Advertisement
Published: June 18th 2016
Edit Blog Post
We left you heading to Cochabamba, south of La Paz. Our plan had been to just spend the night there before heading to the chilled out hippie h(e)aven to Samipata. However, as happens, we got chatting to another backpacker who told us about Torotoro National Park, a place that our guide book made seem like was an impossible to get to and impossible to survive in once we were there. We were reassured that it was no where near as difficult as we thought and it was amazing. We did some research, changed some plans and off we went.
Torotoro is a tiny town but set up for tourists to see the park, as long as you were happy to eat the very basic and very very cheap food on offer in the market canteen (mysterious deep fried bread products dipped in ´honey´mainly). After having got over his food poisoning, Ian came down with a nasty fever which wiped him out for the first 2 days of our time there, so we gallenty left him in bed and did a beautiful tour of the valleys and canyons surrounding the town including astonishingly well preserved dinasoar footprints. We dragged him out
of bed for the next day as it was time to go caving! We spend the morning being taken around some of the amazing rock formations and caves that had been sculpted by the wind and rain with condors flying over our heads. In the afternoon we had helmets with torches slapped on our heads and we followed our guide 180m into the Bolivian landscape! It was proper caving rather than the steps, ladders and walkways we´re used to in Europe, we crawled on our bellied through tiny gaps and slid into dark holes, a really good experience and one Ian was able to enjoy even though he was sick as a dog.
After Torotoro we headed over the back country 'roads' (mud lanes) to Samaipata. On arrival we were asked multiple times how we'd got there as it turned out the main highway was blockaded by protesters, no one know when the road would reopen and several tourists were stuck in town. In Samaipata we visited a beautiful cloud forest with a very knowledgeable local guide who is us all the medical uses for the plants.
Luckily for us the protesters arranged a deal to finish the
blockade on the last day we wanted to be in Samaipata so we were able to leave only one day later than planned and took the night bus to Sucre the capital of Bolivia.
In Sucre we all set out on a bike tour but being at altitude and going up hill we really needed our gears and Chris' bike was not up to the task so he had to return. Ian and I continued the bike to a local village with a lovely guide who competes in cycling competitions around Bolivia.
Sucre is famous as a place to learn Spanish so we all had a few lessons while in town which seemed especially useful for Ian to gain confidence in the basics. We also got taken to a chicha (an adian fermented corn drink) bar full of very drunk locals. The chicha was not to my taste but the local drinking game involving throwing small metal disks into a metal box with holes in turned out to be a great game which our team won!
Then we continued our high altitude trip to Potosi at 4000 metres which in Bolivian winter is very cold too. Ian
and Chris visited a silver mine taking gifts of dynamite, coca leaves and very strong alcohol for the miners. There were more protests in Potosi too (Evo the president is very unpopular at the moment and it's widely seen as time that he moves on) this time with protestors setting off dynamite in the street rattling the windows. Potosi was once very rich, we were told the richest city in the world due to the huge silver mine it was built around but it is now one of the poorest parts of Bolivia.
Our final hurrah in Bolivia was to visit the famous salt flats and nearby national parks. We decided to start the trip from Tupiza to visit the Bolivian 'badlands' first. So we spent a morning horse riding and feeling like we were in a Western. Then the next day we headed off on our tour. Over the next few days we saw wild llama type animals, rias, mineral lagoons, lots of volcanoes and various stunning landscapes. We had a swim in outdoor natural thermal baths with steam rising all around us and flamingoes visible near by. After a night in a hotel made of blocks of
salt (including the beds and dinner tables) we were up at 5am to watch the sun rise over the flats themselves, then spent the morning taking "loco" (crazy) perspective photo's as our guide phrased it.
Unfortunately we didn't get a lie in the next day either with the only direct bus to San Pedro over the border in Chile leaving at 4am. We found out why after the border crossing took 4 hours, being the most thorough crossing in south America with sniffer dogs and bag searches although mostly lots of hanging around waiting.
Chile felt different immediately with noticeably fancy cars, taller and fatter people and more Western clothing. San Pedro de Atacama is famous for the surrounding landscape which is very dry red salt encrusted earth. We spent yesterday cycling around the valley de la Luna national park. Being at 2500 meters still and on dirt roads it was pretty hard work. I'm hoping cycling back home at sea level will feel like a piece of cake after all this high altitude biking!
Today we head back to the coast and we're all Hoping to some warmer weather.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.039s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 9; qc: 19; dbt: 0.0203s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb