Bolivia

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We entered Bolivia at the beginning of April and the difference between Bolivia and the countries we had already visited was immediately obvious. Bolivia is much poorer and everyone looks more indigineous and traditional. The women wear long skirts, shawls and bowler hats! The people are all short (I am taller than most of them!) and broad chested due to the altitude. The majority of the landscape we have driven through is bare, barren and mountainous, interspersed with rural villages and cities that aren't very big.

We had a one night stop in Tupiza where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are rumored to have been killed and then we moved onto Potosi, the highest city in the world at 4060m above sea level. We had to make sure we drank a lot of water and I had a bit of a headache due to the altitude. I found the majority of people quite unfriendly in Bolivia but i'm not sure how used to tourists they are.

Then we moved onto Uyuni where we went on an overnight excursion to the salt flats there. The salt flats cover an area of 12,000km2 and they are formed due to the sea once being there. We drove along it convoy style in jeeps like something out of a film, cars racing through the white nothingness. The scenery was unique and amazing, the horizon was a straight line with white below and blue above. We visited Fish Island there that has huge cacti on it and spent a good couple of hours taking photographs of shots such as people walking into Pringle tubes and other people being stamped on by a giant shoe. This was possible due to the trick of the plain, white surroundings. It was good fun!! We stayed overnight in a dormroom and rose early to see the sunrise on the salt flats. Later we went and climbed a volcano, hard work at that altitude! It really was a beautiful place.

After Uyuni we went to the official capital of Bolivia which is Sucre. It wasn't massive but it was very nice and all the buildings in the centre have to be painted white. While I was there, I went to see some dinosaur footprints!! It wasn't quite as exciting as I was expecting as we could only see them from a viewpoint and they were on a wall. Interestingly it had once being flat and is only vertical now due to tectonic movements.

From Sucre, we went back to Potosi to go on a tour of a silver mine. We got all dressed up in overalls, wellys, a helmet and light and headed up Cerro Rico to go into the mine. The mine was very dark (!), muddy and not very pleasant at all. I couldn't believe people still worked in conditions like these, it was very sad but we didn't see any miners as it was a Saturday and they had the day off. We saw statues inside the mine that the miners offer things to and pray for good luck in finding silver. It must be an miserable job especially as you are more than likely to catch a disease in there and die within 15 years. I was glad to get out of the mine.

Next we went to La Paz, relevant as I have just finished reading Marching Power, a book about a prisoner in San Pedro prison in La Paz. I was expecting to not really like it here but I do. It is down in a valley and surrounded by beautiful hills and mountains with snow on them in the distance. It is market crazy here and everything is very cheap. We have been staying in hostels or hotels in Bolivia and the one in La Paz is really nice.

Yesterday, the 14th, I cycled down Death Road, a notoriously dangerous road!! It connects Laz Paz to a town called Cochario and winds around the mountain with a very steep drop on one side. People have done, and still do, fall off and die. Up until 2 years ago it was the main road connecting the two towns and so massive lorries would go up it but now a seperate bypass has been built. We started off very high and it was raining,freezing, misty and windy. It was horrible at first and although that part was concrete and wide it was my worst bit. Then we began on the real death road, a narrow, bumpy dirt track by the side of the mountain. The rain had stopped but it was still misty. It was a shame I couldn't see the amazing view but probably for the best as at least I couldn't see the drop! I went slowly, took my time, used my brakes a lot and didn't have any near death experiences! It was fantastic and when I could see the view it was brilliant, green mountains. At the bottom everyone was cheering everyone on and we stopped for a beer before getting the minivan to a hotel for some food. I am so proud at having done it and surviving!! The bike ride was 64km in total and took about 5-6 hours with plenty of stops.

Back in the city, I went to visit Luna Valley this morning. It is just outside La Paz and is an area of weird rock formations due to soft rock and erosion that looks like the moon surface (a bit). Then I hit the markets, buying lots of souvenirs.

Tomorrow we leave Bolivia to go to Peru and I have only 3 weeks left of my trip!

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