Hello Bolivia... why certainly I would like to buy a stick of dynomite

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Hola amigos!
When I last left you I had just finished the Inca trail. I bummed around Cusco for a few days, visiting with people I had met throughout Peru, shopping, drinking fruit juices, and taking advantage of the $5 massages before heading to Bolivia with part of Team Australia that I met on the Inca Trail.

We had a 10 pm night bus to Copacabana in Bolivia. We asked multiple times if the bus stopped anywhere.... they assured us it didn’t. It was direct. FYU - people who sell you bus tickets in South America LIE ALL THE TIME!!! Our crew consisted of team Australia (Josh, Anthony, Dougal) and Pia from Idaho.

We paid an extra $1.60 to have the full reclining seats on the lower level of the bus. Well... when we got on the bus it smelled liked sweaty socks or some rancid smell so bad that we were all pushing the windows open. Poor Dougal was suffering from severe diarrhoea and nausea so the smell was killer.

Then, just when the bus is supposed to leave this dude comes back and sprays deodorizer the guys feet in our row as if the smell is coming from us! 2 Hours into the trip Anthony confessed that he lied about his age, that team Australia are all 22 years old, so now I feel like a really old lady, or a little bit like I am hanging out with some of the Oil Kings again. But apparently I am the youngest looking old person he knows, so it’s all good.

Six hours later they were shoving us off the bus in Puno where we got to wait 3 hours in the freezing cold bus station. Two more joined team tummy trouble, so Josh and I were the only ones who got to enjoy the random banana pancakes at the bus station, my last meal in Peru. Another 3 hours on a bus filled with backpackers and we arrived at the border. Pia had to pay $135 for a visa.... sucks to be an America... ha ha ha.

When we arrived in Copacabana (the Bolivian town on Lake Titicaca - the highest navigable lake in the world) this dude came on the bus and told us we had to be a 2 boliviano tax. In case you don’t know, Bolivia is the poorest/cheapest country in South America. It is 7 Bolivianos to the dollar, but still... just because I am a foreigner doesn’t mean you can tax me.

Everyone raves about Copacabana, but no one tells you there is no ATM in the town, very convenient since the whole town is based on tourism. The next morning we walked along the mainland through some small villages and beautiful countryside... that is until you would look over a cliff overlooking Lake Titicaca and see a small garbage dump. We hired a boat to get to the Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun) and got suckered into paying some stupid boat tax as well. When we arrived at the island we were happily greeted by three locals who created a line of defence stating we had to pay 5 bolivianos to get on the island. A very nice welcome and another fake foreigner tax.

Both Pia and I tried to push through and not pay, but they pushed us back. Some overweight Bolivian woman in traditional garb wearing her super high bowler hat was doing her best to convince me I had to pay it, the whole time I was dying to take her hat and chuck it in the water. Yes, I am that culturally insensitive.

In the end we found some lady with a baby who took us to her house and we only had to pay $1.60 each to stay. We caught the sunset at the top of the island and I enjoyed the best trout I have had on this trip... it only took 1.5 hours to get to the table, which by island standards, is pretty quick.

We had basically no money so we scrimped after paying for the 90 minute boat back to the mainland, had a budget lunch, and caught the 3 hour bus to La Paz. When I arrived I had about 40 Bolivian cents on me.

Next up -La Paz -we checked into the Adventure Brew hostel - for $7 we got a room in a 12 bed dorm, would get pancakes every morning until 10, and one free beer a day. We had made sure to arrive on Saturday because there were no buses going anywhere (or liquor being sold) on Sunday due to the presidential election.

The city was a ghost town. We found the main plaza and there were people cooking up street meat so I enjoyed a tasty chorizo sausage sandwich from some guys wearing Mc Rico’s shirts (Mc Delicious). On Monday when things were finally open we walked around and found a place that makes custom leather jackets for about $50. Never one to back away from a good deal I ordered 2.

One of the major activities to do in La Paz is the death road - aka bike down the most dangerous road in the world (based on the number of people who died in vehicles going over along the road). The road is less dangerous than before because a new better road has been built, but when it was fully operational a few years ago cars could go both ways on the curvy cliff crazy road - at times only 3.5 meters wide. Now the only people who drive on it are the ones who live in the villages along the way, or the stupid tourists who want to spend the day biking down it.

Bike ride was amazing, but it rained and made things a little harder than normal, but also pretty damn fun. My goggles fogged up so bad and were so mud splattered I tried to do a section without them and finished the section with a mud splattered face. By the end of the ride a few hours later I had what the guys were calling a ‘5 o’clock shadow’ from all the dirt.

I was going to try to fly north to the jungle to do a pampas trip, but the rainy season got the beat me again. The flight is only 40 minutes, but in Ruenabeque the landing strip is grass, so when it rains, everything gets cancelled. And to keep it fair, if your flight gets cancelled today, you bump the people who booked tomorrow. The alternative is an 18-24 hour bus ride on portions of the death road. Sorry jungle... maybe I’ll see you in Brazil.

I kicked it to Potosi which apparently was the richest city in the world at one time. Now it has an abandoned mine that locals still work in - life expectancy is 10 years and stupid tourists take a tour. I was terrified and it was so hot once we were down 4 or 5 levels. It was sad to see people trying to make a living like that, but we brought the miners presents like dynamite, coca leaves, and pop. The highlight after getting out of the mine was watching some guy blow up a stick of dynamite I bought for 3 dollars. Gotta love Bolivia.

I left team Aussie (too much drama) and latched on to two Canadian boys I met in La Paz - we headed to Uyuni for a tour of the salt flats. Everyone loves this trip because you get to take stupid pictures in the salt desert - I hope you enjoy since we spent a few hours trying to set these up... and ended up having the most fun once we started taking our clothes off. We had a fun couple of days with a British couple and a random guy from Korea and it was really nice to hang out with people my own age.

Train graveyard, sleeping in buildings and beds made from salt, white salt flats, and crazy desert scenes everywhere - it is like 2 days worth of constantly changing Salvador Dali paintings. The last morning we had to get up at 4 am... then went to see some geisers (i got to jump through one... it was like hot egg blowing up me) and then settle in at some hot springs before looking at yet another salt lagoon filled with flamingos... in the middle on no where!

We took the option to get dropped off in Chile - well San Pedro in the Adacama desert is possibly the most expensive place in Chile. I stayed one night and then Carey and I said goodbye to Mike from Ontario and jumped on our super pimp 11 hour bus to Salta, Argentina. Instead of booking on the Gringo bus, I booked us on another company where there were only 4 of us on the bus.

We had the upstairs to ourselves - we picked our own movies, and we got sandwiches, cookies, and access to drinks. It was like we were on a moving living room - with a constantly changing dessert landscape. I’m now in the land of meat so I plan to gorge myself tonight when we go for dinner at 10pm, followed by drinking/dancing at 1:30.... This is going to be hard for me to get used to since I usually go to bed at 10.

I sent a 7 kg package home from Bolivia so cross your fingers it makes it otherwise no one gets presents. It doesn’t quite feel like Christmas here, except that I was amused when I saw a giant aloe vera style cactus with x-mas lights today. Hoping to find a great place to spend Christmas this year, but Argentina has seriously surprised me after less than 24 hours so I’m excited. I hope all of you are happy and healthy and have a great holiday even though I am not there to spend it with you.

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Photos

Don't touch the wall!
Chilling by the famous inca stone in Cusco - cut 12 times

Chilling on the Isla del Sol
Just waiting for sunset and my trout dinner

Welcome - now you pay
the sign that says welcome... pay 5 Bolivianos

Mc Yummy
some of the only food available on election day

$50 well spent
one of two leather jackets I had made in La Paz - praying the package makes it home

Election day
ghost town in La Paz

Pre Bike ride
getting geared up for the Death Road in Bolivia

Post Bike ride
sporting a mud beard

live dynomite
yup - that's me holding a lit fuse attached to a stick of dynomite

train graveyard
first stop on our three day jeep trip across Bolivia

Salt Hostel
chilling on some salt furniture

Balancing Act
Um - it was seriously hard on the head... hard cracked salt does not feel good

I'm squishing your head
fun times on the salt flats

Strike a pose
hello my name is salt flat fabulous?

Canadian Salt Flat Bums
The British girl made us do it...

chilling in the hot springs
well deserved after a 4 am wake up call

Comments

[Jen]

soooo great to talk to you today Sharm!!! Love the pics...the salt flats are so cool!! St. A will not be the same this xmas without you! I hope you have an amazing holiday time and hopefully speak to you again soon!! miss you way too much!jen