A Dream Come True.....

Once upon a time, in the high lands of the peruvian Andes, there was a rural community named El Zuro. Its inhabitants were (and still are) 100% peasants and struggled to make it through the winter. One day, came Ena, and with her, she brought all her energy and desire to help the out. She believed that with education the kids from El Zuro would have a bright future and help develop their own community.

But she wasn't alone. With her were all the parents that wanted their kids to have access to an education that was once refused to them.Both boys and girls would walk up to 3h every morning and every evening from their houses to school, at 4000m above sea level, in sometimes freezing temperatures, to go to school.

Today, after 8 years of hardwork, tough negociations, thousands of kilometers up and down .....the Class of 2010 that graduated last november is the model for the younger kids. And you know why ?

Because they walked,
Because they fought,
Because they dared,
Because they dreamed,
Because they believed,
....and because they worked, they worked extremely hard... and they made it !

Yes. All the 17 students from Class 2010 were admitted into university.

They deserved it. Felicidades a todos !



And one day, very soon, they will come back to el Zuro to make it a better place, help out their parents and put into practice all they learned.

Thanks to your support, they went to Tarapoto on a well earned school-trip and had access to a preparation for university that lasted 3 hard months in Trujillo, far away from their families.

Now, the whole school looks up to them. They planted the seed of hope among the younger dreamers from El Zuro.

This is not over, new classes will come every year, and everybody's help and determination, the cycle will soon be closed.

It takes so little to change so much.....

Thank you all for your support. And keep it up !

Viaje a Tarapoto : Merci pour eux !

After way too long without news, I figured I owed you, at least, an update on the successful trip the peruvian kids from El Zuro did last November.

Les enfants étaient extrêmement émus et le voyage s'est extrêmement bien passé. Cusco n'a malheureusement pas été possible à cause du prix trop élevé, et Tarapoto, charmante ville dans la jungle péruvienne l'a remplacé.



Lors du premier arrêt à Trujillo, beaucoup d'entre eux ont vu la mer pour la première fois.


On leur a procuré quelques vêtements légers parce qu'avec leurs gros pulls en laine qu'ils ont l'habitude de mettre à la montagne où ils habitent, ils auraient vite crevé de chaud à Tarapoto.

En tout cas, comme le montrent les photos, ils en ont bien profité!




Et il va sans dire...ils ont un bon goût en matière de foot ;-)


Ils ont tous écrit une lettre de remerciement (certaines ci-dessous) :





Un résumé détaillé des comptes m'a été envoyé (si certains d'entre vous qui ont participé veulent y avoir accès, je peux vous le fournir). Sur les 8400Soles qu'on a reussi à leur envoyer, 5100Soles ont aidé à payer le voyage, ce qui fait que les 3300Soles restants est en train d'être utilisé pour participer aux frais de préparation des élèves n'ayant pas décroché une bourse pour leur préparation à l'examen d'admission à l'Université.

12 d'entre eux se trouvent en ce moment à Trujillo, ils suivent des cours exigents qui leur permettent de rattrapper leur retard et rêvent d'être admis à l'université dans les études de leur choix. Les frais d'inscription à l'examen d'admission ont déjà été payés...il aura lieu le 19 Mars 2011.
Bonne chance à tous !

Espérons qu'un jour, ils reviennent dans leur communauté de El Zuro et participent à son développement.

Encore un grand merci à tumum, kika, Trof, Alejandra, James, Lydia, La Pompe, Enric de votre soutien !

Y sobretodo, gracias a ti, Ena, de permitir que estos niños tengan acceso a una educación y sigan soñando.

Being a woman alone in Bali...

...is not always easy! But can sometimes help...

Riding the motorbike from Sanur back to Kuta, I followed at least a dozen motorbikes that also overtook the line of cars slightly invading the oposite lane to stop at the front of the red light line.

So, surprisingly, the policemen decided to stop the only non- balinese of the crowd, this was me ! So I stopped next to their hut and he said:

- police check
- okay, hello...
- driving licence ?

So I gave him my spanish licence (I didn't have an international driving licence anyways).

- oh, no international ? come in...

So the other policemen staying inside stared at me, still wearing the helmet :

- is that you ?
- yes, why ?
- are you a boy or a girl ?
okaaaaaay.... so I took my helmet off and told him that my international driving licence was in the renter's office because they asked for it when I rented the bike (si cola, cola !)
He didn't really believe me but I tried...and anyways, he didn't care really, I didn't have it on me, that's all that counts !
I had my bag on me and he asked me where I was going...
- I'm going to the airport, going home today.
- look, the fine for not having the international driving licence is this (250.000Rp ~25USD)
- yeah...sorry but this is all the money I have left.
And I showed him 11.000Rp (~1€) that I had put in my pocket when I was asked to show my driving licence...and he stared at my sunglasses
- are they original ?
ooooooh shit...
- no...
- oh, they are cheap, you bought them here ?
- yes, yes..

And he looked away (pfffffff....)

And from that moment on, it was freestyle, questions ranging from "do you have a boyfriend ? " to "You don't want a balinese policemen as boyfriend? it can be useful", "come to my home"....

So I had to promise him that next time I would come to Bali it would be without my boyfriend and that I would stay at his place....but at least he let me go and said : "okay for this time, because it is you, you can go without pay"...

Thank you....

(perez, sé que entre aixo i el virgin loo t'agradara cada cop més aquest blog XD !)

People of the World : Khu

24 years old, mother of two, Hmong tribe, close to Lau Chai village, Northwest Vietnam

Khu speaks a stunningly good english, and as most of the Hmong people in Sapa learned it from the tourists. Her good english allowed us to go a little bit further in the conversation than the usual "where are you from? what's your name? how old are you?". Many of the traditions of the Hmongs became clear after a conversation with her. Happily married and mother of two, she says to be done with kids and spends most of her days in Sapa trying to sell handcrafts to tourists when she doesn't stay in the village to take care of the rice fields and her kids.

* I did not have the questionnaire on me when asking the questions so I forgot some that remain without answer.

1 - What is the most important thing you learned at school?

I only learned to read and write vietnamese.

2 - What is the most important thing your parents taught you?

I didn't learn much from my parents.

3 - What has the world done for you?

--

4 - What would you like to do for the world?

--

5 - If you found 10€, what would you do with them ?

If I knew the person who lost them I would give them back. Otherwise I would share with the people that were with me at that moment.

6 - Where would you like to live ?

I like to live in my village but I wish I could travel to all the countries.

7 - Who is your idol ?

My family

8 - If you could make a wish, what would it be ?

That Hmong people were recognised equal to other Vietnamese

9 - What do you fear?

The small kind of worms that get into the smallest stones... don't know how you call these in english

10 - What would you ask your president?

I would like to ask him not to despise Hmong people and preserve our traditions and customs

11- What would you like to ask me ?

What do you think about your visit to Vietnam ?

Our answer : Huge contrast between the cities and the coutryside where people are extremely welcoming and we were moved by it but it is, from our point of view, sometimes oppressing due to their tourist-business-oriented minds.

12- What do you think about people who come to visit your country ?

I think that tourism has both good and bad impact in Sapa : they bring money but probably in 15years it will not be like that anymore. I have friends that do not wear our traditional dresses anymore when it is hot and dress like europeans. What will you do then?

Ban Pho Village....taxi for one day

Back from Can Cau market we rode in random roads around Bac Ha and ended up in Ban Pho Village....and probably some other village whose name I've forgotten.

The day hadn't started very well, and it is never very reassuring to see this as soon as you get on the motorbike !

But in the Northwest of Vietnam, riding a motorbike is a lifetime experience, and it is not only trucks or holes on the road that you have to be aware of !

No matter what, its freedom enables you to stop anytime you want and enjoy the scenery...

get closer to the people....

so close that I have to tell you a story !

On that same day, after returning to the hotel, for a nap, I got on the motorbike on my own and Marta stayed in Bac Ha. And for once, I was not carrying any cameras. I went back to the same village, Ban Pha, and it was around 6pm....everyone was walking home after a long day of work on the field, carrying their production on their backs.

So after a while, I saw a woman walking alone up the hill, and offered her a lift on the bike. She accepted and I took her all the way up to the beggining of a steep path in which I could not take my motorbike. We rode by many of her friends that would shout "oooooooohhh" when they saw her at the back of a "white-man"'s motorbike. When I stopped the bike to let her down, she wanted to pay for the lift, which I obviously refused. She then begged be to come to her house so we walked about 10 min up. She would tell the story to all the women we walked by, who would continously smile at me and wave. For once, I did not feel like a complete stranger, it felt like they were all welcoming me to her place, although I felt extremely guilty and knew I didn't deserve such welcome.

When we got to her place, she introduced me to her family and hardly had I stepped into the house that about a dozen kids rushed to the door and say the only words they know in English "hello, bye bye", over and over again. She offered me two cucumbers to thank me. I could not refuse this time.

Then, she grabbed my arm, stared at it for about 30seconds before realizing that it was true, I had hair on my arms ! She pointed at them, surprised, showing me her hairless arm. She didn't speak a word of English, and neither did I speak a word of the Hmong language, but it sometimes doesn't matter. I would try to mix some chinese, spanish, english and the rare words I speak of vietnamese...but let me tell you, if I had said everything in catalan it would have been the same!

She offered me to stay over at night, but Marta was waiting for me in Bac Ha and it was getting dark, it was time to head back.

No pictures this time, but I have them in my memory.

Moved by how welcoming can these people be, who open their home to complete strangers and offer them to stay over, I took another woman who was carrying her baby on her back down to her house before heading back to Bac Ha with a good story to tell !

Can Cau Market

It's hard to keep up with the blog, it takes up a whole lot of time, selecting pictures and explaining everything, but I take it more like an "auto-disciplinary" activity....being on holidays but not really, at least I have an obligation that brings me down to earth and helps me keep a critical look on what I see and experience day after day. And seeing other travellers around that just travel for looong periods of time doing nothing but drink all the time doesn't help me want to do the same ;-)

Having said that, here goes Can Cau market !

Every saturday morning is held in Can Cau, a small town north of Bac Ha, an incredibly colourful market. So after our first night in Bac Ha, we had an early start on saturday, grabbed a motorbike and rode all the way up to Can Cau, it's about 1h ride...but the landscapes, once again, are incredible ! And the fog helps to make them better!

Can Cau is specially attractive for visitors due to the "Flower Hmong" that run it. The Flower Hmong are called like this because of their fascinating colourful dresses. They also have their own language and most of them don't speak vietnamese. The market is the best excuse to socialize with other villagers, but not only this !

You can get barely anything you want, from souvenirs (for tourists...yeah...), to a delicious (?) meal overlooking the rice fields

buy to vegetables to make your own,

....and animals ! Pigs, horses, buffalos, dogs, ducks, chicken...anything !

Who guesses what is going to happen to this poor little pig ? Whoever guesses right will get the picture of what goes next...

And around 9am, when the sun starts to hit a bit harder, the umbrellas come out to add even more color to the market.

Three hours later we decided to head back to Bac Ha. Even though the reliability of the helmets we were given was pretty limited, mine was hanging too much so I stopped on the side of the road, in front of a house to fix it.

In the house, a huge family was getting ready for lunch when one of the men invited us to join in ! We were moved by their hospitality, starting with a super alcoholic shot which ressembled more to ethanol than any kind of alcoholic drink I ever tasted before. And then we had the best meal we had had so far in Vietnam : Rice, omlet, cow, tofu....

They spoke as much English as we spoke Vietnamese, but with our guidebook's small dictionnary and body language we had a great time.

Around the "table", women and men ate the same food, but served in different plates; the children sharing the same plates with the women. Whenever a man wanted some extra food from the women's side they would serve it into the men's plate before he would have any. We were told that these are traditional customs in Vietnam, not practiced anymore in the ever-developing big cities, but I guess it's still happening in the countryside !

We joined the women's side, also closer to the door...but were invited to tea with the men after lunch.

Maybe Minh can help us on that one ?

After lunch we intended to pay for what we had but they refused over and over again...

We had a great time and found the "welcoming" vietnam that we had heard about that contrasts with the "bussiness-minded / rip-off" Vietnam we had seen so far.

PS : If you want to rent motorbikes in Bac Ha, be aware that it is more expensive than in Sapa as there is only one family that rents bikes there ! But you should get away for 5-6USD/day.

Food & more

This post is dedicated to Franchesca that wanted to hear about peruvian food so badly.... too late, here goes a tiny-glimpse of vietnamese food !

Vietnamese (and the small part of Cambodians that we have seen) eat all day, anytime of the day. Starting with a boiling hot bowl of Pho (noodle-soup) for breakfast...and another bowl of Pho, and another one....and another one..... not even the 40° C stop them !

Pretty much in any town there is the local market where you can find almost anything and eat in the food-stalls all around (quality and hygiene varies significantly between them...)

Don't be surprised to find a small duck's foetus staring at you from any of the stalls in the markets, or huge bowls with all sorts of insects : grass-hoppers, grillions.... and.... for the bravest amongst you : Tarantulas !

As Marta told you some time ago, entry guards of Angkor Wat were enjoying fried grass-hoppers as we passed by.and offered me some. After some hesitation I had one in my hand....

put it into my mouth....

but it was too much, I couldn't do it !

Other than that, they eat loads of meat : basically anything that moves is good to eat. Snake, dog, horse, chicken, duck, pig... but we'll be back with more pictures next time, with the markets in Northern Vietnam.

Having said that, we're off to lunch !


More on gastronomic-experiences soon...

Visiting the Angkor Temples in three days

Here go some tips for those who want to visit the Angkor Temples without a tour group !

There are several options when purchasing a ticket for the Angkor Temples :

- 1 day (clearly not enough !) : 20USD

- 3 days (good compromise, you can see most of it) : 40 USD

- 1week-pass : around 80USD

We didn't have three full days on site but it turned out pretty well. For those who have the 3 full days, the best option is probably :

- Day One : Rent a Tuk Tuk for the whole day (12USD small tour and 15USD big tour) who will show you the way to the temples and wait for you while you visit them. Do the big tour on the first day and ask the tul tuk driver to finish with Angkor Wat as it is better to visit it in late afternoon (or at lunchtime when all the groups head back to Siem Reap for lunch, but then it gets extremely hot). It will be a pretty long day, you can stick around the temples for lunch or go back to Siem Reap.

- Day Two : Have a super-early start today ! Rent a bicycle from your hostel/hotel and plan to be at Angkor Wat by 4:30am for sunrise ! You definetely won't forget the experience. You will not be alone but it's absolutely worth it !

After that, head for the remaining temples you haven't seen in the big tour and ride the 17km to end up at our favourite temple : Ta Prohm, where nature merges with buildings...

If the weather is good enough you can go for sunset at Phnom Bakeng (entrance closes at 5:30pm), where you can even climb up the mountain on an elephant for the laziest amongst you ! This is meant to be THE temple to enjoy sunset : ours was not extraordinary and ended up leaving in advance : cloudy and too many people but you can probably be luckier than us !

- Day Three : You've been around the small tour and the big tour already. Ask a tuk tuk to take you to the farthest away temples today. We didn't do it due to lack of time but they look awesome ! You'll tell us how they are ;-)

Enjoy !

Overall, I would highly recommend early starts as from 8am the sun starts hitting very very hard !

From Phnom Penh to Siem Reap

Our bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap ( where the temples are) was leaving at 6 am so we woke up pretty early. With a pretty tasteless bread for breakfast we jumped in what ended up being a local "VIP" bus (VIP as it has air co and there was on one person per seat instead of 4) what else can you expect paying 4,5$ pp for a 6hour ride, huh?
After about an hour the bus suddently stopped and everyone got down, so we id the same... we got a flat tire! great!!
luckily for u, the guys were pretty gifted for changing tires so we didn' have to wait that long. Believe me... I'd still be there trying to replace that HUGE tire.

Back on the bus...just hope we don't get another one...
5 more hours of bumpy roads, hideous music videos with the volume set up to the max mixed with "humour tapes" (ver PD ) the guy in front of me keeps trying to lean back..Thank God my iPod battery laste long enough!!
Despite all this, some could get asleep though

Finally in Seam Reap we ended up in a cute guest house for 6$ per night for a fan room, rented a room and headed to the temples at 40°C under the sun.

We just had time to visit the biggest and more famous temple of all: Ankor Wat. On our way out Monica got the chance to try an exquisit meal!!

Phnom Bakheng is the temple where most of the visitors go to see the sunset so, as it was getting late, we went there and so did hundreds of other people.

The day was not very clear and thunderstorms were the soundtrack so we decided to head back to the hostel early and missed the sunset, which was not very promissing anyway.

PD: para haceros una idea mas grafico de los videos que pudimos disfrutar en el bus teneis que imaginaros a alguien que acabe de descubrir las transiciones en el windows Movie Maker y las pone enabsolutamente todos los cambios de planos, pero ademas con los colores del arcoiris por todas partes... it was gay tv.

en cuanto a los videos de humor, me he dado cuenta que el sentido del humor de todos los asiaticos es bastante parecido, como dice Anna: caca-culo-pedo-pis, es decir, el sentido del humor de ninyos de 5 anyos. Para haceros una idea:

os acordais de los payasos de la tele? pues imaginaos a los trilocos paseandose por la calle; se encuentra un maniqui y se aprovecha y le toca las parte mas intimas...pues con eso la gente se reia a carcajadas!! incredible!!

Gone....Again !

Second part, heading to Vietnam !

And this time, for the first 3 weeks Marta will be with me ! This is probably the first time we travel only the two of us so it should be fun !

However, some things never change. Every time I leave, the same questions arise : why go when I can stay and also enjoy (without paying an air ticket)? why for so long? and why so far? Honestly, I don't really have an answer to that... there is something that continuously keeps me wanting to know what's beyond what I know, to visit new places, to tak more pictures, even though I know that it won't be easy every day, that I probably won't sleep on a comfy bed ( and will have to pay for that!), try to wash in filthy showers, get ripped off, struggle with the language, pretend I like adventure when stuck in a dirty truck in the middle of the road for 5 long hours before a tyre is replaced or repaired with bits of rope or branches waiting for the next breakdown, spend countless hours surfing the internet looking for low air faires (this must me an oxymoron...), miss friends and family...

I don't know, whenever I ask myself these questions I believe I answer with another question : "If I don't do it know, when wil i do it?". And you could ask : "Why do it anyways?"

I guess I like to meet new people, share different experiences, run away from the routine (I haven't really had for 6 months now..), from the busy european cities....come back and have something to say, stories to tell.

Oh well..... here we go anyways, and we'll try (with Marta !) to keep you updated about our trip to South East Asia. For starters, there'll be the language challenge that I didn't have in South America...

Concerning the itinerary, we just landed in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) from where we'll first escape to Angkor Wat Temples in Cambodia before heading North in Vietnam, Marta leaving from Hanoi on July 1st.

After that I will still have 3 weeks before going to Sydney for Matthieu's wedding. So, if any of you have any suggestion, feel free. Basically clear options are :

- keep heading north to Southern China (any moutaneering to do?) & up to Hong Kong and fly to aussie-land from HK

- go to Laos and down to Bangkok or into Cambodia (and cycle for part of it)

- fly to indonesia and surf/kite surf ! yaaahoo !

I have no clue what I'll do, I just know I want to escape from touristy cities and all-in-one tours and do some sport !

Open suggestions ...

Annecy by bike

Back from a great week-end in Switzerland, I met Ben back in Annecy for the last day of a long week-end. After a late wake up, I manage to persuade him cycle down (and then up...) to Annecy.

The way down is fine, but the cycle road is full of tourists and locals who want to enjoy the sun on a bank holiday-monday.

Once the bikes parked in Annecy,

we wander around the small roads to finally find an open surfshop and get by bathing suit (uhm...the picture will have to wait for my suntan to come back !)...

Merci à ceux qui me l'ont offert en tout cas, promis, la photo arrive !

and back on the lakeshore....

It's time to go back .... The first flat part is okay...

but are you sure you want to go up the hill?? No choice now, it was my idea ! So no matter how bad I regret having said that I have to pretend I love cycling up the hills... XD !

yeah, the way up was significantly harder ... but we made it !

PS: T'étais à fond toi ? ;-)

Swoop @ Col des Pauvres (Suisse)

So, as I was saying, on the way down... I flew !

After struggling for 30 min in the steep hills I finally ended up finding a somehow flat area to untie the swoop...

Désolée LN, pti Lu, David et Michou...you know why ;)

Swoop @ Annecy

Overlooking lac d'Annecy....

The other way down Mt Granier

I think something has changed lately. About a year ago, if I ever went hiking I would just be waiting for the way down, as I found it much easier. Now, I find walking down extremely annoying... but this is probably because I've found a different way down !

Anyways, let me continue with my way down... I hesitated to take off in a very steep piece of land and land on the huuuuuuuge flat area below. Nah, still didn't really feel it, the steep take of area would end in a cliff so I'd be better off just keep walking down and don't look back.

Once arrived at the Col de l'Alpette, there was a slight face wind that would help me take off, it was pretty steep but there were only trees below.



And then I remembered how steep the way up was through the forest so I wasn't really keen on walking down anymore.
So here I go, I switch the camera on to find out that it was out of battery.. too bad ! Only pictures then...

Ready...



set...

Quick sms to pti Lu : "je vais décoller, si t'as pas de news dans 1h inquiète-toi. Je suis au Mt Granier" . Désolée pour le coup de flip, mais il fallait le faire !

... waiting for a slight face wind to show up....


and GO !


Perfect take off... nice flight over the forest...kinda windy up there but nothing too bad...

And although I landed kind of on my knees all was fine !

Anyhow, landing 20m from the car is priceless....

Sorry, no videos this time, some to come !

Heading back after a great day outdoors to meet Lucie and some other friends in Grenoble.

UN QUART DE SEGLE!!

FELICITAAATTTSSSS GERMANETA!!!!Bé, tot i que estiguis por allí voltant i perduda per sud-amèrica (molt ben cuidada, tot s'ha de dir..) el teu cumple segueix sent el 3 de maig i et segueixes fent vella..... així que eso, qui s'hagi oblidat ja teniu aquí el recordatori i ja podeu anar deixant un comentari per felicitarla!
doncs, res, espero (tot i que segur que ha sigut així) que hagis tingut un dia genial, viscut mil coses noves, fet moltes tonteries, rigut molt, i estiguis llesta pere totes les aventures que el proper any et porta!T'estimo moltíssim! Un petonàs molt fort i disfruta del que et queda que ja se t'acava!!!

Ingrid.... o kika/kikona/rata/rateta..... i qualsevol dels altres mil noms que m'has arribat a posar al llarg de la meva vida.... ;)

Trying to learn from the master...

P.S.: potser avui, com que es un dia tant important sí que et deixaria ser la reina de tots el animals marins i jo podria menjar els restos dels restos dels restos dels que menjen restos de ... (millor no di de que..) jeje CRACK!


HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTA!!! I had to do an English version for two reasons: 1, I'm in the US ;) 2, not everyone understands catalan and EVERYONE needs to know what is going on today!
My old, REAALLLY OLD now, 'sista' is turning 25 today!!! So everyone should leave a comment (specially if YOU had forgotten) to congratulate her on her birthday for being a fourth of a century old!!! That does not happen every day! ;)
Have an awesome day!

Ingrid

I while back... Canada:

Back in the civilized world ...

...but also under the clouds ! Salta is a cute, quiet and safe city in northern argentina....and when you come from the charming but messy Bolivia, is a breath of fresh air ! Cars driving more or less safely on the streets, wifi hotspots all over town, nice terraces in which to have a drink, paved roads, higher prices (oups...), fast food restaurants all around, somehow welcoming stations in which to wait long hours between buses..... and taxis with who you don't arrange the price beforehand but have an automatic counter !

Following different recommendations I'd had, I booked a tour following, by car, the Tren de las nubes (which was a bit above my bidget : 120USD) up to San Antonio de los Cobres, north to Salinas Grandes and back down through Purmamarca.

Having gone out with one of the guys who worked at the Hostel, Jack and Monique (a German girl despite her name !) the night before, I was exausted and waking up at 6:30am was tough.

In my group were 2 great 65-years old grandparents who decided to travel to Salta with their arranged minivan in which they slept, and an unbearable 39-year old argentinian man that wouldn't stop from yelling his questions back-to-front in the van to the guide. The kind of person that always has to have the last word, knows about everything and .. oh well, I'll stop my description here, you can have a picture of when he asked all the street-sellers-women in San Antonio de los Cobres to go around him.... no comment.

Needless to say that given that all the groups stopped at the same spots, I socialised with other people and had the chance to meet Vanessa (among others), a swiss girl with who we went down to southern Salta (more on that on the next episode).

Nothing much to say about this trip apart from its gorgeous landscapes

giant cactus

the great empanadas in San Antonio de los Cobres

and disappointing Salinas Grandes.

Just so you know : never go to Salinas Grandes after the Salar de Uyuni !!!!