Bolivia

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Tuesday 6 April - Sunday 18 April 2010

Rena and Nikki met us in La Paz to start our tour in Bolivia. It felt really nice having my sister and my friend join us in that part of our journey as we really needed some new energy - which the girl provided nicely! It was lovely seeing them both after such a long time, really was looking forward to the rest of the trip now.

In Bolivia we visited La Paz, Uyuni, Potosi, Sucre and Santa Cruz. During our time in Bolivia it felt like most of it was taken up by travelling from place to place in public transport although we spent the last 3 days just relaxing in Sucre (the capital) which was really nice.

La Paz

We met the rest of our GAP tour group and guide in La Paz. Our guide was a lovely lady called Soli who we became good friends with by the end of it as she was very much like us. The rest of the group consisted of Sarah & Derek (from Ireland), Lisa & Simon, Abby, Sabeen and Paul.

There wasnt much to do at all in La Paz, well not really. I guess there was shopping to be done, but because me and Narj had seen all the same stuff in Peru we werent that excited. I think Rena liked it all as it was all new to her.

We didnt end up spending that long in La Paz. We went straight out to Uyuni.

Uyuni

Uyuni was our base to the salt flats - which is one of the main natural attractions Bolivia is famed for. Our tour included a 3 day/2 night trip where we stayed on the salt flats. It was really cool although extremely cold at night!

We spent most of the day driving around in a 4x4 on the salt flats - me, Narj, Niks and Rena. First stop on the first day was at a place called Cactus Island which was really random. It was a small island on the salt flats with loads of huge cactii. We walked around the small island and then had lunch there.

Later on that day we stopped off at a random spot on the salt flats to take photos. With the ground being so white with salt, you loose perspective in photos so you can take some really interesting perspective photos. We did the classic pics though - people coming out of a pringles tube, us being attacked by a huge dinosaur, people being held in a spoon and loads of other stupid ideas. Photos turned out good, but not perfect because there were some shadows captured because of the time of day we arrived at the salt flats. I guess the optimum time would have been midday to have taken the best photos.

We stayed in a hostel completely made out of salt on the first night which was really cool. Salt floors, salt tables, salt beds even! During the evenings before lights went out (which they did at 10pm), we all played cards as a big tour group. Games consisted of shithead, blackjack and 'extreme' Uno which was awesome!

The following 2 days were spent driving to green, blue and red lagoons which were nice. But to be honest, after seeing so many lakes and lagoons in New Zealand it didnt really impress me. It was nice to see Rena and Nikki get excited though and take loads of pics. One lake was really nice though as it had loads of pink flamingos perched in the water. It was a beautiful site. Gutted my camera zoom wasnt that good!

On the last night we made effort to go outside and see the stars. And what a site!!! Wow!!! The sky looked amazing! Almost as good as the night sky we saw in Fiji! Loads of twinkling stars - amazing!!!!

Potosi

The next town we visited was Potosi. This place is famed for its mines which when the spaniards invaded Bolivia, they extracted loads of silver from the mines - enough to build a bridge from Potosi to Madrid! We visited the mines and had a tour inside them. I was worried about my asthma so it was recommended I buy a mask to wear in the mines - which I did (and wanted one since going to China).

It was an interesting tour. We were shown around inside the mines, however we didnt go in too deep. We met some miners at work too and they showed us how they mined. Then later we were shown to part of the mine which was dedicated to the devil - Uncle Tio. It was really weird because our guide told me and Narj to lead the group through a tunnel, which we did. It was pitch black so we were going by what we could see from the light from our head torches on our helmets. Then the next thing you know, we see a figure with huge horns and an erected penis with a bright red tip. Scary - because we didnt expect to see anything lol!

We were told that they worship the devil as well as mother earth (Pachamama) and when the devil is happy, then he will create love with mother earth and produce minerals in the mines. So the statue of the devil in the mines is blessed with cigarettes, coca leaves and strong alcohol. And the reason why the statue has an erected penis is to show that the devil is happy. Interesting!

Sucre

3 days were spent in the capital and it didnt feel like it was long enough. Sucre is probably the best city in Bolivia as there is lots to do and explore even though it is quite small.

The food in Sucre was amazing! Soli took us to her favourite restaurant called Joy Ride and they just do the most tastest food - the best we have had in South America so far. And the deserts......OMG.....the deserts were amazing! I ate the best chocolate cake ever there! It was literally a slab of thick chocolate with some thin layers of sponge. The following day we ate a chocolate bol which was chocolate and fresh cream - another amazing desert! I was lucky that Soli too had a sweet tooth like me!

During the daytime we did normal things which backpackers do....like spending time in the beauty parlour getting our nails done and spending time at the dentists' - lol! I got my nails done in the best beauty parlour in town and I thought my nails deserved a treat as I hadnt done anything to them in 5 months! What an interesting experience! After choosing my design, the lady I got to paint my nails didnt do a great job. I got her to change it several times and she still couldnt do what I was asking for! SO annoying! Throughout the whole time there I kept saying to Narj that I could do a better job myself - and seriously, I believe I could have! The lady just didnt have an eye for what looked good, she couldnt adapt the pattern I wanted to my nails. Anyways, I ended up going in the following day and got my nails done again by someone else and they looked so much better. I just couldnt understand how you could have got them wrong in the first place.

Lisa and Simon told us they went to the dentist and they recommended one. So all four of us - me, Narj, Rena and Niks - went to the dentist for a checkup. They ended up telling me I needed to get 1 filling done, and as it was quite cheap I got it done there and then. Narj and Niks got some done too. Rena was the lucky one who didnt need any. And the clean was really rough, but we all came out saying that was the best clean we have had as it felt like it was a thorough clean.

One of the evenings we decided to go out. After having dinner at the Joy Ride we went to a karaoke place. Ive never really done karaoke properly before, mainly because I have an awful voice so Id never really choose to do it. Anyways we all went and then for some reason I got a little excited and was just singing away with all the others - it was so much fun! Derek was the funnest because he was really drunk and went crazy whilst singing Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N'Roses - like really crazy! Later he did some breakdancing for us which Sarah assured he had never done before - lol!

Then we went back to Joy Ride for a dance in the club section upstairs. The music was great. Shame about the speakers as they went bust later on during the night. We ended up going to the bar downstairs and danced the night away. Music feels so good when you havent heard it in a long time - so refreshing!!!

The following day there was an incident. Quite a difficult one actually. Me, Niks and Narj were shopping whilst Rena went to go and look at the dinosaur footprints and we got ourselves into a difficult situation. So me and Narj bought some hair accessories from a market stall and we bartered down the price from 100 bolivianos to 85 - which is the amount the girl selling them to us wrote down on a piece of paper. Fine we though considering another lady was selling them for around the same price.

After walking down the street I feel a tug at my arm where the bag with our purchases were hanging. The girl came running and she wanted the bag back. We couldnt understand why. Then after quite a few spanish words being spoken to us we realised she wanted more money for them. She wanted 95 for them not 85. But as she had written 85 and we had already given them to her and left her stall there was nothing else that we could do really - the price was agreed, paid for, end of.

So we all continue to walk and she grabs my arm and shouts for her Dad to come over at which point she was crying. Then the Dad came over, a big chap, walked over to us agressively and went for my arm. IU shook my arm off, then he tried it again. At which point Narj moved me out of the way. It was wrong of him to come up to me and try and snatch our bag from my arm - in my head I was thinking, what the hell does he think he is doing. After some more arm pulling, I asked him what he wanted. He implied he wanted to see what was in my carrier bag. So I pulled out what was in there explaining to him sternly what had happened. Then I thought fine, he understands and accepts we agreed on a price, paid and end of. At this point we had a crowd of locals gathered around us watching the scene. Then the next things you know he cheekily grabs the bag and pulls it out from my arm! What the hell!!! I just couldnt believe he snatched the bag from my arm so agressively! How rude! He was acting like we stole something! Then the girl who sold us the accessories handed us our money back, shocking because I thought the father would have just taken what he wanted and that would have been it, however she short changing us at first, then we all shouted some more and she gave it all back. So weird!

Looking back at the situation now whilst im writing this entry it sounds so stupid the how situation. Surely it would have made sense to give the girl an extra 10 boliviano, but at the time (where it happened all so fast), we just couldnt let go of the principle of the matter i.e. we paid the asking price for something and now we are getting what we paid for snatched away from us - it just didnt make sense. Its weird, because something like this would soooo not have happened in Peru as the people there are much more friendlier and amicable, whereas in Bolivia they are so different, not as friendly.

I was completely fine after the scenario, just furious about what had happened and in complete disbelief! I guess looking back we were lucky that nothing serious had happened to us even though the whole situation was completely unfair. I guess we are in different territory and our definition of fair is different from others. Lesson learnt, focus is on safety in the future first, not principles as such in a case like this.

Anyways, Sucre was the last city our whole group were together as Sabeen, Derek and Sarah were going back to La Paz and we no longer would have Soli as a tour leader. Soli was fantastic! It felt really sad having to leave her. Wished she could have come all the way to Rio with us! We had some really good times with her and the group!

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