Blogs from Potosí Department, Bolivia, South America - page 150

The German, the English couple, and I arrived in Potosi at 2 in the morning after a bus trip that rattled my daggs for 7 straight hours. By golly, it was certainly bumpy! Then some friendly local told us out hotel was only three blocks up the hill from where we were, so we decided against a taxi and started walking. Now, this is with my 30kg pack on, up hill, at 4200 meters above sea level. After 3 blocks I was exhausted. But our hotel isn´t here, but another 13 blocks up a hill as steep as the top part of Queen st (where the Oriental shops are), and I can tell you, I wanted to die by the time we arrived at our hotel, Hotel San Marcos. Saint Mark - not a bad name, ... read more

Well, I was going to take the train to Bolivia, to Uyuni, as it was something a little different to what every one else was doing, but everyone kept on recommending to go via the Salar, so I gave in and followed the pack. And I am quite glad I did. I had heard it was cheaper to go to Bolivia and organize a trip from there, but now only Bolivian companies work the route, so it´s the same either way. So I left early Tuesday morning with a crew called Estrella de Sur, for Bolivia. There was a German, Two Israelis, and two English in the same jeep, for which I got translation duties. The trip took three days and went through some of the most spectacular vistas that I have ever seen. We left ... read more

Ahojky vsichni.... je krasne chladne rano, 31.8.2005, streda. Sbalili jsme batohy a pred cestou jsme jeste vlezli do sprchy (15C). Nakonec jsme se zahrali cajem u snidane. V 10:15 jsme byli v Colque Tours, odkud jsme vyjizdeli na Salar de Uyuni (Solnych pousti). Jeli jsme jeepem ve skupine se trema holkama (Katie25 a Lucy19 z Anglie, Bridie19 z Australie), takze super. Prvni zastavka byla v male vesnicce Colchani, kde se rucne vyrabi drobne predmety ze soli. Podivali jsme se i do solneho muzea. Druha zastavka byla na solne pousti (3653m.n.m., 12 000 m2), odkud se sul odvazi po tunach k dalsimu zpracovani. Je tu i nekolik solnych hotelu. Jedeme dal, po ceste vidime lamy a vikune. Zastavujeme u ostrova kaktusu (Isla de los Pescadores), kde kaktusy dorustaji do vysky az osmi metru. Zaplatili jsme vstup a ... read more

Buenos dias amigos.......Como estas??? tak...a sme v Potosi....mestecko ktere lezi v 4070 m.n.m a ma kolem 140 tisic obyvatel nam dava celkem zabrat....moc kysliku v tehle vysce neni a tak se celkem spatne dycha...bude to chtit aklimatizaci.......dorazili sme po 3 hodinach jizdy v 16:00 a hned vzali taxi do hostelu......taxi je tady docela levne, stoji kolem 1 USD. Meli sme v planu jit se v nedeli podivat do stribrnych dolu, kde dela kolem 8000 lidi. V nedeli se tady ale nepracuje a navyse je ve meste fiesta, tak to musime odlozit na pondeli.... v nedeli sme sli zamluvit listky na bus do Uyuni na pondeli vecer a cely den sme se flakali po meste a uzivali si Fiestu..... V pondeli rano sme v 8:00 vyrazili s mistni cestovkou na 8 hodinovy vylet do stribrnych dolu....nejdriv sme ... read more

Ok, so, weve missed our bus to Uyuni (the main town for visitng the saly lakes) but theres another one at 6pm so weve got the whole day to kill. After missing the bus we tried to arrange a collectivo to take us becasue the bus doesnt arrive at Uyuni until about 1am, which isnt the best plan. However after having had many locals laugh at my spanish I mangaged to find out that no taxis or collectivos would go to Uyuni because it is all blockaded!! How dare Bolivia have a revolution when I want to visit the Lakes! I asked again if the bus would be ok and the guy said that at that time of night the blockades should be open. So im sure it will be fine! The plan is to visit ... read more