kez & hay travels 06

I made my way into Bolivia through the Lauca national Park in Chile. It's one of their treasures with over 138,000 hectares of wildlife, grasslands and impressive, dormant volcanoes. The bus crossed over the mountains turning some hair rising corners. We stopped off at small villages on the way to buy handicrafts and visit whitewashed churches before arriving in La Paz. La Paz, the world's highest capital city at 3660m above sea level. The city is plopped in the middle of a gapping canyon, thousands of buildings fill the bowl and climb the walls of the huge crater. Bolivia is South America's most indigenous country and also one of the poorest. It's exploding with vibrant cultures and people. Just wondering around the cobbled alleys and markets, I was greeted by women in traditional dress, wearing bowler hats with their hair in plaits, babies strapped to their mother's backs in brightly coloured fabrics and friendly calls of "Hola Amiga". I stayed 2 nights in the chaos capital to climatise and also do a bit of shopping before catching the bus to Copacabana.

Because Bolivia is the hemisphere's highest, most isolated and most rugged nation, the bus journeys are long, unpreditable and very rough! I bought a ticket for a bus which should have left at 10am that eventually left at 11am but only once the driver had jump started the bus! 4 hours later with no toilet stops and I arrived at the tip of Lake Titicaca. Copacabana is an enchanting town on the Lake's southern shore and made a handy stop over for a night before boarding the ferry to Isla del Sol. The Island of the Sun is the legendary Inca creation site and birthplace of the sun in Inca mythology. In the distance you can also see Isla de la Luna. The island is dotted with several small villages and has a network of walking tracks across it's mountains. There is one that starts in the North and winds it's way through the island's natural beauty to the South. In the North I visited Inca ruins before making my way South to stay the night in a family run hostel. Staying the night on the island was magical, the views were amazing at sunset and sunrise (yes, I got up at 6am) I even got to see a colourful wedding celebration.  

Back to La paz and carnival time! The streets were rammed full of all generations ready for 3 whole days of celebrations. There was dancing, singing, drinking and more annoyingly for the foreigners (as we were great targets) water bombs and foam spray. We joined in the fun and had a great time throwing water bombs at the locals from the hostel bar that was on the rooftop. With a public holiday and nothing much moving in the lines of transport, I stayed for a total of 5 days, celebrating local stylee.

Sucre was my next stop after a rocky 9 hour bus journey with Kerry (if only Perkins... but no) from Ireland who I'd met in La Paz. Here we met 2 other Irish gals, Caroline and Siobhan. Together we sampled the local Karaoke bar, where, unfortunately for the regulars, there were songs in English! The town is small and has a warmer climate as it sits at 2790m, that's low compared to the rest of the country. It's rich in colonial heritage that can be seen from all the white, mediterrean buildings and the well maintained central plaza. We took the Dino Tuck Tour and went to see real Dinosaur tracks measuring 80cm in diameter. The wall that they were on was once the ground but has been rotated to a vertical position because of the Earth's movements. With the new found party group, I headed onto Potosi. We went first class by taxi, so we thought until we realised that the driver had a fetich for blind corners!

At a staggering altitude of 4070m, Potosi was renowed for it's silver deposits in the hill overlooking the town. Although the mines are still operational, there remains little silver and mainly lead and zinc is extracted today. Conditions in the mines are appalling and since they were opened in 1545 over 8 million people have died because of them. Even so we booked for a tour which proved to be very demanding and shocking but memorable. Some workers start at the age of 13, can work for up to 24 hours underground and have a live expectancy of just 10 years more once they have started working because of the gases inhaled.  We crawled through low, dirty shafts that were unventilated and down dodgey ladders to meet the miners. We chewed on coca leaves on the way as it's supposed to help with altitude sickness (They are illegal in other countries). We gave presents of coca leaves, fizzy pop and dynamite!! 3 hours underground was a scary experience at times but worth it to understand and learn about their conditions. I won't be complaining about a boring office job again!!

Another 9 hour bumpy trip and we arrived in Uyuni. The town is on the edge of the world's largest salt flat, Salar de Uyuni. The 4 of us, 2 german guys and our Bolivian guide "Patricio" headed off into the wide open space on a 900km journey over 3 days. From now on, toilet breaks would be behind whatever, if any bush you could find! Our first encounter was the hallucinogenic salt flat, an amazing 12,000 sq km blanket of blinding white salt. It used to be a huge lake until it dried up. We had lunch by the side of what can only be described as an island of Cactuses. Then it was off the smooth salt flat track and onto rough dirt into the vast desert of mountains. Just 1 hour into being rocked about and we got a flat tyre! Luckily, Patricio was an expert and soon got the spare out so there was no need to ring Dad!! That night we stayed in a small village, watched the sunset with the Llamas and had a few beers in what seemed to be the back room of a local's house. Next day we headed off at 7am and visited rock formations, spotted several flamingo species and awed at the stunning Lake Colorada that has different minerals running into it giving it a glorious red, blue, green and white colour. We spent our second night shivering in minus degrees and so we were not that reluctant to get up at 4:30am! The reason was to visit the 4950m high geyser basin, that spurts out furious hot steam. We walked caustiously through the potentially dangerous boiling mud pots and sulfur clouds. Health and Safety, what's that in Bolivia?? love it!! As the sun rose there was a chance to heat up in the comfortable 30 degree natural Thermas. Then our last afternoon was spent by the beautiful Laguna Verde before heading back, stopping off in small villages on the way to stock up on chocolate, no cadbury's mind!

Leaving behind Caroline and Siobhan, we moved onto Tupiza. I had a day of relaxing and enjoying my last days of Bolivian hospitality. With time rushing by I decided to make my way into Argentina. It was bye to Kerry and hello to a day of patience testing!! With the only bus going my way at 4am, I forced myself out of bed and was bashed about on a 2 hour journey until the border town. I then had to walk to the other side of town to find hundreds of people with the same idea as me, only I seemed to be the only backpacker. I waited PATIENTLY for 4 hours in the hustle (no queues here) just to get a stamp in my passport from the not so speedy Immigration Officer. Eventually in Agrentina and surprise, surprise I had missed the first bus onto my destination so had another 3 hour wait. Oh well enough time for a feed and water. Better late than never, on a comfy bus and on the oh so smoother roads when the tyre exploded!! Yes... another 2 hour wait, that meant I didn't arrive in Salta until midnight.... wait for it... to a huge storm so the taxis were on strike!!! So after an hour waiting in the queue with fellow travellers, we got the hostel manager to pick us up. You see it's not all fun and games!! Welcome to Argentina.....