Bolivia

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Good Friday in Copacabana, Bolivia is mental. The streets and beach were crammed with holidaymakers, mostly up the short distance from La Paz. Giant popcorn sellers (the popcorn not the people were giants!) lined the streets as well as vendors selling sunglasses, umbrella hats and various other trinkets. The water was littered with coloured swan pedal boats and the beaches swarmed with revellers. Oscar, our personal guide for the two day trip, rocked up a few hours late due to the shocking traffic coming into town. When trying desperately to get a ferry to Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun) Oscar suddenly realised he’d made a grave error in assuming boats were running as usual. After much rushing up and down the docks we decided an alternative mode of transport was required. He managed to find a collectivo minivan going to a town 30 minutes further along the shore but right in front of Isla del Sol. There we caught a much shorter boat ride to the island.



We climbed a wall of Inca steps to reach the village of Yumani. On route we drank from the Inca fountain and petted two baby alpacas. Their fur is unbelievably soft. We slept in Inka Kala Hostal on the ridge of Yumani with magnificent sunset views across the lake. Oscar booked us the best room in the house with a top floor, corner sunset facing view. It was terrific. That night we dined by candlelight on trout caught in the lake. The following morning after a time mishap (Bolivia is 1 hour ahead of Peru but we hadn’t changed the alarm clock) we walked the length of the island passing different terrains and going steadily uphill with increasingly spectacular views all around the island. A threatening black cloud edged closer finally unleashing a hail storm on us which covered everything in a blanket of white and made parts of the path treacherous. At the top we wandered through an Inca palace in ruins. Along the way we spotted herds of llama crossing the path with some sheep and their shepherd. Down at the port on the other side we saw the alleged world’s highest beach at 3,800mts. The boat back to Copacabana was driven by two children, eight and twelve years old at a guess. It took forever. The town was even crazier than yesterday with everything reeking of alcohol, police and army all over, cars and vans decked out with flower offerings and even more food stalls and people.



The bus to La Paz took a barge across part of the lake after all passengers got off to take little boats. It was at night so quite surreal seeing the large vehicles seemingly floating of their own accord. We found an excellent hostel on Hostelworld with full wall paintings in each room and hallway plus excellent breakfasts. While in town we went to see the famous Cholita Wrestling – women dressed in traditional clothes wrestling men and people dressed up. It’s all very theatrical and fun but it got a little out of hand when members of the audience were hurling missiles at the stage (that didn’t always get to their intended targets leaving some people caught in the crossfire) including food, drinks and chairs. One match was even cut short because of the rioting and the organisers threatened to cancel the rest of the show. It was funny watching the ladies and other characters put on their show but it’s unlikely we’ll start watching WWE. The views on the way up to the stadium at the top of a hill during the day, and down again at night, were spectacular. La Paz is in a valley with huge, sometimes snow capped, mountains circling. Oscar told us they say in La Paz the stars are in the sky and on the ground and from where we were standing that’s exactly what it looked like.



While in town our ATM card got swallowed so we had to delay our Death Road trip to retrieve it and luckily it all went smoothly. We also stocked up on more souvenirs from the markets near the Witches Market but refrained from buying any llama foetuses, as appealing as they looked. Streets in La Paz are lined with wooden stalls or blankets spread on the footpath with ladies in full traditional clothing (full length big colourful skirts and tiny bowler hats with two long plaits in their hair) selling everything you can imagine. One stall was covered in football boots! Public toilets can be found on nearly every block to service all these workers and cost the equivalent of about US$0.07.



A 19-seater plane took us the hour long flight to Rurrenabaque, to the northeast of La Paz, during which we caught the sunrise. We landed on a tarmac strip in the middle of a field and the bus that collected us took us straight to town rather than to the tiny terminal that we didn’t even realise existed until the return flight. From there we hopped on our 3 day/2 night trip on the Pampas River. On the way to the boat we spotted a sloth in the trees so stopped to snap it. The pink river dolphins were there to greet us on arrival but we didn’t swim with them till the last day, when they weren’t feeling very interactive at all. The boats were very long and skinny that were uncovered and it was already pouring when we got on. We were soaked through after about thirty seconds so most of the two hour journey to the resort was a bit miserable, especially for the two girls who didn’t have rain jackets. Freddie, our guide, did spot lots of birds and a troupe of squirrel monkeys in a tree that we got very close to which went some way to cheer us up.



As we visited at the tail end of the rainy season the river was completely flooded so the banks were not visible at all. This meant no mammals which was very disappointing. One benefit was we were able to take shortcuts through reeds and bushes, which was exciting till we got stuck and people had to get out and push. The sun shone for the rest of our trip and we spotted tonnes of wildlife including red howler monkeys, alligators, black caiman (one who liked to hang out under the bridge by the dining room at the resort called Pepe), one toucan, eagles, vultures, loads of turtles, storks, two white owls, herons and a kingfisher. The resort was set on wooden stilts and from there we spotted macaws, monkeys, caiman and alligators. It also had a great sunset platform looking over the river and grasslands. Unsurprisingly, it was also riddled with mosquitoes at night. The wooden paths were dangerously slippy when wet which Ade found out when he fell over and lost his flip flops. He was lucky he didn’t end up as alligator food! Freddie managed to retrieve them the next day which was a bonus.



One activity we really enjoyed (compared to the farce that was hunting for anaconda) was piranha fishing. Ade was our boat’s champion with a mighty two! Freddie showed us their vicious teeth and demonstrated how strong they were with a reed even after being out of the water a few minutes. We got to eat them for dinner although they don’t have a lot of meat. One night we took a night boat ride to spot alligator eyes in the bushes although the amazing number of stars was as impressive as the tiny yellow eyes following us from the water’s edge. One morning Ash and one other girl took Freddie up on the optional sunrise boat ride which was beautiful as much for the sun as for the sounds of the river wildlife rolling into action. He even pointed out the alligator calls. Amazing!



We felt the altitude when we returned to La Paz. Last time we built up our resistance by gaining elevation slowly, this time we flew from effectively 0 to 3,600mts. The hostel supplied free coca tea which helped. Out one day, we caught a random street parade complete with different sets of dancers and a marching brass band, so we followed it for awhile. Some of the men in the parade were drinking beer and people were running up and down the performers selling beer out of coolers tied around their necks. A man led the way holding a pole with a spinning wheel at the top fuelled by firecrackers which blasted so loud they set off the nearby car alarms. When he ran out a little kid rushed over and refilled the wheel.



The Death Road cycling trip was fantastic. Starting by a lake at 4,700mts we took in the stunning views of the mountains all around. Just before we reached the lake we passed a whole field wedged full of llamas. Our tour company totally kitted us out in protective gear, wet weather gear, gloves and of course, decent bikes. The first part was on asphalt and was a great laugh as we really got to pick up some serious speed. The main section, and most of the 63km distance we covered, was very bumpy, narrow and full of bends with sheer drops to the side. We dropped over 3km vertically over the day and went from freezing in the snow at the top to roasting at the bottom. Ash’s hands were suffering from excessive brake pulling. The scenery along the way was brilliant and our group was a lot of fun. At the bottom we chilled out swimming at the resort in the sun with a beer. What a lovely way to finish it off. During the four hour bus journey on the way back we listened to a radio station that only played medleys which was an interesting experience except for the time they played 2 seconds of every beetles song ever written. That was awful!



We pulled into the famous mining town and ‘highest city in the world’, Potosi, at 6am in the morning. Luckily Antonio at Casa Hespuedes de Vicuna let us check in immediately and we slept another few hours. We took the mining tour with him as he was highly recommended by some friends we’d met along the way. The night before the tour we watched the documentary The Devil’s Miner filmed in Potosi in preparation. We geared up in orange jumpsuits to protect our clothes with wellies on our feet before heading to the miner’s market where we bought gifts for the miner’s and dynamite for an underground demonstration. Gifts included coca leaves (staves off hunger and helps relieve pain), 96% alcohol, hand rolled cigarettes, soft drinks and water. Antonio gave us a mini presentation explaining the use of everything and we sampled the gifts. Next stop Cerro Rico, the huge red mountain that is the backdrop for the town. We donned our helmets and attached the electric lamps before climbing down the wooden, leaning ladder with a missing wrung for two hours of climbing through holes, scurrying along trolley tracks being chased by cars loaded with a tonne of rocks, visiting devil statues, climbing back up rocks faces covered in dust and watching a dynamite demonstration. Ash was the assistant during assembly and Ade during planting. The blast was pretty intense unground and the dust was unreal after. We were glad to have our face masks.



It was an excellent tour though scary at times. The whole time we were there, miners hurried past us occasionally asking for a smoke, a drink or some coca leaves. We visited two co-operatives and went down three of the fourteen levels. The conditions were Victorian with most miners dying from silicosis by the age of 35 or 40. It is estimated that 8 million people have died here since the 17^th century. When the Spanish ran out of indigenous workers they shipped in hordes of Africans and created the myth of the devil Tio living in the mines to scare the miners into staying. As a result of the documentary they have now banned children under the age of 14 working underground. Originally Cerro Rico ore extracted was 80%!s(MISSING)ilver but is now only 5%!p(MISSING)lus some zinc, tin and iron.



Bus journeys in the south of Bolivia are breathtaking. We took one from Potosi to Tupiza, then later from Tupiza to Uyuni. Both were in the daytime and the dramatic change in the mountains, desert and then salt flats was mesmerising, constantly spotting cacti and llamas along the way. We stared out of the window from our panoramic seats (top floor, front seats) for hours without getting bored. The hotel in Tupiza was perfect for chilling out with its nice garden and swimming pool and great views of the barren red mountain behind. One day we spent horse riding through the red canyons visiting a few natural sites. It’s written up as a Wild West town for a reason, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were killed in these parts and it looks like a set straight out of a western movie.



From Uyuni we took a three day salt flat trip with the tour company Red Planet which was recommended by a friend. We selected to finish in San Pedro de Atacama in Chile rather than return to Uyuni. Our guide Oscar (2^nd one in Bolivia!) was fantastic and we were really lucky with our group. Each day we were dazzled by amazing feats of nature. Day one was salt flat day. First we visited a train graveyard which was actually more fun than it sounds, then ate in a salt hotel, saw buildings made of salt bricks, saw salt mining in action and took the famous perspective shots learning about salt all the while. Oscar made sure that we all had a few perfect shots as they are harder than they look to take. Unfortunately we couldn’t drive the whole way across the salt as a lot of it was underwater due to annual flooding during rainy season.



On day two we crossed sand deserts, wandered through rock deserts, saw a stone tree and checked out a few high altitude lakes including the famous flamingo riddled red lake. We also got blasted by serious winds. Day three saw us rising at 4.30am to watch the sun rising from a giant volcano crater and running through geysers. After this we dipped in the hot springs then visited the awesome Dali desert. It looked exactly like the scenery in a Dali painting. Our food was great and the bonus extras which separated this tour company from the rest included the brilliant guide Oscar, free use of sleeping bags & hot water bottles, free wine on the last night and uncrowded jeeps with safe & friendly drivers (the reports of drunken, horrible drivers are rife). We loved this trip!



It ended at the border with Chile which was a tiny building in the middle of a sandy desert flanked by volcanos with one wheelless, rusted bus carcass which people could hide behind to use the ‘natural’ toilet. Here we said our goodbyes and waited for our onward transport down into San Pedro, the main town in the driest desert in the world, the Atacama Desert.



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Photos

Isla Del Sol
Lake Titicaca

Copacabana Vehicle
dressed for Good Friday

Rurrenabaque's Waterways
River Pampas

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