Bolivia - Part One

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Hello all!

Here I am again, off adventuring in South America! this time, I'm not alone - I'm travelling with one of my best friends from university, Sarah.

We met up in Salta on Sunday afternoon, and spent most of the afternoon catching up on what we have both been up to these past ten months. We went up a hill in the centre that gave us wonderful views over the town, had a late dinner and then got our bus to La Quiaca.

La Quiaca is the Argentinean border town with Bolivia - and there really isn't much to see. We didn't spend long there, just long enough to get through border control and into Villazon - its Bolivian counterpart.

Villazon was already like another world - lots of Bolivian women wandering round in traditional indigenous dress, market stalls everywhere...like nothing I've seen so far in South America. unfortunately I wasn't really up to exploring, I felt really terrible due to the altitude so I spent most of the day sat down in the sunshine, taking it easy.

At three pm, we got a train (standard class) - which was an experience. The seats were uncomfortable, with four people crammed into a space better suited to two, for the whole 8 hour journey. We arrived, tired and achy, to Uyuni.

Uyuni is famous for its salt plains - 12,000 km squared of brigth white salt, as far as the eye can see. Geographically, its like a desert - only made of salt! We did a day trip onto the plains, taking millions of photos and stopping for lunch on an "island" that appears out of nowhere from the salty plains. It was a truly amazing day - extremely beautiful and strange!

What was even stranger was the bus journey from Uyuni to Potosi. The bus was like a tin can, our luggage was hoisted haphazardly onto the roof and strapped there, the window in front of me was broken so my right side was numbed by cold air for the entire 7 hours, whilst the driver blasted terrible Bolivian music from the radio. The highpoint of the trip was when a gas truck in front of us broke down and we were told we would have to wait til morning for it to be moved. Fortunately this was not the case, and we arrived at 2 am in Potosi, tired and desperate for a bed and some heating!

Today we have both been suffering with altitude sickness. Potosi is 4100 metres above sea level and the accompanying headaches, sleeplessness and nausea have been difficult to deal with. As a result we have had a lazy day today - looking at the many colonial churches and cobbled streets. Tomorrow we are going to the silver mines that made Bolivia rich during the colonial era, and then to chill out in the nearby thermal springs.

Next Stop: Sucre.

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