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Published: November 30th -0001
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Welcome to Bolivia!
Louise and David playing on the train wrecks The mounting expectations for how cheap this country was to be, were leading the tour group into a shopping frenzy. Knowing that La Paz was the place to shop, but that we only had two full days in this chaotic city, put the pressure on.
The landscape leading up to La Paz was barren, to say the very least. Browns and beiges were in vogue here, and the monochrome settlements blended seamlessly into the cactus-strewn wastelands all around. The roads had also noticeably deteriorated: Windy, bumpy and scary all the way.
Louise had organised a bus scrabble tournament to help the new guys settle in, and the punters were excited about the semi-finals. However, she encountered an unnecessary altercation with one angry budget boy, who didn´t want to swap seats in order to free up the table for one of the games. This was an upsetting turn of events, highlighting yet more of the problems which accompany ten-week tours with total strangers!
Our first impression of the city of La Paz was tarnished by roadworks, preventing Trevor from getting to our hotel door. The twenty-nine strong group of tired budgeteers heaved their belongings onto their backs for a
La Paz from above
Can you see the football stadium? trek to the hotel, bustling past street hawkers and weaving through traffic. One of the main excursions here was ´Death Road´, so named because of the number of mentalists who spend their final moments on earth careering down a steep slope on an out-of-control push-bike. Having not had the best of luck on two wheels this year, we opted for a gentle city tour instead.
The night we arrived we went out for a scrumptious meal, to say goodbye to five group members: Keith, Nat, Kiwi, Poodle and Pete. David enjoyed an impressive rendition of the English classic Fish and Chips. The only downside to this activity highlighted another annoyance of travelling in such a big group: Sorting out the bill. On this occasion, it wasted about an hour of our lives.
Our day trip was in full swing, and we began with a visit to the Gold Museum. David, and our friend Aussie Jo, one of the more mature members of the group (apparently), used this as an opportunity to muck about, and their raucous laughter could be heard far and wide. The most memorable part of this visit was when Louise got told off by a
German man in the group, for taking photos (not allowed!). Next, we stopped at a square, which felt very English as it was full of pigeons and statues. Then, we climbed a hill for an aerial view of the city before checking out the moon valley, an other-worldly landscape of craters and jagged rock formations.
While on the bus, Juan Carlos, our guide, explained to us the effects of living at different altitudes on the human condition. At altitude, people are smaller, as the blood can circulate faster around a smaller frame. Also they have bigger cardiac muscles, and darker blood due to a higher proportion of red cells. The shortness of breath we were feeling at altitude made it seem as though those living up high would have an advantage at, say, football. However, they are presented with a different problem for low altitude matches; that of swelling feet, causing them pain and the need for larger boots. We found all of this very interesting.
We finished our city tour with a look at the Witches Market, where we stayed on after, for a round of present buying. The Witches Market is so called because of the
various llama phoetuses and strange charms available. A late night hot-dog completed our busy day.
The next day, we headed to the posher end of town for a spot of shopping. Disappointed by the western prices, we quickly made our way back to yesterday´s haunting ground where we bought loads of cool stuff. On the way home, we stopped to watch the big parade, taking place in honour of the anniversary of the local university. Some jolly locals befriended us and plied us with beer as we watched flamenco dancers, pan-pipe bands and decorative floats gush through the streets. Entrepreneurs sold drinks and food to the punters, and some cheeky vendors tried to charge people for passing through their tarpaulin screens, erected to block the show from the rest of the street.
For dinner, we had roast chicken from the rotiseria - mmm - and bought some smooth shoes for David. We then met the others for a drink in an English-style bar. A fancy dress party was going on nearby, and we were more than a little surprised to see about twelve guys, all dressed as Spiderman, burst through the door (the shop had apparently run out
Moon Valley
David with a music man who was selling us his wares of everything else!). On the way to the party, we lost some of the group when we stopped to help a bleeding drunk. So we ended up trying out a local club with Joss and Nat. We enjoyed the live band, and had fun dancing with some friendly Blivs.
The next day, the yellow bus was packed out to capacity, as some more unfortunate passengers had joined us for the last leg to Rio. Louise created a great first impression by forgetting some cash and a cashcard in a drawer at the hotel room, and holding up the group for an hour at the roadside while the items were delivered to us. Arriving late in Potosi, the highest city in the world, we had a Chifa (Chinese meal) with Sharon and Greg. Let´s just say we over-ordered grotesquely and could barely walk back to the hotel.
The following morning we had a lousy breakfast, and ventured off to have a look at the great silver, promised to us by Joss. The day turned out to be a pile of crap. The silver museum transpired to be nothing more than a derelict backyard, and the silver shops were really
not worth the bother. Then we walked around for about an hour and a half to find a coffee, and ended up being charged for a cappucino that was SO, NOT, a cappucino. That night, we had sweet pizza for dinner and reflected on what a pants time we had had in Potosi.
Next on the itinerary was Uyuni, where we were to see the salt flats. The town itself was a small, quiet place, but an excellent hostel made our stay a memorable experience. Minuteman pizza restaurant (on-site), ´pizza with altitude´, produced fantastic food and cosy surroundings. We had the opportunity to get to know the new guys, and made friends with Ollie, Hannah and Katie over a few drinks.
Morning came, and we piled onto the jeep and headed towards the bleak landscape of the salt plains, first stopping at a train graveyard for photographs. Then, a visit to the salt factory, where salt is refined and put in bags for sale across Bolivia. After some photos at the salt piles, and a look at some bubbling geysers, we headed towards an oasis in the desert of salt, where cacti sprang up amidst coarse grassy hills.
We broke for a spot of lunch. David and some others beat an impromptu French side at salt plain football (excellent surface for it), and Louise lumbered up another hill for an impressive view of the flats. We spent the afternoon creating imaginative photos (such as the ones on this blog), and then headed to the salt hotel for a butcher´s, and for some sunset pics. Pizza for dinner again tonight, and we sampled the llama one, while recounting the tales of the day with our new buddies.
The next day we left Uyuni, and started to make our way towards Argentina. However, Trevor, our decrepit budget truck, was not at its best, and the journey was broken up with frequent stops to fill the radiator tank with water (don´t quote us on the details). Drew decided to stop in Potosi in order to solve the problem, and the group, after having spent the last of their Bolivianos and worked up an appetite for a budget truck lunch, were herded into town to fend for themselves in one of the most unforgiving of traveller destinations. Sickness hung over the group, and our small gang managed to be late back
to the bus, winding up Drew no end.
We stopped to set up camp on a roadway full of cacti, and after pulling some of the spines up through the floor of our tent, we ate chilli con carne and gathered round the campfire for some singing (David on guitar). With the night cut short by one of Drew´s tedious speeches about time management, most of the group skulked off to bed about 9pm. leaving our merry little band to natter the night away beside the dwindling fire. An early start the next day, putting down the tents before sunrise, saw us headed for the border.
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