La Paz – Take 1

Day 122 – Adventure Brew!

Arriving early in the morning at our hostel, ‘Adventure Brew Hostel’ (how could I resist a name like that), we found a modern clean looking building with rooftop bar and a microbrewery next door. However, as ABH was full we were redirected down the road to ‘Brew Too’ a near derelict building with a certain rustic charm. The rooms were big and clean though and the showers the best in ages.

The ‘courtyard’ at Brew Too.

We were especially pleased to hear that panpipe music was forbidden.

After a delicious pancake breakfast at the hostel we set out to explore La Paz on foot. Geography buffs will know that La Paz is the world’s highest capital city (though it shares capital status with Sucre). When planes land at the city’s aptly named Aeropuerto El Alto (The Heights Airport) the cabin pressure drops when they depressurise the cabin, meaning some passengers suffer from altitude sickness walking between the plane and the terminal. So between the altitude and the smog, our walk was a breathless one!

We’d been warned by multiple parties that getting to and from our next major destination (the Amazon jungle town of Rurrenabaque) could be difficult. Opting to avoid the 20 hour bus ride, including a 70km stretch along “the world’s most dangerous road”, we’d booked tickets for the next day to fly 40 minutes on a diminutive airplane to Rurre’s grassy airstrip. The catch was that the plane can’t land in Rurre if it’s been raining heavily, not an infrequent occurrence in the jungle. So we booked a flight for the next day deciding we could do any of the attractions we missed in La Paz this time around on our return .

The most rewarding part of the walk was probably the glimpses of the suburbs climbing into the rarefied air around central La Paz.

After a dirt cheap Chinese set menu for lunch we headed for the Coca Museum, where in about 20 panels of photos and information we learnt all you might want to know about Coca, Coca Cola and Cocaine, including the interesting tid bit that the Coca Cola company still buys tonnes of coca each year for ‘flavouring’!

On the way to the Coca Museum we walked past San Pedro Prison, made famous by the book Marching Powder. A few years ago it was popular to do ‘tours’ of the prison where a guide (from the inside) bribes guards to get you in and then pays for your protection to get you through. The prisoners must buy or rent their cells, many ‘work’ inside to make the required money, often running crude cocaine laboratories. ‘Tours’ are much harder to organise now, generally requiring you to contact someone with a relative inside and arrange a visit as a ‘friend.’

For dinner we hit the ‘British Curry House’ and had our first decent curry since leaving Australia!

Sucre

We got to Sucre just after dark, checked into our beautiful hostel, Hostel Dolce Vita, and headed out in search of dinner. I had a really nice Quinoa Pie, Erin a Thai Salad and we sampled some more of the local beers.

Bolivians beers with very intricate labels.

Church spires lit up at night.

Day 120 – When too much weaving isn’t enough

Sucre is primarily known for its colonial architecture, so well preserved that the old part of the town is UNESCO World Heritage Listed. For breakfast we headed halfway up the hill out of town to a café overlooking the the town.

The view from breakfast.

Church bells on one of Salta’s many whitewashed churches.

That afternoon we headed for the Museo de Arte Indígena, where I learnt more than I’ve ever wanted to know about weaving and Erin barely enough. Erin also had time to fall in love with a particular style of weaving indigenous to the Tarabuco region. We’re still searching for a reasonably sized and priced example to bring home.

At the suggestion of the hostel’s Swiss owners, we splashed out and had dinner at their favourite French restaurant – very posh. I had Cow’s Tongue in a Chilli Chocolate Sauce, it was very nice!

Day 121 – Dinosaur footprints

Aside from colonial buildings Sucre is also known for the giant dinosaur footprints discovered at the quarry on the outskirts of town. Overcoming our fear of all things touristy, we boarded the ‘Dino bus’ and headed toward the quarry (yes, the bus had a dinosaur head sticking out the front – took us back to school excursion days. Sadly, everyone on the bus was over 21!)

Erin making a call on the dinosaur in town.

The interpretation centre at the footprints didn’t turn out to be any less corny than the Dino bus, it was however even more expensive.

OK, so the footprints are the really faint lines you can see on the wall opposite, tourists are not allowed any closer as the wall is unstable (as you can see from the landslip in the middle).

A close up of one of the sets of prints, they are in fact 80cm in diameter.

What can I say, takes me back to childhood visits to the Dinosaur Park in Creswick (but even then my most lasting memory is of a pissed-off emu chasing Tim).

A few days later we found out there is a second dinosaur footprint site near Sucre. This one hasn’t been commercialised yet and a guide takes you right up to the footprints, sounds much better. Apparently the locals are withholding the finer details of the location from palaeontologists in the fear that they’ll no longer be allowed to bring in tourists.

In the afternoon before our night bus to La Paz I decided that the literally dozens of barbers and hairdressers in the same block as the hostel (dubbed Barber Street for the duration of our stay in Sucre) were a sign that it was time for the hair to go. The knowledge that we’d soon be hitting the jungle and the weather would be heating up very soon helped cement the decision.

The longest my hair’s ever been, maybe the longest it’ll ever be. Though many kind people chose to tell me after I’d gotten rid of it that they liked it long, thanks!

Potosí

Day 118 – Some days probably don’t warrant their own blog entry

As we’d arrived late the previous night we slept in, then did some other fascinating things like laundry, booking future travels, blogging and generally not much. As an excuse perhaps I could point out that Potosí is supposed to be the highest city in the world (a bit over 4000m), so lets say we spent the day continuing with our acclimatisation. It was a tough walk around the corner to get dinner.

Night time from the front of our hostel.

Day 119 – Soft drink, Coca, 96% Alcohol & Dynamite.

At 9am a bus swung round to take us to get decked out in our mining equipment. From there we followed our guide Daniel around to a shop in the miners market where we bought gifts for the miners of soft drink, coca leaves and dynamite. From here we headed up Cerro Rico to the former government mine, Mina Pailaviri, which we would be touring.

Decked out in miners gear with Cerro Rico in the background.

Daniel explaining the difference between Argentinean, Bolivian and Peruvian dynamite (on the bench in the foreground).

Potosí sprawled out beneath the mountain.

The town of Potosí was founded nearly 500 years ago to exploit the rich silver deposits in Cerro Rico. At it’s peak the city was larger than London and Paris, the wealthiest city in Latin America built on the backs of indigenous and African slave labour. Today the silver is starting to run dry and although the miners are now self employed, working conditions are still quite horrific. What’s more the mountain has shrunk hundreds of meters over the centuries of exploitation and a large portion of it is now deemed too dangerous to work in.

Erin and Daniel heading in.

500m meters or more in, Erin is maintaining her composure while Daniel ducks off to explore a side passage, they’ve only had permission to run tours through this mine for three weeks and he’s still getting his bearings.

Mina Pailaviri was essentially abandoned by the government about a decade ago, but years of government ownership mean that it is one of the largest and best equipped of the mines. A smaller private company has taken over running some of the infrastructure in the mine, including pressurised air for machines and a huge German built lift. Aside from the company, 17 collectives also work the mine, totalling 6000 miners in this mine alone. The collectives are run by members who in turn employ miners to work their allocated areas or explore new areas for richer veins.

In the past, boys began working in the mine as young as 12, but now the minimum age is restricted to 15. Depending on whether they are mining tin, magnesium or silver, the miners can earn up to 60 Bolivianos a day (that’s about A$50 a week for a six day week), which is good money by Bolivian standards. In return for this lucrative pay packet they enjoy a life expectancy more than 10 years less than their (already low) countrymen’s, worse for machine operators and other people constantly exposed to dust.

Daniel shares some coca leaves with a couple of the miners. The coca leaves are placed in the mouth by the dozens where they are chewed with an alkali normally made of ash, sweet potato or some other random stuff. The juice is swallowed and it give a mild high, numb lips, suppresses hunger and helps combat altitude sickness. Originally chewing coca was banned by the Pope in the 15th century until the Spaniards observed that their slaves didn’t function nearly as well without it, the ban was quickly over turned.

Something like 90% of Bolivian adults chew coca to this day, it’s kind of like maté in Argentina – a cultural thing. Meanwhile overseas interests (the USA mostly) sponsor the Bolivian government to destroy ‘illicit’ coca crops that get turned into cocaine for the export market. This is a touchy subject in Bolivia as coca farmers are generally regarded as legitimate agriculturalists growing one of the few crops viable at such altitudes. Bolivia’s current president Evo Morales comes from a coca growing background and touts the slogan ‘coca sí, cocaína no’, in effect preferring to solve the problem at the consumer end. Like the poppies in Afghanistan it’s not clear how this will pan out…

Daniel making an offering to Tio (Uncle), a kind of Christian / Traditional combined spirit who looks after the mine. The frog on his head represents Panchamama, the mother-earth.

Halfway down one small side passage we heard a couple of shouts and Daniel announced that there was about the be an explosion nearby. We huddled in a little alcove while we heard and felt two short blasts go off beneath us, The miners who’d set off the blasts came up to sit around for an hour or so while the dust cleared. We chatted with them for a bit and they explained that they would keep working well into the evening because they could not operate their machinery until their compressed air delivery some time later.

On the way out of the mine we paid a visit to the mine’s huge lift. The guy who runs it proudly showed off the German machinery he maintains and said it was like his wife! Daniel offered the remainder of our gifts in return for a ride five levels down and back up again.

Safely back in the fresh air.

While a couple of miners head back in with an empty carriage, only miners who work for the company are allowed to use the overhead electricity cables, so the co-operative miners must move all their carriages manually.

Daniel heads towards some of the many abandoned mine buildings to find somewhere to detonate some dynamite.

Don’t worry Mum it’s only half a stick.

Tupiza and the South West Circuit

Day 114 – Road trip!

Up early to accomplish our pre-departure task list, including “out of office” message to mums, getting cash, stocking up on water and the added task of finding drugs to combat the stinking cold I seemed to have developed overnight, we were still at “Tupiza Tours” before 9am with time to spare (for once!). We were directed to one of three 4X4s being loaded up with supplies, ours looking to be the most decrepit of the three vehicles and our group of travellers the most odd-ball!

We chatted with Amanda, a quiet 46 year old English lady travelling on her own and met Nicki, the complete opposite – loud and boisterous 25 year old, also English. It wasn’t until we were all getting into the car that we met Dane, Nicki’s travelling companion, who had settled into the front seat, plugged in his iPod and was busy whistling and hassling Bolivian ladies as they walked by the car! Matt and I gave each other a knowing look as our backpacks were passed up to the roof and we hoped into the back.

Our first photo-op was only 10 minutes out of town where we turned the first left up a dry river bank and there opened up a huge red-rocked valley, apparently reminiscent of the Kimberleys (we were told by the Poms who had all been there!)

We then continued up and up and up along the ridges of the Palala and Sillar ranges which provided stunning views back over the valleys. We had reached 4,400 metres by our first pee stop – and a dialogue began that became very familiar over the four days: “Marco…” (our driver) … “Si” … “Baños naturaleza por favor!” (Outdoor bathroom please!) The other being: “Pare – Quiero sacar un foto!” (Stop, I want to take a photo!).

The tour, covering the best natural bits of the south west corner of Bolivia, was another one of the things we have seen and done that just can’t be adequately described with words. Unfortunately being down to just my beaten up little digital it was hard to get photos too! So very sorry, but hopefully you get the idea from these…

Back over the valley at our first pee stop.

A lady (yes, in the middle of nowhere) selling cheese by the side of the road. She must have walked ages from one of the estancias and had ice blocks in her sack as the cheese was cold when we bought some.

The local transport stopped at one of the many small estancias scattered in all kinds of difficult places in these hills.

Sheep intermingled with goats perched on a hillside.

Lunch – a potato ball filled with spiced llama meat.

Bird (big), sorry Graham can’t remember what it’s called in English or Spanish!

We passed through many abandoned estancias along the way.

Our first llama sighting!

An adobe church in the centre of Nazarenito.

A typical streetscape in Nazarenito.

Villa Uturunco (6,008m) looming as we head into town for the night.

A perro pequeño sitting outside our accommodation in San Antonio de Lipez.

Our accommodation in San Antonio – very simple and we could feel every spring in the mattress!

Once we had arrived in San Antonio (a town of only 250 people) and had a cup of tea, it was straight to bed for me for a nap before dinner as added to my cold was a splitting headache, probably made worse by the 4,200m in altitude we were currently at.

Matt on the other hand went for a stroll (to find beer!) with the guys from our jeep and the other jeep of four who were also staying in the same accommodation and took this snap back down over the little settlement in the process.

After a huge dinner (complete with vegie options for me!), we all retired to bed early as we were to be up at 4.30am the next morning to fit in all of tomorrow’s huge day of driving. As we stepped out of our dining room to walk through the dirt to the sleeping quarters it was difficult not to stand in awe of the most glorious starry night I have ever experienced. I stood for ages watching shooting stars and have never seen the milky way and other formations as clear. I tried for ages to get a snap, but just ended up attracting and chatting to a group of local kids (who spoke at my level given they were only 5 or 6!) They were fascinated to see the photos on my camera of their area!

Day 115 – Not another f-ing lagoon!

Leaving in the dark we had no idea why we needed to be leaving so early, but by the variety in scenery we had seen by the end of the day, and the amount of times we wanted to stop to take snaps, we can see why Marco wanted to get an early start!

The sun was rising just as we reached Quetena Chico, a former Spanish colony situated here because of the silver mining prospects. There were originally a few thousand in the settlement, however numbers began to dwindle when greed set in and the Spanish began to fight over entitlement to the point where they wiped themselves out!

Quetena Chico was at 4,690 metres… we were promised we would hit 5,000 metres today.

Laguna Kollpa and Volcan Licancabur emerging in the background.

Some random rock formations along the way.

Laguna Verde. At various points along the trip, Marco let us out for a little walk to stretch our legs and take photos. He would drive a little way up the road and we would catch up. He let us out at the Green Lagoon to takes photos, however we were unaware that this was one such occasion where he would take off, leaving us to wade through! This is our jeep driving away, despite us jumping up and down and yelling not to drive off!

Llamas who followed the jeep into the lagoon. They each had coloured wool tied to their coats, presumably to denote ownership and identity, however the two Swedish girls in the other car had dubbed this “Llama fashion” and got everyone started on voting on their favourite.

More llamas follow us.

Safely across the other side we can see why the llamas like to hang in this little oasis.

Another lagoon… this one with lovely pinks and purples that my camera could not pick up.

Salar de Chalviri where they were excavating borax as well as salt.
Another lagoon… although with an added bonus…. Aguas Callientes! (Hot springs)

A well earned break in the hot springs with Dane and Nicki in the background and Amanda to the right.

Desierto de Dali, named by whoever as the rock formations (chunks of lava) and hills made them feel like they were in a Dali painting.

Another lagoon…

Geisers Sol de Mañana – some bubbling volcanic geysers coming up out of the desert. Needless to say…. both boys had to pee into one to see what would happen!

Shortly after the geysers our promised 5,000m point. The highest point we’ve been!

A humungous erosion crack and some further changes in plant life.

Kids and their pet llama and dog following them about their town, Huaylljara, our stop for the night.

Matt’s selection of Bolivian beer delights from the local bottle-o.

Day 116 – Flamingo city

Up again for another 4.30am start (although our guides were not!) it was off to see the red and purple colours of Laguna Colorada and the hundreds of flamingos that hang out there.

Laguna Colorada.

Marco on the roof of our jeep looking for the others who had fallen behind due to increasingly more frequent car troubles. Over the 3 days parts were pilfered from our car to fix them!

Árbol de Piedra – The Rock Tree, formed by lava.

Other lava formations.

Matt at the top of the tallest formation he could find.

Me through Matt’s eyes…. well his Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas glasses!

Desierto de Siloli.

Volcan Ollague.

Some more funky erosion.

Our stop for lunch… a bunch of random buildings made from salt bricks and soft drink bottles.

A little foxy watching us as we passed by.

They are pink not white!

A settlement we passed through just as the train was coming up from Chile.

More troubles for the other jeep… this time something simple though – a flat!

Quinoa fields, a grain that is cross between rice and couscous, a bit more tasty and a new favourite staple of ours.

Tonight we stayed somewhere a little different – a hotel made of salt! Chairs, tables, beds, walls – all salt! This is the dining hall.

Just testing!

Day 117 – The amazing illusionary Salar de Uyuni!

This morning we were happy to get up for our 5am start as today was the moment we had all been waiting for… driving across the amazing illusionary salt flats!

Our first stop was sunrise in the middle of nowhere…

Trying our best to look awake at 6am!

Marco our very happy driver. Marco was very quiet when we all first met, only speaking when spoken to and giving info when asked questions, but was joking around and out of his shell by the last day, especially as we insisted he had a turn with his iPod too.

Our first stop after sunrise was the cactus island. This is its resident Rhea who hung around while we were eating breakfast, presumably because other groups feed him. Unfortunately, he was captured as a baby and brought to the island, and with coffee and cake for food and tourists his only friends, we don’t think he was living the best life.

Cactus fun!

And some salt flats fun!

A little Matt to keep in my pocket. Everyone should have one!

Lil Nicki giving Dane a kick up the butt.

How terrible…. being squashed by a giant Toblerone!

The team surfing on the hood.

Matt lending his expert illusionary photography skills to another group.

And getting squished by a giant wine bottle.

The patterns in the salt.

Yipee!

The now illegal Salt Hotel that has been turned into a ‘museum’. There were a few of these hotels made of salt built right on the flats (ours was in a town) that have been outlawed due to eco-issues with waste disposal, etc and ordered to be dismantled. This one has been kept as a museum and contains some kind of eco-toilet system, but having had to visit same, we were glad not to be staying long – a very stinky experience.

A cheeky ride on a salt llama in the museum.

Lucy in the sky with diamonds! Salt piles excavated and waiting to be collected, reflecting off the water flooding the flats. Other minerals that can be extracted from the flats include borax, magnesium, potassium, nitrogen and phosphorous.

Back onto made road.

A jeep that took a little tumble not 5 minutes back onto the road. The driver was going way too fast and luckily the four girls inside were not hurt, but the driver had a decent head injury and refused to go to hospital. We were even more thankful for Marco!

Me and the Swedish chicks Celia and Karin and our colourful sunglasses.

Matt and the beanie crew Dane, Celia and Karin.

The whole team at the end of the tour!

Upon our arrival in Uyuni, a reasonably horrible place, we had a quick bite and beer with the crew and then it was onto our dodgy night bus to Potosi.