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Published: March 23rd 2008
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Flamingo reflection
Lagoon in the Salar de Uyuni Circuit This blog may be a bit overwhelming due to the amount of pictures but I had hundreds of them to go through and had a hard time narrowing it down. I hope you enjoy! Also, the pictures are in no particular order in terms of when I visited which cities, etc., so I hope it is not too confusing.
After a crazy time in La Paz, I headed into a town called Sucre which was a beautiful old town with a true colonial feel with all white washed buildings and beautiful little streets. I got in from an overnight bus and headed to a hostal that other travelers had recommended. It was beautiful, $5 a night, had the most charming french owners, was clean and I had my own room for the first time in quite a while. Oh, I was so relieved after sort of sleeping the night before on a bus. Sucre was a nice change from the La Paz fast paced lifestyle.
I also went into Potosì for one day which is the highest city in the world 15,827 feet above sea level and is famous for being an old silver mining town. The sad
Sunrise reflection on the Salar de Uyuni
The double image occurs because the Salar, at this point, is covered with a thin layer of water. part about the mining is that millions of people, mostly indigenous people and slaves from Africa have died mining for the precious metal mostly due to contracting silicosis. The mountains are still mined for silver with dozens of cooperatives claiming parts of the mountain. The conditions, from what I have been told, are not much different than they were 500 years ago and the average worker life span of a miner is about 40 years of age.
I ended up taking a tour of the silver mines in Potosí. I went with two french girls and a guide who was a former miner from ages 12-18 and only stopped mining at the request of his mother who lost her father and husband lost to the mining trade. The guide was really great and had the utmost respect for the trade which made seeing his former work all that more interesting. The guide companies have a cool deal worked out for the tourists and the miners. They give you the option of buying small gifts for the miners of coca leaves, alcohol and cigarettes that they use to help cope with the conditions. Everyone buys a bit and the miners are
Gringo Stirfry
Augustina, our cook, was so nice to cooperate with us to take this ridiculous picture. so appreciative. The main thing is the coca leaves because it helps cope with the altitude, enables them to work longer hours and relieves hunger. They don't eat at all while on the clock, just chew leaves. I think that the guide said that it is actually not a good idea to eat anyway at the mining site because of all of the toxins in the air, but it was in spanish and I sort of missed that part.
After Potosí, I took a bus into a town called Tupiza. The bus ride should have only been about 8 hours but turned into about 13 because our bus kept on breaking down and the bus driver (not a mechanic) and some of his friends kept having to pull the bus over on these windy dirt roads to try to fix it. As the night got darker and colder (we were about 14,000 feet above sea level) people on the bus began to worry especially those with small children. The funniest part of the bus breakdowns was how freely people got out and urinated. Women, children and lots of men would just stand right outside of the bus, not hidden at
all, and begin to pee. Little girls squatting and boys practically peeing on the bus. I have seen more public urination in this country, not just on this bus trip, than I think I have combined in my entire life!
Anyway, got into Tupiza at about 2am and a really nice owner of a hostal woke up and let me stay. I was so grateful because my bus should have arrived at about 10pm which would have been a more reasonable (and safer-by myself with all of my things on my back wondering around!) time to get into a town and look for a hostal. The next day I decided to go on a two day horseback riding trip. It was so amazing! I love tours in South America because you don't have to sign any waivers, give any personal information or have any experience and you are galloping and racing around on horses through mountains! What a high it is to gallop on horses! I felt like I was in an old western movie. It was just our 16 year old guide and a british girl and I exploring the beautiful mineral filled mountainous terrain with a ton of
Decorated Llama
For Carnival every year the llama's ears are decorated. It looks quite funny when you go by them and they all look up at you with pink ribbon stuff attached to their ears. cacti and rivers.
We stayed at this women's house in the middle of nowhere resting our sore bums (seriosly hurt to sit for the next three days) and then rode another seven hours the next day back to Tupiza.
Took a day rest in Tupiza after the horse ride and then went on a four day jeep tour of the Salar de Uyuni. I was in a jeep with our driver, Placido, the cook Augustina and a German/Swiss couple and a couple from Sweden. We had a great time, chewed coca leaves the whole trip to help with high altitude and saw some of the most beautiful things that my time on this earth has ever showed me. I was grateful for a good guide/driver and good jeep because there were far too many other jeeps breaking down in the middle of nowhere, stories of groups with no food, lazy guides who wouldn't do sunsets/sunrises or take them to all of the sights and plenty of drunk guides/drivers. All in all, one of the coolest things that I have ever done because of the other wordly natural sights. The picture captions will explain more although the pictures don't do the
Pueblo on the Salar de Uyuni Circuit
We stayed in this small pueblo on the first night of three. The people were very nice and accomodation very simple. actual scenery justice, it will give you a good idea where I was.
In a city called Salta now in Argentina. Got here last night from Tilcara a few hours north. Will probably stay here for a couple of days and slowly make my way back to Buenos Aires where I fly out of back to SF.
Got Miss you all terribly.
Hasta luego amigos.
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