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Published: January 17th 2010
We spent two and half weeks in this landlocked rugged country, predominantly in the mountains high on the altiplano. Bolivia has a population of about 9 million, 60% indigenous and poor, and an indigenous president. It’s landscapes include stunning volcanoes, mountain peaks, moonscapes, lakes, flamingoes and salt flats. We suffered with altitude sickness as we spent time in altitudes of 3500-5000 metres.
We have a love/hate relationship with this somewhat backward country- although it has the most awesome sights and vistas, Bolivia is old fashioned (which can be a positive) and not really geared to tourist services. Everything is so slow (especially internet!) and services are poor eg feeding becomes a hassle when you asked are to wait 5 minutes and it turns into 30 minutes for a bowl of chicken soup! Rules driven officials can make life difficult as was the case for our American friends- eg crossing borders and dealing with customs officials.
We commenced our journey on the splendid Lake Titicaca-we already had difficulty catching our breath at 4000 meters, but the scenery was to die for! We travelled from Puno (Peru) to spend Christmas at Copocabana overlooking the shores of the lake. From there we travelled to
La Paz via the desolate wind-swepped altiplano. There were a number of indigenous children begging for money on the side of the road with their hands outstretched. We had trouble finding petrol as apparently there was little available and hence restrictions over the holiday period. We then descended down into the city of La Paz where we stayed close to the centre- we could see the famous snow capped Mt Illimanai from our hotel window.
We then travelled to Potosi, a mining town (mainly silver and other minerals) and the highest town on earth at 4060 metres with towering Cerro Rico in the background. On the way we passed the most amazing country with barren mountains and gorges. Our friend Gino had an accident on the way as his front tyre blew out. The next day we took a tour of the mine through the dusty narrow passages and shafts and visited Tio the mine god. Most of us felt claustrophobic and only Johannes dared to crawl down to the third level with our guide- later the boys enjoyed playing with dynamite.
We spent New Years Eve in Potosi at the old fashioned Club International with a group of our
friends arriving around 10pm - we were the only guests present and no Bolivians arrived until almost midnight when the live music began-we were told later that New Years Eve is generally celebrated with the family.
We then travelled to the beautiful town of Sucre with its whitewashed colonial buildings, colourful markets selling indigenous crafts and textiles and more upmarket modern atmosphere.
We left Sucre for the dusty, wind swepped flat town of Uyuni -the road from Potosi was dreadful with loose dirt and gravel and a number of sandy patches and we wished we had waited for our new tyres which arrived the next day! We took a 4 wheel drive tour of the Salar de Uyuni which was simply spectacular-blinding white salt flats that looked like a sheet of snow- clear blue sky with snow capped mountains and volcanoes in the distance - and the strange Isla de Pescadores in the middle of this white desert with its giant cacti.
After fitting new tyres we headed south west from Uyuni via San Cristobal and Villa Alota to the Chilean border at Paso Hito Cajon and on to San Pedro de Atacama. We took 2 days and hired a
support vehicle and driver which carried the luggage, food and the four female pillions. It was slow difficult riding for the 6 bikers due to horrendous dirt roads with lots of sand, gravel, volcanic bull dust and at times heavy corrugations and not to mention the altitude of 5000 metres! However, the landscape was simply stunning, surreal, treeless, barren tundra with rocky hills, volcanoes, lakes with flamingoes, moonscapes, vicunas, llamas, alpacas. We stopped overnight at Villa Mar in basic accommodation and unfortunately NO hot water as promised. The second day was even more difficult with a number of riders falling - there is no doubt about it the roads were “brutal” however after we crossed the border into Chile and hit the asphalt road, all the guys kissed the ground!
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Marty
non-member comment
Hello travellers
So.... Where are you now? Keep the stories coming, they're great. Waiting for the next chapter..:-) xxx Marty et al