Bolivia Pt I, Tupiza to Santa Cruz

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After the breezy border crossing we had made it into Bolivia. Instantaneously the buildings, roads and people had changed. Gripping onto our luggage (we had heard the stories about Bolivia) we boarded our first substandard bus and continued straight to Tupiza.
With a welcomed dramatic drop in the cost of living we had reached our first destination in Bolivia and what is the 'real' cowboy country! Tupiza's surrounding countryside resembles the old wild west films I grew up with. Which is quite fitting seemings Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid spent their last few days in this area before their last stand, their graves being a few km's away. We spent five hours on horseback out in Bolivia's wild west amongst strange rock formations and cactus-covered canyons. But the real reason for stopping in Tupiza is the four-day south western circuit tour to Salar De Uyuni (salt flats of Uyuni). By far the best value tour I have ever taken! The tour left Tupiza in a 4x4 jeep and headed on a loop south west back towards Chile stopping at sky high Andean villages (so cold), lagoons filled with flamingos whilst the water reflects the surrounding snow capped peaks while llamas feed un-phased by the lake side.
Waiting by the lakes I overheard our driver comment 'En Bolivia todo possible, nada seguro' meaning 'In Bolivia everything's possible, nothing's certain'. For the next 35 days his words were echoing around my head, how right could someone be!
As the jeep continued the terrain changed literally by the kilometre. Strange rock formations stand out in the desert, encapsulated in the multi-coloured mountain slopes. Climbing the rock formations proved to be a must!! After digging out the thermals again the group made the mistake of taking on the local village at a game of high altitude football. In short 4500m=very thin air=I'm an asthmatic after running around for five seconds. We filled our evenings playing cards complete with good banter with our deranged jeep mates from Somerset. After three days of stunning scenery and crossing the world's highest road (5000m) we had reached the edge of the Salar De Uyuni. The worlds largest salt flat (once upon a time a lake) and home to the world's largest reserve of energetic minerals. The group getting up at the crack of dawn allowed us all to travel by jeep to the centre of the Salar and watch a mind blowing sunrise. As the reddish yellow of the sun's emergence started to fill the horizon before us, the sky above remained star studded, while the horizon behind us changed colour many times with the rising sun. Blues, oranges, reds, yellows and purples all made an appearance until the sun took the whole sky for the rest of the day.
We spent the rest of the morning driving around, taking the typical 'strange perspective' photos the Salar makes possible and visiting one of the many islands present which was once a coral reef, now boasting strange rock formations, trees and cacti.
The afternoon was spent traveling to Uyuni and admiring the massive mirages in the distance as the Salar turned into desert.

Getting our skates on Cecilia, the Somerset crew and I headed straight for Potosi. Although being an attractive colonial city the main draw to come here is Potosi's mine. Potosi was once the colonial backbone to the Spanish empire, in the end it essentially bankrolled all Spanish interests in the new world. But how? Simply Potosi's mine. The mine produced massive amounts of silver and the city soon grew to the size of London and Paris during its heyday. In post colonial times the mine has continued to thrive, although in the last few years the mine has seen quite a rapid decline. Today just over six thousand miners work here compared with over a hundred thousand during Spanish rule. We had all heard about the horrific conditions that were present in the mine, so we just had to see for ourselves!
Booking tours into this working health hazard is a piece of cake, so we signed up for a four hour tour of eye opening.....fun?
We met our guide at the 'Miners street market'. A place where buying dynamite for £1.50 (complete with fuse!), 1L container of 96%!a(MISSING)lcohol and Coca leaves (an Andean altitude fix) are part and parcel of surviving a day in the mines. After a full safety briefing - or maybe not - our group donned the provided safety equipment... well, wellies and a hard hat complete with light. The mine itself is in a strange place, not underground as you would expect, but in the side of the mountain above Potosi. Entering the mine was fine, high ceilings, wide floors and well supported shafts - so whats all the fuss about? Well, for the next three hours we witnessed what I can only describe as the worst working conditions I have ever witnessed. Being tourists didn't hold the guide back in showing us just what it is like to work there. As we progressed deeper into the mine the air became thinner, the temperature rose substantially and Bolivia's idea of heath and safety went out of the window. Tiny claustrophobic shafts led to even smaller, hotter and more unbearable places. Supporting wooden beams are left shattered, buckling under the pressure above our heads. Rivers of water flow over our feet and another friend of ours also makes an appearance - asbestos. Crawling and climbing through and down the shafts took enough effort, let alone working here for thirteen hours a day. Most miners work for ten to fifteen years before dying of related diseases. I wouldn't last five minutes working here. Unfortunately as it was a Saturday afternoon the miners had left for the weekend so we didn't get a chance to see them working. Instead we saw the devil figure they worship, leaving coca leaves stuffed in its mouth for good luck. We also saw the last of the miners at the shaft entrance polishing off their 96%!a(MISSING)lcohol (wrecked didn't come into it), we gave them the coca leaves we had bought (in short, the leaf from which cocaine is derived, which Andean people all over South America chew, drink and stick all over their bodies to reduce the harsh effects of altitude - a trick which does work!), then we waited and watched while our guide let off the dynamite we had bought!
Basically the mines are not a place for the weak minded. But why work there? Four times the average Bolivian wage of course!!

We left Potosi for one of Bolivia's capitals (yes it has two): Sucre, the countries judicial headquarters. While being very colonial the city has a certain romance about it. We actually ended up staying an extra day than we thought we would, spending it to further explore its great churches (most with brilliant rooftop views), colonial mansions, peaceful plazas and even managed to get a tour around Bolivia's supreme court. We also splashed out on a hotel with cable TV - a welcomed luxury after three months!

Continuing east we lost altitude and stopped at a small peaceful town called Samaipata. Losing the tent on the bus mind you wasn't something we had bargained for (the driver couldn't find it in the hold - however the bus office told us it was further east in Santa Cruz). We used the town as a base to visit our first set of Inca ruins on top of a mountain, which incidentally gave us good views of Parque Nacional Amboro.
While in Samaipata we decided to take a side trip and follow in Che Guevara's final footsteps before the CIA caught up with him. For us it turned out not to be an easy route to follow! Leaving Samaipata meant we had to hitch-hike our way to Vallegrande in the back of a Bolivian lorry filled with onions and locals (which we helped to deliver - onions that is). It was an interesting mix of high-speed corner-banking and strange stares from the locals. After our arrival in Vallegrande we saw the memorials for Che (this is where his body was shown to the world) and ended up hiring a taxi to take us to the canyon where he was captured and the school where he was executed at La Higuera. The school is now an informative and interesting museum, a worthy side trip which raised the question, 'was he a terrorist, warmonger, freedom-fighter or simply just a humanitarian?' Well go and Google it!!

We left Vallegrande and embarked on another epic, unpaved, dusty overnight journey to our furthest point east - Santa Cruz. Leaving the Andes gave us warmth and oxygenated air. Santa Cruz in the province of Santa Cruz is a wealthy state and city (by Bolivian standards). The traditional coca-chewing and typical Andean dress are replaced by Western clothes and mobile phones. The province is mineral rich, which gives it part of its wealth - the rest comes from the barons trafficking drugs, contraband and anything else they can get their hands on into Brazil. Eating set menus for under £1 caught up with Cecilia. Firstly, food isn't one of Bolivia's strong points, never mind the sanitation - eating here is a bit of a roulette. A restaurant at first appears to be OK, but after ordering and sitting for 5 minutes it isn't unheard of for an assortment of bugs to make an appearance (cockroaches included of course). Gazes across the room reveal the dirt and mould on the ceilings while quick glances over the tablecloth...well, I daren't go there...
Full Tupiza Photos on Flickr
Full Sala de Uyuni & the Southwest Circuit Photos on Flickr
Full Sucre Photos on Flickr
Full Samaipata Photos on Flickr
Full Che Trail Photos on Flickr
Full Santa Cruz Photos on Flickr

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