Posts with tag 'Bolivia'

It's Life Jim, But Not as We Know It

We left Salta and headed for the border with Bolivia. After a 7 hour bus journey the first thing you notice is the freezing cold. After that the border with Bolivia doesnt open til 8, not that we had a clue how to get from the bus station to the border. When we finally walked there, the difference between Argentina and Bolivia was obvious. Much more Indigenous people and much poorer. The bus from Villazon to Tupiza showed some of the country side, barren and as one of the lads put it, like the moon. Nonetheless, it was amazing to see and the scenery was class.

One night in Tupiza then and it was off on a tour of the salt flats, Salar de Uyuni. This was a 4 day 3 night tour which we spent most of in a jeep, starting in Tupiza and ending in Uyuni. we were in a group with a French couple on their honeymoon. They were a good laugh but I think Anna wanted some nicer places than the ones we stayed in! On the trip we saw geezers, boiling mud, giant cactai, red lakes, green lakes, white lakes, flamengos and some of the most amazing views you could imagine.

On the first night we stayed in a small village up in the mountains. The altitude was about 4200m and the town had a population of about 250 people. The temperature we were told was about -7 that night, with the second night promising to be colder again, staying at an altitude of 5000m. Our room for the first night had no glass on the window, concrete floors and a corragated iron roof. Insulation obviously not a concern here :) Thankfully on the second night there was a more sturdy structure so the extra few degrees didnt harm us too much. It was said to be -15 degrees but it was cloudy that night so not sure if it got down that far.

On night 3 we stayed in a hotel made of salt. Basically it was blocks of salt carved into the shape of bricks, with salt on the floor. Chairs and tables also made of salt blocks. It was much warmer there as we were back down to about 4000m and the hotel itself was kept warm.

The final day was the highlight of the trip. Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flats in the world, containing 10 billion tonnes of salt! It is a flat and white and after that, there is not much else that can describe it apart from pictures.

After finishing the tour, we arrived in Uyuni. General advise was get the f*** out of there as soon as you can. It didnt take long to see why. It really is not a nice place. There is nothing to do or see there apart from the salt flats and train cemetry which we had already seen. The only problem, no buses leaving to Sucre for 3 days because of elections! After some asking around we managed to get a guy with a jeep to bring us to Potosi which is where we are now. Its only 3 hours from Sucre where we hope to get to tomorrow. The jeep journey started off eventful with the driver crashing 2 minutes into the trip. Thankfully it was only a small tip and no damage was done. After that, it was plain sailing.

Potosi itself is a mining town and is also the world's highest city. Think it is about 4800m. The main attraction here are the mines but after hearing that they are full of asbestos we will be giving them a miss.

One last little thing, altitude makes it near impossible to climb small hills and you get sunburnt when it is 2 degrees!

Til Next time

Brian

I have over 200 pictures from this trip so I have only quickly took a small sample

The women all wear bowler hats here and are very aged. The cook on the trip was 32, looked 52!

Evo Morales has a lot of support in small towns for the up coming elections

On the second day we were up at 5:30

At this point we are higher than Mt. Blanc, Europes highest mountain. Higher to go!

Mud boils at 200 degrees

The smoke is full of sulphur. Basically, the place stank of rotten eggs!

Unfortunately it wasnt particularly nice weather. The lake was red. From algae and sediment apparently

Me at a big rock thing

the big rock thing on its own

Candles light the room in the salt hotel. Electricty is off at 9:30

This train has died!

Spanish, Biking and San Pedro

So it has been a while now since the last post and a lot has been going on. Well not a whole not but enough. There was Spanish lessons, a graduation party, blockades, the Worlds Most Dangerous Road and San Pedro prison.

Spanish lessons is probably the place to start. Me and Matt got to Sucre and the next day started Spanish lessons. We had a class of just us with Aida Rojas. If anybody is doing Spanish in Sucre then I would definitely recommend doing it with her. I have her details so if anybody wants it, send me an email. She has the coolest parrot too by the way. It talks... a lot! She is good teacher and does a lot of grammar too so it basically gives us a basis to start off.

In Sucre we stayed in hostel Cruz de Popyan which is a great hostel. There was a cool common courtyard where people sat out, talked and studied Spanish most of the day. There was always a good group of people to go out with. Niamh, who is a friend of the girls living across the hall from us in Sydney, came and stayed a week too. We had a real good laugh with her. After 2 weeks of Spanish then we had a graduation party. 8 of us rented out graduation robes and had a night on the town. Sucre is a really good place to go out and by the end of my time there I was a fan of the Shisha bar.

After the graduation party we were meant to head to La Paz but because of blockades we had to wait there another week. Blockades are common around Sucre but it was hard enough to fill the days without having Spanish classes.

Finally on Friday we arrived in La Paz. Then Saturday we went cycling on the Worlds Most Dangerous Road. It got its names in the 90's after a study on the amount of deaths on a road per km. Nowadays there is very little traffic on it though. The road is 3m wide at the narrowest point with cliffs of 60m to 600m normally inches away from you as hurtle down hill. It was really enjoyable though.

Today then was San Pedro prison. It costs 300bs (€30) to do the tour. After reading the book Marching Powder, it was somewhere that me and Matt both had to see. It is an actually prison and the tour is given by one of the inmates. The tour is in the Posta section of the prison. To understand this you have to realise that there are 8 sections in the prison. When a prisoner is arrested they have to pay an entrance fee into the prison. After that they have to buy their own cell!! They actually own the deeds to the cell. When I say cell, they have cable tv, mobile phones, and pretty much anything you can buy outside the prison. There are shops take-aways recreation rooms all available to the inmates. Even the prisoners families live in the prison. In fairness, the tour was only ok but it was worth a look.

Tomorrow, we head to Cusco so the Bolivian adventure is almost over.

Spanish lessons with Aida

Graduation night in Sucre

Jamie Matt Carolyn and Catherine

A few squares didnt dress up! ;)

Aida came for a drink and drank of her own accord!

Behind the bar in Joy Ride

Some people were better than others at drinking games!

The important thing is that everyone was having fun

Mick was a great a laugh and always up for one! Una mas!!

La Paz has taken a more literal meaning to a zebra crossing

Me, Matt and Jamie get ready to tackle the worlds most dangerous road

The Universitario mask gets an outing at midget wrestling!