Bolivia

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9th December: Breakfast this morning was at 6.30 as we had to catch our bus that would take us out of Peru and into Bolivia. At the border we met our new guide Julia, however Jhon would still be our guide for a couple more days, but couldn't help us across the border as there could have been issues with police if he was see guiding in Bolivia. When we arrived in La Paz, Juilia took us on a short walking tour of the city to show us some of the main places like the witches markets, main square and presidential palace. After this we were keen to organise our next day, mountain biking down the famous Death Road. We found a company willing to take the ten of us who were keen the next day for $65 U.S. each. We then went out to dinner and after the failure of the first attempt at Indian in Arequipa we tried again this time to better luck and I was in for my first Indian experience, which was quite good and I may not leave it another 28 years to indulge again. Then after dinner we completely ignored the advice not to drink the night before Death Road by going to an English Pub for a couple of beers on the way back to the hotel.
10th December: We were up and ready to go today at 7.30am. The vans to the death road were there to pick us up, and away we went. Jos, Simon, Mariela, Tom and Tash in one van. Garth, Candy, Ben, Sam and Myself in the other. After an hour or so driving we arrive at a lake that was around 4700m above sea level, that would be the starting point of our biking. After the guides went over some things with us and we go decked out in jackets and pants to help keep warm, we were off. The first section of the ride was about 20km all downhill on an asphalt road. Pretty smooth sailing for this leg or the ride and we arrived at the tunnel where we had our first off road experience, because bikes aren't allowed in the tunnel. So around it we went then continued another 5 minutes or so to a small town where we'd load the bikes up and drive up the next section until we got to the start of Death Road, where the real fun would begin. After a bit of a snack we were almost ready to go. As the temperature had increased significantly I decided to ditch the jacket and pants to just go with my singlet and boardies. It did concern me a little as to how I would end up if I happened to come off on the gravel road, but comfort won out over protective. The first section was the highest with Frankie our guide telling us that in some points there was a 500 metre drop off the side of the road. We stopped after a little bit for some pictures and to let the group all get back together before setting off again. This second leg would prove interesting as I would find out what would happen if I came off as I got myself stuck in a rough bit on the side of the road and as my back break wasn't very good for slowing me down I had a tentative grip on my front break and as my front wheel dropped about six inches I happens to grab with the hand on the break and over the front I went. I came out of it not to bad with just a scrape up my inner thigh from the handle bars and break lever. The elbow pads and knee pads worked a charm. I picked myself up, dusted myself off and kept going. Not too much further down the track it again got interesting as on one of the narrow sections of road, I met a truck. With about a metre of space between the truck and the guard rail which happened to be in this section, I thought skinny thoughts and made it down the narrow opening, unscathed. From that point on the heart was racing for a bit till we again stopped for a few pics and to exchange war stories as Jos had also come off during that section. During the next section it was all smooth sailing, most of the way under a couple of waterfalls and we were insight of our next stop as I started to get over confident, bouncing around on my suspension, then again hitting an unexpected bump and hitting the front break hard again (again as my back break was missing in action) and this time at a greater speed went flying again. My helmet and sunnies going one way, my bike another and me another. I was expecting the worst for my landing as I was flying through the air, but managed again to not come out to bad, just adding matching scrapes to my other thigh, took a little skin off my hip and some small pieces off my stomach. Far better than I was expecting as I was expecting to have no skin at all left from the top of my knee guards to my chest. I got up a bit more ginger this time walked a couple of metres to retrieve my helmet, Mariela handed me my glasses and I picked up my bike and nursed it the next 300 metres down the road to our stopping point, bent handle bars and all. I got there and things didn't seem so bad for me as Jos had discovered that from her earlier fall she had a chunk of skin hanging from just below her elbow guard that was bleeding, and in hindsight may have required stitches. We sat around for a while as Mariela cleaned and dressed it for her and the we were again on our way through more waterfalls and winding roads, this time taking far more care than the previous two legs, making it through this entire section upright. I had one of the guides adjust my back breaks before this one as well, which helped for about five minutes before they were back to being as useful as tits on a bull. From here until the end it was pretty straight forward riding downhill around some windy sections, claiming only Tash on the way to the bottom where we stopped beside the new main road for the group to all get back together again where we loaded the bikes back up as we had all successfully, if not some a little battered completed and survived the Death Road. At the bottom we found a kid, probably no older than 12 selling beers at the end, so we had a couple of celebration beers, took some photos and were then on our way to a nearby hotel where there were showers, pool, buffet lunch and more beers. After a shower and a bit of a swim, Tom, Simon, Sam and I reignited the rivalry from the Norton Bar in Cusco on one of the pool tables. Halfway through we went for lunch before returning to try to finish as Garth had made note of the pocket size and with possibly less than a millimetre clearance either side we abandoned the match as we didn't have all day. After we waited for the guides to eat and shower we were on the way back to La Paz to try and meet the rest of the group for our last dinner with Jhon, as he would return to Peru in the morning and Julia would take over as our guide. Was pretty smooth getting back to the city, but from the outskirts to the hotel was painfully slow getting back at around nine rather than 7.30 like we were supposed to. When we did get back we went up the street to the Mexican restaurant where the group was. Had a beer and a couple of tequila shots before a group of us went to the English Bar again for pre drinks before we headed out for a night out, only possible in La Paz. We arrived back in at about four in the morning, and all passed out as it had been a pretty big day. 11 December: Today started really, really slowly. I woke at around ten before heading out on a mission to find breakfast, especially after missing out of dinner the night before. I walked around for about 45 minutes before the only decision I made was to go back to the hotel to get my sunnies. So back to the hotel I got my sunnies and Sam had surfaced so we embarked on the quest again for breakfast and by midday, we settled for Subway. The rest of the day was a bit of a write off, just relaxing and sleeping for the rest of the day. I switched rooms to share with Giles as Sam time with us was over. 12 December: Today was our last day in La Paz. We got up went to breakfast then a bunch of us went to do a walking tour of the city that started near the jail featured in the book Marching Powder by Rusty Young. We learnt a little bit about the jail, how inmates make cocaine in the jail and throw them out to the street wrapped in nappies. And also about the different conditions for the different social classes of prisoners in the jail. From here we walked through the markets and then back around to the witches markets near our hotel. The witches markets sold things like potions and dried llama foetus' used as an offering mainly to 'Pacha Mamma' or Mother Earth before building. From here we went to the main square and that's where we left as we were meeting for a final lunch as a group, before we left Tom, Simon, Sam and Jos in La Paz as we headed for Sucre. After lunch we got taxis to Killi-Killi, a viewpoint that looked out over the city. After a final group photo we went back to the hotel to collect our stuff, say a somewhat emotional goodbye to new friends who had become like family in the short time we had spent together and went to the bus station and caught our overnight bus to Sucre. 13 December: Our day in Sucre started with breakfast at the Joyride Cafe where I started with a hangover breakfast. First real bacon I've found. From here we did a short walk around the city then headed back to the hotel where we proceeded to drink the small convince store next to our hotel out of beer, before heading out to dinner for Radha's birthday. Had ribs and beers before going back to the Joyride for happy hour of tequila and cocktails before retiring for the night. 14 December: Today I think we all revisited our youth as we went to a dinosaur park just outside of Sucre where there is one of the largest collection of fossilised dinosaur footprints in the world, with the site containing some 13,000 prints. We arrived at the place where it was a park with model dinosaurs around and we walked around and learnt about the kinds of dinosaurs that left the prints, how they came to be on a vertical wall and how they were discovered as they were nearly destroyed by mining for cement from the neighbouring mine. We walked down to get up close and personal with the prints and the wall that they were on was probably 50 metre in parts..... On a wall I hear you ask? The cliff was once upon a time the bottom of a swampy area but over millions of years and with the development of the Andes mountains it was pushed together and was folded up like an accordion. We spent a bit under and hour looking around and taking photos before we returned to the top and we back on our way to the hotel arriving back around two in the afternoon. At this time a few of us went out mainly to go to the chocolate factory for some chocolate and milkshakes but as they didn't start serving until three we went for a light lunch at the restaurant from the night before where I fell in love with what was simply cheese wrapped up like a spring roll. Possibly the best thing ever. We then went back to the chocolate factory for amazing milkshakes then back to the hotel for a while before we headed out for date night. The Joyride cafe shows movies of a night time and Abi, Aidan, Mariela, Mischa and I went out to watch Juno, which ended up just being the five of us eating dinner watching a private screening as nobody else turned up. 15 December: A majority of the group were spending today on a hike along a small Inca trail that ended at a crater and they left and headed off into the direction of the ominous looking sky. I decided to skip this and spend the day just chilling out and recharging the batteries, which turned out to be a great idea because as I was about to go out to take some laundry down the road to be done, Julia had a phone call to say they were stuck in a hail storm and that they were more than likely to be returning to Sucre as conditions weren't going to be favourable to do the hike. After I dropped my laundry off I went for a short walk down to the markets and had a look around and the just decided to go walking aimlessly, where I wandered around and eventually ended up at the viewpoint over the city Juila had told us about, with a quite little square and a beautiful view out over the city. It was a great spot to watch the morning storm that had ruined the rest of the guys day roll into town, until I realised that the rain was setting in and not looking like letting up for a while. After what I thought to be the heaviest of the rain, I decided to set off back to the hotel in the lighter rain, about halfway back the heavens opened and I was caught in possibly the heaviest part of the rain which drenched me to the core in just a few seconds. I arrived back at the hotel looking like I had just had a bathtub full of water tipped straight on my head. After a shower and a clothes change, the rest of the group were back and few of us went out for lunch, before heading to the Casa de la Libertad or the House of Liberty Museum on the main square. The tour of the display was quite informative and interesting to hear about Bolivia's quest for independence and the Pacific war with Chile where they lost their access to the Pacific Ocean. One of the more interesting things in the exhibit was the case containing the first ever Argentinean flag that was found in Bolivia user a painting. We went back to the hostal where we hung out for a while and had a couple of beers before I headed down to get my washing, then headed out with Aidan, Abi, Mariela, Garth and Candy for dinner at the same place we went a couple of night previous. Was a great night out with dinner and a few drinks consisting of a beer brewed for the Christmas period called Sleeping Elf that was 12% and then some shots, one called Shrek, another of a spirit brewed for the coca leaf which honestly tasted like cold coca tea but still had the burn of drinking a boiling hot drink in a single mouthful. We went home via happy hour at the Joyride cafe where there was some more tequila and drinks before heading home to bed to be ready for the next day's bus to Potosi. 16 December: This morning we left for one of our shorter bus trips to Potosi, a city that was once the richest in the world at the height of the silver mining that it is infamous for. Over looking Potosi is Cerro Rico, a mountain where the silver was mined and is commonly known as the 'mountain that eats men' because during the years of mining here since Spanish colonial times, some 8,000,000 people have died in the mines. When we arrived in Potosi we went for a walk to familiarise ourselves with the city. A few of us grabbed lunch, then some churros from a local cafe before we headed to the mint. Walking around the mint was an interesting tour learning about how the Bolivian currency was made when it was made in Potosi before being shifted elsewhere. From here we made our way back to the hotel, before heading out again to go to a local hostal that at six pm shows a documentary, following the life of a young boy who worked in the mines from the age of ten to help support his family. The documentary was amazing as it was hard to gauge from stories about the conditions they worked with in the mines, as well as see that there were kids as young as him work there for the most part. We did ask Julia afterwards if there was any word on where he had ended up as part of the film was about him going to school to get an education so he didn't have to work in the mines his whole life, which as a miner in those conditions was normally cut short. She told us he did get out of there and is a local tour guide in the area now that takes tours into the mines. From here we went to a place Julia recommended for dinner called 4060 for dinner and she had also told us about a dish called Silpancho. It came out and it was massive, it was a piece of meat as big as my plate with a salsa of onions and tomato on top that were used to create a wall to hold in two eggs, and if that wasn't enough there was a plateful of rice and potatoes underneath. After this epic meal, there was nothing else to do but go home and let the food coma take me away. 17 December: Today was relatively quiet as we had an afternoon bus to Uyuni. So it was a case of getting up, getting all of our things together and then finding a relatively early lunch so we could get on our bus. A few of us just ended up at the Churros cafe and we enjoyed lunch and another round of churros before we went back to the hotel, got our transfer to the bus station and we were on our way to Uyuni. Uyuni is a smallish touristy town where many trips into the Bolivian Salt Flats begin. We got into town and had a short briefing about leaving at nine the following morning and we then headed out for a bit of a walk around and to find some dinner. After dinner a few of us, Garth, Candy, Ben, Misha, Tui and I found ourselves at a bar called 'Extreme Fun Pub.' This bar had drink options that would be unheard of and illegal in Australia. They had photos and times all over the walls for a challenge that we discovered in the menu was a ten drink challenge that included eight shots and two 'extreme cups' which was a ceramic contraption with one main chamber and six smaller chambers that all fed into the main chamber, with a ceramic straw coming from the main chamber. I don't recall the eight shots but the two extreme cups consisted one of tequila and beer and the other was called an 'I don't remember' which was a shot of rum, whiskey, tequila, gin, frangelico and vodka, also with beer. The challenge had intrigued me, but as the record time was sub 35 seconds to complete it all, I gave it a miss as it a cost 200 bolivianos (only $40ish Australian, but coming to the end of my time in Bolivia I wanted to make the money I had last) if I didn't beat the record and if I did do it I'd just be happy to live. However there was another way onto the wall, if you got the pub name and stamp on you bum they'd put it up for eternal glory. So this was too much for a couple of us and Misha and I now have our bums on the wall of a Bolivian pub which we think is pretty cool. We all also decided that we should sample a llama sperm shot being in the land of llamas and all. It looked ordinary but we tasted good. After the bar on our way back to the hotel we went via the park, not just any park, a park with a giant slide that got a workout from a few of us a few times, then some swings and it was off to bed to be prepare for the next three days in 4x4s through the salt flats and into the Atacama desert. 18 December: Today we were up and had breakfast and packed ready to go as our 4x4s were picking us up at 9.30 to head off into the salt flats for the next three days. We divided into three groups of six. My group of six was Misha, Abi, Aidan, Mariela and Esther. We set off and not far out of town was our first stop at the train graveyard. It's pretty self explanatory, it was an area where old rusted trains were just left to rot in the desert sun. We were able to climb on and in the trains and after some photos including a jump between carriages and and old fashioned western train top fight scene with Aidan, we were back into the 4x4s and on the way to our next stop. A town on the edge of the salt flats where we learnt about the local communities harvesting the salt and had a chance to look around the small market stalls they had. From here we were onto the salt flats and we drove to an area where there is a group of flags representing many countries from the world and a huge salt sculpture for the Dakar rally that is upcoming in the new year. We drove another half hour or so into the salt flats after this and we stopped for lunch and an opportunity to take the token perspective defying photos the salt flats are known for. There was a pretty special moment during this as Garth used the opportunity to set up a couple of photos which were used as a proposal to Candy. It was a pretty special and unique moment to be apart of and I switched on quite early as to what was happening and gathered the others to share in the moment. After congratulations and a couple more shots we were off again with our next stop being at an island in the salt flats covered in cacti. We got out here and hiked to the top of the island where there were amazing views over the salt flats and the surrounding mountains and it gave a real appreciation of how big they really were. From here it was to the edge of the salt flats where we entered the community and the place that would be our home for the night. The place we stayed in was made almost completely of salt. Salt bricks for the walls, tables, chairs and bed frames made from salt and the floor was also simply just ground salt. With all this salt around it was hard to believe we still couldn't get a shaker of salt on the dinner table. A few of us stayed up for a bit playing cards and drinking beers we got from the local supermarket earlier in the night. 19 December: After breakfast we were off again this time into desert. I scored the front seat today in the car, so I played DJ for a while until my iPod went flat, which everyone was secretly sad about. We made our first stop for the day at the railway line that cuts through the desert connecting Bolivia and Argentina. We were back in the cars before we knew it and we're on our way. Our second stop for the day was at a viewpoint for one of the volcanoes in the area where we got out to take pictures and walk around the risk formations in the area before heading to the first of many lakes we would see today. During the day we saw the (don't take my word for it on the names of these lakes) the heart shaped lake, the red lake and the smelly lake, as well as a couple more I can't remember. Much of the appeal of the lakes was the abundance of flamingoes we saw and even learnt the difference between the three species in which the lakes attract. After we had lunch by one of the lakes in a hotel smack bang in the middle of nowhere we moved on into the desert where we went to see a natural rock formation in the desert in the shape of a tree. From here we headed towards the seven coloured mountain, and the red lake before heading to our home for the night. The accommodation tonight would be basic with a generator only supplying power for a couple of hours over dinner. After dinner we played some more cards and then all went to bed relatively early as the following morning we would be up at three am to finish off our trip in the salt flats and head into Chile to San Pedro de Atacama. 20 December: This morning we were up at three am for a departure not long after so we could fit in all we needed to this morning before we had to cross the border to Chile at around nine. We headed off and drove to a spot which was in the crater of a volcano where we stopped to look at some geysers and some boiling mud puddles. After a half hour or so here we headed of again this time to the Salvador Dali valley, aptly named because the scenery in this valley looked as if it was straight out of Dali's melting clocks painting. From here it was to the border where we bid farewell to Julia and we crossed into Chile.

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