Blogs from Potosí Department, Bolivia, South America - page 147

We´re now in southern Bolivia, not far from the Argentine border, which we plan to cross in a day or two. The main idea is to avoid spending too long in Chile, which is expensive. Mind you, anywhere is expensive compared with Bolivia. Our nicest trip in Peru was in the company of the splendid Revels family from San Diego. We travelled to the Manu rainforest, reached after a day jolting along potholed roads and another day puttering upriver in a small boat. It was expensive and uncomfortable, but our powers of endurance were rewarded by the wildlife we saw - red howler monkeys grooming themselves in the trees, black spider monkeys crashing through the branches overhead, and most memorably a family of giant river otters. We got close enough to hear the fish bones crunching ... read more

Well since heading back to La Paz, we jumped on a bus south, headed to Oruro, twas a three hour bus ride where Jord and I were constantly getting weird stares because we couldnt stop laughing to Eddy Murphy on my iPod, then "Standing Tall" came on and we gave a cheer to the Ennis brothers (stuntmen) who we found out were in the film. Arrived in Oruro where we hit up Celebrity Chef Don Roberto, who invited us to his parents hotel in Cochabamba, and mayhaps on our way back to Santa Cruz we will stop by. As Jords blog noted he was really an amazing guy. If I could find a computer with windows XP I could post the pictures of our meal, this guy brought us the most delicious lamb Ive ever had ... read more

Salar trip with Josie the Kiwi. Left from Tupiza with Tupiza tours for four days. Also with Jack and Carolien, Denmark. Also with Liz and Ed from England. Hugo drove, Vicky cooked. ? guided. ... read more

On Wednesday morning at 8am Noel, the Irish lads and I commenced our three day trip into Bolivia, via the Southwestern Circuit. The trip included transport, all food and 2 nights accomodation. We checked out of Chile in San Pedro and then drove through the desert for an hour until we got to the Bolivian customs office. (Which country we were officialy in for the hour between checking out of Chile and into Bolivia we do not know!) The scenery was out of this world with the Andes and several volcanoes looming oin the distance. Once in Bolivia we had a simple breakfast of bread and Jam and then transferred our luggage from a minibus onto a 4X4. In our car with us were the Irish lads, a french couple and our Bolivian driver/chef/guide Severano. We ... read more

Getting to Uyuni Its Saturday the day before the Bolivian National Election and a massive exodus takes place from my hostel in La Paz. Mid morning and chatting with the in-house tourist guy I find the last buses south to Uyuni are at midday not the evening as I thought. shit. Luckily the guy manages to book me onto one of the last buses leaving. I throw everything into my bag and dash to the bus station. For the election the entire country is being shutdown, nobody is allowed to travel or sell alcohol during the 24 hours of the election day. On the bus I get chatting to a couple of wacky Canadians who are upping sticks planning to buy land in Argentina build a shack and grow vegetables. They´ve arranged a tour of the ... read more