Blogs from Potosí Department, Bolivia, South America - page 14

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South America » Bolivia » Potosí Department » Potosi May 19th 2013

Loved, loved, loved Sucre! The white city really is beautiful with gorgeous buildings and suspiciously well kept gardens everywhere! The 5 nights we spent there flew by, arriving at the hostel at around 6.30am on Monday only to be told that reception doesn't open until 8 and there "might" be beds for us right away. Luckily we were able to crawl into bed by 9 (oh after climbing a ladder up to the loft where we were sleeping) and have a nap before going out to explore the city a bit. First job; find somewhere for Spanish lessons, yep I had 16 hours of Spanish lessons over 4 days and I think I must have improved a bit (or I at least hope) the good thing so many people are awesome at Spanish and English I ... read more
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Hi everyone ! Sorry for being so slack lately! So we did the Salt Flats through Bolivia which where amazing! We started the drive in Uyni, a small town which at the time of our stay had no electricity – which was interesting. Also when they said they hadn’t had electricity for three days, choosing what would be safe to eat at Bolivian restaurants was even more difficult than normal! The town is just one tour agency after another, and they all do the same thing. You go in a 4 wheel drive car, with generally 6 people max. First stop is the old train graveyard, with rusted trains just left there, and you get to climb all over them (safe im sure). Then you drive to the actual Salt Flats which ... read more
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South America » Bolivia » Potosí Department » Uyuni May 8th 2013

As i mentioned in the last post, Uyuni is full of rubbish, but there is one area where there is cool rubbish, the train cemetery. It's about two kilometres out of town, and is home to 100's of old bits of locomotive's rusting away. We got into Uyuni around 2pm, and seeing as there is sfa to do in town, we decided to head out to the graveyard late afternoon, after a well needed shower, and after watching Barca get destroyed by Bayern Munich. We went with Dot & Too, and the Moncica's, two fun loving, and slightly nuts Swiss women, who we met on the tour. They are two middle-aged flight attendants who travel together each year to far flung areas of the globe, this time doing Bolivia and Peru. The Monica's managed to negotiate ... read more
Train cemetery
Train cemetery
Train cemetery


The last blog was a long one, so i will keep this one brief, and beef it up with photo's... We are granted a sleep in until 6.30 on day 3, but it is still bitterly cold when we leave the homestay. Shortly after leaving we arrive at the Arbol de Piedra, the petrified forest. It is not a petrified forest, but a cluster of large volcanic rocks in the middle of the desert that had been spewed out by a volcano millions of years ago. Soon after we reach Laguna Hondas and find that is completely frozen over, even though it is 100's of metres wide. There are still some brave (or stupid) flamingos walking on the ice hoping that it will melt and provide them with a feed. Next is another lagoon, Laguna Negra, ... read more
Natural Bano!
Arbol de Piedra
Flamingos on ice covered lagoon


We depart Salta on the Saturday catching a bus at 7am to get to the border town of La Quiaca from where we hope to cross into Bolivia. It is a 7.5 hour ride, initially through the area that we did a tour a few days ago, and then further into really arid and harsh landscapes. We have the two front seats on the top level of the bus, and it provides a great view, but also means copping a pounding from the sun as it rises from its slumber into full force. La Quiaca is small dusty town, that really only seems to exist as a border control point with Bolivia. It is a 20 minute walk to the border, and after getting some directions from an old Bolivian lady we successfully locate it. We ... read more
View over the Sillar
Children of Cemillos
Lady of Cemillos

South America » Bolivia » Potosí Department » Potosi April 17th 2013

Back for some more ! After finishing our tour in Uyuni we made our way to the beautiful city of Potosi - commonly referred to as the highest city on the planet at 4070m. During our stay in Potosi we learnt a lot about how much it played in the history of Bolivia but to the whole of south america and the kingdom of Spain itself. The abundance of Silver in the nearby mountain Cerro Rico indeed shaped the city's history between confronting nearby powers and Spain itself. Later it is as the place where currencies for generations would be forged in the famous La Moneda - the visit of the building rewarded us with invaluable insight, notably that Argentina would somehow get his name from the affluence of Argento coming from the famous city Potosi ... read more
Potosi
Potosi
Potosi

South America » Bolivia » Potosí Department » Uyuni April 14th 2013

After our unexpectedly long bus ride into Uyuni we were in no rush to wake up in the morning. In the end into was 10amwhen we unhappily surfaced, still shattered from yesterday. We were awake though, showered short after and fed shortly after that. Now our task was to book a tour of the Salar de Uyuni, better known as the Bolivian salt flats, the place where land speed records are smashed and many out of perspective photos are taken. The amount of tour operators on offer in the town is overwhelming and all offer the same package, a 3 day trip observing all kinds of natural wonders. I've no idea how over 80 companies compete for all the tourists offering no difference in tours!? We were very tempted by one company, Crystal Tours, offering us ... read more


Muy buenos dias, After making it to Tupiza in Bolivia it only took us the afternoon to book our trip to Uyuni, the biggest salt lake on the planet, in a 4x4 Jeep. Our friends for the trip would be Alpe and Lisana from Turkey and Holland with whom we would share the 4 available seats. The pictures will speak for themselves better than I can describe our adventure throughout dry deserts, amazing rock formations, colored lakes, Geisers and finally the out of this world white salt desert of Uyuni. Enjoy the pics http://youtu.be/ZKeDp5X6jtc... read more
Tupiza rock formations
Quebrada de Palala
Quebrada de Palala

South America » Bolivia » Potosí Department » Uyuni March 25th 2013

The next day, a couple of toilets rolls and three Imodium later, we set off before sunrise again. We'd been told we were going to see five lagoons or high altitude lakes. It seemed a little excessive and to be honest it was. At the first lagoon, the whole group gets out the car and has a walk alongside the lake taking pictures. At the next, a few people stay in the car. The third, no one gets out. A few photos taken with the window down will do fine thank you. Our driver Nelson got the idea, he had a wry full smile. He'd been doing this tour for over ten years. God, he must be bored of lagoons! I was feeling much better by the time we stopped for lunch on some train tracks ... read more
Sunrise on the salt flats
Cactus island
Fun on the salt flats

South America » Bolivia » Potosí Department » Tupiza March 24th 2013

Crossing the border just after sunrise, immediately Bolivia is strikingly different from Argentina where we'd spent the past month. Many buildings in the border town of Villazon (and every other town since) remain unfinished, there's a faint odour of sewage in the air and the people look very different - aged and almost worn down from the toils of day-to-day life in South America's poorest country. The traditional dress of the local women is another contrast; long, layered skirts, embroidered cardigans, shawls over their shoulders which double as bags and pork-pie hats. No mini-skirts insight. Without doubt, the most challenging aspect of our arrival in Bolivia was dealing with the dizzyingly high-altitude. Villazon sits at over 3,400 metres (over 11,000 feet) above sea level so just walking is tough, not to mention lugging your backpack around ... read more
Day one - amazing scenery
Calm-a Llama down
Flamingos




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