Blogs from Potosí Department, Bolivia, South America - page 6

From San Pedro de Atacama, we booked a three-day Uyuni jeep tour with Atacama Mistica. A friend we made in Santiago recommended them after travelling with them, and a tour agency in San Pedro also highly recommended them, hence we decided to go with this reputable company. We were picked up from our hostel and taken to the border of Chile and Bolivia. Both the Chilean and Bolivian immigration was very quick as the queue was not very big. We were given sandwiches with Coca tea for breakfast; Coca tea is pretty big in the Atacama region of Chile and in places of higher altitude in Bolivia to help the body to acclimatise. The Coca leaf is used to make cocaine, but the leaves have other health properties, as I've just mentioned. The tea itself, once ... read more

كشور بوليوي شروعي با ارتفاع ٤٣٠٠ متري شروعي تازه و خاص بود ، از شهر سان پدرو اتاكاما در شيلي تا مرز بوليوي ٤٥ كيلومتر راه طولاني كوهستاني بود كه ما با جيپ أومديم طبق پيشنهاد دوستاي ديگه دوچرخه سوارمون اما خيلي استرس بيماري ارتفاع زدگي زياد بود چون از ارتفاع ٢٠٠٠ متري يكدفعه وارد ارتفاع ٤٣٠٠ متري ميشديم و مرز بوليوي فقط يه خونه سنگي و كاهگلي بود با چند تا أفسر خيلي مهربون ،كه شايد بتونم بگم دوستانه ترين مرزي كه تا حالا ديده بودم ،اونم به خاطر روابط خوب ايران و بوليوي ،درست مثل سفارت بوليوي كه در شيلي بوديم.به محض رسيدن به مرز فشار ارتفاع رو به صورت سوزن سوزن رو پوست صورتم حس ميكردم ، ما بايد حدود ٦ كيلومتر تا اولين پناهگاه با دوچرخه ميرفتيم تا يك يا دو شب ... read more

Hi Friends, family and bloggers, We are embarking on the Salt flats 3- day tour (all in one blog). Day One. So we woke up nice and warm in our room this morning, the little heater in the center of the room did its job and warmed everyone. We had to be a Thiago Tours office at 1030 to start our tour and meet our fellow companion’s. We had a shower in the morning and there was a free breakfast of toast and cereal, which was nice and unexpected. We were told we would be freezing most of the tour –day and night, so I went to the shop to purchase some gloves for £2 from a local shop. Classy llama ones!!! We finished packing, went to the shop to get snacks for the trip and ... read more

Hello Friends, Today we started the Silver Mine tour at 9am, after a good breakfast of scrambled eggs and cereal. We had the opportunity to witness working conditions in one of the cooperative silver and zinc mines, the conditions are among the most grueling imaginable. We had plenty of guide books telling travellers not to underestimate the dangers involved in going into the mines and to consider the voyeuristic factor involved in seeing other people’s suffering. It definitely was at our own risks, and there were plenty of dangers with the stability of the mines, which had me terrified during most of the tour. Although we didn’t feel like we were prying on the workers, the miners are proud of their work in such tough conditions and generally happy for visitors to observe their toil. We ... read more

Hola Everyone, Once again we had a lazy morning until we had to check out at 11am. We had our normal bread and honey and banana breakfast in the hostel. We then put our bags in the hostel storage and headed out to the cable car that is in La Paz, there are three different ones but we picked the one that went up the highest point to look down on the city. It’s only 6BOB return (60p) and you get spectacular views of the huge city with the snow-capped mountains looming in the distance. We also went over the graveyards; here they bury the dead above ground in buildings in rows. The pictures look cool and they’re even behind plastic glass! As we had all day to waste so we walked to the clothes markets, ... read more