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Published: July 18th 2009
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It was the other county we (I) was nervous about visiting. We could write a book on the horror stories that we had heard...yet anyone we had spoke to loved the place and nothing bad had happened to them , personally, well apart from a lot of dodgy tummies and liquid loo visits. Bolivia turned out to be a interesting, sometimes very frustrating amazingly beautiful country. I´m glad we made it.
We started in Copacabana....and town on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Unfortunatley not as interesting as the name suggests. Pleasant. We hurried on to get to La Paz, the tourist capital. Excited about stories from Mr. Crehan and the infamous book Marching Powder we were looking forward to seeing this place once and for all. We weren´t let down...its a good spot, not a very charming city...but good fun was had. We stayed in an Irish Hostel, regretfully, as it was a little too Irish for the first port of call in Bolivia. We were still travelling with the crew we met on the Inca Trail plus a few extras so had plenty of company for one of the main reasons we were there which was to cycle headlong down
65km of gravel and tar know fondly as the Death Road...Din Din Diiiiinnnnnnn!
It has earned this great title due to the truck drivers who, sleep deprived ad often under the influence used to drive this road forget to turn the wheel or fall asleep and plunge into the abyss and to their deaths! 26 a year on average so the legend goes. Nowadays there has been a second safer road built which takes most of the traffic off the Death Road. But it is still a major tourist attraction and has claimed a few of them too. Lots of Israeli and most recently an English guide went spinning off the edge.
We began our adventure at 8am, got kitted up with all manner of safety gear, and hopped on our very spanky mountain bikes and off we went. The first 20 odd km of road is wide asphalt, so license to speed as we saw it. We had 18 people in the group, 2 guides and a safety vehical. Quickly we separated into ´out for a leisurely ride in the countryside', 'I like a bit of fun but I´m not willing to die' and 'fuck it'. As Col put
it he couldn´t physically get the bikes to go any faster, each of us hanging over the handle bars down as low as we could go so the wind wouldn´t slow us down. It was great! But it wouldn´t be the Death road if it was all smooth tarmac now would it. The main act was windy, windy, narrow, full of potholes, covered in gravel and dust and accompanied with a mixtures of shear drops and 85 degree drops with trees and branches to break you as you fall. After the successful navigation of the first part we were all rearing to go. Myself, Col and the two dutch guys we were travelling with stayed at the front with one guide and kept it lit as much as we could. We did have to do a lot of stops to wait for the group and so he could tell us if anything was coming up which was a little frustrating but we were overall really impressed that we were pretty much allowed to go as fast as we wanted. It is hairy and I can see how people make mistakes and end up over the edge but luckily none of
us did.
We finished up at about 2 or 3 in the afternoon, adrenalin pumping, covered in dust and glad to be alive.
Back to La Paz for celebratory drinks. The next day we visited the witches market, and the famous San Pedro Prison (subject of the book I mentioned above). Tourists used to be able to go into the jail, but that has been stopped in the last few months. We hung around outside and took some sly photos but didn´t get in. I think I would have poohed my pants if a guard approached us anyway.
Next port of call was Cochabamba, a busy town with no redeeming features. Next day after that, Sucre, the capital. A pretty clean place with cobble streets and nice restaurants and bars. We had heard it was possible to see actualy Dinosaur footprints that had been uncovered in a quarry. As we couldn´t afford time and money for the trip to a National Park that has them we settled for this. A let down I´m afraid...as the footprints are about half a mile away from the view point and the quarry is still in operation so super dusty.
Potosi was our next
stop, a mining town, once the most populated city in the world in the 1500s. The Incas found silver in Cerro Rico (mountain) and based on a inca story that the mountain was special and for others to come...they told the spainish about it who quickly set about emptying it as quick as possible and shipped all the silver back to spain. It is said that they could have build a bridge back to Madrid to carry the silver back to spain they got that much of it. Indigenous people of the area who were made to work in the mines as slaves as well as african slaves who were brought over especially to work in the mine were all part of the 8 million people who died in it. Now the silver has all but dried up and it is mostly used for tin and zinc. But the working conditions haven´t changed much for the miners since those early days. However it has become a Co-op owned by the miners for they get fair rates and a pension now. Tourists can visit the mine to see the conditions that these men work in. Through the course of their day
they have frequent accidents, work in extreme temperatures while breathing in silicos, asbestos and a load of other nasty toxic fumes. They have a life expectancy of about 45 even though the pension doesn´t kick in until they are 55. The tour starts off with a visit to the miners market as they have to buy their supplies each day, which include coca leaves for chewing (helps with altitude and not eating), dynamite and 96% home brewed alcohol (10 Bolivianos for a litre = 1euro).
The visit however involves all these conditions plus miners, climbing down ladders into dark damp spaces, crawling through tunnels and the general flith and grime...I decided against going. Despite all this Colm decided he would go...could have possibly had something to do with tourists being able to buy dynamite and explode something....but I´m sure it was out of sympathy and support for the miners though!
After Potosi we embarked on our last Bolivia bus journey which despite stories ended up being pleasant experiences, and we arrived in a very cold Uyuni..and the edge of the Salt Falts. A nothing little town, where we stocked up on wolly alpaca clothes and alcohol and bought a tour
to the salt falts and our ticket out of here and back to Chile.
The Salt Flat tours are done in 4WD Toyota Landcruisers and take 3 days and 2 nights. The scenary was amazing some of the most beautiful we have seen. Easily over the three days we must have driven over about 50 different surfaces, ranging in colours and texture. It was like another planet...Mars mostly.
First day was on the salt and ended with us staying the night in a mini Hostel made of salt. The next two days we visited rocks and volcanoes, geysers, thermal springs, more rocks and coloured lakes with flamingos and vicunas....you´ll see the pics! The second night was spent in a refugio in the middle of nowhere and was absolutely freezing. We got stuck on the tour with 4 french students so it wasn´t a lot of fun in the truck, but we met some good germans which made the evenings fun. The last morning after 1 or 2 hours sleep we had to get up at 5am, not fun and drove to about 4900 metres. It was hard to get out of the car even for the 2 minutes it took
to take a photo. I think it was about 15 below. We really enjoyed ourselves though.
So we made it out of Bolivia alive, without a single upset stomach, kidnapping, liaison with fake police, tourist scam, shootout, parasites just good memories. We are San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. Its a quaint place with only a few streets and all the buildings made of adobe. Really nice. We head back to Argentina tomorrow, to Salta and start making our way to Iguazo Falls.
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Terry Ward
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Off to Poland
Hi Col and Darlene we are off to Poland in the morning at 6am for Trevors wedding on Saturday. Looking forward to it and fingers crossed everything will go well. We will miss you there but we will have a drink for you. Great to hear all your news. Lots of love. Ter