Bolivia
Just about to move on to country number 7, so time for an update on the short time spent in Bolivia. This is a great country: wonderful scenery, really cheap, and the people are really friendly. As with most places so far on the trip, it would have been great to spend more time here but life moves on, and we cross the border into Peru this afternoon.
We then dropped down through San Sebastian to the town of Uyuni which still is well over 3000m above sea level but at least was more bearable for those who had been ill previously. Recovery was a slow process for many but at least they were well enough to take part in the activities planned from then on. 
Hotel in Uyuni was really good and pizza restaurant was excellent: Minuteman pizza, "pizza with altitude". Main activity was a trip out on to the Salar de Uyuni salt flats. This is an expanse of over 12000 square km of salt. First stop was the train graveyard. 
This is where a lot of the old steam locos used to transport minerals from the mines were left to rot after the switch to diesel. Then on to a village on the edge of the salt flats. This is the only place authorised by the government to collect, process, and sell salt from the salt flats. 
Mostly this is done by hand from scraping the salt to drying it, to bagging it (one person can bag 2 to 3 thousand bags of salt a day). Then out into the vast expanse of almost nothingness. 
You can see the mountains in the distance and there are a few rocky islands, but other than that everything is white for kms around you. This gives the chance to get creative with the camera and create all sorts of wierd photos. Incahuasi island is right in the middle of the flats and we had a chance to explore here. 
The island is covered in cactuses which reach up to a height of 16m. Then back on to the 4x4s and on to the salt hotel. As the name suggests, this is built from blocks of salt. 
Then a most amazing sunset before rounding off a long day with another excellent pizza at the hotel.
Then another long drive day to the town of Potosi. This is an old colonial town that grew on the wealth generated by local mines (a bit like Ouro Preto in Brazil). Everything in the area depends on the income generated from mining minerals from one single mountain - Cerro Rico (rich mountain). Originally this was a silver mine, but as this ran out, mining has turned to tin and zinc. 
Over 300 different types of mineral have extracted from Cerro Rico. Our schedule was very tight here and there were lots of things to do: tour the city itself, visit a couple of excellent museums, visit the co-operatively run mines. 
Most of the group went off on the mine tour, but I really wanted to see the city and find out something about the history. First visit was to the Casa de la Moneda. This is the old Royal Mint where in colonial times, the silver mined locally was minted into coins for Spain and then later Bolivia after it gained its independence. 
Next was a long walk around the city to explore some of the old buildings: both churches and private houses. Struck lucky at the Iglesia de la Merced. This has a coffee room (lunch at last at about 4pm), but also a walkway constructed on the roof. 
This gives probably the best view of the city as well as Cerro Rico itself. Then having had to dash off to get some change to pay for the coffee, the lady running the coffee shop said that one of the guides who works at the church had just arrived. So, I had a personal guided tour of the church itself and the restoration work being funded bu Unesco. Ok, the tour was all in Spanish but nearly everything I was told was easy to follow. Interesting how much they have found in the church during the work. For example, at the base of the walls, once the whitewash was removed, they have found three different levels of murals. Then, on the recommendation of both the coffee shop lady and the guide, I headed down to Santa Teresa museum. This is an old convent and Carmelite monastery. This had been closed when I walked past it earlier in the day but was now open. Managed to organise a tour in English with a couple of the others from our truck. We had to share with a group of local school children, and therefore everything was explained in Spanish first before being translated into English. The guide was excellent, the tour really good, and gave a fascinating insight into the life of the nuns.
From Potosi we headed to the capital of La Paz. For once I was lucky as Rich, Uts, Tony and me got to share the best room in the hotel. Top floor, loads of space and a great view over the city. 
Once again lots of activities on offer and very little time to try and squeeze them in. I opted to take a day to see the city which was relaxing and enjoyable. Day two was the obvious option for anyone seeking an adrenalin rush: a little outing on a mountain bike down "The World´s Most Dangerous Road". Eight of our group opted to do this and we all set off from La Paz before 8 in the morning for the bus ride to La Cumbre at an altitude of 4800 m. From here we would drop over 3600 metres in a distance of 64 km to the village of Coroico. The 1st part of the ride gave us the chance to get used to the bikes as we rode down a tarmac rode before reaching the top of the WMDR. This is a winding gravel road only 3.2 metres at its widest with drops of hundreds of metres to the valley below. Apparently at least 8 cyclists have died on the road (last one on 9th March this year) with a large number of motorists joining them. Dragoman consider the road such a risk that we all had to sign off their overland trip to participate (we are allowed to sign back on if we survive!).
However, after all the hype, the ride itself was a bit of doddle. The risk factor has dropped considerably since they opened a new tarmac rode on the other side of the valley (the bus ride back up this was more scary than the cycle ride down). The new road takes all the traffic now, so you are unlikely to go round a corner at 40-50k and find a car or lorry coming the other way. As long as you are comfortable on a bike and don´t do anything stupid then the ride is easy. All 14 cyclists in our group made it to the bottom without a single tumble. We even got to the bottom quicker than our guide expected, so the lack of accidents wasn´t due to the fact that we were all taking it easy (did find out later that a cyclist in the group behind us ended up in hospital with concussion). Having completed the ride, we had a chance to relax at an animal sanctuary with lunch, drinks, and an open air pool. We also had a (re-)introduction to sand flies. Having been either at high altitude or temperatures where they don´t exist for a couple of months, this was the worst bit of the day. Arms and legs for bitten to pieces. Nasty buggers ignore DEET and just bite anyway. For photos of the day, use the following link and enter the password "photos".
So what have we been doing in Bolivia? First stop was crossing the border from Chile. For the truck the border is located at over 5000m altitude on the Altiplano. This is where people really started suffering from the altitude, particularly as we stayed overnight in a refugio at well over 4000 m. 
Fortunately, apart from a slight headache that cropped up from time to time, I coped really well. Maybe it is my general level of fitness, or maybe I was just lucky. Several of the group on the truck were really struggling with splitting headaches, nausea, and sleepiness. For the rest of us, the Altiplano was an amazing place - hot geysers (better than those at Tatio in Chile), lakes, mountains, rocks, wildlife (loads of flamingos).
Fortunately, apart from a slight headache that cropped up from time to time, I coped really well. Maybe it is my general level of fitness, or maybe I was just lucky. Several of the group on the truck were really struggling with splitting headaches, nausea, and sleepiness. For the rest of us, the Altiplano was an amazing place - hot geysers (better than those at Tatio in Chile), lakes, mountains, rocks, wildlife (loads of flamingos). 
We then dropped down through San Sebastian to the town of Uyuni which still is well over 3000m above sea level but at least was more bearable for those who had been ill previously. Recovery was a slow process for many but at least they were well enough to take part in the activities planned from then on. 
Hotel in Uyuni was really good and pizza restaurant was excellent: Minuteman pizza, "pizza with altitude". Main activity was a trip out on to the Salar de Uyuni salt flats. This is an expanse of over 12000 square km of salt. First stop was the train graveyard. 
This is where a lot of the old steam locos used to transport minerals from the mines were left to rot after the switch to diesel. Then on to a village on the edge of the salt flats. This is the only place authorised by the government to collect, process, and sell salt from the salt flats. 
Mostly this is done by hand from scraping the salt to drying it, to bagging it (one person can bag 2 to 3 thousand bags of salt a day). Then out into the vast expanse of almost nothingness. 
You can see the mountains in the distance and there are a few rocky islands, but other than that everything is white for kms around you. This gives the chance to get creative with the camera and create all sorts of wierd photos. Incahuasi island is right in the middle of the flats and we had a chance to explore here. 
The island is covered in cactuses which reach up to a height of 16m. Then back on to the 4x4s and on to the salt hotel. As the name suggests, this is built from blocks of salt. 
Then a most amazing sunset before rounding off a long day with another excellent pizza at the hotel. 
Then another long drive day to the town of Potosi. This is an old colonial town that grew on the wealth generated by local mines (a bit like Ouro Preto in Brazil). Everything in the area depends on the income generated from mining minerals from one single mountain - Cerro Rico (rich mountain). Originally this was a silver mine, but as this ran out, mining has turned to tin and zinc. 
Over 300 different types of mineral have extracted from Cerro Rico. Our schedule was very tight here and there were lots of things to do: tour the city itself, visit a couple of excellent museums, visit the co-operatively run mines. 
Most of the group went off on the mine tour, but I really wanted to see the city and find out something about the history. First visit was to the Casa de la Moneda. This is the old Royal Mint where in colonial times, the silver mined locally was minted into coins for Spain and then later Bolivia after it gained its independence. 
Next was a long walk around the city to explore some of the old buildings: both churches and private houses. Struck lucky at the Iglesia de la Merced. This has a coffee room (lunch at last at about 4pm), but also a walkway constructed on the roof. 
This gives probably the best view of the city as well as Cerro Rico itself. Then having had to dash off to get some change to pay for the coffee, the lady running the coffee shop said that one of the guides who works at the church had just arrived. So, I had a personal guided tour of the church itself and the restoration work being funded bu Unesco. Ok, the tour was all in Spanish but nearly everything I was told was easy to follow. Interesting how much they have found in the church during the work. For example, at the base of the walls, once the whitewash was removed, they have found three different levels of murals. Then, on the recommendation of both the coffee shop lady and the guide, I headed down to Santa Teresa museum. This is an old convent and Carmelite monastery. This had been closed when I walked past it earlier in the day but was now open. Managed to organise a tour in English with a couple of the others from our truck. We had to share with a group of local school children, and therefore everything was explained in Spanish first before being translated into English. The guide was excellent, the tour really good, and gave a fascinating insight into the life of the nuns.
From Potosi we headed to the capital of La Paz. For once I was lucky as Rich, Uts, Tony and me got to share the best room in the hotel. Top floor, loads of space and a great view over the city. 
Once again lots of activities on offer and very little time to try and squeeze them in. I opted to take a day to see the city which was relaxing and enjoyable. Day two was the obvious option for anyone seeking an adrenalin rush: a little outing on a mountain bike down "The World´s Most Dangerous Road". Eight of our group opted to do this and we all set off from La Paz before 8 in the morning for the bus ride to La Cumbre at an altitude of 4800 m. From here we would drop over 3600 metres in a distance of 64 km to the village of Coroico. The 1st part of the ride gave us the chance to get used to the bikes as we rode down a tarmac rode before reaching the top of the WMDR. This is a winding gravel road only 3.2 metres at its widest with drops of hundreds of metres to the valley below. Apparently at least 8 cyclists have died on the road (last one on 9th March this year) with a large number of motorists joining them. Dragoman consider the road such a risk that we all had to sign off their overland trip to participate (we are allowed to sign back on if we survive!). However, after all the hype, the ride itself was a bit of doddle. The risk factor has dropped considerably since they opened a new tarmac rode on the other side of the valley (the bus ride back up this was more scary than the cycle ride down). The new road takes all the traffic now, so you are unlikely to go round a corner at 40-50k and find a car or lorry coming the other way. As long as you are comfortable on a bike and don´t do anything stupid then the ride is easy. All 14 cyclists in our group made it to the bottom without a single tumble. We even got to the bottom quicker than our guide expected, so the lack of accidents wasn´t due to the fact that we were all taking it easy (did find out later that a cyclist in the group behind us ended up in hospital with concussion). Having completed the ride, we had a chance to relax at an animal sanctuary with lunch, drinks, and an open air pool. We also had a (re-)introduction to sand flies. Having been either at high altitude or temperatures where they don´t exist for a couple of months, this was the worst bit of the day. Arms and legs for bitten to pieces. Nasty buggers ignore DEET and just bite anyway. For photos of the day, use the following link and enter the password "photos". 
Anyway having survived that, it was time to say goodbye to La Paz and continue our journey north. Next stop was the town of Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca. This is one of the most religious places in South America, with an enormous cathedral in town, and the islands of the Sun and Moon not far off shore. 
These are the centres of Inca religion and we had a day trip out to Isla del Sol to visit our 1st lot of Inca ruins. These included a sacrificial stone, two temples (Chincana and Pilko Kaina), and the Titicaca rock itself. The two temples were linked by a 9k walk across the island from north to south with the sun on our backs the whole way. There were a few very pink necks and legs to report at the end of the day.
These are the centres of Inca religion and we had a day trip out to Isla del Sol to visit our 1st lot of Inca ruins. These included a sacrificial stone, two temples (Chincana and Pilko Kaina), and the Titicaca rock itself. The two temples were linked by a 9k walk across the island from north to south with the sun on our backs the whole way. There were a few very pink necks and legs to report at the end of the day.So, that is where we are and what we have done in Bolivia. Next Sillustani in Peru and some more Inca and pre-Inca ruins. Then off to Cusco and Machu Picchu (hope to have some really great photos on the next installment).
posted by Alan at 2:56 pm
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