Blogs from Potosí Department, Bolivia, South America - page 5

BOLIVIA...Unethical Tourism & First World Voyeurism. A friend fired a warning : "You are scheduled to take a tour of the mines in Potosi--DO NOT DO IT! I saw the film, The Devil's Miner, boys and men working the mines and their horrific conditions. You will be suited up and then descend into the jaws of hell. If you have issues with claustrophobia, you'll die. Also, you will be breathing horrendous, thick, toxic dust that will sear your lungs and ruin your camera. Breathing this dust, most miners only live to be about forty. Worse yet, you'll be a first-world voyeur, using as entertainment, the terrible, short lives of these third-world people who, unlike the tourist agency, will not benefit from your visit except for the pitiful alcohol, cigarettes and dynamite you give them. ... read more

Dejando atrás 3 días boquiabiertos por la belleza del Salar de Uyuni y el Sur de Lipez, bam! nos encontramos en Potosí. Uf! Podria decir que fue un shock… Como describir la ciudad mas alta del mundo (4100m)… Pues para que engañarnos, se respira la crueldad que los colonizadores, ejem, españoles, tuvieron con este pueblo con el objetivo de explotar la riqueza de sus minas. Sin ganas de ver el resultado de hoy en día, decidí no visitar las minas, así que será Tanguy quien cuente mas abajo la experiencia mas de cerca. La mirada dura de los potosinos, las subidas y bajadas de sus estrechas calles sombrías con aceras casi inexistentes, demasiados coches circulando bajo las reglas del caos, un mercado en el que no dan para nada ganas de comprar, y eso sí, todo ... read more

Bolivia 4x4 Adventure: Going to Bolivia for an American is not exactly easy. For some reason the American government doesn’t like the Bolivian government and they make it difficult for Bolivians to come to America. Thus, the Bolivians make it hard for us to come to Bolivia. You can, you just have to pay $160 USD, provide 2 passport photos, a yellow fever card, proof of hotel reservations and full itinerary. Yeah, a bit different than going to Europe, huh? I wasn’t about to let this scare me away though. I did a lot of research and I was a bit worried that I didn’t have my yellow fever card with me, but I had the money and the photos so I wasn’t too concerned. Bolivia was not on our original honeymoon itinerary. This came up ... read more

Fuck Bolivia. Fuck Bolivia. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I’ve had it with this country! The bus that was to leave at 7pm still hasn’t left. It is approaching 9pm! I am going to miss my flight because of boulders!! But more on that later... Getting here was a nightmare too. Red Planet’s plan was to drop me off “where the bus will be stationed” at 6:30pm. Great. Nope — I’m in Bolivia. We get there and there is no bus stop. Not even a bench, hell — not even a paved section! Their plan was to literally drop me off, by myself, on the side of the highway. Drop me with the instructions of, “Don’t worry, the bus will be here.” I turn red. “Are you joking me?! You’re going to leave me here, stranded, on the ... read more

‘Salt plane, Salt plane. Yay, we’re going on a salt plane!’ Nathan was even more excited than I was about going to Uyuni to see the salt flats, and that is saying something. It had something to do with a misunderstanding though. He thought the salt plane was our means of transport and not the destination. We was wrong about that. I think the mode of transport must have been a spaceship, because where we landed seemed like another planet. The space ships, which looked like buses, took us from sunny Copacobana on the shore of Lake Titicaca to La Paz first. We have seen Quito and Lima already and from what I’d heard, La Paz would be even less appealing to us. So we were fortunate enough to get on an overnight bus that departed ... read more