Bolivia - Tupiza to Uyuni, Salt Flats Tour

---

Bolivia!!! After moving pretty quickly through Brazil and Argentina, it was time to really get into this travelling game and start to see a lot more!!! Our first port of call was Tupiza. This little town was a diamond! It really is like going back to the wild west and it's easy to see why Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was filmed here all those years ago, apart from the odd internet cafe, it's still the same!

We decided to stay here for three days as although there wasn't a massive amount to do, we needed to get over the recent thefts and we decded to just stop moving! You can do the odd thing here like horse riding which we decided would be a good thing to do even if I am afraid of horses! It turned out to be pure hell! We decided the five hour option as opposed to the three hour ride would be good... make a day of it and all that... you go through some bush land and proceed to check out a couple of canyons, all good and well you may think but as I had no experience and a horse that kept bolting it didnt make for a great experience! I also grazed by bum so badly, im now scarred haha! That said for 15GBP its not so bad!

The town itself has a few little markets (we chanced a new camera here, way over priced but we needed it for the salt flats tour) and alot of resto's! One resto in particular was "The Alamo" which served great Mexican at rock bottom prices! Its claim to fame is that Will Smith once ate here and his picture is proudly placed on the wall! Infact it's full of famous faces but the food is really good!

One thing to take note of is that Tupiza has no WiFi anywhere as it isnt installed! There is one Internet cafe which does work pretty well though!

When coming to book our Salt Flats Tour we decided to do it through our hostel "Los Solares" It cost a little more than tours from other companies but it had good reviews and for a very good reason. The trip was fantastic! Four days of total joy! The hostel itself was also very good with very good staff! Very clean and the facilities were good!

The trip started out with four of us in a jeep with our tour guide and driver Francisco and his wife and cook Philly! They took us round and showed us all the sights from canyons, lakes, volcanos, train graveyards, natural springs, wildlife and of course the salt flats and they did it in so much detail! stories of times gone by and the history! brilliant! Philly was one of the best cooks ive ever known and she fed us like we hadnt been fed in months... three times a day lol! I would def recommend this tour company for the trip. A lot of people we spoke to told us of horror stories of booking it from Uyuni, tales of it being cheaper but the guides getting so drunk that the travellers had to drive themselves back to places! Be warned! A little treat is that you get to see the northern lights... unreal! One tip I would say though is make sure you take enough money for the park feeswith you, although it clearly states to it isnt pointed out, we were very lucky that we made good friends with the people we were travelling with on the tour and they subbed us until we returned! I cannot speak more highly of this trip, its staff and everything involved! Staying in Tupiza for a few days then doing the trip from there is very worthwhile!



Sucre - After the trip we decided to take an 8-10 hour bus ride to Sucre being even more cautious and paranoid than I ever have in my life! The recent events definately made my time travelling a little harder and still does to this day, nealry 6 months on! The fact we nearly lost one of our bags on this trip just made it worse but it was a comon mistake, they just didnt unload it but they did nearly drive off haha! Sucre itself was ok, nothing mindblowing but for sure, a place worth visiting! Someof the buildings were beautiful and I would recommend a trip up to the top of the hill to take in the views of the city... its a bloody steep hill mind! Ha!

The areas around the plazas have a lot of markets, good restos and pubs to keep you entertained! I would however not really stay in Sucre for too long unless you decide you want to study Spanish! We had one lesson but to be honest we wanted to know the basics, they guy was going way and beyond what we needed so we packed up after one lesson and left! Our hostel, Wasi Masi, was a decent little place, our room had a nice ensuite,it did cost us 7GBP per night but it was nice! Breakfast, as usual, bread and jam...

Santa Cruz - The only good thing about Santa Cruz that i can honestly say was the hostel! Jolonga Hostel was a great little place that offered us a private room for very cheap! The hostel was great, clean, sold booze for cheap and had a good feel. It even had a pool and the breakfast was by far the best we had had on our travels to date! Eggs, any style, toast, fruit, tea, coffee, juice!

The town itself though did let it down! There was just not a lot to do an the sqaure was a fair walk. To be honest though, there wasnt a lot to do there either but all in all it was a canny few days! I had the luxury of meeting a fantastic transgender lady named Sarah, it took me an hour to work this out with a little bit of help from Cheryl but we had a good laugh drinking vodka all night... haha! If I was travelling Bolivia again, Id skip this place but if your wanting to volunteer then it is definately a good place to do that, the opportunites are there if you want them!

La Paz - Where do I start with La Paz! Crazy place! After another bus ride from Santa Cruz we descended on La Paz at 6am, the temperature was 0 degrees, the bus all night felt like -10 and I was wearing shorts! Freezing! (I then instantly understood why lots of SA's took bags and bags of blankets onto buses!) We hopped into a taxi which took us to the popular party hostel of The Wild Rover - This hostel although is definately your typical party hostel was super cheap, super clean and the facilities were great! I cannot complain about the hostel but being 29 and over the whole Ibiza attitude I could have done without the Israelies shagging in my dorm! To be honest, yup, Im travelling, I should get used to it but its bad craic! Especially when they make a point of keeping everyone up! The staff dont seem to care mind haha! Infact the Israelies in general were a nightmare, they probably should be banned from travelling until they grow up but there you go, only my opinion! The Wild Rover however does serve really cheap food and its good! You can get cheaper outside but to be honest its not as good and its more hassel! They show live EPL so they do get props for that!

The city of La Paz is cool but crazy, its set on the steepest hill known to man and the altitude gets you right away! Be warned! The witches market is cool to have a rumage round as it the plaza near the Wild Rover! Its where the Government buildings are! There is a little Mexican near Olivers bar in the city centre which is great and cheap! Check it out although the name eludes me... its easy to find though!

While we were there a lot of demonstrations were going on which was a common theme to SA and it was worth a watch! Try checking out the South of the City near the football pitches, it allows you some great views of La Paz without really climbing to the viewpoints and has a nice little walkway over the roads! It takes you to the City Stadium, which, if you like football is worth a spy! This was the first of two visits to La Paz, more to follow!

Next up was the Pampas Tour to the Amazon.....

---