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Published: July 13th 2009
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San Pedro Prison
Looks so normal from the outside Well as predicted, it was a long arduous journey south into Bolivia and due to road blocks, our detour just about took us through Brazil! In the end, it was 3 days of driving, where on the normal stretch of road, it would have only taken 8 hours! The strikes were instigated by the Peruvian farmers who were protesting the Government reducing irrigation time from 20 minutes a day down to 10, which would drastically reduce the quality and quantity of crops, leading to less money for the farmers. Needless to say, they aren't happy.
Anyway, we eventually made it to Le Paz, the highest capital city in the world, depending where you are in the city, that can be anywhere from 3,600m to 4,100m above sea level, but after our excursions high up in Peru, I had no problems with the altitude.
Several of our group were leaving the tour here so over a couple of nights, we said farewell as well as going out and exploring the town. One of my favourite places was the Witch's Market, where they sold everything from potions and charms to Llama fetuses, which are supposed to keep evil spirits away from
Valley of the Moon #1
Out quadbiking just outside of Le Paz your house if you bury them under your door step. Nice.
One other highlight was going past San Pedro prison, which has been made famous in the book 'Marching Powder'. Before this trip I had no idea it existed, but I have since read the book and it was great to see even if only from the outside. Basically the prison is not so much a prison as it's own country. Each prisoner has to buy their own cell, which can range from something the size of a broom cupboard to penthouse suites. They also add TV's, stereos and anything they like to the cells, just so long as they can bribe the guards. This is all supplemented by businesses inside, including restaurants, and of course, making cocaine. Ironically the best cocaine made in Bolivia comes from inside the prisons! For several years, tours used to be run through there as a business by prisoners but due to footage recently showing up on YouTube, the Government (although they knew about it anyway) decided to crack down on tours, etc. So we just missed out! Gutted!
Following Le Paz, we headed from the highest capital city in the world
to the highest overall city in the world, Potosi at roughly 4,200m. I will never forget this place as we pulled into where we were staying and all the headlines on the news were of Michael Jackson, who at that stage had gone into cardiac arrest and later died! R.I.P. Michael.
The following day, we did the other activity Potosi is famous for, the mines. The silver mines here have been mined for about 400 years, started by the Spanish conquistadors, and the story goes that there has been enough silver mined that they could have built a bridge to Spain with it to carry the rest over! The conditions down there are appalling and we saw asbestos on the walls and several people got quite panicy at the claustrophobic conditions. But it was a great experience nonetheless. After that I explored Potosi for the afternoon and visited the Royal Mint, which was very cool.
Next stop was a town literally in the middle of the desert - Uyuni. Our sole reason for heading there was to explore the salt flats the following day. But first, we had the luxury of proper beds and some of the best
pizza in South America! The next day, we headed out into the salt flats via a local refinery to a place called Fish Island. We explored around there, then spent most of the afternoon taking the photos the place is famous for. Who would have thought there were these giant objects just lying around?! After that we headed to the Salt Hotel for sunset then jetted back to some warmth at the hostel as it gets down to -20 degrees at night.
The next couple of days we were back on the truck as we headed to the southern border of Bolivia to a place called Tarija, where our tour leader did an exchange when she was younger, and through that, we managed to camp in the back yard of some very rich Bolivians! The highlight of our 2 night stay there being a delicious BBQ provided by the family.
We also did a bit of exploring here as it is known for being a bit of a graveyard. In certain parts you can just walk around and see bones and skeletons from animals that are now extinct. Not dinosaurs unfortunately, but giant sloths and ancient armadillos.
So that was our last action in Bolivia. A relatively short time here after the several weeks in Peru, but I for one am definitely ready to move on. Next stop for us is Salta in Argentina where I can finally get into some world famous Argentinean steak!
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