Blogs from Uyuni, Potosí Department, Bolivia, South America - page 18

Llegamos a Uyuni el 7/1 y nos hospedamos en "Hotel Avenida". El día 8/1 tomamos la excursión con "Legal Tour". Fueron 3 días de mucho viaje, recorriendo lugares increíble. Todo, absolutamente todo era un paisaje perfecto, un cuadro. El problema es salir de acá. Todos los micros se rompen, entre la lluvia y los caminos de tierra, los viajes de 8hs terminan siendo de 24hs. ... read more

The two Bolivias "I know two Bolivias, one is populated by people with black hair and black eyes. Those people are short in height, they don't work too hard and like to keep to themselves. But there is a second Bolivia where the people have blue and green eyes, are tall and open minded and this is the Bolivia, where I come from." When the freshly elected Miss Bolivia travelled to the United States to "represent her country" a stunned Andean nation had to listen to those words which did not only promote the (in the Altiplano) very unpopular idea of seperation, but also attested to an offending racism against indigenous people. It was our guide in the mines of Potosi who tells us this story and we have no idea how much of it is ... read more

After our late arrival the night before, Karin and I woke up at 10AM. Only 6 hours of sleep but we did not want to waste our day sleeping. I went to turn on the light switch in our room and nothing happened. Strange considering the light worked well the night before. We could hear some voice outside our room and we found out that there was no electricity in the town of Uyuni. They said it would be temporary and that it happens often. Unfortunately, due to the fact that there was no electricity, this meants there was no hot water for showers. I never did get a good explanation for why the electricity goes out often in this city. People just seemed to go on doing what they do without the electricity. Our stomachs ... read more

This time yesterday we were twiddling our thumbs whilst sweating to the sounds of the jungle and watching the rain pour down; seemingly dashing hopes for an exit from the Amazon basin. Now 22 hours, a miniature plane and a bumpy bus ride later we´re 3000 metres higher and in the southern deserts of Bolivia. We´ve been in Bolivia two weeks now and although not sure what to expect from a country whose number one industry is still cocaine and the national pastime appears to be demonstrating, so far it´s been good (despite a few organisational question marks!) We crossed the border on the shores of Lake Titicaca (the highest major lake in the world) on an overnight bus from Peru. Well I say this, but our expectations of our “direct” service to Copacabana actually going ... read more

So after leaving Potosi and the Sillver mines I was now on my way to Uyuni and a 3 day tour to see the Salar de Uyuni or the Salt plains. There were 6 of us squashed into a Toyota 4WD Landcruiser with all our luggage on top and the first stop was a graveyard for trains, not that exciting but worth seeing nonetheless. Then it was onto the Salt plains, a huge expanse that used to be a salt lake and has now dried up and in some places is 20 metres thick of salt! As we continued we came to an island full of cacti growing very high, quite a surreal place in the middle of this salt desert. That night we visited a necropolis, a place where a group of Ecuadorians thousands of ... read more