Party Capital B.A.

Hey Boyzz and Girlzz!

Took a while before I left another update and I almost skipped a whole country, but here is it!

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1) A Tupiza; Last stop in Bolivia and at high altitude

Tupiza was a little (say about 22.000 peeps) town near Uyuni. Took us about 7 hours to get there in a really (and I mean REALLY) crappy busride. I wanted to take the train, but since prices had gone up and it was at 3AM, I decided to take the bus with Lin and Chris. And I regretted that! Half way it stopt for 2 hours (why??) and it took almost 2 times the official time to get in Tupiza and the road was bumpy and dusty. But anyway, Tupiza made up for it! It was quiet, cheap and small and we even had a pool and luxery breakfast included in our hotel. Yes, a hotel, because we needed a bit of luxery and relaxation after Uyuni and some busrides. And what the hack, it was only 10 Boli (=1 euro) more expensive as a hostel. :P Ow yeah, we also met Sara and David from the Galapagos again and we had a fun evening playing Jungle Speed again. :P And we went horse riding the last day. (For the boyzz: it's okay, bu once they go into draf or galop, AAAuwwtch on your *peeep*!)

Unfortunately our last experience in Bolivia was not that good: I got money/dollars stolen from my hotelroom (only 20, but that was about the same amount I spent there in the 4 days we were there!). Grrr...:@ And went we went to the border we bought a busticket on the Bolivian side for about 60 euro including a Cama (bed seat), dinner, breakfast and lunch. But after crossing the border (took 1,5 hours!) they said in the Argentinien office that they didn't have Cama's, only semi-cama (quite comfortable seats, but we paid a lot of money for a bed-seat). We argued for about 30 minutes, demanded our money back, but nothing would do, so in the end we just had to settle for a semi-cama. Bus ride left at 4 (according to the office in Bolivia), but in the end it was at 5.30PM. And instead of arriving at 3PM next day, it became 8PM. And we had 'dinner' (a sandwitch) but breakfast and lunch were nowhere to be seen. So if anybody ever travels in South America and sees the company Flechabus: DON'T TAKE IT!!!

So far the shitty end of Bolivia.

1) B Mendoza; Wines and Bikes

Luckely the hostel were we arrived at in Mendoza had free wine. Although it was terrible.. :P And a lot of our food got stolen/eaten there. But the hostel itself was okay (you could even drink water from the tab :D). And some nice people there as well. On the first day we visited the city of Mendoza, cooked steak for our selves (since everything is expensive again compared to Bolivia, Peru etc) and Linda decided to get wasted. :P I had enough after one glass of wine (didn't drink for about 2 months). And then the next day: rafting! Linda wasn't too happy with that in the morning, but after the 3 hours on the boat, we were quite excited! It was really cool, even though we got soaked. :) And in the evening we were quite tired and went to bed. Next day a wine tour was on the scedule: on a tandem!! :P Funfunfun. With some nice wine tasting, but we also visited a chocolat factory (with chocolat liquer..mmmmm) and an olif oil factory. So that was quite a good day. But we got back really late and still had to cook. After that: bed again! On our last day (we had an evening bus) we didn't do a lot: Internet, lunch in the park and then to Ally and Kirsty (with this last one Lin got drunk on the first night). Kirsty is a cook and she prepared us some Calamaris and fish (2nd lunch :P). And we had some more wine. In the end it was really fun and we didn't wanted to leave (and almost missed our bus :S). Bu at 18.30 we left direction BA. In the bus 2 American missionaries (about 20 years old) which who we had a nice discussing for about 1 or 2 hours. Didn't sleep a lot that night, but in the morning still had a couple of hours. And then: Buenos Aires!

1) C Buenos Aires; Welcome to civilasation again!

Really big (western) city. Our hostel is just 2 weeks open and we're the only ones here. Staff is still 'fresh' and really friendly and still don't know how to run a hostel. :P But delicious breakfast and everything really clean. :D Untill now we saw some bits of the city and we did a free Tango lesson. Yesterday we wanted to go out, but were to tired because we walked around in town last 2 days. We'll gotta go, we go to the park/zoo in 30 min. Ow yeah, fun fact: we might go to Urugay as well, just up and down for 1 or 2 days. :P And then here some great party on monday.

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2) The Route

This was my trip:
- 22/01/09 I flew to Aruba to visit and pick up Linda;
- 03/02/09 We went to Washington DC and visited Mariska;
- 06/02/09 We took take the bus to New York and slept in our first hostel;
- 10/02/09 We had a flight to Orlando and did 2 days Disney World
- 13/02/09 Drove to Miami were we did Miami city and the Keys;
- 17/02/09 Flew to Bogota (Colombia);
- 23/02/09 Cartagena;
- 24/02/09 Santa Marta and la Ciudad Perdida (6 day hike in the jungle);
- 02/03/09 Taganga (rest!);
- 04/03/09 Medillin;
- 05/03/09 Salento (Zona Cafetera, between Perreira and Armenia);
- 08/03/09 We took the bus to Ipiales (border) and left Colombia behind us;
- 09/03/09 Quito;
- 13/03/09 Galapagos (8 day cruise and 2 days on Santa Cruz for diving);
- 22/03/09 Guayaquil;
- 25/03/09 Lima;
- 28/03/09 Huarachina (Sandboarding);
- 29/03/09 Nazca lines;
- 30/03/09 Cuzco;
- 01/04/09 Aguas Calientes, Machu Picchu and Wayna Picchu (hot springs and ruins);
- 04/04/09 Cuzco again;
- 07/04/09 Bustrip to Canyon Country;
- 08/04/09 Cabanaconde and the canyon itself (3 day hike);
- 11/04/09 Arequipa and El Misti vulcano;
- 16/04/09 Puno and Floating Islands;
- 17/04/09 Copacabana and Isla del Sol;
- 20/04/09 La Paz;
- 22/04/09 Uyuni and the Salt Plains;
- 27/04/09 Tupiza for some horse riding;
- 01/05/09 Wine, wine and more wine in Mendoza;
- 06/05/09 Capital B.A.

And then what we/I planned:
- 12/05/09 Direction Brasilian border to the waterfalls in Iguazu;
- 13/05/09 My B-day will be celebrated with the parrots, monkey and cat like of the Pantanal Jungle in Brasil or with the thundering sound of the Iguazu waterfalls;
- 21/05/09 Once out of the jungle, we´ll head back to the coast to the last point of our trip together: party city Rio de Janairo. joanna will also be here.
- 28/05/09 I hope to fly to the states again to visit Joanna in Saint Louis and then ´do´ Chicago at the same time. Might also take a bus to the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas or Holleywood. However, depends on my money and time.
- 10/06/09 I won´t be home for the B-day of Ta, but it will be soon after. This for an operation on my hernie, to work and earn some more money and to relax a bit.

Roughly my trip after North and South America will look like this:
- 07/09 (or 06/09) Australia (working and traveling for almost 1 year, maybe with Katie);
- 05/10 Asia (Indonesia, Philipijnen, Maleisia, Thailand, Vietnam, India, China, Korea and Japan, maybe with Isabel for a while);
- 11/10 Trans-siberian Railway Peking Express through among others Peking (China), Mongolia, Jarkoetsk (Rusland), Onsk (Rusland), Moskou (Rusland) for 18 days (maybe with Robbert);
- 12/10 Home sweet home for Christmas, Wingman back in the Netherlands.

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3) My to do list

In one of the first messages I wrote, I said that you could let me do certain things in exchange for money. Here is the status quo:

- Get (naked) on national tele in the USA: Waiting if were on, being taped for Comedy Central and MTV’s the Fashion Show ~ REWARD: € 100,- by Ruud and Youri;
*** (nearly) ACCOMPLISHED ***
- Find a famous place/square and be a street artist: I forgot my jiggling balls every time I went into Paris or other cities, but I had some audience in Zipaquire and jiggled in the Uyuni salt plains. ~ REWARD: € 100,- by Ruud and Youri;
*** ACCOMPLISHED ***
- Enjoy your trip: I will! ~ REWARD: € 25,- by Hans (Thank you Hans!!)
*** ACCOMPLISHED ***
- Shave your head bold: since my mum shaved me twice I'm almost hairless now. :S ~ REWARD: € 3,50 by Sarah H;
*** ACCOMPLISHED ***
- Come to the Luna-Tik Switch: since I'm in Maastricht now (and bored) and waiting till 10h, I think I'll manage. ~ REWARD: free entrance as per Erik;
*** ACCOMPLISHED ***
- Carry Mickey around the world and take pictures in famous places: I WILL! ~ REWARD: A cool photo collection, as per me!;
- Get married in Las Vegas in an Elvis Suite and stay married for at least 2 months: Linda s not interested ~ REWARD: € 450,- (or 150,- for a short marage) as per Erik;
*** FAILED or not???***
- Carry the hand cups around that I ‘won’ with the Saint Nicolas Surprise: they are still on my back ~ REWARD: ??? told by Jule;
- Collect 2 stickers from every hostel I go to: difficult, since they only have 'visite kaartjes' ~ REWARD: 0,50 euro each as per Erik;
- Gues on what place in the world 2 pics my parents send me have been token: it was around Istanbul, one on the canal between Asia and Europa and one was the Blue Mosque in Istanbull ~ REWARD: 20,- as per dad and mom [Money on my account :D]

Did I forget one, do you want to add one?? Let me know!!
Do you want to add some?? Let me know!!

NOTE!! I’m running out of quests, please give me some more!!!

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4) Games

A little game for all:

Each person that posts, must repeat the sentence 'I will go on holiday and take with me:', repeat the items of previous persons and add one item of his own.

This is where we left of and since nobody played last post, we’ll stop with this one:

*I'll go on holiday and take with me: my backpack (Inge, afblijven!), my hand cups, Inge's prom dress, Mickey Mouse, a snorkel, juggling balls, 1 under pens, a passport, mama's toothbrush, Linda!, a winter jacket, snow boats, my MP3 player, mama’s bracelet, some dollars to buy breakfast, everybody’s notes with the best wishes on them (there actually at my parents Erik) and my lonely planet.

Here’s a new one:

Each post must say a number (in sequence from one till 50). The one who is number 50, will receive a little reward. And there will be a secret number reward as well!

*Failed big time due to lack of cooperation

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Okay, long update this time, next one in Iguazu or else in Brasil. Ciao!

Kisses, lottie love and more from the one and only Wingman aka Ralf and a hug from Mickey!!!!