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Published: November 24th 2006
Ebo Morales- El Presidente
With his important chums clapping some old Potosian women!Hello and welcome to my penultimate blog for my travels, and will describe just how amazing Bolivia is. I think its probably my favourite country in South America, mainly as its so cheap. But also its full of culture- the Bolivian dress code is amazing and I will come back looking semi Bolivian, the people are incredible, the towns are nice, there is complete mixes of landscapes and finally, as Im a gambler, its always a risk eating anything as you may get the shits!!!
So I left it last time when in Sucre. I only spent a few days here as there was not much to do. I did go and see some crappy dinosaur footprints that were in a vertical rock surface!!! And I did go and have some really tasty food from the massive market. However it was to have reprocussions!!! The English girls Ive been travelling with (Hannah and Kate) dippily left their washing in the laundrette over the weekend so had to wait till Monday in Santa Cruz to pick it up, so I met them in Potosi.
I caught a taxi to Potosi (3hrs taxi for less than 3 quid!) and stayed at
Branching out for a spot
These Bolivians really wanted to see Ebo Koala Den, a brilliant hostel where I met loads of people in the big communcal area- mostly English but a few Americans, Dutch and Israelis. The first day I was there, however, I didnt move off the settee and the shitter, as I had really bad altitude sickness as well as the shits. Potosi is the highest city in the world and it hit me like a brick!!! The day after, however, I felt much better and I visited the famous working mines of the town. It was a real eye opener as the working conditions of the minders is shocking. All the miners eat coca leaves to overcome the conditions and thus have huge cheeks full as they chew on them for about 5hours. Their faces were hard, no smiling, as they worked painfully hard in the mines. There were kids of 16 who had worked down there for nearly 3yrs. The average age expectancy is about 45, and the fumes and dust really affect their health. Before we entered the mines we bought presents of coca leaves, soft drinks and dynamite for them, as the miners have to pay for all their equipment out of their own pocket.
We seperated the presents between the different groups. It did get quite clostraphobic at times as we scrambled on all 4s down to level 4, where it was difficult to breathe at times. All in all, although generally fun and interesting, it was more humbling than anything.
The day after the parties started in Potosi, as the 10th November its the day of Independence. They celebrate it every year with massive parades and parties and muchos drinking. We watched the miners wander past, all very proud wearing their gear, and it took yonks as there are 15000 of them in the mines. Also the old women of the town, school children, virtually everyone. And they all set off lod bangers and dynamite which the first time really makes you jump!! We left the town and visited natural hot springs before hithcing a lift back with a Bolivian family in the back of their 4 x 4 with their kids. Cheaper and quicker than the bus! We also had one crazy night in Potosi where we ended up drinking rum and coke on a park bench then having random drunken miners come to us and fall over, before hitting the
dancefloor in a classic local karaoke bar! Good fun! Naturally the next day was a write off, but we did manage to see the Bolivian presedent as he wandered the square and then clapped the marchers for what seemed an eternity. Everyone was excited to see Ebo Morales, there were even kids in the trees! A thought did cross my mind though, that it would be piss easy to assassinate the president if you wanted to- JFK style!!!!!!!!!!
We left for Uyuni the next day and the 6hr trip was uneventful minus a blown tyre on the bus! We spent 3 days on Salar de Uyuni, and it was a great trip. Our group consisted of ozzies, canadians, dutchies, argies and a random strange german, all packed into 2 jeeps. We visited the Salt Plains on the first day and it was like driving on the moon. Crazily I completely randomly bumped into Jess who i used to work with at Tescos!!!! Small world!!! We did some crazy photos of perspective before having lunch by the llamas. In the afternoon we visited Cactus Island which was great as you can have a 360 degree view of the salt plains.
We saw an absolute stunning sunset before sleeping in a very simple hostel with beds made of salt. The second day consisted of loads of drivingon roads that were basically worn tyre tracks over the desert of rock and soil. The whole landscape was contiually dry, desolate and completely uninhabitable. We saw various lagoon, most notably the red lagoon where we stayed, active volcanoes, muchos pelicans, and also I got the msot chapped and cut lips ever due to the dry climate. Muy painfulness! The third day rounded up the trip as we woke early for a 4.30am start. We saw the sunrise over the mountains before visiting natural geysers (loads better than in NZ), and then relazxing in natural springs at 8 in the morning. Was absolute class, however the 9hr drive back to Uyuni was a bit dull!! The crap thing about Uyuni also, is that its the no.1 tourist place in Bolivia yet it only has 1 ATM. And this ATM never has any cash or is completely out of order. So when I couldnt pay in cast, they wouldnt accept my card, or english travellors cheques I was in a bit of a pickle!! Ended up
paying more using my card at another agency which meant we missed the bus north to La Paz and thus had to stay one more day in the dead end town that is Uyuni!!
We caught a night bus a day later and it was a nightmare. A bloody nightmare!! For the first few hours we had a drunken Bolivian band singing and playing their guitar in the row behind me gradually getting worse. It honestly sounded worse than Melons singing- which is saying something! Then when we thought it was a direct bus to la paz, I luckily awoke at 3am when we stopped and were told we had to change buses. Then we had to wait around for almost an hr for said 2nd bus, before flying to la paz. But oh know, the tosser of a bus driver decided to drop us off miles from the city in a suburb on a completely random road outside a shop. Nob! We were knackered and pissed off, but using my mental toughness we caught a taxi into the city (half an hour away!) and found a hostel and slept! Possibly the worst journey of my trip as people
Mark Llama
Sure Ive made that joke before!! told us different things all over the place!
La Paz is quite a cool city- the highest capital in the world. Its built on top of a great big hill and there are wicked views of the suburbs going up the hills surrounding the city. And the shopping is wicked- nevermind Dubai as the shopping capital of the world (people go there Dubai alot!!!!) but La Paz is great- Ive bought loads! The second day we were here we hit the most dangerous road in the world on mountain bikes. It really is pretty dangerous but our guide was safety conscious and the girls got down eventually. There are some really tight bends and narrow road, at one point 2 trucks tried to pass each other but neither could reverse very far and the one going down was trying to edge closer and closer to the edge it was getting a bit nerve wracking!! We just bombed past them on our 2500quid bikes! Before we hit the dangerous road bit a road went over the edge that morning and we saw the remains about 40metres down. I dont know the stats but its pretty shocking. There are crosses all
Hannah & Kate being cactuses
On cactus Island- neither will never make good a cactus actress! the way down as various buses, trucks and cars have gone over the edge. Luckily we didnt add to the stats. The top bit was the most difficult as it pissed it down and we got really cold and soaking. But as you come out of the cloud you wamr up and the views of the valley are really great. The day finished with a cycle to our base, where we had showers, beers, a swimming pool to dunk in and loads of fodder. Then we had to drive back up the most dnagerous road but it was ok as because we were going up, we had the right of way and thus could stay pretty close to the inside of the road! An absolute brilliant day. Had a couple of great nights in La Paz too, visiting some cool little pubs and clubs and generally muchos boogieing was had!
We left La Paz on Sunday and I caved in as we took a flight to Runnebaque in the Amazon basin, about an hr north of La Paz. The plane was small and hot, and as we all had hangovers it wasnt enjoyable. But we arrived safely into this
Just one kiss
But she was a bit prickly with me! (god!) beautiful little town on the edge of the Amazon. Leaving the following day for a 3day tour of the Pampas, I thought it was going to be quite similar to the Pantanal, and it generally was except for 2 differences- it was generally water based on rivers and swamps, and there were the proverbial SHIT LOADS of mosquitos. I got bitten to shred on my hands and even my feet were annihilated even though I was wearing socks and trainers. They were little blighters, and my sisters mosquito head cover finally got some use. We caught a 4hr jeep trip into the jungle, before a 3hr boat journey where we saw a snake, dolphins, spiders and monkeys. Was wicked, but for the bloody midgies which were a constant threat. It spolit it a bit as instead of looking for nature I was on constant mosquito watch! The second day we went searching for anacondas. We waded through thigh water in the hope we would randomly step on a snake and it was either try and drown you or run off, which woould give time for our guide to go and catch it. Luckily or unluckily we didnt find any snakes,
just a big frog! Was actually great fun wading through waters and I constantly had the Eva Cassidy song on my brain. I think the guides felt a bit guilty not finding us a snake, so they all went off and "somehow managed" to catch a snake in just an hr, and returned it to us. I think it was their pet from up the river! I wasnt in the mood for holding a great big anaconda as anywhere outside the mosquitos continued to bite me! They just wanted my blood!!!
In the afternoon we went swimming with dolphins, which meant jumping into the dark brown full of shit river and cruising around with the dolphins. I was one of 3 to jump in and it was ok but we only got within about 5metres of the creatures (Not as good as in NZ!). Then the guide told us we could hang on and he would drive us to a different place for more dolphin action. Sadly he lied, and as I hang on to the side of the boat he drove us into a marsh. I got covered in muddy crap with green stufff and twigs all over
Meal with the Group
Ozzies, Argies, Dutchies, Canadian, and a random German!! me! Good banter though!
The third day another early start at 5.30am and off we trudged in our little canoe down the river to watch the sunrise. Was stunning, only for the millions of midgies that destroyed morale in about 30seconds. We left the camp at lunchtime, sailed back and returned to Rurrenbaque that afternoon. That night I randomly met Andy again, who I travelled with in Patagonia. Crazy days!!
So to end this bifter, we arrived back into La Paz this morning, flying back with happiness after escaping the midgies and returning to semi normality. Heading to Lake Titicaca tomorrow and then into Peru. I have loved Bolivia and I dont think one month is long enough.
Hope alls well back home and I see we are doing crap in the cricket!!! Should have picked Rampakash!!!
Ciao for now
Jonny x
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Tubs
Dan Holtby
Awesome pics sprigsey!
And I loved the geyser girl pun, hope you're still enjoying it out there, we got your postcard the other day -Gaz