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How do you measure a year?

March 17, 2010 By Jillian

525,600 minutes. How do you measure a year in a life?

Some people said we were crazy. Some people said we were awesome. Some people said we’d be back within 3 months, some people said we’d never return. “It’s my dream to do that” some people said, while others shook their head unable to understand. We just didn’t know what to think, and when we stepped into Mexico last year we were about as prepared as we could have been for a journey that’s impossible to prepare for…

525,600 minutes. How do we describe a year on the road?

There’s the bad: countless nights in nondescript hotel rooms, countless hours in transit on an overcrowded, smelly, sweaty bus, countless times we’ve said no to a hotel tout or aggressive street vendor and the numerous times we have to ask a question to get the “real” answer. And there’s the good: countless heartwarming conversations with locals who welcome us into their homes, invite us for a drink or intercede on our behalf to make sure we get the real price. Countless times we’ve received a genuine smile and hello, been told to enjoy a country, been given a phone number should we need anything or been directed to the right location despite our awful map or poor command of the language. How can we sum up these experiences and tell you what a year on the road is like? It’s incredible, it’s awful, it’s amazing, it’s hard. It’s everything we thought it would be and nothing at all like we expected. We’ve learned that the world is a great big place, and to quote many travelers we meet, the world is “same, same, but different.”

So after a year how do we feel? Are we tired, happy, ready to come home or looking forward to pressing on?

We’re all those emotions and more. Ask us at any moment and you can get any one of a thousand answers. Most importantly though, we’re thankful. Thankful each morning that we’re able to travel and spend such a long time getting to know the rest of the world. Thankful that we’ve made it this far and appreciative of all the experiences- the good, the bad and the ugly, that this trip has given us. Thankful of the people we’ve met and the places we’ve been. Our mantra is the day we wake up and stop appreciating the world around us is the day we decide to go home. Today is not that day and I’m not sure when that day will be. Whenever it is though, we have no regrets. We’re happy that we took this chance, happy that we’ve done this trip, happy with the experiences we’ve had.

525,600 minutes. How can you measure a year in a life?

Country Guide: Bolivia

October 31, 2009 By Jillian

Heading to Bolivia? Here’s our brief guide on what not to miss!

Access: Air – La Paz or santa Cruz. Land – Lake Titicaca (Peru), The Salar and the Atacama (Chile), Amazon and Pantanal (Brazil)

Points of Interest:

Bolivian Amazon – One of the cheapest and easiest points to access the Amazon rain forest. Travel to Rurrenabanque from La Paz via very scary/uncomfortable overnight bus or fly. Cancellations and changes to flight tickets are easy and not costly. Once in Rurrenabanque we recommend the pampas tour as you will have fewer insects and more wildlife, it is also cheaper than the jungle tour. You can book this in town, generally for the following day.

Death Road – At some point you will likely pass through La Paz and the death road is not to be missed. The trip is not much of a mountain bike trip so much as a thrill ride, but it is a lot of fun. Be sure to choose a company with a good safety record and just enjoy your carefree day. Most tours will bring you back to La Paz at the end of the day, in time to catch an overnight bus to Uuyni if you´d like to continue to the salt flats. Here’s our review of Pro Downhill a death road tour operator.

Salt Flats – Easiest to travel to Uyuni from La Paz overnight via bus, booking a tour once you arrive in Uuyni, beginning later that very day. (Busses to points east do not run overnight.) Tours can range from 1-3 days and are generally all inclusive. If the salt flats is all you care to see then a 1 day trip will be fine. Days 2-3 visit other natural landforms (gysers, lakes, mountains, hot springs, etc) of the area and can also take you to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile for free if you choose. Three day trips can also be booked in Chile. When booking a trip it is best to already be in a group of 6 (the number of passengers that fit in the vehicles) as this represents a full tour and guarantees that you´ll get a good price and be able to start when you want. Additionally, be aware that tours here are known for being very “hit and miss” so take care when choosing a tour company.

Spanish Study – Sucre is probably one of the best places in all of Latin America to study spanish. The charm of the city combined with the purchasing power of the dollar or euro make this both cheap and comfortable at the same time. The location is also close to several nearby activities (such as the mines of Potosi) which are worth going to.

Prodownhill (La Paz, Bolivia)

October 5, 2009 By Jillian

Only three months old, Prodownhill has certainly made a name for itself on the South American travelers circuit. Prodownhill came so highly recommended for the death road by several backpackers on their way north through Peru, we didn’t even consider booking the death road with another agency.

Suiting our group of 7 up for the day, the equipment was in excellent shape and clearly taken care of. From the protective moto-cross quality clothing, to the top-quality helmets and pads, it was clear Prodownhill had our safety in mind. Decked out in flash gear, our bikes were tuned and ready to go without a lot of fiddling around. Our guides were friendly and did a great job of keeping us together as a group while allowing people to go down the death road at their own speeds. Stopping the group every 10-15 minutes for a safety stop, our guides were constantly telling us about the next section of road and checking to make sure everyone was having a good time. The seven in our group ranged from an ironman competitor to someone who had never used a mountain biked before and I can say with 100% certainty that everyone felt safe and had a great time on the trip.

Taking lots of video and photos, which they gave us at the end on a CD, the entire Prodownhill staff was attentive, fun and professional. The bikes were in good condition and the protective gear they provided was so significantly more than any other tour operator we saw that we were almost embarrassed knowing that some of those people had paid almost double, for the same death road, what we did! Our experience with them was so incredible I would actually say the death road has been one of my favorite days in all of South America.

A LIST OF THINGS THAT WENT WRONG ON THE DEATH ROAD WITH PRODOWNHILL:

Nobody was killed or otherwise dismembered, deformed, or injured in any way.
We were the sexiest group of bikers out there, everyone else was jealous.
Prodownhill gave us so much food throughout the day that I never got hungry.
The brakes on all of the bikes worked.
Prodownhill kept the office open late and burned the DVD for us that evening.
We paid way less for the death road than probably everyone else out there.
I didn’t have to think or worry about anything.
Prodownhill helped us find a bus for later that evening.
I wasn’t able to buy a cool jersey, instead I was given a free t-shirt and DVD of all our photos and videos.
I only had one free beer to go with my free lunch.
Prodownhill had a movie for us to watch on the 3 hour ride back to La Paz.
On the bike I could go as fast or as slow as I wanted, totally up to me.
Prodownhill gave us a perfect day, for a perfect price. THANK YOU PRODOWNHILL

Sunset Tours (Rurrenabanque, Bolivia)

September 22, 2009 By Jillian

We recently used Sunset Tours for our trip to the Pampas in the Bolivian Amazon. We booked our trip upon our arrival in Rurrenabanque, Bolivia without any hassle at all. Before booking we searched around town and interviewed several other tours. We found the people at sunset to offer a similar trip as much lower prices (although we later heard of others paying the same that we paid at other locations). The biggest positive to booking with sunset was the flexibility they showed us when Jillian was ill on what was supposed to be our first day, allowing us to push our trip back without any problems or fees.

Most importantly though was that everything was as described and we had a great time. The food was all surprisingly excellent given our location far from civiliazation and the lodging was quite comfortable as well. We also felt good about supporting local labor and owners in a new business venture.

The only problems we had were with our transportation. On the first day the car broke down several times and on the final day it was late to pick us up. Additionally, we were told the guide would have an intermediate level of Spanish and while we were OK with the fact that this was not the case, several other non-Spanish speakers were quite disappointed.

Overall we had a great time on our trip to the Pampas, the food was good, the guide was great, and the memories will be forever.

Big Foot Tour Operator (Cusco, Peru)

September 19, 2009 By Jillian

Recommended by our guidebook we booked our Salkantay Trail trek through Big Foot Operators mostly because they were the only ones recommended by the guidebook that got back to our online requests for information. Very responsive to our initial inquiries and questions via email, we realized we were paying more than the normal rate, but expected to have a better experience.

The staff at Big Foot was extremely professional and as we signed the waivers, contracts and paid for the tour, they went over specific details of the trek with us and provided us with a written receipt outlining what was and was not included in the trek. We were sure there would be no surprises on the trek and were under the impression that Big Foot ran the trail tours themselves with their own guides and staff.

Unfortunately we were wrong, they operate only as a middle man, sending their clients off on tours by other operators. This resulted in a number of very disappointing surprises.

On the second morning we were told that boiled water for our water bottles would only be provided at breakfast, not at all meals as the details from Big Foot stated. Walking on average 8 hours a day, this was completely unacceptable to us, especially given that it was written on our documents from Big Foot. Fortunately we had our own water purifier so we were able to fend for ourselves, however this is such a huge health and safety issue at the high altitudes on the Salkantay that we could not just accept it as fact. Then came strike number two. Combined with clients from other travel agencies and tour operators we had paid almost a third more than everyone else in our group. This wouldn’t have bothered us so much if we felt that we were getting what we had paid for, but the value just wasn’t there. From the poor quality of the equipment to waiting almost two hours for lunch, and almost losing people on the trail, time and time again the tour failed to live up to our expectations of quality.

Little surprises continued to pop up and we found ourselves paying out of pocket for not included transportation to the hot springs and having to pay to put our bags on the train from Hidroelectrica to Aguas Calientes and Macchu Picchu. The issue was not the money it was that the additional costs were surprises despite having going through the details very specifically in writing with Big Foot.

We spoke with Big Foot about our quality concerns and the deviations from our contract upon our return in Cusco. Basically because they are a middle man and not a tour operator they couldn’t live up to their contract. After meeting with our group and the guide, Big Foot agreed to refund us part of our tour price, which while our wallets were happy, we were still disappointed that it had to come to a refund. Overall we had a good time on the Salkantay Trail, but despite resolving the situation, they’re unable to promise anything on the tour since they aren’t the operator and thus we cannot recommend them.

How do you measure a year?

Country Guide: Bolivia

Prodownhill (La Paz, Bolivia)

Sunset Tours (Rurrenabanque, Bolivia)

Big Foot Tour Operator (Cusco, Peru)

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