Bella Bolivia
Ola! Fred and I have spent an action packed 10 days in the beautiful country of Bolivia. From horseback riding at Lake Titicaca, to visiting the Witches’ Market in La Paz (where they continue to sell herbs, potions and animal fetuses – some to put spells on people – don’t worry, I didn’t buy anything!), witnessing daily protests in La Paz (complete with dynamite being shot up in the air), mountain biking 66 km down the World’s Most Dangerous Road in Corioco, and the last 3 days, 2 nights, travelling by Toyota Landcruiser 4 x 4 with a Swiss couple (Martin 37, and Martina 30), our Bolivian guide (Valerio, 31) and his wife (our cook) and their 3 year old son (which is not allowed by the company that hired him). . . throughout southwestern Bolivia.
There was also a short stint in prison in La Paz that Fred has promised to write a blog about (I’ll keep at him). . . don’t worry mom, we’re out now!
Back to the past 3 days . . . we first met the Swiss couple way back in the Sacred Valley, Peru (it seems like months ago) where we hit it off, and then by happenstance, followed them along the “Gringo Trail” to Hostal La Cupula, Copacabana, Hostal Republica in La Paz, and then again to Hotel Los Graciolos in Uyuni (a budget buster at $90 for a day and a half).
Our bus trip from La Paz to Uyuni was another 10 hour, overnighter, but this time, we managed a “tourist bus” with reclining seats ($30 each). The first 3 hours was on smooth pavement, but the last 7 was on a rough, rocky road. Luckily, I was into my book, and read most of the way. How people can sleep (Fred included) all night going over bumps and around sharp curves is up to me. As day broke (around 5 a.m. here), we carefully squeezed by a transport filled with salt from the salt flats (since we were precariously on the extreme edge of a cliff) as a couple poor guys had their shovels out, actually manually shovelling out salt from the back of the transport.
We continued south to Uyuni, across desert-like topography but with ice-covered streams with heavy mud in areas. There was a local bus stuck in the mud at one crossing, luckily, we made it through.
The town of Uyuni (pop. @14,000) was very indescript (in my opinion), and was just a hopping off point for a tour of the “World’s Largest Salt Flats” (twice the size of Utah). We booked our tour with Martin (a phone technician and fellow heavy metal fan – check out his website at www.myspace.com/cervoholics) and Martina (a florist) and paid for a “private tour” meaning only 4 of us, and not 6 or 7 like most other tour groups. It cost us @ $150 for the three days, which included our transportation, 3 meals a day, use of sleeping bags, and 2l of water each. Also, our “guide” and driver, but he only spoke Spanish so thankfully, Martin/Martina translated for us the important info. This tour also took us eventually across the Bolivian border to the Chilean town of San Pedro Di Atacama.
It was amazing to drive across a blindingly-white path (no roadway distinctions) for about an hour until we came to Isla Pescado. Here, we trekked around the island as our cook prepared a picnic lunch. There were 900 year old cactus, 10 metres high, all over the island. From the top, we had a 360 degree view of the expansive salt flats (I took video – maybe some day I’ll have a strong enough internet connection to download it!). After lunch, it was another few hours through the salt flats to see caves (where mummies were discovered, only 3 years ago), then onto our Salt Hostel. That’s right, bricks made out of salt with doors and beams made from dried cactus plants. Surprisingly, it was warm inside, had about 8 rooms, and we even had our own private bathroom (no hot water though,). Lights out at 9 p.m. – solar energy. Also to our delight, they sold Bolivian beer!
For Day 1 photos: copy and paste this flickr link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31246690@N05/
We were up and at it early on day 2 after a great sleep in the salt hotel. We drove out of the salt flats and along the Andes (on the Chilean border) for a few hours, stopping along the way to get out and stretch our legs and enjoy the spectacular scenery. For lunch, we enjoyed a picnic on the rocks at Lagoon Hedionda, where our view was thousands of pink flamingos in azure blue water.
We continued along the dirt roadway to a couple of other impressive lagoons, dried salt beds, and on through Desierto de Siloli which reached elevations of 5,000 metres. At one point, we had to get out of the 4 x 4 so the vehicle could make it up a steep and winding mountain. Our final destination was Lagunas (Lagoon) Colorada which was a rich, red colour filled with flamingos. We spent the night in an adobe-like hostal sharing a room with Martin and Martina. Surprisingly, the night wasn’t as cold as we expected, after hearing reports that this area falls well below -20 C at night.
Day 2 photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31246690@N05/sets/72157608303425997/
Since we were on a private tour, we didn’t have to get up for the 5 a.m. departure like the other groups in the hostal. We left at a leisurely 9:45 a.m. and headed off to see some very impressive geysers. There would be no way that we would be allowed in Canada/US to get as close to these hot, bubbling waters spraying hot steam – it would definitely be fenced off. From there, we proceeded to enjoy the Hot Springs (45 minutes in plus 33 degree C water), then to the Chilean border where we transferred into a van to take us to the desert town of San Pedro di Atacama.
After our 2 nights at the Casa Corvatsch (a splurge at $80/night – given the fact that we roughed it in the past two nights, no hot water/showers), we spent a day booking our 1.5 hour public bus to the city of Calama, where we will then fly today to Santiago ($190 each – one way, 2 hours), where we will spend the night near the airport to be ready for our early departure tomorrow morning (Oct 24) to the remote, Easter Island (@ 6 hour flight, $780 return each). We will stay on Easter Island for 10 days, heading back to Santiago Nov 3 for another month in South America (one week Chile, 2 weeks Argentina, and one week in Uruguay) before heading to South Africa, Dec. 3.
So, it’s time to go. Check out is at 11 so we’ll have a few hours to shop and eat lunch before heading off. Look for the next blog after Easter Island!
Cheers,
Lisa n Fred
Tags: Travel
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