stopped at the Callidac ranch (basically a field with loads of old cars buried into the ground covered in graffiti), we'd read online that someone takes new spray paint cans to the ranch every morning so that tourists can graffiti the cars and just as we'd read there was a bag full waiting! We both had a field day, spray painting until we felt dizzy from the fumes.

 



After lunch we crossed the border into the next state, New Mexico. This is where the drive turned into long stretches of being the only car in sight - exactly how you'd imagine Route 66 to be - tumble weed and all. We decided to take a detour off of the main route to visit Santa Fe, a beautiful little city known for it's buildings and food. It reminded us a lot of Salta, in Argentina. We tried our first Mexican tacos and explored the city in half a day.

Day 8: Santa Fe - Albuquerque. Miles driven: 70


The next day we headed back towards Route 66, where our next destination was Albuquerque. The drive only took an hour so we arrived pretty early but it didn't seem like there was much to do there. However, since we are big breaking bad fans we decided to go on a self led tour of famous places from the programme. After a steak out at Walter Whites house we stopped off at the car wash before dinner in 'los pollos'. Chris even sat in Walter Whites seat which made him feel pretty big time.

Day 9: Albuquerque - Holbrook, AZ. Miles driven: 350

We got up early the next day as we were headed to Holbrook but wanted to spend the day  at the Petrified Forest. We didn't know much about it before hand but it was basically a 25 mile long national park filled with mini canyons and wood that has over the years turned to stone. We spent the full day driving around the park and doing the treks to the petrified forests off the main roads. By the time we got to Holbrook it was already dark but we made sure we visited the famous wigwam motel before we left.

Day 10: Holbrook - Flagstaff. Miles driven: 130

Our drive the next day was one of the shortest so we stopped in Winslow on the way. There wasn't much to do but we ended up chatting to a local who told us about a beautiful lake named clear creek 20 miles outside of the town which was perfect for swimming in. Ideal, as it was only 10am and already 105 degrees. We ended up spending the full day there so decided to skip the meteor crater on our way to our next destination, flagstaff as it really was just a hole in the ground. We had dinner in a retro diner which was like taking a step back into the 60's.

Day 11: Flagstaff - Grand Canyon. Miles driven: 80

The next day we took another detour from the main route to make the trip to the Grand Canyon. We arrived at around 11am so had the full day to spend there, and ended up not leaving until 10pm! It was amazing and so much bigger than we expected, and although it was unbearably warm during the day, there was a thunder and lightning storm over the canyon at sunset which was pretty incredible.

 Since our tickets lasted for a week we decided to stay in the town next to the park rather than make the 80 mile drive back in the dark and go to it again in the morning.

Day 12: Grand Canyon - Kingman. Miles driven: 180 (280 if you include the mishap)

After breakfast at the Grand Canyon we set off to Kingman, which was around 200 miles away. We stopped at a famous Route 66 spot for lunch, the Snow Cap drive in. I decided to try chilli cheese fries and they didn't disappoint! After lunch we continued down Route 66, stopping off at the small isolated towns to get our Route 66 passport stamped! The roads were getting quieter the more west we went and the towns were getting smaller. At our last stop of the day, around 50 miles from Kingman (and 60 from our lunch spot) we decided to stop at a shop for supplies, only to realise that Chris had lost his wallet - which obviously had all of our money and both of our travel cards and bank cards in. We quickly thought rationally and realised the only place it could have been was at the cafe, and if it wasn't there it had been stolen. We had 80 miles left in the gas tank and a 60 mile drive with no access to money so needless to say none of us spoke the entire way, unsure of what the hell we would do if it wasn't there. But thankfully, there are still honest people out there  and it turned out we had left his Wallet on the table and someone had handed it in (thank you!!) with everything still in it. Phew. The drive back was stress free and we had to laugh about or we would have cried.

Day 13: Kingman - barstow, CA. Miles driven: 250

We were lucky enough to be on Route 66 during July 4th and got to stop in a few little towns on our way to Barstow, where we spent the night. Our first stop was Oatman, a rustic old cowboy town 50 miles of windy roads away from Kingman. They throw an annual egg frying competition on the side walk each 4th of July and the town - which is only about a quarter of a mile long - is mainly inhabited by donkeys. We even got to watch a cowboy style gun fight! We stopped for lunch in one of the Lagoon style restaurants before heading on towards Barstow.

 


We weren't really sure what to expect from the 4th of July celebrations, but we were told by many locals that any small town would beat spending the evening in LA, which was next on our route. There were local live bands playing into the night, beer bars and fireworks. It was more tame than we would have liked but we enjoyed it anyway.

Day 14: Barstow to Santa Monica. Miles driven: 150

It was the last day of Route 66 and we only had a few more places to visit before reaching Santa Monica. First up was Elders place - which is literally a junk yard but weirdly beautiful and artistic.

We also couldn't help but stop at the first ever McDonald's, which is now just a museum so unfortunately we didn't manage to get a Big Mac for 15 cents!

The last leg of the drive was through the busy streets of LA and Santa Monica, and for both of us this was the hardest part of the drive! It was impossible to navigate with just a map and the millions of cars around us compared to isolated roads of the day before became pretty stressful! After taking about an hour to find a parking space (don't go to Santa Monica pier on the weekend of the 4th) we had finally made it to the pier!

3000 miles (about 3500 if you include our many wrong turns) 8 states and 14 days later and we had completed the ultimate bucket list dream of driving the famous Route 66! All without a Sat Nav! We also proved (although I would recommend a little research) it's more fun just to wing it, you'll get there eventually!

Exploring Peru

                                                                       PERU

After the Saltkantay trek we spent a well needed few days chilling in Cusco and exploring the city. On our first night back we went for a farewell dinner with Ryan and Ngara (who we met on the trek) to a beautiful little French restaurant. Every single dish was Instagram worthy and it was the perfect way to celebrate surviving the trek and say goodbye to our new friends.

The next night we met up with another guy, Slobodan, from the trek and Kristina, a girl from his hostel and experienced our first night out in Peru. After trying out a few of the local pubs and bars we decided to head to a club. The nightclubs were all situated around Cusco's main square and as soon as we stepped towards it there was a fluster of PRs trying to get us to go in to the clubs, as annoying as it was it reminded me of Glasgow, which is always nice. We ended up opting for a club called Mumma Africa as we got our first drinks for free. When we got in it was NOTHING like I'd ever seen before. The dance floor was at the front of the club and all of the locals were at the front of the dance floor doing a synchronised dance lead by the DJ. The weirdest thing was all of these people thought they were great (to be fair, it was a pretty good dance) so they were obviously Cusco's answer to townies. This went on for the whole night so after a few more drinks, we decided to join in - because obviously standing at the bar chatting and laughing was weird. The drunker we got  the more we danced around like idiots and we were gutted when the club closed (unfortunately one more tune doesn't work in peru) but obviously we got a MWI McDonald's before going back to the hostel.

The next day, in our hungover state we explored the city a little more (by explore I mean got on a tour bus and got off twice to be sick) before getting a night bus to our next destination, Huacachina. Huacachina is a tiny little town (like half a mile long) in the middle of the desert that people go to for sand boarding and to drive around the dunes in a sand buggy, the only thing there is hotels and restaurants/bars so it really lives off of this tourism. We decided to go for a sand buggy tour in the afternoon so we could watch the sunset over the town. Although it was probably stupidly unsafe we had so much fun as the crazy driver sped around all of the sand dunes. 

After a while we stopped to sand board. As both of us had never done anything like that before we decided to start with the smaller one, which wasn't really that small at all. After a few times we decided to head for the bigger one, which literally just looked like a vertical drop. I was slightly hesitant to do it so I let Chris go first. As he went down I could see him getting faster and faster and I almost had a heart attack when I saw the board flip over and Chris fall into a lump. I honestly thought he was dead for about a minute and made the driver (who really didn't care) drive us down to see if he was ok. Luckily the other people in the buggy who had already gone down raced to help him so by the time I got there he was disorientated and a little battered and bruised but he wasn't dead, so that was good. We'd planned to go out drinking but as Chris had sand in his eyes for the next few hours we decided against it and just went for dinner instead.

Next up was Paracas, a beautiful tiny coastal town on the way to Lima. People call it a poor mans Galapagos because the nearby islands are full of wildlife and the main thing to do there is take a tour to these islands. But we're not really that into birds so we got drunk on the beach and chilled out for a couple of days instead. It was exactly what we needed after constantly being on the move in Bolivia and Peru.

 


Our last stop in South America was Lima. We'd heard mixed reviews about it, with some people raving about it's nightlife and restaurants and others telling us to avoid it like the plague, but as our flight was from there we decided to spend a few days exploring it ourselves - in reality it's a nice place, but it's just full of cats. Everywhere. One park is actually dedicated to cats but they also frequent the nightclubs and bars (not even kidding).

As the champions league final was on while we were there we got to dedicate a day  to watching that and getting drunk (cause I pure love football). The rest of the time we explored the city on a tandem bike (which was hilarious because we were terrible at navigating it) and ate too much of the local food as we were starting to feel gutted about leaving South America!

The Salkantay Trek

                                                        5 Days in the Andes

When we first booked our round the world flights we tried to book an inca trail along with them, but as the number of people allowed on the trek each day is limited we were too late (they tend to sell out 6 months in advance) so we looked into other treks instead. After reading about each trek online we decided to wait until we got to Cusco to book one - this was definitely the right choice because the average price of a trek online is around £350 but in Cusco we managed to haggle a 5 day trek down to 500 soles each (just over £100!!). I was sceptical of the trek at first as it was the only one we had decided against before we left as it's basically 5 days walking through the Andes in stupidly high altitude - not ideal if you're as unfit as I am! But Chris was excited so we decided to go for it (it look ALOT of convincing). The company assured us that we would be fine in trainers because it wasn't rainy season so we didn't bother to rent walking boots (big mistake). On the first day we got picked up at 4am and drove to the starting location, partly by car, partly by truck, resembling a herd of cattle.

After a quick breakfast we headed off into the mountains. The first hour was really hard as it was all uphill and in high altitude, anything is difficult! As I slowly plodded up the hills I definitely thought I'd be the first to demand that they take me back to Cusco - but after the first stop I was determined to at least make it through the first day, and as I wasn't last in our group that motivated me to keep going and stay near the front. The views were unreal and about 4-5 hours later we arrived at base camp. The porters were great, and had already set up our camp by the time we got there! As we arrived earlier than expected we had the option to trek up a mountain near the camp to a lagoon and even though all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and eat an endless supply of Oreos, Chris somehow manged to talk me into it. I was the only girl that went up from our group and that's when I realised how unfit I was compared to everyone else. I literally thought I was going to die the whole way up, but eventually (about an hour after everyone else) I made it to the top.

After admiring the view for a while we headed back down to camp, where we had dinner and the guide told us stories about the Andes - he even mentioned there had been a lot of unexplained activity nearby and UFO sightings (klkl, not like we were camping in the middle of nowhere). After about an hour of freaking out at every noise.

Before we even started the trek we got told that the second day was the hardest as it's a 5-6 hour climb up the mountain to 5000m above sea level, followed by another 6 hours down to the base camp. As it's so hard going they gave us the option to rent a horse to get to the top and most of the girls in the group got one but somehow Chris managed to convince me not to. AGAIN. So we started off (WITHOUT A HORSE) on our 12 hour trek. It was by far the hardest day of my life and the entire way up I found it so hard to breath. Even chewing on coca leaves didn't help. I managed to fall so far behind I ended up climbing most of it with a different group (that's right, Chris wouldn't let me get a horse and then he patched me so I had to walk up alone). When I finally made it to the last stop
 point before the top I was happy to see my group had waited but I was not happy to see Chris. He
instantly realised how raging I was so stayed with me for the last hour of the climb (I know, how nice of him) but after him telling me to hurry up for the third time I decided that I'd had enough and
wanted to go back down but that wasn't an option so I had to keep going. After a while of me hating him for not letting me get a horse and having the nerve to tell me hurry up (I must of split up with him about 5 times) I FINALLY made it to the top. I was greeted by cheers by the rest of the group which was nice but then I realised how long they must have been waiting. Looking back, the view was worth it - but at the time it definitely wasn't.

After a well needed hot lunch cooked by the porters we headed back down towards the base camp. About a million years later we arrived. On the way down we had to cross rivers and lakes so when I took off my soggy Nike Roche runs I was greeted by about 5 blisters. Ouch. The guide had to give me potato surgery on the biggest ones so I'd be ok for the next day. This involved him burning off my blister with a boiling hot potato - yes, it was as sore as it sounds and no - I wasn't ok for the next day.

After another 5am rise I just wanted the trek to be over. But we still had another 20ish miles to go so we had breakfast and left. About half an hour in my blisters got the better of me and I quickly fell behind. Again. Luckily this time I wasn't alone and Ngara, who also had a million blisters was going
at the same pace. By the time we'd got to the first rest point we were so far behind that the rest of the group were half way into the days trek, so our guide told us to head along the river and take the car road. It seemed simple enough, but he didn't tell us that the only way across was via a thin shacky bridge - the kind that snaps when people walk across it in films. We made it across alive, and started to walk towards the base camp. After 3 hours of windy roads and blistering heat we realised that we'd
 lost the guide and didn't have a clue where to go. Eventually we got to a town, but as the guide was nowhere to be seen we assumed that it wasn't the right place and kept going. By this point we had both ran out of water and our blisters were getting worse. We got to a farm about 40 minutes later and looked around for help but instead we were greeted by three vicious stray dogs that came straight for us, we screamed at the top of our lungs until a farmer ran down and batted them away with sticks. By this point we definitely thought we were going to die and had cried in each other's arms about 5 times. After another 10 minutes of walking aimlessly we heard the word 'chicas' being called from a van. It was our guide, finally we were saved. He took us back to the town we had walked past an hour before, where the others had already had lunch (we could have been dead - rude) and had started to wonder where we were. We all had to laugh about what happened, because if we didn't we would have cried (and would probably still be crying now) and we headed to the natural hot springs to relax/shower. As the next day wasn't as hard going as the previous 3 we had a well deserved drink, which turned into many - not the best idea when you need to get up at 5am.

Even though I'm terrified of heights we decided to zip line through the jungle as it cut our 5 hour trek down to 3 and as my blisters were only getting bigger I'd have done anything to do less walking. It was so much fun, well until I got stuck in the middle of the last one, 150 feet above the ground and I was too scared to pull myself to the end so I screamed like a baby until the instructor came and saved me. Chris went upside down on one and got stuck too but obviously he just shrugged it off and pulled himself the rest of the way.

After the zip lines we headed off to the last part of the trek, and 3 hours later we were in the beautiful town at the bottom of Machu Pichu, called Aguas Caliantes, WE MADE IT!! Thankfully, we had
hostels booked so we didn't have to camp again and we even got to have a hot shower! After freshing up we explored the town and went for a meal with the rest of the group, but as we had to get up at 4am to catch the bus up to Machu Picchu we went to bed at around 9pm.

The early rise was worth it, and even the past four days seemed worthwhile when we finally reached Machu Picchu. It's been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember and I knew it would be good but it was far better than I expected. When you see it in photos it always looks pretty small, but when your walking through the small city the size of the buildings are so huge it's overpowering. Our guide walked us around, telling us stories about the incas while we all listened in awe. After a couple of
hours we said a few emotional goodbyes (you really bond with people when you think you might die together) to our guide and the rest of the group and headed off to explore the rest of Machu Picchu. As me and Chris had got SUCH a good deal with the trek, we had to walk 3 hours back to the last town to get a mini bus back to Cusco (great). So after a couple of hours taking photos and walking around we set off to the bus. We literally had no energy left so barely spoke to each other the full way. We got there a little early, and spent the next half an hour watching as each bus driver called out who was on his bus from the sea of broken bodies. It got to the last couple of buses before we realised our company was a pile of shit and we definitely didn't have a bus. But thankfully, after our pleads one of the drivers felt sorry for us and let us on. The trek was over and we were on our way back to Cusco!

The Floating Islands - Puno, Peru.

The Floating Islands - Puno, Peru 

After few days in La Paz after the jungle, we decided to head to Peru - detouring through Lake Titicaca on our way. We spent a night in the Bolvian side of the lake, Copacabana, where most people visit Isla de Sol - which locals believe to be the birth place of the sun - but after a month of beautiful landscapes we had kind of had enough and just wanted to chill (plus it pretty much just looked like every island in Scotland), so we got drunk instead.

The next morning we got the bus to the Peruvian side of the lake - which was a bit of a nightmare to say the least. When you enter Bolivia they give you an entry card, but they at no point tell you to keep it (...well maybe they do but at that point our spanish was very limited), so I didn't. I got a 50 boliviano fine (about £5) which wasn't too much of a big deal but as we were heading to Peru, we had no Bolivianos left and the closest ATM was about 20 miles away. So my options were limited to either making the long trip to the temperamental bank machine in the tiny town or stay in Bolivia forever. Just as we were about to get the taxi Chris found us$5 in his bag (hallelujah) so they took that but we were still a few bolivianos short so they STILL wouldn't let me leave! Luckily a guy from our bus heard the drama (obviously I was being a bit over dramatic) and lent us the last few bolivianos we needed. After some glares from a lot of people for holding up the queue we were finally in Peru! 

We got back on the bus and headed for Puno where we went on a tour of the floating islands, which are tiny islands built by straw on Lake Titicaca . There's about 70 of them and they are all similar in size (about half the size of a football pitch) and each island holds around 6 families. 

Life on the islands seemed very fair and each island takes a turn to host the tourists, so that the income is equal. Any money made is then devised evenly by each family on the island, regardless of who gives a tour. However, the tourist industry is where the majority of there income comes from so we felt pressured into buying souvenirs and taking a boat taxi ride to the other islands.

Aside from them being a tourist trap, it was so interesting to learn about the history and culture and it was surreal to see how the people of the islands lived (no wifi, ever!). After a quick dress up in the traditional clothes worn by the people of the islands we headed back to Puno. We killed a few hours in the local bars with people we'd met on the tour while we waited for a night bus to Cusco.

Welcome to the jungle.

                                                     Welcome to the jungle. Literally.

After a couple of days in La Paz we decided to have a break from the high altitude/cold weather and head to Rurrenabaque, AKA, the jungle (just a short 20 hour bus journey away through the bumpy mountains). The bus from Salta was first class in comparison so I'm sure you can imagine how fun this was. Did I mention it takes 20 hours? And part of the route is death road? Imagine the M8, in the fog/clouds, on a crowded bus and the road being only 3 meters wide; On one side there's an eroding mountain and on the other a cliff that goes so far down you can't even see the bottom. I can now see why the locals pray before taking this trip!

10 hours in to the journey, we stopped in a small town in the middle of nowhere with very little in the way of electricity - on the way up to it, it kind of reminded me of night time at T in the park as if I was standing at the entrance looking up towards the campsite. After some brief summer nostalgia I got bumped straight back into reality when we were made to get off the bus while the driver had a break. There were no toilets on the bus so it was a good chance to do a quick pee before the last half of the trip. Since we'd been in Bolivia for a while by this point, I was pretty much used to bad toilets, so without hesitation I paid my 1 boliviano (about 10p) and went in... But OH. MY. GOD. This was the worst toilet I'd ever seen and I couldn't even bring myself to squat over the bowl; This town was NOTHING like T in the park and I was glad to get back on to the bus - even if it did mean holding in a pee for another 10 hours!

The journey seemed to get worse and worse, it was too bumpy to sleep and every so often we had to reverse in order to get to a part of the road wide enough to let oncoming traffic squeeze by. I was pretty sure we were going to die. But luckily, after what felt like forever, we arrived in Rurrenabaque.

We decided to go for a Pampas tour which is basically sailing through the jungle rivers on a motorised canoe. So the next day we headed to the treks tour office to meet the others in our group and get a 4X4 to the boat. It wasn't that much of a shock that it was missing a window and the seats were covered in dust, and after 3 hours of bumpy roads we arrived at the boat and sailed to our lodge. The lodge reminded me a lot of summer camp, only surrounded by swamps populated by snakes and the odd caiman.

On the first night we sailed to a communal area for all of the tours/lodges throughout the jungle and watched the sun set with a beer (I've resorted to beer due to the lack of rose wine in South America) which was great, well at least until the sun went down and swarms of Miskitos came from all directions. So. Many. Bites.

The second day got off to a shaky start when I woke up with a frog beside my head (how did it even
get through the Miskito net!??) and decided I hated the jungle and wanted to go back to La Paz. But after a breakfast of pancakes and all the fruit my heart desired, I was ready for day 2 in the jungle. We
went anaconda hunting in the swamps, but as the guide had pre warned us about the rattle snakes around us and to be careful because he had no ant-venom, as soon as I heard a rattle (ok, it was probably a cricket) I ran straight out of there. Luckily, our group didn't find any anacondas so I didn't feel too bad that Chris had felt obliged to follow me out. Our guide was really good though, and went back in to find one and brought it out for us to see. I even managed to pluck up enough courage to hold it!

In the afternoon we went piraña fishing, which was scary because every time anyone moved the boat would tip and falling into a river full of piranhas was hardly my ideal afternoon. Luckily, we didn't capsize (despite the boys in groups best efforts) and Chris even managed to catch some! We had them for dinner, and they were surprisingly really nice.

By the third day we were used to life in the jungle, and spent the morning swimming with pink river dolphins, which was a really surreal experience. Although, we did feel slightly uneasy as we were swimming in the same spot that we had went caiman hunting the night before!  After swimming, we chilled out in the hammock area of the lodge for a few hours before the 3 hour boat ride back through the Pampas to reality/another brush with death on the return bus to La Paz...