Bolivia

Uyuni


Wednesday, 2. February

Finally, after 11 hours of trip I have arrived in Uyuni. Uyuni is a city at the altitude of I dont know why, I was sure that the bus ride will take just 6 hours, but whatever... The chilean bus to the border with Bolivia was the most creppy bus I have ever had. At the frontiera passangers changed the bus to bolivian one which was ten times better than chilean one... Surprise!

¡Bienvenidos in Bolivia!

Thursday, 3. February till Saturday, 5. February

In Uyuni I spent just one night and the next morning I left for a three days jeep trip. In total we were 6 persons: me, Nicolas from Argentina, Gijs from Holanda and three australian guys: Jack, Todd and Marc. Poor Marc was sick during the whole excursion. Never brush your teeth with a tap water in Bolivia... you can get easily Vibrio choleare or some other new friends...

During the trip we visited: cementario de trenes, Valle de Rocas con Condor Petrificado, Laguna Cañapa, laguna Edionda y laguna Honda with flamingos, Arbol de Piedra (stony tree) geiser, thermal baths. at the altitude of 5000 meters... This trip was for sure one of the higlihts of my travel.

They warn you at the bolivian border of vibrio cholerae...Watch out!

Our dream...

... team

Yummy sweets for a long jeep ride...

In the front of Museo de Sal. The whole building is built of salt.

Riding the exponates...

In Salar de Uyuni

Salar in the wet season is covered by water. It gives you an impression you are not in a real world... During the dry season the surface is never-ending-white and shiny - that is the reason to come back here during the dry winter season. ¡hasta luego!

Our dream-team.

And my travelling family with two new bolivian members

On our way

 

Condor petrificado, stony condor

Laguna Cañapa

There are three sorts of flamingos here, please see below.

Flamenco andina, flamenco chileno y flamenco de james. Who the f... is james? ;)

A kuku!

Arbol de piedra

It would be a nice way to travel, too. Just the driving licence...

First evening without the electricity but with a lots of fun!

Gas station - Teo fills the tank in the front of the place we stayed overnight.

I did not expect before that vikuñas and flamingos share the same environment.

On the way we saw a lot of broken carsand we were happy it was not ours.... finally our broke, too, for maybe two hours in a middle of nowwhere. But Teo, our car driver, fortunatelly fixed it during we had a relaxed almuerzo and later we played... corrida...

Farewell pic: back to Uyuni. It was a great trip...

So we had a farewell party at a very cool bar in Uyuni... Afterwards we started to dance and some local guys tried to teach us salsa...

...offering a great variety of coctails and shots based on coca liquor, coca leavs etc. And believe coca leaf is not a cocaine!

Sunday, 6. February

In the morning I had a quick breakfast and went by bus to Potosí. Potosí is the highiest situated city of the world (city, there are for sure villages which are even higher) (about 4070m above the sea level) which was the richest city in Bolivia.  Around Potosí there are lot of minerals and before there was a plenty of silver. Spaniards built this city in a colonial style (logical) - the buildings are beautiful, but now look very poor. Potosí is a city of miñeros, the workers of the mines. A lot of agencias turisticas offer excursions for tourists to mineas, where you can watch these people while they are working, you buy some drinks, coca leaves and dynamite for them as a gifts. Agencies use to tell tourists, that the miner workers receive up to 50% money you pay for the trip. Such a bullshit! I speaked to local people and the truth is that the miñeros do  not like that tourists visit the mineries, the work under extremly non-humanitarian conditions. They chew coca the whole day to kill the pain and hunger. Children of poor people are working in mines, too.  How practical, they are so small that they can pass even narrow tunnels in minery. Starting work with circa 10 years old - a disaster. They work until they are maybe 30 years old, if they did not have any accident in minery (which is frequent). Then - they die usually due to lounges diseases. So if you should be in Potosí or any miner colony/city, just please do not go for these excursions... Actually, they are not safe, too, there is no ventilation in the minery and you have to go sometimes on your four extremities in claustrophobic narrow  and muddy tunnels. If it does not scary you - just do not go there because of the respect toward minery workers...

In Potosi I had a cool hostel - Koala Den. Normally I dont do any marketing here, but they deserve it - very nice bolivian people at the reception and it was a place where you can really stay and enjoy your stay -  not stay overnight and hope to leave as soon as possible - it was definitevly NOT a claustrofobic box without window but with fungi which we (Andrea and Pepe from Chile and Nicolas from Argentina) visited before.

I was controlling if my backpack will  land really on the roof of the bus to Potosí. Vertrauen ist gut, aber Kontrolle besser...

Traffic jam in Potosí I

Traffic jam in Potosí II

Monday, 7. February

After lazy morning we went to bus terminal first to buy tickets for the ride to Sucre. They were some street blocades... Afterwards we went to a mercado (with a separate coca department) and then by a colectivo to Ojo de Inca, Inkas Eve - a small lagoon with thermal water, in crater of a vulcano. We swam, swam and couldnt stop.

The blockade style resembled a bit bolivian .mohairs (polish insider joke)...

In the mercado with friends :)

wow!

Here it is!

Ojo de Inca

Minery worker chewing coca leaves to minor hunger, tiredness and pain. Photo of a photo.

Photo of a photo.

The miner workers cementary. Many of them did not reach age above 30. Photo of a photo.

Tuesday, 8. February

In the very morning I went to the bus station. God bless you, the blocads of streets which I saw the day before where over. It is quite popular in Bolivia in case of not being satisfied with some aspacts of life - to block the streets. Fortunatellu I could leave Potosí in direction of Sucre, the official capital city of Bolivia - it is not La Paz!!!

At 7 am (ok, 7:30 am, normal) I  left to Sucre where I should catch the over night bus (12-15 hours bus ride) to Santa Cruz. In Santa Cruz I have a flight to Buenos Aires on 10th February - so I had to hurry up as the roads can be under water - in this time here rains a lot. Another possibility could be a flight from Sucre to Santa Cruz which I find out in the evening before (ok, my sister Gosia told me that AeroSur has connections from Sucre to Santa Cruz). In the bus I had a very nice conversation with an indigenous woman about minery workers. Sjhe hold a very sweet indian baby of one year old who was gazing at me the whole time with its huge huge black beautiful eyes.Shortly before Sucre the baby vomited everything it had consumed during the travel... God bless you we were at the end of travel because I almost followed the baby and vomit on the floor, too... 

My bus should arrive in Sucre at 10:00 and I knew that I wont catch the plane which should leave at 10:40... So i have arrived at 11 in Sucre, una mujer in information center first called for me airport (yes, there is a flight at 12:40 and yes, we have tickets) and than taxi. So directly from the bus I went by a taxi to an airport, wait a bit till all passangers do check in, bought a ticket, checked in and just get  into a plane which should had depart at 10:40 but the departure was postponed 2 hours. Just for me, gracias! I appreciated it very much - and maybe if you did not travel in Bolivia or any other place where it is a big deal to coordinate you transport - you do not understand why I am describing it with such an enthusiasmus...

The bus terminal in Potosí is the most modern terminal de bus I have ever seen before.

AeroSur brought me "sicurí" from Sucre to Santa Cruz in too short time - I even did not manage to write my diary.

Santa Cruz

it is still Tuesday, 8. February

On the airport I have met a nice south african guy. We shared together taxi to the center and went out in the evening in the city of Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz has a 1300000 inhabitants and is at just 415 m above the sea level. The clima is very warm right now and there is a loooots of rain. The city is pretty, with a cosy and elegant main Plaza de 24 Septiembre which you can admire sitting in the balcony of... Irish Pub.

Casa de Gobierno

Wednesday, 9. February

Again, lazy morning, lazy breakfast, looking at the pool in my hostel, but too lazy to jump in, lazy day. Time to buy some souvenirs. Time to update my blog. Time to have (again and again) a good supper. It is my last day in Bolivia - tommorow I am leaving to my favourite Buenos Aires, Argentina! ¡Hasta luego!

Mercado Artesanial

I could not stop myself. My last day in Bolivia!