Travel Blog 11 - Bolivia Hop and the Salar de Uyuni

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Most travellers suffer from post-holiday blues, but we very quickly suffered from post-Machu Picchu blues. After such high expectations being exceeded, (Pete especially) found it difficult to get excited about the next stage. But we (he) needed to snap out of it quickly, so what better way, than to continue further south through South America and head into Bolivia with the amazing Salar de Uyuni (The world’s biggest Salt Flats).



After some late changes to our itinerary, we decided to spend only a week in Bolivia, meaning we had to prioritise what we wanted to do. And thanks to the wonderful Rod at the Tocapu Hotel in Cusco, we had a place to stay during the day without needing to pay for the night, and therefore time to settle, organise, re-pack and prepare for a long day on the bus following our five day trek. And despite our previous experience, we set off on an overnight bus trip, which in total would take us to 3 different cities, in 2 countries, over the span of about 25 hours.



Our first stop was Puno, Peru's major 'city' on the massive Lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is the world’s highest freshwater lake, sitting at an altitude of about 3800m, and is also one of the world’s largest, taking in an area of approximately 8000 square kilometres. It is also the mythical birthplace of the first Inca King and his wife on the Isla del Sol, which Pete was a little excited about (Pete has already stated if he felt an urge to believe in a religion again, the Inca religion and its worship of the Pachumama (Mother Earth), the Apu (the mountains) and the Sun God, has a lot of positives about it, and very little negativity).



Puno is best known as the gateway to the Reed Islands, a group of about 87 inhabited islands whose base is made from the reeds that grow in the lake itself. Up to three times a month, the inhabitants of these islands need to replace the reeds to remain afloat, and are anchored into place to prevent them floating away. Our tour of these islands was unfortunately very touristy, and it felt at times that the inhabitants were purely exhibits, increasing our post-Machu Picchu blues. But to see how the islands were created, to actually walk on them and see how these people live, was an experience.



Next was Copacabana, on the Bolivian side of the border of Lake Titicaca. Experiencing our first land based border crossing was much easier than we expected, with the walk through "no man’s land" between the 2 immigration offices only a couple of minutes (we are questioning how well they check the passports and photos at this point, with Pete's photo of a slightly rounder and clean shaven face from 2011 barely resembling his bearded, beanie wearing slightly thinner face of 2015). In Copacabana, we then visited Isla del Sol, the mythical birthplace of the Inca and checked out one of the original Inca Sun Temples before setting off for our next place of rest, La Paz.



Well with La Paz, we definitely treated ourselves by staying in a 4 star hotel, with all the trimmings. After the previous couple of weeks of trekking and overnight buses, we earnt it. The hotel was simply exceptional, the bed provided us both one of the best sleeps of the trip (Renee claims it was the most comfiest bed she has ever slept in.....and for those that know Renee, she is particular with her beds…and pillow hugging). The next day, feeling rather refreshed and ready to go, we decided to do a guided walking tour of the city which started in San Pedro Plaza. What was not well known was that next to San Pedro Plaza exists the San Pedro Prison. For a good read, do yourself a favour and read 'Marching Powder', one prisoner’s account of the workings of the most bizarre prisons in the world. A prison where prisoners have to buy their cell as well as their entry into the prison, it houses restaurants, shops, barbers and, because La Paz has a large poor population, entire families living with their incarcerated fathers, and up until recently, prison tours targeted towards tourists, including overnight stays. After reading the book (that is now 2 complete books read by Pete on this trip, the most non-sport related books he has read since high school), we both wished the tours that used to exist still continued to get a look at it (well Pete….no so much Renee). But onto our walking tour, and again, the excitement and knowledge that the Guide had, really made for an interesting city tour. We visited the main markets (Pete found his Bolivian Soccer jersey here and Renee found her favourite fruit of South America, Cherimoya), the witches market where we saw and learnt about the use of dried out llama foetuses for a range medical purposes, the San Francisco church and its square and the main Plaza, Plaza Amurillo to which the Guide provided historical and political lessons from Bolivia before finishing in an English themed pub. It's amazing how quickly 6 hours can disappear in these places!



The following day we toured the city from above, on the teleferico, an expensive public transport system where locals and tourists are moved from one end of the city to the other through 3 separate gondola tracks. The idea is to have 9 of these in total to move people around without increasing traffic on the roads in the years to come. At one end, we were able to visit the Black Market, which we discovered very quickly was not designed for tourists. It mainly catered for locals, with everything from cars, to car parts, food, clothes and electronics all being sold next to each other in an open air, yet very crowded atmosphere. It didn't take us long to feel a little out of place, and we left, with the feeling that we had “experienced” these markets but didn't need to go back. At the other end, we glided over what was known as 'The Beverly Hills of La Paz', and we questioned how happy the mansion house owners would be that hundreds of gondolas and thousands of people would have a birds eye view of their property's, but accepted they probably shouldn't have put in glass panels into their roofs. That night, we boarded our plane for our next big tour, the Salar de Uyuni aka the Salt Flats of Bolivia.



Uyuni is a very small town, population of about 20,000, with the majority of the population relying on mining for income, but most well-known for its access to the Salt Flats. What we didn't count on was finding a little restaurant, Minuteman Pizza, which created the best pizzas we have ever had. Although the owners and regular operators were away due to their son’s severe illness, the pizzas and spag bol produced was top class, and Renee found a new wine, a local Bolivian drop called Terruno, which was very easy on the palate. We read a lot about the Salt Flats, and it's pretty clear after spending 3 days on this tour, the description given completely undersells what you experience. Firstly, only day 1 is actually spent on the Salt Flats. The remaining 2 days are spent exploring the Altiplano aka the ‘high plains’ of Bolivia. The Salt Flats themselves are the dried remains of where the ocean once was, millions of years ago, and covers an area of approximately 12,000 square kilometres. Apart from the odd "island" and surrounding mountains and volcanoes, it was difficult at times to see where the horizon actually existed.



So Day 1 started, and we went through the Salt Flats (for the geography nerds out there, Pete has included a small snapshot of where we travelled to and stopped over the 3 days in the photos). We visited the train cemetery, checking out century old trains left from the first mining boom in the very early 1900's. On the islands in the Salar de Uyuni, there exists thousand year old cactus trees, some standing over 3 metres tall and remnants of coral reefs, while we took pretty cool photos and videos playing with depth perception. Day 2 and 3 were then spent heading south west, almost reaching the Chilean border before heading north again to Uyuni. We visited 4 different lagoons, where Renee was extremely excited to get so very close to flamingoes. We stood next to geysers, spitting out gases from the crater of a dormant volcano, and saw mud bubbling from the heat generated below it. And finally we visited Laguna Catal, one of the most visually stunning parts of Bolivia, with lava rock formations as far as the eye can see. The food wasn't spectacular (after seeing what was produced on the Salkantay Trek with a mobile kitchen, our standards are a little high) and the accommodation as basic as we have had on the entire trip, but the scenery and its variations we experienced across 3 days, more than made up for it. The photos, more than our words, give a greater impression of what we saw. With this tour over, we headed east to take in a whirlwind view of Sucre (South Americas White City) and Santa Cruz, our return to tropical conditions and our departure point from Bolivia. The road trip was great between Uyuni and Sucre, despite all the dire warnings we were given. The roads are in better condition than a lot of the Bruce Highway at home in Queensland, we felt safe the whole way and recommend anyone contemplating Bolivia to definitely do it, we didn’t even scratch the surface of this interesting country. So with that said, we have come to the conclusion that during every holiday, there will always potentially be one great regret. And not spending enough time in Bolivia may just be it for us. Sucre and Santa Cruz both gave us very small tastes of the culture and experiences that they could offer, and we were suitably impressed. Sucre, as the official capital of Bolivia, was warm and friendly and had a very colonial feel to it. Despite experiencing a rather crazy lightning and thunder show throughout the night, the city had some great food and an enjoyable walk through the city centre (Pete also got his best steak so far on the trip, a piece that was at least 2cms thick, cooked properly, with a great mushroom sauce!). The brief afternoon we were there was definitely not enough though, especially when we arrived and it was pouring rain. The owner of our hotel kindly pointed out that is rains only one day in September in Sucre - well unfortunately, we were there for that one day. Santa Cruz also gave us a great friendly feel, although the city was more the business hub of Bolivia, rather than a tourist centre So with this, we experienced our first non-English speaking (like none of the 10 staff could speak a word of English) and non-English menu….so as you can image, ordering off a menu in which we couldn't understand much of was an experience. Another Santa Cruz highlight was our accommodation, where we could bond with the two resident toucans. That in itself was so worth the trip to Santa Cruz!!!!



And so…..the journeys throughout the exciting, mysterious and chaotic country of Bolivia comes to an end. With two months of marriage complete, three countries (and a city) explored, and only two countries to go, we are getting a little bit sad – but let’s focus on more positives - Brazil and Argentina, you are next! - Pete and Renee

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Photos

Reed Islands
Some of the crafts created

The gateway between Bolivia and Peru
2 months into our marriage, and we still can't organise what country we are each in :-)

Copacabana - Bolivia
Our view as our boat left the port

Stannum Hotel
Our little treat after weeks of camping and small hostels

Comments

[Jean Rosse]

Awesome - Renee & Pete.
Continue the good times. Enjoy Enjoy.....Love from both of us.