Advertisement
Published: August 5th 2007
It was easy to tell when we had left Chilean territory and had entered Bolivia, as we went from good surfaced roads to poor dirt tracks. Thankfully, we also swapped from a minibus to a 4wd at the Bolivian border. We spent our first few days in Bolivia crossing the Altiplano and the Salar de Uyuni (salt flats) before reaching civilization again.
The Altiplano is a desolate and dramatic landscape, with various Salvador Dali like strange rock formations, an enormous amount of sand and multiple coloured mountain lakes, including Laguna Blanca, Laguna Verde and Laguna Colorada. It is said to be one of the driest places on the planet and as such only limited vegetation exists. The Altiplano and Salt Lakes are also at very high altitude - we reached 5100m! Nevertheless, we still managed to see some birdlife, especially flamingos, and land based creatures, including vicunas, alpaca, llamas, desert foxes and vizcachas (green rabbit like animals).
Our first night out on the Altiplano was freezing (-20 C to be exact). We knew that it would be cold and basic and dressed like the Michelin man, but despite this virtually no-one was able to sleep, and in the morning
it looked like tundra due to the snowfall. Most people also suffered from altitude sickness in one form or another. Thankfully we only suffered mild symptoms such as headaches but other people were violently sick, lamenting the lack of a flushing toilet or running water. It was strange as the altitude meant that even turning over in bed was hard work and we would get a head-rush when standing up. Fortunately we managed to deal with the altitude much better as time went on.
En-route to our next night´s accommodation our jeep broke down by the edge of a crevice. With the other vehicles leaving us behind our driver cunningly solved the problem by hitting the engine with a rock. We liked his style.
The second night was a slight improvement - there were flushing toilets at least!! At this point we had reached the edge of the Salt Flats. There were loads of cacti near to the accommodation, which looked pretty small until you got up close to them and realized that they were about 6m/18ft high.
The Salt Flats are surreal and truely remarkable. A vast white landscape as far as the eye can see.
This offered the perfect opportunity to take some perspective photos - standing on top of wine bottles (empty ones naturally, although we wouldn´t recommend Bolvian wine), in each other’s hands, jumping over cars etc. Our first load of photos was super over-exposed, which caused a little bit of tension but at least some of them came out. Bizarrely there are two islands marooned in the middle this environment. We stopped at Isla de los Pescadores which is covered in cacti and even had some vizchachas stranded there. We also stopped at a hotel made entirely of salt, which helped Becky to survive as they sold Toblerones. We also stopped at a town at the edge of the flats we watched a demonstration of salt processing. This was quite uncomfortable as young children seemingly work for long hours in poor conditions to package bags of salt.
En-route to our next stop one of the other vehicles ran out of fuel due to a leak in the tank - bad luck really as they had aldready had a flat tyre earlier that day. Again in typical bush mechanic style, the driver resolved this by siphoning off fuel from our jeep to
theirs using a tube and their mouths. These guys are great.
Our final stop before returning to civilisation again was at a train graveyard. This is probably the strangest and most random tourist attraction ever. We wouldn´t recommend that anyone ever goes there.
We were able to have our first shower in days when we arrived in the small town of Uyuni. Unfortunately they had run out of hot water in the evening, much to Becky’s dismay, but thankfully the solar batteries had re-charged by the morning. Rarely will you ever hear someone so happy as Becky that morning. The place we stayed at was American run and had a superb pizzeria. It was fantastic!
The first major city that we reached was Potosi. We almost killed the bus driver en-route as he played annoying, repetitive Bolivian electronic or pan pipe music at full volume for seven long hours. Arrrrrgh ... it was sooooo painful. Not surprisingly we didn’t ask where we could find a copy of the CD. The main attraction of Potosi is that you are able to visit the Silver Mines. However, after some advice on the dangers of mines where there are non-existent
safety conditions, and ethical implications, we decided to forgo this opportunity. The photographs of the mines and stories of the miners are tragic, with individuals only expected to live for ten years once they enter the mining business.
Instead we saw a better side of Potosi, as it was buzzing with life as there was a festival taking place. There were fair ground stalls, gambling tables, a ferris wheel and merry-go round rides, market stalls selling all sorts of goods and even a performing monkey!! Potosi’s other claim to fame is that it is the highest city in the world at 4,070 m. Put in context that is higher than our skydive.
After Potosi we headed to Sucre, the judicial capital of Bolivia (we have been informed that there are three cities that claim to be the capital, which unfortunately is a result of ethnic tension, although most people currently recognise La Paz as the de facto capital). Driving through the rural areas it is normal to pass abandoned villages and to come across buildings that are made of mud or salt, most of which are extremely basic and often unfinished. Bolivia is the poorest country in South
America and it is quite obvious at times. As such, Sucre came as a shock. It is a UNICEF listed city and was one of the most important colonial bases during Spanish rule. The main plaza is beautiful and the city is littered with fantastic colonial buildings, as well as great bars and restaurants ... and a daily protest march!!! As we had dropped to lower altitude - only 3,500m - we enjoyed some fantastic nights out. We felt a bit sorry for one of the guys in the group, as after a little wine his father told us about his life in the ´60s, which he informed us involved lots of nakedness and loving, before enlightening us on how a placenta can be made into pate. We hadn´t laughed so much in ages.
As for cultural activities in Sucre, other than enjoying the city itself, we took a trip to see the largest dinosaur footprints in the world. The footprints are located on a vertical wall, as a result of continental shift. You cannot get too close to them and as a result they don’t look particularly large. That was until we noticed the giant earthmoving vehicles near
to them, which looked tiny by comparison.
Even by the time we reached La Paz (only a 12 hour overnight journey in freezing temperatures with no heating) we were still not used to the bus travel. It is normal in Bolivia to get people standing or sleeping in the aisles, even on the more up-market long distance buses. After all the scams that you hear about this meant that we didn´t sleep much. At least they didn´t show ´Blue Crush´- we have seen it four times now, all in spanish, and can almost recite the lines. The buses themselves were improving though, as in one of our earlier buses in Bolivia someone took a huge drainage pipe with them.
We expected to dislike La Paz but actually we loved it. It is busy, chaotic and quite dirty but is also vibrant, alive and buzzing. It is surrounded by mountains and has expanded up them, so the city feels much larger than it really is. You only go up or down, as hardly any of it is flat. It probably keeps you fit bit it also means that you are knackered from just walking about due to the altitude.
The night that we arrived we went to a restaurant/bar called ´Ram Jams´. It was a lot of fun. Not only was the food good but we got to try Oxygen - flavoured air. It was funny watching people sitting around with masks over their faces. Mind you, it was actually pretty good, leaving you feeling light headed and fresh. A few beers later, plus some dodgy dancing, and the effects were negligable though.
The next day we went mountain biking down the World´s Most Dangerous Road. We doubt that they would recommend lack of sleep and a hangover as the ideal preparation but hey-ho. We went from 4,640m down to 1,295m in about 64km. That is a pretty big drop. The first half of the trip was on paved roads, where it was a bit strange to be overtaking trucks and buses on a bike. The second half was ´Death Road´. The road gets it´s name from the number of deaths that it has claimed. It is actually safer now, as they have opened a by-pass so there is a lot less traffic, but some locals still use the old road as it is shorter. The route
is essentially a single lane dirt track, with lots of blind corners and up to 500m shear drops. Large parts of the journey were in thick fog and rain - possibly a blessing as you couldn´t see over the edge easily. It is weird how you migrate towards the edge even though you know you shouldn´t.
There have been something like nine cycle related deaths in the last six years, albeit most were before the new road opened. Some individuals must have a morbid sense of humour as corners are named after the victims. The most tasteless story is of a Japanese woman who went over the edge and kept pedalling in mid air ... nicknamed ET. There were no major casualties in our party and the staff were excellent, although Penny´s gears fell off and Mike went over his handlebars bruising himself in the process (he claims that he had time to think abour the landing as he spent so much time in mid-air).
The ride was fantastic, a real adrenaline rush. Not surprisingly, Gregor was at the front, pelting down at full speed, whereas Becky was in the last group along with Penny and Josie -
the self named ´Special Needs Group´, who were more sedate. The "special" group were also dismayed to learn that the ´Downhill Madness´ trip included an uphill section. The mini-bus was conveniently heading the same way. It was one of the best activities that we have ever done!!
Bizarely, the drive back to La Paz was more scary than the bike ride, narrowly avoiding numerous head on collisions. The ´80s music and rap mix wasn´t particularly calming.
What do you do after that? ... Head out for a night of celebrations. It had to be done, as it was our last night on the tour. It was another classic night, where Becky tried her hand at a little matchmaking (never a good move), and there were also some weird Borat like local guys who clung to our group all night, and there was general mischief all round. The night ended with one of us getting closely acquainted with a hawker stall!!
What kind of idiot organises a city tour first thing after a big night out? At least it got us up. It was also very good. We saw another Valley of the Moon - they seem to
be everywhere - and had a good look around the city. Our guide was somewhat bitter, moaning about politics and corruption and ethnic tensions and the gulf in wealth etc. Still, it was interesting to hear a different side of life than you get from books.
The city tour finished up at the Witches´ Market. Sadly, this is now really a tourist venue, although it is amazing to see dried llamas and frogs , llama foetus and other unusual specimens. Becky bought a stone turtle - a token for long life.
For dinner a group of us headed to a local restaurant (not the upmarket venue we had originally planned). Lonely Planet On A Shoestring described it as "an absolute winner". It turned out to be down an alleyway, up some stairs with plastic tables and chairs, where we ordered from a booth and were given tokens. One thing it was not was touristy. Unusually for South America the food came instantly, served by our efficient 10 year old waitress. It was really good too and cost only 9 Bolivianos per person including a huge soft drink (about 70 pence!!).
It proved hard to leave La Paz
... as our bus broke down on the outskirts. Our replacement was built for midgets, with enormous headrests that sat between our shoulderblades. Not comfortable! Our 3 hour journey ended up taking 5 1/2 hours. Plus the driver refused to let people stop for the loo. We realised this after about 10 women rushed to the toilet when we stopped for gas, only to be told to get back on again as there wasn´t time to waste!.
Our final stop in Bolivia was Copacabana, on the edge of Lake Titicaca. We stayed at the lovely La Cupula hotel, and had a beautiful room overlooking the lake. Penny and Linda, who we originally met in Australia and joined us for the trip from Santiago, had stayed with us on our own mini tour. They are really good fun. It turns out that Becky must be a triplet as the personality similarities with Penny were uncanny - with the same love of chocolate and other things.
Although Bolivia is landlocked, it strangely has a navy, and Copacabana is very like a seaside town. Plus it was warm (during the day at least). It was a really relaxing place to stay
for a few days. We didn´t exactly over-exert ourselves but still climbed up the hill, a religious pilgramage for some, to watch the sunset. Sadly we met Kevin from our old tour on the way up. Sad, as he was meant to be in Venezuela for Copa America but he didn´t realise that he needed to reconfirm his flight and was unable to go. Poor bugger. The strangest things seem to happen to him, - such as visiting the main prison in La Paz (not a tour) or getting stuck in a funeral mass for hours when visiting a church. Hopefully he will write his stories down ... it would be an instant best seller.
We went out on the lake ... in a swan (perhaps a flamingo - who knows) shaped pedalo. lt was a bit of a contrast to the world´s most dangerous road and not great for Gregor´s male persona. At least it was funny, and loads of the bolivian people were doing the same!
There is so much to do in Bolivia. It is also really cheap for travellers, sadly a result of the economic situation there. Without a doubt we would recommend it
to anyone.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.254s; Tpl: 0.02s; cc: 11; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0407s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Scott Taylor
non-member comment
Pictures look amazing. Glad to see you're having fun.