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Blair's Travel Adventures 2024
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Blair's Travel Adventures 2024

From Western Australia to a yacht departing Panama, from the Galapagos Islands to mainland South America, follow Blair as he travels. Read more
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  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Sucre > Potosi > Uyuni

    Jun 12–13, 2024 in Bolivia ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    8 hours in buses today. 4 hours to Potosi then I walked around from the new Bus Terminal in the north of their old mining town to the Antigua Bus Terminal 45 minutes away to get another 4 hour bus to Uyuni.
    I stayed in a dormitory with a private bathroom. I really wanted hot water for a nice shower, and that's exactly what I got. Unfortunately that was all that there was so I had the challenge of showering without scalding myself.

    Menu of the day
    Dinner: Llama ribs, fresh salad and white rice
    Lunch: A packet of crunchy sliced bananas cooked in a lot of sunflower oil    Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Salt Processing in Bolvia

    June 13, 2024 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    We visited a small town where all of Bolivia's salt is made/processed. It's dug up, dried out, cleaned, and iodine is added to it. You can see the lines of dry season (brown from dust discolouration) and wet season (white salt), so every two stripes represents a year.

    You could see their clocks and sculptures made from salt, many for sale, as well as bags of salt with additional ingredients like rosemary, garlic, paprika or chilis.

    Lunch: Delicious light salad with slices of avocado and white cheese, local quinoa (which is the only food that grows in this area), and beef.    Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Salar de Uyuni

    June 13, 2024 in Bolivia ⋅ 🌬 15 °C

    The Salar de Uyuni, amid the Andes in southwest Bolivia, is the world’s largest salt flat. It’s the legacy of a prehistoric lake that went dry, leaving behind a desert like, nearly 11,000 km² landscape of bright-white salt, rock formations and cacti-studded islands. It is 3.6km above sea level.Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Island in the salt flats

    June 13, 2024 in Bolivia ⋅ 🌬 13 °C

    We visited the Isla Incahuasi, a large rock outcrop with giant cacti, and fossils of coral and algae that are left over from when the Salar de Uyuni was once a massive salt lake 40,000 years ago.
    On our way to our accommodation for the night we stopped on the salt plains to have a glass of Bolivian red wine, offering the first bit to Pacha Mama, while we watched the sun set.Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Lagoons and the Tree of Rock

    June 14, 2024 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 5 °C

    The tour took us to where the wind swept the sand in the Altiplano sand dunes to erode the sandstone forming the Árbol de Piedra ("stone tree"), an isolated rock formation in the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve. We then moved on to the Laguna Colorada (Red Lagoon) to see the James's Flamengos that live there and eat the red algae while hanging out on the white borax islands.
    We encountered more wildlife along the way. A remarkable lone fox in the middle of nowhere that I managed to get a beautiful photo of it out the window with Ampadee's Samsung S24 Ultra. I really need to invest in a decent smart phone with a camera.
    We visited a family of Vizcacha / Viscaya, members of the Chinchilla family, hanging out by some rocks. They were quite friendly.    Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Steamy Bolivia and the Black Lagoon

    June 15, 2024 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ -6 °C

    As our 4 wheel drive took us further south towards the border with Chile we visited the Geysers Sol de la Mañana in a volcanic area with more than 4800 meters above sea level. We then head off to soak in the natural hot pools Aguas Termales de Polques.

    Before we started the long drive back to Uyuni , we skipped the green lagoon and visited the lesser known black lagoon. The rocks are beautiful and the views of the lagoon and its wildlife are stunning.    Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Salt Hotel

    Jun 15–16, 2024 in Bolivia ⋅ 🌙 8 °C

    After a 3 day 4 wheel drive tour throughout Southern Bolivia, I returned to Uyuni and got myself a beautiful room in a hotel constructed with local salt bricks. It was such a treat. The room was warm, there was hot water and great water pressure, which has been such a rarity in my time in South America, and they carved interesting statues from the salt.Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Exploring La Paz and El Alto

    June 16, 2024 in Bolivia ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Five of us from the Uyuni 4WD tour took the same flight back to La Paz in the morning. I had brunch with Natalia, Pam, Ying and Yuan at The Carrot Tree near the Witch's Market. I had the gluten free pancakes with strawberries, bananas and maple syrup and it was wonderful.

    Natalia and I then headed out to do a walking/cable car tour of La Paz and the neighbouring El Alto city. We saw:
    La Paz Witch's Markets with the offering tables to Pacha Mama including llama foetus and young.
    San Pedro Prison in La Paz city centre with its self governing 'neighbourhoods', businesses, and freedom for family to move in with the prisoner.
    Mi Teleférico, the beautiful and efficient aerial cable car system with 8 different lines to quickly and quietly get around La Paz and El Alto.
    El Alto Witch's Market with the darker "underground" magic to break curses, demon cures and other practices.
    Calle Jaén where the leaders of the independence fighters met to beat the Spanish to gain their freedom.    Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Returning to Quito via Peru

    Jun 16–17, 2024 in Bolivia ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    After a trucha al ajo for dinner with Natalia, I took an Uber back to the La Paz Airport to spend the night in the Onkel Inn airport sleepbox so I could be at the airport at 3:30am without any issues.

    I then began the sequence of flights to return me to Ecuador for the last 30 days of my visa.    Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler
    11

    Back in Quito

    June 17, 2024 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    I've gone from over 4km above sea level to around 3km now that I'm back in Quito. It's nice to be back in the Centro Historico. I'm staying with the lovely José Luis again in the San Blas area. I had only been sleeping for an hour or two a night for my last week in Bolivia, so I'm taking it easy here to recover. In parts of Bolivia the altitude and sub zero temperatures affected me in odd ways. I couldn't lay down without losing my breath and getting palpitations at one point, which made sleep impossible. Oddly I was fine to walk around. Anyway, I'm happy to be back in Ecuador and especially happy to have José Luis back in my arms. xRead more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Middle of the World

    June 29, 2024 in Ecuador ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    My dear friend Ash is joining me in Ecuador for a few weeks. We headed north to Mitad del Mundo, middle of the world, where many scientific expeditions took place, particularly with the French, to measure and determine the shape of the Earth (hint: it's flatter at the poles).

    We got to taste Chicha de Arroz, a tasty fermented rice beverage (about 1% alcohol). We saw a spit roast of Cuy, their giant guinea pigs, and tried various fruit wines from Passionfruit to Uvilla, a Peruvian Gooseberry.

    We climbed the giant monument to the top. It holds a museum to the cultures that live in Ecuador, as well as a Mirador to lookout over this "city".    Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Poquito de Quito

    Jun 30–Jul 2, 2024 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Ash and I explored more of Quito, including the large beautiful city park of La Carolina. Horse rides, large sculptures of various things, the bell of peace, paddle boats, a BMX park and so much more exist in this space located in the heart of Quito. We also tried nitrogen bubble tea and had a shave in the coolest barber shop with handsome bowtie and suspender wearing barbers.Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Tena

    Jul 2–3, 2024 in Ecuador ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Ash and I visited the town of Tena on our way to Puyo. We hitch hiked from Papallacta where we had spent the previous evening in their wonderful hot pools. In Tena we visited their lookout on a small river island, La Isla, and explored its sculptures and wildlife, which included monkeys and a tapir. We spent the following day white water rafting down 27 km of river. We stopped half way to do a small hole to a waterfall where we had a swim.

    Next stop is Puyo where we'll head deeper into the jungle to spend a week with Kichwa people and their special ceremonies.    Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    White Water Rafting down the Napo River

    July 3, 2024 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    The river Napo is known locally as the Jatun Yacu River. In the Kichwa language it translates as “big water”. It is one of the tributaries of the powerful Amazon River. Ash and I joined a small group of travellers to explore the rapids and landscapes of the Ecuadorian jungle. I got to be the ead paddle and call out timing, and we sped down the 27km of the rio. We had a picnic on the river bank and stopped for a short hike to bathe at a waterfall.Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Ayahuasca Retreat

    Jul 5–11, 2024 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Ash and I spent a week with the Sacha Wasi Kichwa people to experience "life-changing" plant medicine in authentic ceremonies deep within Ecuador's Amazon rainforest. Guided by indigenous Kichwa Yachaks we had two Ayahuasca ceremonies, a mushroom ceremony, and a San Pedro Ceremony while enjoying a yummy plant diet. We also got to do some hiking, planting important plants, and swimming at a waterfall.Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Vancouver

    Jul 19–27, 2024 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Arriving in Vancouver, Canada, late Thursday night I took my most expensive Uber of my trip on a 20 minute drive to Kitsilano to stay with my friend Ronnie and his lovely girlfriend Antonia. They had a spare bedroom for me in the super cute four level home in a very lovely part of Vancouver.

    We went for a walk along Wreck Beach for some drumming and stunning sunset. I discovered a baby seal that I hope was only temporarily abandoned by its mother. I got to play a little Capoeira after more than 20 years, and it was embarrassing doing cartwheels in the sand. Our Evo mysteriously vanished and took a while to track down and how it was moved remains a mystery.

    We had a trip by metro and sea bus to the North Shore with Ronnie's visiting family.

    Vancouver held its week-long Festival of Lights while I was there, with a fireworks company from Portugal starting the event off with some amazing skyrockets.

    We had a day trip to Chilliwack for some more White Water Rafting and I had a really nice gluten free burger at White Spot, a British Colombia chain of restaurants.

    I discovered a lovely gluten free bakery not far from Antonia's home that did everything from chicken pot pie to cake pops to paninis to cinnamon buns. Apparently on the weekend they make a great croissant too    Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Hamilton, Ontario

    Jul 29–31, 2024 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Visiting my friend Dee in "Toronto" and discovered some years ago she'd moved closer to Niagara Falls and ice wine country. We spent a lovely afternoon out at Dundurn Castle with her youngest son and husband seeing what life was like back in the 1850s for a specific family. We also beat the Jack the Ripper escape room. We had a lovely BBQ with ice wine back at their lovely home.Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Montréal

    July 30, 2024 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    After a nice train ride from Toronto to Montreal, I spent an hour in the city before trying to catch a very delayed flight to Frankfurt am Main, Germany. I was very happy for the free airport lounge access they spent a few hours doing emergency maintenance on the flight.Read more

  • Blair's TravelsBlair's Travel Adventures 2024Traveler

    Hattenhiem

    July 31, 2024 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    After a decade I finally met Mischa face-to-face. We visited Hattenhiem where he rents out an Airbnb and we explored this lovely little time and had some food at a riverside restaurant.

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