I was uncertain as to whether to visit this town from Uyuni or continue to Sucre but decided that this would be a good break to the long bus journey and I would arrive in Potosi at a decent time instead of after midnight in Sucre.

Half way through the 5 hr bus journey, I was desparate to go to the bathroom. When the driver stopped at one of the villages, I politely told him that I needed the bathroom. He said that I had to hold on until our arrival which was completely out of question. Seeing my facial expression, he asked if it was number 1 or 2 (as if it would make any difference to the urgency!). Then suggested that I take a sit near him and pick a spot along the windy mountain roads for him to stop the bus.

As soon as I took my seat, not only was I fighting the nature’s call but also had to manoeuvre his over friendly, very inquisitive, personal questions: “Why do I travel alone?, how much does it cost to travel?, do I have a husband, any children?, why couldn’t the husband travel with me etc…”. Thankfully, I spotted a suitable place and he stopped the bus. When I returned, he greeted me with a large grin on his face, I was relieved that I could finally answer nature’s call but also that I could go back to my seat!

On arrival, the taxi driver didn’t know the hotel and could not drive through all the one-way streets. So, I got out of the car near the main square and started looking for my hotel. After a few wrong misdirections, a group of teenage boys were kind enough to pause their video games on their mobiles and find the hotel using their maps. It turned out, my Hostal Colonial was just 2 minutes away.

There is very little to see around Potosi, other than its main square and the fact that it is among the world’s highest cities (4090 m altitute) followed by the other Bolivian cities El Alto and La Paz, all of which I would visit during my stay in Bolivia.

Potosi is home to several silver & copper mines. I was warned that a visit to mines could be dangerous as it involves being several km underground in an active working mine. However, I had decided to take the risk and booked the visit for the next morning.

Our visit was guided by a lovely lady Sol (meaning sun) who had this stern look but smiling eyes. She had a big grin that showed all her teeth stained from coco that she chews and possibly also from the sugar and salt rocks that she bites, which she had introduced as the main staples of the miners. See below.

The miners also regularly consume are 95% pure alcohol, cigarettes and an intensely sugary drink. The alcohol is consumed in very small quantities mainly to clear their throats, the coco leaves to calm them down and the salt/sugar rocks provide energy. Having done her share of visit to these mines over the past 15 years, Sol, like the miners, appear to be addicted to all these.

Our first stopping of point was the miners’ market where they purchase these staples and cigarettes. We were all encouraged to buy some small gifts to give to the miners that we would see working under the ground. Then quickly, we got dressed into miners clothes which included knee high wellingtons and helmets fitted with torches.

I had try to prepare myself for underground conditions at this altitude but still, once we were a few hundred meters underground and started smelling all the dirt and the possible toxins, I questioned whether it was a safe thing to do. At this point, a few people decided that they would get out but seeing these hard working miners fly past us many times, I could not just leave and decided to go on.

We pressed on deeper into the dark ignoring our coughs and the toxins we were inhaling through our hospital masks. Frequently we had to step aside and make way for the miners hurrying past and others making their way out with vagones full of rocks. At one section we had stopped and saw about 4 miners struggling to maneuver near 1 ton weighing cart around one of the corners. Some of us joined in to push and pull the cart through this rather trick corner. In a few minutes the cart was successfully turned. We were all exhausted after only 5 minutes but the miners had another 1km to go.

Later on, we saw another group of miners piling their full bags onto a cart which would be pulled/pushed like just the one we saw. We wanted to help again and Sol was happy to take a short break. The miners around us were watching with a synical smile on their faces as they knew we couldnt lift the bags. I am told that each bag is 45kg. I managed 3 of them and was exhausted but cheered! At this altitue and undeground, the bags certainly felt much heavier!

Our next section was the underground museum which is the original mine from the colonial time hundreds of years ago. I had read about the horror stories of Spanish using the indigenous population and African slaves. To make most of their labour, they were forced to stay underground 6 months at a time working 16 hour shifts. Having initially hesitated to be underground for a few hours, I cannot even contemplate their suffering; in the end thousands of them died here.

We listen to these stories with sad hearts and visit the two Gods worshipped by the miners to offer our prayers. The Gods are half man/half devil creatures with prominent sexual organs sticking out. We are told that this represented the good luck and prosperity for the miners.

I think that the current conditions, probably improved multiple times, are still not great. The good news is that most miners are self-employed through cooperatives but apparently their tax payment is very prohibitive. Also, each manager miner is helped by a few daily wage workers who make maximum 300 bolivianos a day (about 40 USD) but for that they must pul several carts filled with tons of stones carved out from inside. These daily workers have no insurance, no job security or retirement benefits.

We chatted with miners who were resting inside, gave them our gifts then said farewell to walk back the same way. This time I was not feeling any of the worries but was also looking forward to fresh air and daylight.

I left the mine with respect for the hard working miners and a decision that I shall never think that I work hard enough! I plan to frame one of their pictures for my office space to remind me this on tough days and to remember all the slaves and forced workers who died there.

One positive side of the mining stories is that the wealth from Potosí was poured into the beautiful city Sucre which I will visit next before heading to La Paz.

After nearly 40 days in Chile, I said goodbye and started my journey into Bolivia by joining a 3 day tour accross the southern parts of Bolivia, including the Uyuni Salt Flats.After nearly 40 days in Chile, I said goodbye and started my journey into Bolivia by joining a 3 day tour accross the southern parts of Bolivia, including the Uyuni Salt Flats.

My friend Pascal had put me in touch with his friend Felipe in San Pedro De Atacama. Felipe is a local guide and, despite his busy schedule, he met me for lunch. He recommended that I do the trip with Cordeleria and even negotiated the price down for me!

Cordelería was clearly a good choice, the hostels we stayed along the way were warmer than the teeth shattering refuges I had heard from many people.
Although, at 14000+ feet altitute you are very cold still and I had put on my antarctica clothes before going to bed!

Already at the border crossing to Bolivia we are at 14,435 feet and are greeted by fantastic mountains. Our guide says “welcome to home to one of the highest capital!”. He omits that Bolivia is home to the three highest cities in the world which I would visit soon.

Along the way we visited volcano lakes, deserts, hot springs, lagunas home to thousands of flamingos, geysers and various natural volcanic lava pools, volcanic mountains, green valleys home to tiny villages and lamas, salt flats including the famous Uyuni salt flats. I added the link to the tour I took which details all the steps we visited:

http://www.cordilleratraveller.com/index.php/en/tours-a-uyuni-3/uyuni-salt-flat-4-days-3-nights

A FEW NOTES / FACTS:

1- I added the pictures of the Sol de Mañana Geysers: Whereas on the Chile side of the visit to geysers we were restricted in terms of how close we could get to steaming hot geysers or lava pools, in Bolivia we could walk right next to them and even occasionally had to jump accross them; so you really have to concentrate whilst walking. It’s no place for selfies or staring at phones whilst walking!

2- I loved swimming in the natural hot spring pools whilst admiring the beautiful mountains round us. I’m told that my GoPro camera is fully water proof so, I had it with me in the pool but still decided not to fully test it.

3- Altoug the altitute in Atacama was already over 8500 feet, getting to over 14000 in just a few hours was a challenge. I was lucky that the first day I had no headache and even found a great spot for my yoga mat at the hostel but after one hour on the mat, I was out of breath.

4- Pink Flamingos we saw are apparently are not born pink but they have this pink/orange colour because of the food they eat (mainly shrimp), the gorgeous lagunas they live smell really bad from nearby, I am told that they spend about 18 hr a day eating and they sleep on one leg only!

5- The rock formations that you see below are located in Siloli Desert and are created by wind erosion. I know the wind can be very powerful and have felt it first hand in my Antarctica run experience but still, it was amazing to see that it can be a great artist too; creating features/shapes that even the most skilled artists would struggle to make as perfectly.

PEOPLE:

I should pause here and tell you about my companions:

Our car was extra comfortable because there were only three passengers in the jeep instead of 6. Me and a lovely Brazillian couple Stephanie and Caetano. They were very friendly and I thought that their story was very romantic: Only a few months after meeting each other they realised that they wanted the same things in life and got married in Miami while Caetano was visiting Steph; they live in Brazil now and have already done lots travelling together. They’ve just received their visas to move to Canada together. I’m told that the next step after that would be Europe.

Our guide, Juan, was this lovely 55 years old Boliviano and, although he has been guiding for many years, he was enjoying the views as much we do and was eagerly taking photos in every spot. We were joking that he was either a first timer pretending to be experienced or just bought a new camera! He had great ideas for a pictures. The credit for our jumping photos and this photo where I face the rock (I think that the version where I successfully kiss the statute is still in Ceatano’s camera but for now I post the first one he attempted. My facial expresion is a curios one because I had only realised what he trying to do after I saw the shot; super clever!). He also took fascinating pictures whilst making us jump!

VISIT TO SALT FLATS AND NEGOTIATING MY 5 K RUN WITH JOSE:

Our final day, Juan agreed that we could get to the Uyuni Salt Flats for sunrise. For this we had to leave at 4:30 a.m.. I have certainly seen my share of great sunrises and sunsets during my big South America trip but this was just gorgeous, seeing the sun come up in the horizon of these endless looking salt flats was very moving. It was cold and we could still feel the altitute but we were all watching the sun come up in fascination.

I asked Juan whether I could go for a run and he said that he could think about it after the breakfast. For breakfast he drove us to the part of the salt flats that’s home to the cactus island. It’s a very small piece of land in the middle of this dried salt lake and home to giant cactus trees. It is certainly curious how it came to be in this dry salt lake. I had learned that most trees were well over a hundred years old. It made me wish to be as strong if I get to leave to that age!

After about 1 hour of exploring this island, I had a quick breakfast and agreed with Juan that I would run in the direction that he will drive later on and, instead of waiting for my return, they could drive and pick me up on their way. There was a small chance that I was not running in the direction Juan pointed so, after about 1 km I ran back and showed Ceatano the direction I was running in case it was wrong. Thankfully I did, I had found out later that Juan had meant the other direction!

The run was a bit more difficult than I expected, I was running out of breath frequently and my speed wasn’t certainly the normal 5 k speed. However, it was a very meditative run, I had this great sense of limitlessness because I was surrounded by endless looking salt flats. For a while, it felt like I was the only living thing on earth; it’s hard to describe that sense of calm and isolation. I was very happy and in my element. Reminded, yet again, how lucky I was that I could do this.

Aroundabout the 5 k mark our car caught up with me. Caetano took this amazing video. I was reluctant to get back in the car but Juan was not going to let me run another 5!

We spent the rest of the day visiting diffent parts of the salt flats. Our penaltimate stop before the entry into the Uyuni town was this train cemetery but we were more keen to head to the town for some well deserved but late lunch.

Ceatano and Steph were going to go back to San Pedro with another group but they had enough time to walk me to the bus stop with Caetano carrying my giant suitcase |(this giant bag has been painful but it introduced me to many kind strangers along the way who were happily offering to carry or pull it for me).

My next stops would be Potosi where I had visited a silver mine and the beautiful city Sucre.

I was in Santiago both after my Antarctica and Easter Island trips. At the end of my last visit, I took a 2 hr flight to Calama then a bus to San Pedro De Atacama:

SANTIAGO: On return from Antarctica, I had great few days here meeting friends I made in Patagonia and had the unexpected chance to hangout with my running hero, Richard Donovan, as he was also in town. Richard is the founder of the Antarctic Ice Marathon and has incredible stories like being the first person to successfully run to the South Pole. I would like to write about him at some point but I can say that he’s an extremely impressive but equally modest person. I’ve respected and liked him even more than I already did.

The very first day in Santiago was one of my ‘fancy hotel’ days so, I stayed at the Singular then, at super budget Hostel Forestal. The transition from luxury to basic was seemles and I was, again, reminded how little one needs for comfort and fun.

The second Santiago stay, after Easter Island was unplanned. I had in fact planned to be in Valparaiso but didn’t realise that my trip coincided with ‘la Inmaculada Concepción’ (the Feast of Immaculate Conception) which is a big religious celebration and a public holiday. On this day Chilieans make their way to from Santiago to Lo Vasquez Sanctuary, on Route 68, which is on way to Valparaiso. So, busses etc. are full and it’s rather chaotic. I opted for two more days in Santiago.

Did some nice walks and short runs around the town, especially on San Cristóbal Hill, which is a big hill right in the centre of town from where you can have 360 view of Santiago. It’s a heaven for active visitors of the city as it has a nice, challenging ride/run/walk up (depending on your preference). I chose to run and walk.

Among the places I discovered, Matilde, is a great roof top restaurant. On my last day in Santiago, I wanted to join a cross-fit class but the public holiday meant that everything was closed. Instead, I decided to run up the San Cristóbal Hill but because of pilgrims that way was also closed. I could only walk up to the Zoo level from where I saw this really cool looking rooftop bar/restaurant. Fitness plans out of the window, I quickly settled for the next best thing: A great dinner and two glasses of nice Chilean wine. The dinner was a large salad plate which even contained kale, a rare find in S.A. countries I’ve been so far!

Some pictures from Matilde and the view from the top of the hill are here.

Streets of Santiago also contain great grafiti art. I’ve added some of my favorites.

SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA: I spent 3 days here and not sure if I liked it. The nature surrounding the town is fascinating. However, the town itself is an overcrowded tourist stopover, numerous companies compete to sell excursions to surrounding spots. Despite this competition, the price is very high, in fact I am told that the main street here was the third most expensive in Chile (I’m guessing Puerto Natales and Easter Island are among these but not sure if they are no 1 & 2. ).

Even when you’re willing to pay for the tours, you are stuck with guides with very little knowledge and are mostly encouraged to do just small walks around view points and take pictures. So, if you’re adventourous or prefer to keep active, some of these excursions will bore you! That said, I saw beautiful places like the Moon Valley and the El Tatio Geysers. If I had more time, I would certainly cycle to the Moon Valley instead of a tour. Here are some pictures from both trips.

The Moon Valley where we also watched the sunset.

El Tatio Geysers

Of the three excursions I did, my only favourite was the Stargazing which involves a crush course on stars, galaxies etc. followed by a late night sky viewing with varios telescopes and bare eyes. I even saw my first ever shooting star!

The most enjoyable thing I did was a run from the town to the nearby Devil’s Throat in the Atacama Desert. I waited for the heat to calm down then ran from the town centre there and back. It was about 10 k but you can certainly run longer if you leave earlier! It was a total contrast to my Antarctica run which I did just couple of weeks prior. Antarctica race was at -25/30 C but the Atacama desert run was at +25/30 at 2,500 m altitute. Despite this extreme contrast, one common thing was that I needed a face mask for both runs!

Two other things that made the trip enjoyable were the great yoga classes and smoothies I could find at the nearby Kimal Spa.

In the end, I left San Pedro de Atacama with a mix feeling. I think that I would still recommend the place but would urge you to try and plan to explore the area as independently as possible. In any case, this is a must-have stop if you are starting from Chile and would like to visit Uyuni which is exactly what I did. I will write about my Uyuni experience very shortly.

Something I became,dangerously, comfortable with: Arriving at cities with no or only one evening of hotel booking to select a spot in person. Although, I have to add that I do research before arriving! Having done some research online, I found out that there were plenty of options and all available.

Something that has become a regular blessing during my trip is the number of incredibly kind and beautiful people that I come accross. Here is a brief story of one:

Given the cost of the flight, it was sensible to find a cheap hostel. I found one online and decided to walk there but somehow the place was not there! This is what happened next: I walked into a bar to ask about it. This lovely girl at the bar, Romina, was washing dishes when I arrived. She dried her hands and walked outside with me to look for the place. When we realised that the place was now a construction site, she invited me back in the bar. Gave me a drink said she’d ride me on her scooter to a place she knew well. I didn’t even question it, just jumped behind her. They didn’t have a spot so she took me next door. The whole time I was worried about her because she was in the middle of her shift. I finally convinced her that I’d be ok from where she took me. She gave me a big hug and said to return to the bar if any issues (I believe next, she was going to host me in her house!).

In the end, I stumbled across this boutique hotel/restaurant. It only had 3 rooms but all empty, the staff was super friendly and the owner decided to accept 60% less than his initial asking price. I know I negotiate well but I was lucky too.

I went next two days but could not catch Romina’s shift to be able to thank her. I did leave her a message and do hope that she receives it but even if she doesn’t, I know somehow the universe will conspire to return her kindness.

A short video of the view from my room, the picture of the hotel & restaurant and great sundown view from just outside the hotel.

Those who know me well enough know that I’m pretty much obsessed with being active, particularly running (guilty as charged!). This obsession means that the way I explore the places I visit is slightly unconventional: I discover new places with my running shoes as much as I can. Given the 60 something square-mile of the Island’s size, running the whole thing would be challenging so, I opted for the next best thing which was to combine walking, running and cycling. The result? I loved it! The whole time I would catch myself laughing out-loud, even during the most painful uphill bike rides!

Day 1: Walk & Run (14 miles)

I started from the centre of the town (Hanga Roa) along the water on the west side of the island and walked back through the trail that cuts the first part on the map [marked 1].

The weather is temperamental: sunny one minute, then windy, then a heavy shower soaks you but stops by the time you reach for your raincoat. The constant big waves hit the rocks and make an incredible sound. As most people drive between visit spots, I could only see a couple of people on the trail. I caught up with one walker and we walked together for a while. He’s a nurse and told me a lot about the work he does with children. It was refreshing to see someone so passionate about a job which most of us would consider to be very tough.

When we came to the top of the first section, the path was a little unclear and we knew that to complete the full circle we’d have to walk about twice as much as we already did, and this meant the risk of walking in pitch darkness (the Island is blessed with wild horses and cows, so, dangerous!). He decided to return and was really concerned about me, but I assured him that I would be fine as I’d be running! He gave me the weird look that I’m used to now but also a hug and asked me to promise that I’d be careful and hitch a ride if it’s getting late. The next 9 miles was the funnest part for me as I ran almost the entire way back other than stops I made to see the Moa’s, the Ahu’s and hidden caves.

I made it back to my hotel well before sun down, very happy and very very hungry. Had my dinner against the amazing sundown.

Day 2: I rented a bike and rode in another direction [marked as 2 on my map]. The plan was to go around the second but much larger (50k) circle but I was quickly humbled when I realised that, by 6 pm, with all the stops I had made to see different sites, I was only about half way through. A few guides advised that it was better to return the way I came from as the other way was much longer and hilly. Luckily, I did listen to them and decided that I’d visit my next stop (the Tongariki) for the sunrise in the morning.

Made it back to the gorgeous hotel, again, in time for the sun-down. The chef, Juan Manuel, offered me delicious pisco sours and whipped up a tailored dinner of quinoa, avocado tomato salad and grilled fresh tuna. Almost as paleo as it gets if you count the quinoa as paleo, which I do! Being the only customer in the hotel doesn’t help their business but certainly I felt very privileged. I had really fun conversations with Juan and his friend Omar who owns the diving centre in town and I think that he’s convinced me to try it soon.

Day 3: I took a taxi at 6 am to drive me to Tongariki which is the spot where I returned yesterday, and it is the spot to watch the sunrise. Seeing the sun rise up behind the giant statues is a rare site and I was both happy and emotional for being so blessed to see such thing. Later, I rode back the same way I returned yesterday as I had to check out of my hotel and check into my next accommodation (my tent!). By the time I returned it was 9:30 am and it felt great to have so much fun even before the hotel was serving breakfast!

The exhaustion of the past few days caught me, and I returned the bike deciding that I’d take a taxi to the famous beach and relax there for the day and skip the last section. However, the very flirty bike shop owner (Christiano) insisted that I should keep the bike. He insisted on giving me the bike for free and driving me with the bike to the beach, so I could cycle back and complete my initial mission. He’s clearly obsessed about cycling but said that he was impressed by my effort and it was his job to help me complete! I am grateful that I did listen to him, the beach was fascinating. I was in paradise of golden sandy beach, palm trees, blue ocean and, to top it all, another fascinating Ahu. The ride back was painful for the first 3 miles as there were crazy vertical hills, one after another. When I came to the top of the final big hill it was already 25 minutes into my ride and the next 20 minutes, I did 8 miles flying down the hills and made my way safely back to Christiano’s shop.

One small note: I realise now that I make peace very quickly when I lose things. As I was about to ride back, I reached for my mobile but realised that it wasn’t there. Traced all the steps back, asked people and came to the conclusion that everything in the phone was recoverable and if I had lost it I’d just have to live with it. Luckily when I was returning the bike Christiano told me that I had left my phone in his car.
Twice the saver of my day, I thanked him and politely declined his flirty attempts to take me out for dinner! Instead, I opted for the full sun-down experience near the popular spot but away from the crowd. Later, enjoyed a glass of wine while I thought about how lucky I was for watching the perfect sunrise and sundown all in one day.

My conclusion is that the Island is a paradise. I had a great sense of adventure with all the challenging runs and rides, incredibly delicious meals which almost always involved some fresh local tuna fish. I saw these magnificent figures that remind me that we humans are incredible and been so even hundreds of years ago, perhaps even more so then.

The disappearance of Rapa Nui culture, their exploitation and gradual destruction by slave traders and missionaries broke my heart; their story of destruction by their great obsession and waste of resources scares me for what might happen to the earth, but I am grateful to them for leaving behind these great statutes that gave me goose bumps each time I looked at one.

A final note about the ocean: My fav landscape is still the mountains but, want to be as crazy as these waves when I am mad and as calm and shiny as the ocean when I’m in my element! In this island, I was in my element and do hope to return sometime.

Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is a tiny island in the middle of the pacific ocean and is about 6 hours flight from Santiago. Having felt completely overwhelmed and exhausted from my big race in Antarctica, I decided that I would go there no matter and luckily found a reasonable ticket.

As well as being a natural beauty with clear blue ocean, palm trees and sunshine, the Island is a big open air museum as it is home to the mystic statutes that defies logic mostly in terms of the people who made them and why they were made . These giant figures are called “Moa” and some of these are erected on platforms called “Ahu. Moas are giant human figures or faces carved out of rocks and somehow were carried accross different spots in the Island from where they are made (Rano Raraku) and this incredible transportation is still a mystery. I didn’t join a guided tour of these spots as I preferred to explore the whole Island by walking, running and cycling. However, I did read a little about the Island’s history and various theories of why / how these statures were built. Also the stories of explotation by outsiders and slave traders taking the strong men an women of the Island thus contributing to the rapid disappearance of both the culture and the Islanders themself.  Of all, what strikes me the most is that the obsession by the Rapa Nui people to build these Moa’s is what brought their demise in the end, they had cut their trees for transportation and construction of these giant statutes and used up what probably seemed to be endless resources to the point that there was hunger and even stories of cannibalism.

Centuries later, I think that the current issue in the island is the number of hotels and the fact that more is being built. The locals are trying to make most of the visitors but despite this inflation of hotels the Island is extremely expensive.

All of that said, it is still one of the most impressive places I have been. I do hope that the Island will make it to top of your list of places to see and you get to go there sometime soon. I write about my 3 days on the island in the next post.

 

Before starting my 6 months long trip, I had only ever travelled once as solo. Strangely, this was also to South America, Peru, but it was planned to be a trip with a good friend who had to drop out at last minute. Even then, the whole thing was planned and, because I had warned my friend that hostels were completely out of question, those were mostly very nice hotels (we had had travelled together years earlier in Europe and shared rooms with strangers in exactly one occasion. Hence the warning!) So, for my first solo trip everything was arranged, and we had very comfortable hotels, guided tours etc. Little did I know that this taster to S.A. would, a few years later, make me want to travel there by myself. Looking back from my nearly 3 months of solo travel to that 2.5-week trip in Peru, I’ve learned a few things that make my whole trip more fun, comfortable and affordable:

#1 Hostels are your best choice. They are the best spots to meet like-minded, adventurous travellers. They provide all the essentials and often to a good degree. Just do research and select well reviewed hostels (and always leave brief honest reviews so other travellers can benefit). Do not go to hotels unless you want to just indulge in a bit of a luxury and are happy to eat that fancy dinner by yourself.

Hotels are great for romantic getaways but not if you’re solo. If you must have the luxury, only make it occasional (my personal rule is 6+1 i.e. I rough it for 6 days and stay in a fancy hotel on 7th day if I want). This makes possible the occasional luxury financially but also gives you perspective: the fluffy beds and luxury showers are overrated so, naturally you start expecting more (my personal criteria is a good swimming pool, spa and gym). My experience is that staff in hostels are friendlier! Also, the clientele of these fancy places tend to want to keep to themselves and, even if they are friendly, the environment doesn’t really invite chat with the total strangers. So, to avoid being weird, you end up keeping to yourself.

# 2 Shared rooms are better because they save a lot of money (see #1) and actually help you enjoy your time better because you are more likely to want to spend your entire day outside the room and, since you only have a section of the room to yourself, you don’t indulge in emptying the entire content of your suitcase to then spend hours to pack it again. Obviously inevitable mishaps happen, like forgetting the hairbrush at the bottom of that large suitcase but even that helps you discover that our hands have five very versatile fingers which make magical hairbrush. It works!

#3 Applying #1 and 2, you quickly come off your high horse and learn to sleep like a baby no matter what. The snorer, the smelly or the occasional mad man who decides to sleep nude (yes, it has happened!) only makes you laugh, rather than freak out and run 100-mile p/h speed towards the reception and scream that there might be a lunatic who thought that the hostel was his private room (that part has also happened!). The next time, you just laugh and ask them to put on some clothes and threaten that everyone else might do the same. That in fact makes it better and the committer becomes extremely self-conscious therefore, a very quiet neighbour the whole time (that happened too!).

#4 Hand-wash your clothes every day. This takes 5 min and helps avoid your suitcase turn into an atomic smell bomb and also gives you piece of mind that your laundry wasn’t mixed with 50 other strangers’ sweat and God-knows-what or washed in detergents that contain more than 10 chemical ingredients that you cannot even pronounce.

#5 Do small talk with the staff in the hostels, restaurants, bars, planes. You will be surprised how much privilege that could give you and make the entire thing more enjoyable for both sides. Also, don’t be shy to speak with total strangers. Everyone has a story and know at least one thing that you don’t know!

Happy travels…

I briefly mentioned Paola’s Kundalini Yoga studio in Punta arenas last time I was there. Despite my very broken Spanish skills, we quickly bonded and became friends. A nice coincidence was that her partner, Felipe, works for the Antarctic logistics company (ALE) that was in charge of our race logistics so, it was great to see him before and after our Antarctica flights.

Although I practiced different forms of yoga over the years, I didn’t know anything about Kundalini Yoga. I hope to learn more and write about it. For now, I can only say that It’s a form of yoga that effectively combines breathing techniques, meditation and physical exercises.

Her studio is at the front of the house that Paola and her family live. There she teaches yoga and ayurveda. She’s passionate about both but, counting her third job of being a mum, her fourth and actual profession is veterinary. I don’t even count her previous flamenco dancing and the organic food business she’s about to set up. Despite all that, she’s always calm and has this fantastic smile. A hope for those of us who only have to manage one or two things at once!

We’ve agreed to meet briefly on my return from Antarctica. In addition to the great positive energy she gave me before the race, she gave me a kundalini yoga practice manual with some hand written notes prepared for me and a yoga class! We later went to her home where she cooked this fantastic vegetarian meal which I shared with her, Felipe and their gorgeous daughter Antonia. Felipe told me that Paola is extremely selective with friends and only invites very close friends home. This made the whole thing even more special for me.

As I had to make it to my flight that night, we said quick qoodbyes and remembered to take a photo only at the last minute. I know I will see her in London, Istanbul or Punta Arenas. Until then lovely Paola!

I took this short video at midnight whilst making my way to my tent in Antarctica. It’s in Turkish and I am having to cut the video short because my hand was freezing but hope it gives you a glipse of midnight there.

Tam gece yarısında çektiğim bu kısa video Antartika’daki soğuk ve gece yarısı güneşini gösteriyor.