Travel insight: Poor safety in Latin America

To start off, there is no such thing as "poor safety in Latin America" - discussing such topic would make completely no sense. Why? 

First of all, as in any other part of the world, vast majority of problems are to a large extent very local. Problems are usually connected to specific parts of larger cities (and usually at night) or - much less frequently - to troubled regions with long-term political disputes. Talking about safety of a continent thus makes no sense. When there is shooting in Guayaquil, Ecuador or a deadly disease in the valleys of Colombia, it does not mean that there are shootings all over Ecuador and everybody in Colombia is dying. Natural logic, however not that many people seem to follow.

Second of all, many problems are extremely publicized. People in the West do not want to hear that there was a successful cow breed in the mountains of Bolivia this year or a feastful parade in Cuzco, Peru. People prefer to read that 50 people died of earthquake in coastal Chile or that there had been unrest connected with elections in Venezuela. Again, very natural, however when people continue to read only such news (and there is a large lack of other types of news in Western mainstream media) they soon - sometimes inconsciously - come to the conclusion that "just bad stuff is happening there". It is not that "there is just bad stuff happening there" - it is too much writing about catchy (and often unimportant and/or highly political) topics and lack of publicity of the "good stuff" that causes incredible damage to public image of many developing countries.

Bearing in mind local nature of many problems and their ridiculous publicity, here are few tips for safer travel anywhere. After all, travelling safe in Latin America is about decreasing the (already low) probability of problems as travelling anywhere else.

• Do not get paranoid and use common sense. This is not Hollywood movie. The probability of you being mugged by a bloodthirsty bandit is the same as you being consequently rescued by Chuck Norris or Steven Saegal.
• Observe, do like the locals do and follow their advice. Different country means different rules. If you are walking at night in a neighborhood and do not meet anybody what so ever, there is probably a reason why people don't go there. Also, when you are the only one not wearing your backpack on your chest, do not be surprised if you find it empty. You name it. It makes lives of everybody much easier if foreigners stick to what local people consider "normal". 
• Minimize your "visual net worth" and watch your stuff. If you walk around with a $500+ camera or dressed in latest fashion, you have probably moved couple of dozens places up in local competition for being mugged.
• Know the current situation, not the rumors or history. Large majority of developing countries dealt with their most painful issues until the 1990's. That means that for 10-20 years, those countries are battling common social and economic problems, rather than shooting rebels in their cities.
• Be constructively critical to the bad stories you hear from other people. As it happens with all rumors, they get bigger and more serious while passing from one person to another. Furthermore, majority of those "victims" broke at least one of the rules mentioned here. Plus, how many people will say "I made a mistake, I was dumb" and how many will rather come up with outrageous stories about what happened to them?

Thanks to following rules above, nothing happened to the Maya crew during the whole three months. Even if you stick to all the rules and still get in trouble, be ready for it. It can happen anywhere. Carry little money and valuables on you and back up your photos often. In case of a robbery, follow general wisdom and just hand over everything peacefully. Those people - no matter how despicable their behavior is - are usually trying to make their living and are not up for a killing spree.

May the Maya be with you! :)

Tranquillo. Stay alert, but take it easy.

Embrace this wonderful region to the fullest.

Peru IV (September 15th - September 20th)

It took only two more hours from the borders to reach Puno, tourist hub at Peruvian side of lake Titicaca. During the afternoon the adventurers managed to arrange a two-day boat trip to floating islands on lake Titicaca and even explore the city a little bit.

A sheep guarding private property in Puno

Although the boat trip looked quite overcrowded at the beginning as there was more than 20 people in the group, the explorers experienced pretty nice and relaxing moments in the upcoming two days. The first morning was spent on a boat visiting Uros floating islands - couple dozen of islands completely made of totora, straw-like plant growing abundantly around the lake. A few centuries ago, those islands were originally used by local people as a hideout from aggressive Inca expansion. Nowadays, they are mostly just a tourist attraction although they still have several hundred permanent inhabitants. It wasn't that much authentic experience, but it was still impressive and funny at the same time to walk on a soft surface knowing there is water just one meter below your feet.

Islas Flotantes de Uros

Local girl playing with a bucket

Nets for keeping caught fish fresh

Inhabitants of floating islands

Following several long hours of sailing were spent on the top of the boat sharing stories and insights with other travellers from the Czech Republic, Karel and Hanka. In the early afternoon, they finally reached Isla Amantaní, where local families were ready to provide them basic food and accommodation until the next morning. Walking around the island was quite peaceful, but the views including the sunset couldn't compare to the ones already seen on Isla del Sol on the Bolivian side of the lake. However, the real highlight of the day was an evening party in ponchos. It was theatrical, ridiculously touristic and too organized, but still funny to be forced to dance with old local ladies and trying to copy their furious rhythm.

Farmer coming back from work on Amantaní

Enjoying lunch in local village

Poncho party :)

El Fredovito and Miguel Hudeiro in a candlelight

There was just one more stop on the way back during the last day of the trip - Isla Taquile. Dwellings and overall level of development didn't look so ingenious as the previous day, but it was a dressing culture that made this community famous enough to become a UNESCO sight; namely their tradition to wear colorful hats and other clothing accessories to show whether you are single, married or belong to a local authority. And they really wear them publicly all the time! Check the picture to get a glimpse of how majestic the local authorities look like.

Guide showing a hat of political authority (on the left) and local authority (on the right)

Adventurers at famous stone arc at Isla Taquile

Fishing boat on lake Titicaca

Back in Puno, university celebrations filled the streets with music, colors and comical dresses. After enjoying the atmosphere and buying few more souvenirs, the adventurers soon went to bed to be ready for an early morning bus to Arequipa.

University celebrations in Puno

There were only a few hours available for sightseeing in Arequipa. This city made of white volcanic stone offered mainly beautiful architectural highlights. The expeditionists found enough time to admire the main cathedral from inside accompanied by an always giggling female teen guide and walk a little bit around plazas and white streets. Afterwards, they had to go to a bus station to catch an overnight bus to Lima.

Plaza de Bolivar in Arequipa

Inside the cathedral in Arequipa

The program in Peru's capital Lima was rather relaxed, including a walk around several plazas in colonial style, Museum of Inquisition, catacombs and a visit of local cinema, watching Resident Evil 4.

Vivid example of inquisition practises

The next day the slow relaxing pace continued. The expeditionists arranged a few urgent matters on the internet and then enjoyed long awaited KFC feast that consisted of 18 pieces of chicken, 12 chicken nuggets, 8 hot wings, 8 hot shots, 8 bags of french fries, 2 salads, 4 Pepsi Colas, 3 apple pies and 3 ice shakes in total! Although fighting bravely, the adventurers stomachs couldn't manage to process it all at one time, so they had to take a couple of wings as a snack to the airport, where they took a flight to Caracas, Venezuela with an overnight stop in Bogotá, Colombia. Only one last week until the end of the trip!

May the Maya be with you! :)

Don Madonarra and El Fredovito at KFC feast

Bolivia II (September 9th - September 14th)

While the first half of time spent in Bolivia was dedicated to natural wonders and rural parts, second part was focused rather on towns and more developed part of the country.

After an overnight bus ride from Tupiza, the crew arrived to Potosí, the world's highest city (4.090 m) and UNESCO Heritage site. Visit to the (in)famous silver mines was definitely one of the strongest experiences of the entire expedition. The mines were opened in the colonial period and are still fully operational, despite the dramatic decrease of silver content ratio from 80% (in the 16th century) to mere 2% (today). It is assumed that 8 milion indigenous people and African slaves died here under the harsh working conditions. Unlike the amount of extracted silver, the working conditions have not changed much - the miners are heavilly exposed to poisonous sulfur and cyanide fumes, temperatures ranging from around 0 to up to 40 °C, and dangerous working environment itself (ran-away 2-tones trolleys, leaking gas pipes, 500 dynamite detonations daily). It was exceptionally interesting to spend 3 hours inside the mines, however, the toll was taken in upcoming days when the expeditioners suffered from severe digestion problems caused by the poisonous gases. Visit to the mines is definitely not to be regretted, though.

Rural settlement on the way from Tupiza

Breakfast at one of local market "comedors" in Potosí

Outside of the Potosí mines

Miguel Hudeiro tasting the hard work inside the mines

Don Madonarra crawling through narrow tunnel inside the mines

Conditions inside the mines are truly inhuman and outrageous

(this guy is around 16 years old, working in the mines for 3 years already - will last ca. 5-10 more years, then will very probably die of pneumonia as all other miners )

Next stop was Sucre, the constitutional capital of the country (no, the official capital is not La Paz) and also UNESCO Heritage site. Miguel was still struggling with the Potosí disease, therefore Don Madonarra and El Fredovito had to explore the town on their own. They enjoyed a pleasant afternoon in this whitewashed city, visited all main historical sights and Cal Orcko - cement quarry and a dinosaur museum boasting huge ancient wall with hundreds of different original dinosaur tracks.

Don Madonarra with hundreds of dinosaur tracks behind him

Dinosaur museum - rather random Bolivian sight

Museum of indigenous cultures in Sucre

Another night bus took them to Oruro. While Don Madonarra went down with the Potosí poisoning as well, El Fredovito had to explore this town alone (note that El Fredovito survived the purgatory of Potosí because he did not go inside the mines). Since no major sights were available, he spent a few hours talking with semi-drunk local guy in a park and then visited nearby Obrajes hot springs for a nice but noisy soak.

Fruit vendor in Oruro's market

Children after school in their typical "Harry Potter" dresses

Last urban stop was La Paz, the de facto capital crouching below snowy Mt. Illamani (6.402 m). La Paz is a metropolis of many faces - from smelly traditional markets and third-world dwellings to impressive top class business centers and skyscrapers, all to be seen there not too far away from each other. Especially memorable was seeing ridiculously embarassing performance of clown called "Trapito" (really well-fitting name, needless to say) and a large street parade (might have been a coincidence, but the crew never saw as many street parades as in Bolivia).

Preacher in front of Palacio Presidencial in La Paz

Embarassing performance of clown "Trapito"

(note that "trapito" is a derivative of Czech "trapný", meaning embarassing :)...)

Breathtaking street parade

Crocodile eating local kids, with modern La Paz in background

The adventurers left La Paz the other day after lunch to continue to Copacabana, small town at the shore of lake Titicaca, where they enjoyed beautiful sunset and spent a night. Program of the following day was a scenic half-day hike around the lake to Yampupata, a tiny settlement where a boat to nearby island Isla del Sol was boarded. After fixing probable the best accomodation of the whole expedition (a small cabin with astonishing lake views for $2 per person), they spent the afternoon walking around the island and went to bed, to wake up early for a lovely sunrise and take a morning boat back to Copacabana. Very last stop in Bolivia was the Yunguyo-Kasani border crossing back to Peru.

Majestic sunset in Copacabana

Some cultural differences along the hike to Yampupata

Enjoying the lake Titicaca sail

Observing sunrise at Isla del Sol

May the Maya be with you! :)

Travel insight: On reliability of Bolivia

Two important things not mentioned in the first Bolivian post happened before leaving Tupiza.

First was Miguel Hudeiro's visit of local dentist (note that Tupiza is remote Bolivian village). After struggling with heavy pain despite strong (and not particularly healthy) pain killers for more than a week, decision to risk an operation by Bolivian dentist was made. In spite of some comical moments (such as spitting blood into a bucket of water or rather symbolic desinfection using dish detergent), the operation of Miguel's gums went very well and costed around $4.

Second event was recovery of El Fredovito's headlight that he forgot in hostel in San Pedro de Atacama (Chile). This recovery was rather a miracle: El Fredovito realized in the middle of mountains already in Bolivia that he forgot it. He asked random Bolivian jeep driver to visit his hostel in San Pedro (Chile) and pass the headlight with another jeep driver to Uyuni (Bolivia) - this journey takes 3 days in a jeep. The situation got even more complicated, since the expeditionists had to leave Uyuni before the headlight could have even arrived and therefore had to be forwarded to Tupiza. All in all, the flashlight had to go through 6 random people (any of them could have easily stolen it), cross borders and travel around 1.000 km to get back to El Fredovito. Way to go Bolivia!

May the Maya be with you! :)

 Miguel Hudeiro during operation in Tupiza

 Miguel Hudeiro after the operation, feeling much better

El Fredovito and his recovered headlight

Travel insight: Money market

Functioning of the money market in countries visited during Expedition Maya has been really an adventure.

Let's summarize few main observations regarding this matter:

• Total lack of small bank notes of any kind. It is rather a miracle if you pay in a shop with a small note (say of equivalent of less than $5, not more!) and the owner has change readily available. Common sight is the owner getting out of his store and running inside and out of myriad nearby shops in the hope of finding some change, usually with poor luck. Reason why is still unknown.
• Supply of solely large currency denominations from the banks and exchange offices. In addition to total unavailability of small denominations, anytime you exchange money or get money from the bank or the ATM, you are left with bank notes of equivalent of at least $20-50. Such denominations, surprisingly enough, are accepted by hardly anybody on the street, leaving you in rather ironic situation.
• Poor physical state of local bank notes. With a few exceptions, local currency is handled in quite poor manner (in comparison to "western standards"). Wallets are literally non-existent and people tend to store they notes on a variety of (sometimes unheard) places, causing notes to be torn, badly creased, dirty, greasy etc., with some notes being advanced to personal notepads. With respect to that, daily money transactions turn into neverending game, with everybody trying to get rid of the rubbish notes and not accept any in return. (similar to the Czech card game "Black Peter")
• Obsession with quality of foreign currency notes. Although local notes are often in rather poor shape (as described above), locals are obsessed with quality of foreign currency exchanged in banks or other offices, expecting such notes to be almost freshly printed. Any minimal defect such as stain or tiny tear results into refusal of such note. (then, of course, local currency in rubbish state is expended in return, with a great deal of surprise and disagreement when those notes are not accepted by the client)
• Low withdrawal limits in ATMs. There are very little ATMs that expend equivalent of more than $200-300 at once. This gets truly inconvenient, taking into account costs of such transaction and the fact that such amount of money is sufficient for 10-15 days in most countries.

Feel free to comment! More observations to come soon.

May the Maya be with you! :)

Bolivian currency, so far connected with the most adventures :)

Bolivia I (September 3rd - September 8th)

Having woken up into another sunny morning, the expeditionists set off for a trip to Salar de Uyuni. The trip was an absolute highlight of the whole expedition so far: three days in a jeep through unbelievably beautiful and diverse Reserva Nacional Eduardo Avaroa, with majority of the ride being in altitude of 4.000-5.000 metres and night temperatures dropping down to -20 degrees.

After crossing to Bolivia through remote, windy and terribly cold border post, agenda of the first day was Laguna Blanca and Laguna Colorada (white and red lagoons; with colors reflecting various minerals or algae inside), several impressive hue-colored mountain formations and deserts, hot springs (nothing feels better than soaking in hot water when it is freezing outside) and last but not least the Sol de Mañana, geysers and steaming and bursting mud lakes. First night was spent in a basic camp near Laguna Colorada, fortunately with enough blankets to fight the walls-penetrating frost.

In front of Laguna Blanca

Don Madonarra and "The mountain of seven colors"

El Fredovito inside of hot springs

Jeep of the expeditioners behind the geyers of Sol de Mañana

Day two consisted of more lagoons (most notable was one of Lagunas Altiplanicas with hundreds of pink flamengos) and rock formations, but it was definitely no less interesting or exciting than the first; diversity and beauty of Reserva Nacional Eduardo Avaroa is literally breath-taking. Second evening was finished with a pleasant dinner and a glass of wine (although not really recommended in such altitude) in a stylish salt hotel in a small settlement of San Juan.

Walking around impressive rock formations

Checking out picturesque lagoons

Don Madonarra observing alien dung

Atmosphere of the salt hotel

Day three started early (around 4 a.m.) in order to catch sunrise at the nearby Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat. After enjoying this enormous salt reservoir, the ride continued to Isla de los Pescadores - an island which further underlined and empasized the uniqueness and beauty of the Salar. After visiting last stop, the cemetary of trains, the crew deboarded their jeep in Uyuni - a small village that rather shocked them by its overall underdevelopment - and spent a night there.

The whole jeep expedition

(including local driver Paul and Ali, tourist from Turkey)

The magnificent Salar de Uyuni in morning light

Riding a train in cemetary of trains near Uyuni

Don Madonarra during his daily weight-lifting session

The following day, after freezing and bumping on an unpaved road for a few hours in a bus (welcome to Bolivia, the poorest country of Latin America), the adventurers arived to Tupiza. If you ever wanted to feel like a cowboy, then rent a horse and set off for a trip through its neighboring canyons, rivers, valleys, villages and rock formations. A fascinating adventure and that is exactly what the crew did. All on horses and accompanied by a local guide Vladimir (very Bolivian name btw.), they enjoyed two great days on a round trip exploring Tupiza's surroundings, with an overnight in village in the middle of nowhere. Quite exhausted but happy after returning back to Tupiza, they spent a couple of hours in one of several incredibly slow internet cafes (quite common in Bolivia until now) and got onto a night bus, ready for more adventures to come.

The whole crew and their guide ready to set off

Vladimir (the guide) and beautiful scenery behind him

Don Madonarra taming the horses

El Fredovito taking in atmosphere of the overnight place

Expedition Maya and "El Torre" (The Tower)

Changing environment...

... but always beautiful.

May the Maya be with you! :)