Bolivia

---

---

1st set of photos for this post
2nd set of photos for this post
In the past few weeks I have seen more amazing things and done more incredible trips than ever before, and probably ever will do.

Going back what now seems an age but was only 3 weeks, I left Argentina and crossed into Chile. The Chileans felt they needed to rifle through my entire bag at the border, yet they had not taken into account my cunning counter strategy. At the top or my rucksack was a bag full of dirty washing which they unwittingly went through first. Surprisingly enough after picking up a couple of crusting socks they decided I was unlikely to be a smuggler and sent me on my way. Richard 1 Border Control 0.

San Pedro de Atacama is one of the driest towns on the world. Consequently it makes an excellent place to look at the stars due to the lack of water in the air (which causes distortion). The first thing I did was go on the "Space" tour. There was no moon which made perfect conditions, and you even had a "milky way" shadow. The highlight was a bit of a geeky moment where looking through the telescope at the rising Jupiter you saw the same 4 moons which Galileo saw 400 years ago proving for the first time that not everything in the universe orbited the Earth.

The next day I had an awesome solo mountain biking adventure. I set off through the desertscape through the Valle de Muerte and ventured up a biking track through a steep sided ravine. On the way back I took a shortcut to the Valle de Luna which involved cycling up a hill to a tunnel through the mountain. There had been a rockfall in the middle of the tunnel which you could just about squeeze past, and then the other side was a slight descent into what appeared to be an unending desert. I hadn´t seen a sign of humanity since 10am and took the opportunity on the way down to have a nice conversation out loud with myself.
It was with relief I eventually came upon the road to the Valle de Luna. Although the desert was spectacular to look at, the so called "attractions" in the valley usually consisted of a couple of rocks that had a passing resemblance to some sort of animal and were not that exciting. It was finally becoming pleasant to cycle in the cool of the late afternoon. And then disaster struck. I got a fast puncture and it turned out the bike shop hadn´t given me the tools needed to change the inner tube. I managed to persuade a passing coach to pick me plus bike up for free, and they asked me if I would like to join their tour. I got on board and it turned out the tour bus was full of Chilean university students from Santiago on a field trip. Looking around I realised it was 80% girls and started to feel pretty happy about the puncture. I was invited back to theirs for dinner, which was an feast of glorious barbecued sausages and beef stew. And then we played glorious drinking games until 4am. Great day.

The next adventure was a 3 day tour to the Salars de Uyuni which began the next morning. Hot springs were a welcome balm to my hangover and then we saw various coloured lakes from chemicals in the rock. Spent the first night pretty high at 4000m where it got down to -15C. The next day was geysers and flamingos as well as passing through some traditional villages. Then on the final day we reached the Salt Flats themselves where the highlight was playing with perspective, as the white background of the salt tricks photos to look flat.

Straight on next to the town of Potosi, once the richest city in the world, whose silver deposits funded the Spanish empire for 200 years. Our destination was the same (still active) mines. We did a fantastic trip with "The Real Deal" who took us all the way through the mountain, including points where we were crawling on hands and knees to get through. It was a unique experience to see the miners (to whom you give gifts of coca leaves or fizzy drinks) who have a life expectancy of 10 years after joining the mine.

After visiting Sucre (where all I managed to achieve was a horrendous hangover) we moved on to La Paz. At this point I was travelling with Eeke who I met on the Salt flats tour. I also had plans to meet up with Nick who I´d seen a few times also since Buenos Aires at the start. We ended up bumping into more friends from BA who we planned and did the Death Road cycle with. Went to see a local football game of dubious quality though there was plenty of excitement with a 6 -1 scoreline and fans who brought fireworks into the ground, including one which misfired into the crowd.

The next big adventure was with Nick and Eeke, where we decided to climb the mountain Huayna Potosi. Day one was a intro to ice climbing and glacier walking with crampons and ice picks. Day two we made the climb to 5100m and the base for the summit climb. After dinner at 5:00pm we went to bed for a get up of 1am. It was a pretty miserable attempt at sleep, I was wearing literally all the clothes I had brought for the trip, but I was pretty sure my hired sleeping bag was wet. Every 10 minutes or so I would wake up and realise an arm had gone numb with cold and would have to shake it awake again. Finally it was time. After drinking as much coca tea as I could, we got our ice gear on, and set off for the summit. At 5100m you breathe hard all the time and when you are walking up a slope it turns into a constant panting. However I was feeling good and caught up with a group who had started ahead. Then suddenly 50m ahead there was an avalanche. When you see the mountain collapsing towards you it is a reasonably frightening moment, and I was fairly convinced I was going to die. Then it stopped, the guides had a good laugh at our terror, and we moved on. About an hour later though, Nick and Eeke were beginning to struggle with the altitude. Our guide who called himself Super Mario took the opportunity to start ripping it out of Nick for his smoking habit. This drove him on up almost to the summit but he stopped at 6000m as the last 100 were probably the hardest of the ascent. After 20 minutes more of pain, euphoria. From the summit you could see an enormous distance, Lake Titicaca, La Paz, and El Altiplano de Boliva stretching on. Super Mario and myself were top of the world at 6088m. It was probably the toughest thing I have ever done. The walk down was tough, I had developed 2 blisters on each of my big toes, and before long I could feel the skin slipping around. Finally back to La Paz, and the tastiest Loki Burger of my life.

And then within 24 hours we were in the jungle for a tour of las Pampas. Nick Eeke and myself flew out to Rurrenbaque where we got on a 3 hour bumpy jeep to the river. For the first day we travelled up river in a long motorboat. Monkeys, alligators, huge numbers of different types of bird, piranhas and pink dolphins (who we swam with, alligators loitering nearby!). The day ended with us playing volleyball watching the sun set with the dubious pleasure of some lukewarm beer. Over the next two days we fished for piranhas, fed monkeys, went anaconda hunting through swamps as well as more ventures on the boat. Then back to Rurre for a day in a pool on the mountainside before back to La Paz.

Before we moved on towards Peru there was time for one more adventure. Nick and myself were having a quiet final night in the Loki Bar when we were approached by one of the bar staff. "Hey guys, put on these girls clothes and get free shots". Us: "Sounds like a great plan". I vaguely remember going to bed some time after 3, forgetting to set an alarm for our 8am bus. By chance I wake up at 7:30 pack up and stumble over to find Nick, who is still passed out. He managed to go back to his hostel and hide all his valuables from any potential thieves, and also himself. Finally after finding them he went to check out, only to find out he had done so when coming back last night. However, we are now informed the bus has left and for the second time I find myself in a taxi chasing a bus down. Again we were lucky and made it before heading to Copacabana and the Isla del Sol on Lake Titicaca. We spent a long day walking over the island, enjoyed some nice trout for meals, and then it was finally time to leave Bolivia.

And now onwards towards Peru. Bolivia is by far the most amazing country I have been to. There are few places in the world where in one week you can climb a mountain and spend 3 days in the jungle.

---

Comments

[Chris Clare]

Rich, Looks like an awesome trip... had a quick look on a tired Friday evening and felt pretty jealous! The pictures from Huayna Potosi look fantastic. Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip... take care... CC

[Mum]

It is so lovely to read all about all you have been doing. Good job I didn\'t know some of it ahead of your actually doing it or.....well you know me! All sounds fab. I\'m sure we have had an edited version. So look forward to all the detail and gos. Lots of love from us all. x x x keep safe my beautiful boy x