Blogs from Bolivia, South America - page 570

Our flight to La Paz was on the OLDEST plane either of us have been on, a Boeing 727-200. The novelty factor just outweighed the fear factor! It was chucking it down when we arrived and was bloody freezing as well. We were both looking forward to getting into our nice warm hostel room. Our hostel room turned out to be colder than a winter´s night in Antartica (okay, a dlight exaggeration but you get the gist!) and to top that there was no hot shower, bruuhh! We wrapped ourselves up and went out to look round the city. We found solice and warmth in Burger King (Guy was in need of some ´normal´ food after his recent illness!) We spent a couple of days in and around La Paz, visiting the Coca Museum which was ... read more

arrgh, La Paz. What can I say about this place? Well, not a whole lot of good, actually. Most countries make landfills out of valleys, but Bolivia sticks it´s unoficial capital in one. But maybe that´s the best way to describe La Paz - a landfill. It´s really a collection of houses perched on the sides of the valley, which are bland unfinished brick, crammed together, exactly like the favalas in Rio, surrounding a city centre from hell, which is full of smelly taxi vans, beggers, a heap of people, and terminates at an open sewer. So, if you´re in the city centre and are feeling costrophopic from the crush of people and the tall ugly 70s and 80s skyscrapers, and you look to the horrizon of some air or light, you´re drowned by the bland ... read more

We have finally made it into the Amazon Basin. After spending nearly 3 months up in the Andean mountains we decided it was time for a change. We booked a flight to a small town called Rurrenabaque and a trip to 2 different areas of jungle exploration. The Pampas Is a vast area of Bolivia that is very flat and very wet. It is considered the easiest place to see wildlife in all its glory. After a 5 am start in La Paz we arrive and had another 3 hours in a jeep along a very muddy road, then another 3 hours in a boat to reach the camp. As soon as we are out of the jeep we start to notice 100s of species of very colourful small birds in all directions, as well as ... read more

After Potosí, I got a taxi all the way to Sucre. On some routes in Bolivia (but only some and I don’t know why those and not others) instead of taking a bus, you can take a shared taxi to get to your destination. You turn up a the bus station and wait till the taxi is full. Then you leave. I travelled with Christian and Josée and we went one better. We got a taxi just for the three of us to take us door to door from our hotel in Potosí to the one of our choice in Sucre. All this for USD13.75 for all of us. Even better: our driver had a modern car and the road was beautifully paved! Sucre is still the official capital of Bolivia even though all but the ... read more

You've got to love the Bolivians. If they're not happy they get out on the streets and make themselves heard. They could even teach the French a thing or two when it comes to civil disobedience! (Sorry Sylve!) Our bus journey up to Copacabana started early and the guys seemed to be in a rush to get moving. Once we climbed out of La Paz and into El Alto on the Altiplano we soon realised why. The main roads out of La Paz to the west were all blocked by the residents of El Alto, who had brought their gas cannisters out onto the main roads and had arranged them into lines across the three lane roads. This is obviously a common occurrence in El Alto. The bus drivers certainly knew all about it and had ... read more