Carnavals, mines and loooots of salt

Since our last post about La Paz, so much has happened that mentioning every single thing would lead us too far, but we wouldn't be engineers if we didn't serve you with a few facts. Since La Paz:
- if one combines the amount of kilometers we have both traveled, it roughly amounts to 6430 km
- we have saved 5.49 GB of pictures, and this after Dimitri spent late nights making a best-of selection
- we have gone up to 5200 meters altitude, with temperatures below freezing, and we went down to 0m altitude, with tropical 35+ degrees Celsius.
- the trip amazingness factor has multiplied by three.
 What on earth have we been doing? I'll try to summarize.

 First off was the Carnaval in Oruro, which despite apparently being legendary among South-Americans, is little know among Western tourists. Since all buses from La Paz were completely packed we decided to split a three hour taxi ride with two sympathetic Frenchies, François and Anouck, and ended up paying the equivalent of only 15 euros each.

The carnaval was amazing. One group after another performed traditional dances in simply spectacular outfits with tunes by large marching bands. The crowd went wild and joined in the festivities as Bolivian beauties in short skirts and machos in impressive outfits walked by. As we were some of the few "gringo"-looking people around we were frequent targets for kids armed with foam sprays and extravert locals wanting a photograph with us. We had so much fun that, together with the Frenchies we went out clubbing late into the night and had the time of our lives.

After Oruro, we stopped by in Potosi, the highest city in the world. In Potosi we decided to finally take on Carcoke's mission to descend into a mine. It turned out to be one of the most memorable and exhilarating things we did so far. Let me tell you about 4090m altitude: it is hard to breath up there. Now imagine what the breathing was like when crawling down three levels of a mine shaft on your stomach with temperatures rising up to 30C. This one was definitely not for asthma patients nor claustrophobics. Nor for people that mind a rod of dynamite exploding 15 meters further down a narrow mine shaft.

Down in the mine we met two Belgians from Ninove, Davy and Bert. Their sense of humor was so delightfully Belgian that we couldn't resist traveling onwards with them, and we didn't regret it for a minute. Well, maybe when the four of us were forced to hitch hike because the second bus in a row in Bolivia had a part of it exploding. Two is just a more convenient number to hitch hike, but then again we eventually made it to Uyuni, where we went on the spectacular Salt flats tour, leaving us breathless at the Bolivian landscapes and had us overnighting at 4800m altitude.

At the end of the tour we reached San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. A relaxed little city with lots of fun activities. We went sandboarding, mountainbiking for a disputable 50 km, and last but definitely not least, we participated in a memorable astronomical tour, exposing amazing sights of the milky way which cannot be seen from the northern hemisphere and providing an astonishing look at Saturn which left us awing in amazement for a large part of the late night.

In the lunar valley of San Pedro de Atacama

As you all know we take the missions you send in very seriously. Even though we aren't able to perform all missions successfully, sometimes due to weather circumstances, itinerary differences or just shameful forgetfulness, we do make an effort. This is also the case for the mission of Carcoke which demands an itinerary that forms a huge smiley with at least 100 km diameter. Well, Carcoke will be pleased to see that we have decided to split up in the next two weeks, in an already infamous attempt to create a huge smiley with an estimated diameter of 1100 km. Have a look for yourself.

Legend-wait for it and smile-dairy

Appointment in Milano

During our travels we have met a lot of people immersed in literature, ranging from Tom Clancy to J.K. Rowling to Dostojevski. However one book is obviously on the rise among travelers. That's right, I'm talking about the instant classic 'Appointment in Milano' by Warren Dekko. Considering our personal fondness for the writings of this trending author, we took snapshots of some of the new believers.

The World Is Not Enough: missions

Mission Carcoke
Mister Carcoke sent us out to visit a mine. In the very north of Colombia, where everything looks like the far far west, we decided to go for a non-touristic 4WD tour to a remote salt mine. We talked our way in as a random Mr. Simon Boel (see picture) and gained access through the highly secured gate. Mister Carcoke received some of the following pictures, and thus this mission is complete! We are now looking forward to Carcokes countermission.

Mission dode duif 
Most probably the most nature friendly mission, this lady asked us to plant a flower on a volcano. Where else than on the Galapagos islands should we bring in some new species? Although strictly forbidden, Dimitri decided to plant a special 'flower' on the crater with the 2nd biggest circumference of the world, only erupted 6 years ago and almost visibly begging for new flowers. "Dode duif" received the following video and thus this mission is complete!

Mission Snoekie
Miss Snoekie gave us the descriptions of a famous radio personality in Costa Rica and asked us to find, look for and eat with the man. However, the mission team-solo was not able to look for the guy since Dimitri was traveling through the country to meet up with G-6 down in the south. There was absolutely no time to do missions. Sad smiley, this mission was doomed to fail.

Mission Boskabout 
Mister Boskabout sent in a secret mission via the request form. Although details cannot be provided here, the mission consisted of several delicate sub-missions in different countries. Two missions were already completed, and we received a considerable amount of cash on our account. Two missions completed!

Mission Purple Packed Chocolate Biscuit
The month of November has been transformed in Mo-vember by a group of progressive young Australians that aim to put prostate cancer on the map (http://www.movember.com). Our mission, as submitted by Purple Packed Chocolate Biscuit, was to grow a large moustache during Mo-vember and have a moustache get-together at the end of the month. As you can see, the mission was a success!

Future missions?
Great you ask! We are working on some other missions in the same time, but we are also happy to receive much more missions from all of you! We are also looking forward to your comments on these missions.

Graham & Dimitri

Missions requested

[ENG] The world is not enough: we invite you to submit your missions. Have a look at the missions sent in by our agents all over the world here. Be a part of the trip! Depending on the reward, we will try to accomplish your requests. Of course, rolling a sigar with the president of Chili shoulld provide us with a bigger reward than putting a sticker on the Chinese wall. We count on you!

[NL] De wereld beleven is niet genoeg. Via deze blog mogen jullie ons missies toesturen, die wij vervolgens op onze blog tonen en er feedback over geven. Afhankelijk van de vergoeding, zullen we de missies daarna proberen uit te voeren. Een sigaar rollen met de president van Chili mag gerust wat meer opbrengen dan een sticker kleven op de Chinese muur. Wij rekenen op jullie!