Blogs from Oruro Department, Bolivia, South America - page 8

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South America » Bolivia » Oruro Department » Oruro January 20th 2007

This will be a relatively short entry as not much really happened this Saturday that I spent in Oruro. My goal for this trip to Oruro was to find a hotel for my friends and I for Carnaval as it was coming up in less than a month and the rooms were going quick. Friday after work, I zipped to the bus terminal to try to catch a 7PM bus to Oruro so that I would arrived at around 10:30PM. After waiting in line for a few minutes, the bus company said they were full. Then they came around saying they had one seat left, the one in the back in the middle, and I took that. The advantage of this I guess, is that they snuck me through their office to the bus so that ... read more
Prefectura on Plaza de 10 de Febrero
Prefectura on Plaza de 10 de Febrero
Pigeons in the plaza

South America » Bolivia » Oruro Department » Cordillera Real January 14th 2007

Bolivia has been good to us. We took a 9 hr. train that might or might not have derailed for a minute from Uyuni to Oruro to connect with a bus to La Paz, at 3,600 meters is the highest capital in the world. La Paz is an incredible city. It is Jackson Hole, Wyoming, if Jackson Hole had 10,000,000 dirty little people and no toilet paper. The city sprawls itself to fit inside a bowl formed by snowy mountains. We strolled around the city two days; admiring architecture, visiting museums (one agricultural and one cultural/folklore), and shopping the black market. We all bought musical instruments and decided to start a band. Gordo has a guitar, Graham has a dijembe drum, Elise has a regional flute, and Emma has a goat nail bracelet that clinks. So ... read more
San Pedro Prison
little women
Team Downhill Madness

South America » Bolivia » Oruro Department » Oruro December 26th 2006

Finally it is Boxing Day, or otherwise, the first day of almost a two week adventure of southern Bolivia. My destination for today, Uyuni, the home of the largest salt flat in the world. It has been on the top of my list of things to see in Bolivia, so I was going to check it off first. Karin, my roommate, was heading that way as well, so we decided we'd travel together as far as Uyuni. Believe it or not, on Boxing Day morning, Karin had a schedule meeting with someone that worked for the city, so when she went to the meeting (which ended up being cancelled), I went to the bus station to find out about buses to Uyuni. I found out that most of the buses leave for Uyuni at 7PM and ... read more
Highway to Oruro
Tending to sheep on the side of the road
Scenary on the way to Oruro

South America » Bolivia » Oruro Department » Cordillera Real November 21st 2006

I have some parasites or bacteria in mi estomago... not such an unusual thing in Bolivia, but still not the most pleasant of experiences when they have been habitating your insides for more than a week. I think it was from eating ceviche (a Peruvian dish of raw fish) which tastes great but can cause long term consequences not so favourable to your bodily systems. My doctor wondered whether I was trying to commit suicide. No... but ceviche is so good! Probably not a good idea to eat it when you are more than 6 hour drive from the ocean... and on that note I don't think I've seen a refrigerated truck since we've been in South America.... So the climb up Chacaltaya (the only ski mountain in Bolivia) last weekend wasn't such a memorable experience, ... read more
The view of La Paz
The car protectors
Danielle


Huayna Potosi is described as the most accessible 6000m peak in the world, but alas, on the day, it turned out to be completely unaccessible for me. Summiting was the climax (or anticlimax) of a five day trekking-climbing trip in the Cordillera Real. We took some time to acclimatise throughout the week, climbing two 5000m passes and sleeping at around 4500-4700m each night. There was me and and an English couple Niki and Rich who were great fun. Rich had a fancy altimeter-thermometer watch which meant we were frequently updated with our altitude and progress. As well as the fact that it was -5degrees in the tent in the morning (and that was their two-bodied tent, i was sleeping by myself so it was probably colder). The 4th day we climbed from base camp to high ... read more


We have just been the highest we have both been in our lives (Mie has been higher). We are back in La Paz after climbing a mountain 5700m high. The whole experience was challenging, but totally worth it. We left Lap Paz on April 1st for Tuni, a small town in the middle of nowhere, we had lunch in a small house made of mud. Then collected our donkeys and set off with our bags on a 4 hour walk to base camp. We passed hills, streams, lakes and llamas on the way. It was beautiful. After a couple of hours walking we had the mountain in our sights, it looked huge and scarey. When we got to base camp our cook made us a hot drink and prepared the dinner, which was more rice with ... read more
Climbing in the dark
The first look....
Halfway up...


We have been trekking in the cordillera real for 4 days and it was stunning. We travelled in a car for about 4 hours out of La Paz and stopped at a tiny mud house and were told that we would have to camp there, we wouldn't be walking today, we would have to walk longer the 2nd day to make up time. The reason we couldnt start, was that our guide couldn't find any donkeys to rent- the donkeys were needed to carry our tents,all the food and cooking equipment. So we waited for them to arrive, thinking better to wait than struggle on with the stuff. It was just gone lunchtime and there was nothing to do, it was freezing too. Having never waited for donkeys before, we didn't know what to do with ... read more
lake
camp
lo and mie crossing the freezing river

South America » Bolivia » Oruro Department » Oruro March 28th 2006

I survived the 3650m descent, 64km down the world´s most dangerous road! We started on bitumen at 4760m in the freezing cold, and ended up in the tropics at 1100m... A fabulous ride, leaving our arms sore from bumping down the rocky road! We were lucky there were hardly any trucks to contend with, however, as there had been a landslide over part of the road (we made our way over the rocks carrying our bikes..). The day ended with a shower and lunch in a hotel overlooking the gorgeous valley and the hair-raising road we had ridden down... (Actually, it ended with me -who had been chatting to a lovely English girl Ruth the whole way home, exchanging travel stories - suddenly realising I was exhausted, but anyway being talked into going to buy and ... read more
At the top of the WMDR (World's Most Dangerous Road)
Looking back on the WMDR
Women carry their wares on their back in brightly coloured cloths

South America » Bolivia » Oruro Department » Oruro March 15th 2006

There are four of us now, Mark, myself, Hannah, and Aaron, our guide. We are on our way down to the Uyuni area to see the salt flats, which is one of the main reasons I wanted to come to Bolivia in the first place. To get there, from La Paz, is a full day of travel. First, a 3 hour bus ride to Oruro (try saying that a few times fast), then a train ride to Uyuni. In order to have to most authentic experience possible, the bus broke down promptly about 1 hour into our destination, and our bags and our bus companions got to hang out Bolivian roadside style, waiting for our new bus coming from, you guessed it, exactly where we had left from an hour before. The net effect of our ... read more


Optei por saltar alguns meses de viagem e pôr online a última aventura boliviana. A parte fotográfica foi bastante condicinada pelo frio porque a máquina não funcionou na perfeição, descarregando as baterias muito mais rápidamente do que eu estava à espera e outras vezes nem ligava. Mas não importa, porque eu vou-me lembrar para sempre destes dias. Cordilheira Real A Cordilheira Real faz juz ao nome. Imponente parte dos Andes, tem mais de 600 picos acima dos 5.000 mt. uma grande parte visível de La Paz, diria mesmo, visíveis de onde quer que estejamos. Basta olhar para lá. Não só pra lá olhei como pra lá fui. Várias agências em La Paz "oferecem" trecking, escalada, e outras actividades na cordilheira. As opções são mais que muitas, variam na duração, localização e actividade em questão. Com falta ... read more
Laguna Tuni
Trecking
Isolado




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