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Published: July 13th 2007
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Arrived in La Paz to bump into Jill & Derrick in reception....ships passing in the wind I tell you...but however we did book to go down "death road" the following day (none of my GAP group wanted to go, chickens!) Out for dinner at a really cool restuarant called Mongos in La Paz, live music, and lots of cocktails at very south american prices, yay! Up bright and early the following morning however for the bikes...the best around apparantly, double suspension and god knows what else. Not quite sure what I´d signed up for, but I was about to find out.....the views were fantastic, and the 40k almost all downhill...save for 4hellish k uphill...dammit!! The track we went down used to be the main road, but 6months ago a new road opened, but the track-road was sketchy at best.....the reputation of "death road" being gained from the number of accidents....in 2001 two buses both went over the edge, killing 41 people each, and since the road has been operated as a bike track, in 11years, 13 people have died going too fast-and or being idiots. It was soooooooooooo much fun, (Hannah, you´d have died!!) Aaron, the guide told me I
was one of the quickest girls down the track he´d seen...in the top 8....get in!!! 5hrs on a bike on a bumpy track was painful!! We were rewarded however because at the bottom we jumped on a truck to take us to a hotel for lunch, and a swim in the pool. Such an idyllic location, wish I didn´t have to go back to La Paz that night. A 5hr, very painful journey later, we arrived in La Paz and collected our free tshirts...hurrrahhh!! I survived! Out for dinner, and lots of booze & cards back at the hotel making farrr too much noise...whoops! I crawled to bed at 3am, only to find a note from Daniella, telling me we were leaving at 5.30am because of more strikes....GODDAMMIT!!!
So 90mins later of half sleep I was up and off on a bus. However, we arrived to the train station at 10.30...our train not leaving until 3.30. NOT IMPRESSED in the slightest!! Mooched around the dump of a town for hours and hours dying to be allowed to sleep. Argh! Finally on the train at 3.15 and I could sleep. Arrived into Uyuni at midnight again, give or take...collapsed to
bed so quickly.
Saturday morning we were up and off on our 4 day tour of the salt flats and the bolivian altiplano...so very very very very cold I cannot convey!! Started on the Salar De Uyuni seeing how they processed the salt, and watching a 10year old lad make up bags of salt....12 bolivianos for 1000 bags....there´s 16 bolivianos to the pound. Child labour....but apparantly its his holiday and he wants to earn some money...hmmm! So onto the salt lakes after, and it was trully amazing, so surreal! Had lots of fun taking crazy photos with the camera.....so cool! Then off to Fish Island in the middle of the "lake" which was covered in cactuii. Lunch and some more photos before we pushed off over the rest of the lake. The lake was one of three, including Titicaca, caused by the uplift of the mountains, and for some reason I forget the water all evaporated from Uyuni and left vast sand deposits, very very very cool. Sun reflected so strongly off the ice too. Rocked up to the most freeeezing hostel in the world that night, thankfully I´d been able to hire a sleeping bag, although it was
the standard of those produced in 1970, but I guess it was better than nothing!! So bitterly cold, -25c outside at night....brrrrrrrrr!
Up early the next morning to continue in our 4 by 4 around the altiplano....and despite being fed up of being in a car, when we stopped to see a lake or whatever it was about 2mins out the car before running back in because the wind was soo cold! Saw laguna Colorado, where loads of flamingos hung out (crazy things!) and lots of volcanic rock formations, including a famous tree shaped rock. (James, you would love to climb it....its insane).
Yet more lagunas and rocks on Monday, very very cold....huddled around the fire in the evenings, conning the lads out of the better bedroom with comfier beds and less windows...muchos fun, although terrrrrrribly cold! We saw Geysers-bubbling volcanic pools with steam rising, and we went for a dip in the natural thermal baths at 4200m. Ohh god, it was so cold when we got out..although I feel more sorry for the lads. Another freeezing hostel that night, in a town where we saw a human sacrifice from the 1940s, quite horrible.....the shower at this place
was also something to be marvelled at....
Tuesday we escaped backwardsness, but itt did required a 5hr drive back to Uyuni, before taking a HORRIFIC bus across the desert to Potosi (the highest city in the world!) Potosi of silver mining fame has a tragic history, it was once of the biggest cities in the Spanish empire, when they funnelled all the silver out of it...however thousands upon thousands of people died down the mines, and only in the 1950s was slavery in the mines abandonned. People still mine the mines nowerdays, but for Tin, which is a lot less valuable.
Wednesday we took a tour of these mines, taking coca leaves, ciggarettes and dynamite to them as gifts, and we saw the horrific conditions in which they work. They can be in the mine for up to 30hours straight, and its very dangerous, 1 accident or more a day, with 20,000 people working in the mines, children as young as 12 work in there with their dads who´ve worked them for years. Very very sad, and they can only expect to earn 50Bolivianos on the average day. We pushed on that afternoon to Sucre, a breath of
fresh air, and the most beautiful city I´ve seen in Bolivia. Went out that evening with our tour guide (Lula...sooooo much better than the last!) and had much drunkeness and dancing, nobody was feeling too great yesterday morning!!!
Yesterday was just a day for mooching around, sleeping, shopping and manicures, at 2quid who can say no! Today has been much of a muchness, although Daniella and Simon leave us so I think tonight could be pretty messy, yay!! Lots and lots of shopping today, I LOVE the british pound!!
Anyway, I have rambled enough, hope alls good in sunny? england!! Hasta Luego, xxx
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Gemma
non-member comment
Wow!
Hey Cathyyy! Have just been having a catch-up on your last few blog posts (I've got free internet at the hostel I'm staying at - woohoo!) and it all looks absolutely fabulous out there! Particularly liked the pictures from the salt flats - very cool! Anyways, it's very interesting reading all about your travels around South America, might have to go there one day! It's terrible - I'm not even home yet and I'm already thinking about where to go on my next trip! Hehe! Take care, xxx