Tag Archives: bolivia

“Do You Speak English?” – A Guilty Convenience

1 Comment

Despite growing up in a town of 1000, I was never a kid who dreamt of running away to join the circus. That was probably as much about Jamestown not exactly being stop one on the circus route as anything else. Might’ve been keener if I’d seen just one fucking lion sitting on a stool.

But while lion stoolage is one thing, I didn’t see myself sailing the seas, climbing mountains or hacking through the jungle either. Cheers world, but Jamestown has a creek, a hill AND a forest. Yep, for the first 17 years of his life this little fishy was pretty content with his little patch of Mid North South Australian earth.

But just as many grow out of that running away to join the circus dream, I’ve grown right on into it.

Continue reading “Do You Speak English?” – A Guilty Convenience →

The Best of South America: Fishy’s Favourites

Leave a comment

So we’re back at home base. Settled in to little old Adelaide, South Australia, as if nothing ever happened. And judging by the state of affairs that we have come back to, nothing has.

Adelaide, consistency is both your blessing and your curse.

‘So what did you like best?’ – an understandable question, but one that I’ve had to repeat the answer of about 38 times now. So to shut you guys up, I thought I’d throw down what I felt were the very best bits of South America through this funky guy’s junky eyes.

Continue reading The Best of South America: Fishy’s Favourites →

That Won’t Stop The Roast – Our Festive Season in Bolivia and Chile

2 Comments

We had an eventful and adventurous Christmas and New Years spent with wonderful friends in some pretty incredible places. I’m going to let the pictures do most of the talking with this one…
Continue reading That Won’t Stop The Roast – Our Festive Season in Bolivia and Chile →

A Miner Detour to Potosi

Leave a comment

I like small dark spaces. Sometimes I get told I look like a hot mole so I suppose I’m just playing to script. When I was a kid I used to crawl head first down the end of a sleeping bag and try to do a tumble turn at the end to get back out. Kids are idiots, I was no exception. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU REFUSE TO BUY A NINTENDO MUM.

This did however put me in good stead when we arrived in the Bolivian city of Potosi, a town of about 130,000 that is where it is because there’s a big-arse hill next-door. This big-arse hill is choc full of silver and zinc, which have what economists call ‘value’. People dig the stuff out of the hill in order to make money, and these people are referred to as ‘hill-diggy-sorts’ or ‘miners’.

Continue reading A Miner Detour to Potosi →

Let’s Go Down To The Cemetery – Bolivian Cemeteries

1 Comment

I love cemeteries. I don’t know why – I’m not particularly spiritual or morbid or fascinated by death. But I just love cemeteries, especially when travelling. I love the insight into local culture and history that they can provide, and they’re often just beautiful, peaceful places to spend time.

Continue reading Let’s Go Down To The Cemetery – Bolivian Cemeteries →

The Shit Hiker’s Guide to Maragua

2 Comments

I don’t know if you picked it up from our constant harping about it friends, but we totally friggin’ nailed the Inka Trail earlier this trip. Hiked the LIVING SHIT out of it. The Inka Trail was a bit of roadside trash and we were a Clean Up Australia crew, in that It was disposed of. It’s hard not to be cocky when you’re that good at hiking. SURE, it may seem to some like you’re just putting one foot in front of the other, but to us seasoned pros, statements like that smack of someone telling a brain surgeon that ‘you just cut open the noggin and have a dick around’.

Continue reading The Shit Hiker’s Guide to Maragua →

Getting Older But Not Much Better – My Bolivian Birthday

Leave a comment

It was my birthday on the weekend and it was MOMENTOUS. It’s been all about surprises and friends – two of my favourite things in life – and the fact that it has been a week-long extravaganza has been perfect for this self-centred egotist.

The Surprise Party

Continue reading Getting Older But Not Much Better – My Bolivian Birthday →

Dogs Are Everywhere – Dogs of Sucre, Bolivia

Leave a comment

One of the things I find most charming about Sucre, as a dog lover, is the dogs. There are lots of “wild” dogs which roam the street but they are the furthest thing from wild you can imagine. The people of Sucre have such a lovely relationship with these dogs – everyone does a little bit to look after them. The dogs don’t have owners but in reality they are community dogs.

Continue reading Dogs Are Everywhere – Dogs of Sucre, Bolivia →

Such A Lovely Place… But You Can Never Leave! (Sucre, Bolivia)

Leave a comment

We haven’t really posted any updates on our travels in the last month because, to be honest, we’ve not actually been travelling! We’ve inadvertently found ourselves living in Sucre, Bolivia…

Continue reading Such A Lovely Place… But You Can Never Leave! (Sucre, Bolivia) →

Not Talking The Talk

1 Comment

So we’re currently most of the way through a 5 week stay in Sucre, Bolivia, doing our level headed best to nut out Español. We’ve been wandering through South America for over two and a half months now, and my lack of Spanish is giving me a firm rogering. English speakers are, by and large, lazy fuckers. And we are because we can be. Between Europeans, North Americans, Kiwis and Aussies, the backpacker set is almost entirely made up of fluent English speakers. If you don’t have to bother, why would you?

Continue reading Not Talking The Talk →