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Archive for March, 2008

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Photos from the mines…

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

All the fancy pants tourists had amazing cameras down there, and took amazing photos. I unfortunately did not. And I didn’t get to know any of them well enough to steal their photos. Although that’s usually Jenny’s job, so it”s her fault.

These are what I managed;

First, the €1.70 dynamite!
dynamite

The mine from the outside…

mine

[read on]

Posted in Bolivia | 3 Comments »

Mining in Potosi

Wednesday, March 26th, 2008

In Potosi we set off to do what Jenny described as the hardest thing she’s ever done, and it wasn’t far down my list either. Potosi was (supposedly) the richest city in the world at one stage. They have mines and I believe it made them rich, but then the Spanish overworked them. I’m not too sharp on the details but I can tell you that for €1.70 you can buy a stick of dynamite there and blow up whatever you want. It’s not like you’re allowed blow up whatever you want, but it’s about as hard to come by as bread is in Ireland. Some English guys blew up a hostel in southern Bolivia with the dynamite they bought in Potosi. They found out fairly lively that that’s against the law and ended up behind bars until daddy bailed them out.

So with all this talk of dynamite we had to check this out. We met a Bolivian who greeting us with a few words of Irish, the quickest way to charm an Irish person, so we immediately decided he was our man. Both myself and Jenny hope to study International Development so we felt we had to experience what these guys do every day, and we were only looking at the work, they were they guys pushing and pulling tons of stones in the heat, with a severe lack of oxygen. Even outside the mine it was hard to breathe. Potosi is the highest city in the world, if the guide book is to be belived, at 4300 metres (around 13,000 feet).

[read on]

Posted in Bolivia | No Comments »

Bolivia from a Bus

Sunday, March 23rd, 2008
After a few days taking in one of Bolivia's capitals (I’m still confused about that), we left Sucre to head to a place up in the mountains called Potosi. Because I had Jenny with me, our exit from Sucre had ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in Bolivia | No Comments »

Photos from the Amazon

Friday, March 21st, 2008
The promising start; Jenny sets off with her backpack ready to take on the wild. Jenny Jenny before getting acquainted with the mosquitoes: Jennyhappy The balancing act on the raft: raft[Continue reading this entry]

Posted in Bolivia | 35 Comments »

Jungle Fun

Friday, March 21st, 2008
Warning: long entry. You'll get the idea of what I was up to from the photos I'll put up if you want the lazy option.  Top of my ‘to do’ list in South America has always been to visit the Amazon. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in Bolivia | 3 Comments »

Passing through Paraguay.

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
If God loves a trier, the Paraguay has to be one of his favourites. This country may not make world headlines very often, but in 1865 its leader decided it was powerful enough to take on Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in Paraguay | No Comments »

Photos from the Falls

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
Scary harness, nice view. harness Jenny, ready for the fall. Jenny I finally got my elbows in the right position! elbows I was never really going to catch her... Catch[Continue reading this entry]

Posted in Brazil | No Comments »

Iguassu Falls

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
According to just about every book and tourist, the Iguassu Falls have to be seen from the Argentinian side, and not the Brazilian. Apparently the Brazilian side is more expensive and doesn't get you as up close and personal with ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in Brazil | No Comments »