Lunch with the llamas!
High in the sky!
Salar De Uyuni - the world´s largest salt flat!
Having a beer in the mines!
Having just lit the dynamite! Boom!!!!!
Como Estas Amigos!!
Ok, I´m in Bolivia and where to begin... Firstly this is definitely my favourite country so far in South America! Bolivia is the poorest and the friendliest country so far on our travels through the southern continent. Bolivians are mostly indigenous people and thus its amazing to see. To elaborate, firstly they ALL chew coca leaves (well I´m yet to find one who doesn´t like them). Whats a coca leave you ask... Well its what they use to make cocaine, one of Bolivia´s biggest exports. Coca leaves are not what you might expect at first. They are legal in Bolivia and they do not produce any drug like symptom, other than maybe what caffeine provides. As you will have seen from the picture above, they are very colorfully dressed. The women´s clothing is every color in the rainbow and more! Most people in villages live in stone houses what are often packed with a mud/dung compound.
The scenery must be a top 10 in the world. Every drive I´ve had so far through Bolivia has been jaw-dropping! From deep red mountains to lush green valleys to strange rock formations, to giant volcanoes, to geysers to mineral lakes, they have it all and usually its all above 4000 meters (approx 13,000 feet). While you see all this grand viewing bliss, the landscape will be littered with llamas. If you haven´t seen a llama before, they are adorable. I want one! When you drive by they will pop their head up in a Homer Simpson way and look at you with the strangest grin. When they run they are so clumsy looking its hysterical.
Let me tell you about something that is a sad truth of Bolivia. You will read below about my mine tour in Potosi. Mining in Bolivia and especially Potosi is big business, but unfortunately the miners are exposed to conditions that we would know from the 1800´s. Potosi at one point had so much silver it bankrolled the Spanish Empire in the 1500´s, 1600´s & 1700´s. At that time they would use slaves that would spend up to six months at a time in the mine without coming out. As you would expect most of these people died in the mines. Not much has changed today. People are often working privately rather than for companies. However, the safety conditions are so dire, most (10,000 miners in Potosi) don´t live past 40 years of age. Most are dying of Silicosis of the lungs due to dusts, along with injuries. They mine for silver, tin, lead and zinc. Here is one that will blow your mind. In this very catholic country the miners worship the devil - who they call Tio. They believe that the devil owns the underworld that they are part of. Above ground they are devout catholics! They have even carved a statue of the devil who they provide offerings of alcohol (they drink 97% alcohol) and cigarettes.
So where have I been; Tupiza > San Antonio de Lipez > Huallajara > Uyuni >Potosi > Sucre
Tuesday - Crossing the boarder: Getting into Bolivia was a swift easy process and once I was on the bus to Tupiza, I quickly learned about the gorgeous Bolivian landscape. Once I settled in Tupiza, I did the normal thing when entering a country, get local currency - which in Tupiza could only be done at a bank using a cash advance due to the lack of ATMs. Next, I would get a local SIM phone card to use in my phone, then I would start to plan what to do. In this instance, I arranged a 4 day tour around the southwest of Bolivia finishing at the amazing salt flats.
Wednesday - 4450 meters in a day: The day before I was in Argentina slightly above sea level, so within 24 hours, I was at 4450 meters (14,000 feet). We drove by dozens of beautiful mountains and had lunch in a lush green llama field seen in picture 2.
Thursday - Giesers at 5200 meters: We started by viewing an old Spanish mining town, more like a ghost town, which only had remnants of the stone buildings. After getting stuck in the mud, we visited sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) lakes which are home to thousands of pink flamingos! If that wasn´t enough, we finished the day with a relaxing beer in a warm hot spings. Yes, I know this travelling gig is very rough :D
Friday - Volcano land: Fridays tour took us around multiple various volcanoes often around gorgeous green high altitude lakes. We also a beautiful red lake, which has hundreds if not thousands of flamingos just on this one lake. They are a bit timid and shy away from the camera.. We also were able to climb many of the strange rock formations as you will seen in picture 3. One very interesting part was visiting the stone towns home to sometimes as little as 250 people which always seem to be deserted, I´m not sure what the locals are up to...
Saturday - Getting our own bus: On the final day of our tour, we were up early again (530am) to head out. We soon arrived at the Salar de Uyuni which had about 6 inches of water due to it being Bolivia´s rainy season. We drove 15km (9 miles) across the lake to a salt hotel and had breakfast. The Salar is stunning, at most times, you will have difficulty finding the horizon! See picture 4. We road on the roof of the jeep for the way back admiring the natural wonder. Back in Uyuni town, our taxi driver fell through and we couldn´t find another to take us to Potosi, rather than waiting for 8 hours (the next bus time) we improvised. Somehow, we were able to hire a full 100 person bus for the four of us. Marco from Switzerland, Caroline from Brussels and Chad from Kansas were in the group and we had some hilarious times over the 4 day tour and onwards in Potosi. The ride from Uyuni to Potosi is out of this world, 1st class scenery and worth the trip to Bolivia just for the bus ride.
Sunday - Mine tour and Dynamite: I told you a bit about the mining conditions, well having spent two hours in the mine I now know mining is not my calling. The tour was one of the best of this entire trip. We learned all about the daily activities of miners and as the tour was led by an ex-miner, we learned why the do it even with the hazards. After we exited the mine, we were able to light dynamite which we freely bought in a miners shop. Surrounding the dynamite which was a compounds we poured ammonium nitrate in a bag and lit the fuse - see picture 6. At one point we put three sticks together and they would have blown up a car! The concussion from the 100 meter away (a football field) explosion pushed us slightly back! Back in Potosi the pre-Carnival celebrations were kicking off and we had numerous fights with the locals.. in a good way. You buy foam spray and water balloons and everywhere you turn is a fight and its not against the rules to foam un-armed families. They will just simply laugh at the crazy gringos... That night we ended up at a bar full of Bolivians partying. They were so hospitable buying our beer and only laughed when we foamed them and each other IN THE BAR!!
Monday - The richest city in North and South America: I travelled to Sucre with Chad and Caroline. Potosi was once the richest city in the Americas due to silver mining in Potosi. It is called the most beautiful city in Bolivia and I can see why! The town is lined with spanish-south american style white washed buildings. We saw quite a few gorgeous sites, such as an old monastery and churches. Later than night partying with Bolivians and having a great time at several bars.
So whats next, well today I am leaving for Asuncion Paraguay to meet Marina. So now that we have good news she said I can disclose this missing information I have kept secret. I did tell you that when in Buenos Aires a month ago she had several things stolen from her locker in a hostel. Well what happened is a professional thief checked into the hostel, posing as a backpacker and took quite a few of her things including her passport. Thank goodness the Russian embassy in BA bent the rules and allowed her to apply locally as she was treated as a local resident due to the length of our trip. We both departed Salta, her for BA to get the passport and me to Bolivia with the aim to meet as soon as possible. Today I will be leaving for the long 30-40 hour journey to Asuncion by bus (planes would not have been faster, crazy enough). So now we will be back in our usual travel mode and thankfully together. She couldn´t leave Argentina so why I only went to Chile for 6 days.
Until next time!
Hasta luego!
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