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Published: July 12th 2013
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Highs: Potosi's mines, Sucre, the indigenous culture, multicoloured hill-trekking, seeing dinosaur footprints, cycling the death road.
Lows: Extra night in Uyuni, dangerous buses, Liz's Spanish-language stress, La Paz at Easter
Food: Salteñas, "Chocolates para ti" chocolate, fresh juices, 10p popcorn, Edmi's cooking, crazy fruit (chirrimoya/custard apple, Tuna/cactus fruit, Pacoy - the white flesh of a giant bean pod, and giant yellow-skinned passion fruits)
Blog: Uyuni came as a culture shock compared to westernised Chile and Argentina. Dirty, ugly, poor, industrial. The place is functional, but lacks spirit. There is a permanent hangover that lingers in the air, in the streets and in the sewers. If I were to compare Bolivia to a human body, then Uyuni would be one of the least attractive appendages. It was thus, with a feeling of unease that we booked to stay for an extra night. On the other hand, we stayed in a clean double room and had steak, chips, rice and salad each with 2l coke all for under £8 total, so there's always an upside.
From Uyuni we travelled to Tupiza which was a true introduction to Bolivian bus journeys. The driver (and many of the passengers) was
chewing his way through a huge bag of coca leaves as he hurled the bus round poorly maintained mountain passes. Initially, it was really strange to see such open use of coca, so demonised in the West, but we would soon get used to, even fond of, seeing this tradition. You never grow fond of the driving.
We stopped for a lunch break in a remote and unlikely pueblo, where there was a lovely old lady with a wicker hamper full of freshly baked Salteñas, our first experience of these tasty 20p treats, and possibly the best. Invented in Salta, but perfected in Bolivia (by this old lady!) the Salteña is Bolivia's take on the empanada, stuffed with meat, potato, onions, olives etc. and are probably among the best street food you can get in South America. We made a further, unscheduled hour-long stop on top of a mountain as we were trapped behind a broken down lorry with no way to pass - these roads really are narrow! The indigenous women took the opportunity to urinate directly outside the bus (perhaps explaining the popularity of the traditional skirts) before wandering off into the hills and returning with armfuls
of a mysterious and fragrant herb. We tracked down one of these plants and gave it a good sniffin' but didn't really know what else to do with it. We would later discover its true glory, but that's for a later post!!
Tupiza was at least a 2 horse town, and we took the opportunity of riding these horses into the cactus-strewn, dusty hills of startling red. Liz's horse refused to move at anything faster than a saunter and didn't respond to the usual prompts from back home. My horse did respond to these, but I spent most of my time clinging on tightly and generally not enjoying myself. Don't think I'll be horse-riding again anytime soon.
Despite also being incredibly poor, largely indigenous, and very remote, unlike Uyuni, Tupiza had a lot of charm, with a thriving market at its centre, a pleasant town plaza and a genuinely nice feel to the place. It was also here where Liz first developed a taste for Coca tea, and is now scheming a way to import it to England as the withdrawal symptoms kick in.
Next we headed to Potosi, famed for its Silver mines, which were heavily
exploited by the Spanish invaders, and to this day, with terrible working conditions, continue to claim the lives of millions of Bolivian miners. Needless to say, we had to pay a visit. With sulphur in the air, arsenic dripping from the ceiling, and cracked support beams, even the safer upper levels of the mines gave an insight into the horrific working conditions. We also had the unique experiences of buying coca and dynamite as gifts for the miners, and visiting El Tio, a gruesome effegy of the devil, to whom the miners offer gifts of coca, alcohol and cigarettes so that he will protect them while they toil in his underground world. We also got to taste the 95% potable alcohol which the miners can apparently drink by the litre! We could not.
Knowing this was to come, we expected Potosi to be a grim, industrial town, but in fact it's a perfect example of a Bolivian town. It's got altitude (lots - at 4090 metres it's one of the highest cities in the world. We got out of breathe just watching a film), a real bustling market, streets thronging with vendors and amazing colonial architecture. One of our
favourite experiences here was when we walked a long way out of the colonial centre, through what felt like a main road market, with street stalls mingling with busy traffic, to find a tiny local restaurant with only one dish on the menu, the incredibly tasty maize and pork-fat soup, k'alaphurka, which is served bubbling with a hot rock in it!
Sucre was our next stop, and we grew very fond of this place, which is just as well, because we spent 3 weeks here studying Spanish and living with a local family. Sucre, the official Capital of Bolivia, is quite different to much of the country. A large proportion of the population are middle class and have Spanish, not the indigenous Quechua or Aymara as a first language. Every building in the colonial centre has to be painted white once a year by law, and they also produce really good quality chocolate here, which is incredibly rare in South America! We definitely made the most of this during our stay!
The family were really lovely, with Edmi, our Bolivian 'Madre' always thinking of things for us to do, and helping us to sample a whole range of
Bolivian specialities by cooking us amazing food every day, and buying us strange and exotic fruits! Food and stressful Spanish lessons aside, highlights of our stay in Sucre include: learning to cook Papas Rellenas at Spanish school, visiting a little local town with Edmi and drinking a fermented corn drink called Chicha, a three day trek through the beautiful Bolivian countryside (the hills were actually multicoloured) where we saw cave paintings and fossilised dinosaur footprints, dinner parties and BBQ's with the family, and all the lovely people we met in Spanish school. We also played Wally, a Bolivian version of volleyball played in a squash court, and you can use the walls to make your shots/passes!!
After an amazing few weeks living with our foster family, we were very sad to have to say goodbye. As a parting gift, Edmi presented us with 2 silver rings, so we would be 'married in Bolivia' and be juntos (together) forever. They will also always remind us of our time there.
Our final destination in Bolivia was La Paz. We turned up on Easter weekend, so most things were closed. We did, however, cycle the infamous Death Road, a 43 mile
gravel track, which descends over 1000 metres, from the cool Andean highlands, to the hot, tropical Yungas. It was once known as the world's most dangerous road, but now, with a descent paved bypass taking most of the traffic, it makes for an awesome ride along the cliff edge, with amazing views and waterfalls to ride through!!
That's it for Bolivia. It's the country we spent most time in, it's culturally the most different, and one of the countries we remember most fondly.
Lessons Learnt: • Always carry toilet paper
• Mountains can be multi-coloured
• Adam is not a natural horse rider
• Liz is not a natural linguist
• 'Coca is not cocaine'
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