So we arrived in Santa Cruz, our first stop in Bolivia, in the early hours of the 24th of March. It was absolutely sweltering in Santa Cruz so we were very pleased to have a nice pool to chill next to in our hostel. Bolivia was nothing like I expected, although we later found out there is Santa Cruz and then there is Bolivia, it's not a typical Bolivian city. After meeting a couple of English lads, Jack and Rich, we had an awesome night out with the help of a local girl, Daniella. Jack decided to join us when we headed to Sucre. We were all pleasantly surprised to pay only 50 bolivianos (AU$7.50) for our 16 hour bus ride to Sucre. Although we quickly found out why it was so cheap. A very crappy bus, no suspension or air conditioning. The driver was driving very erratically, but we'd gotten used to that throughout South America. But when the locals started getting angry at him we knew there was a problem. Turned out he was drunk, after stopping the bus, and the locals nearly lynching the driver for putting so many families at risk, we got a new driver and arrived in Sucre safely on the morning of the 27th.
Arter arriving in Sucre we spent one day catching up on some much needed sleep before booking an adventure tour. After dragging our selves out of bed at 5am (because Scotti's phone was one hour fast!) we waited to 7.30 to find out that our tour needed to be postponed till the next day due to bad weather. So the following day we woke up at the correct time of 6.30 and set off with our tour guide Ahdamr. After a 2 hour drive we arrived in a quaint little town called Icla we were preceded to blow up our rubber tubes and jump into the grade 2 rapids for about 40 min, it was heaps of fun. After a local lunch we walked over to the edge of a cliff and abseiled down 20 meters to the bottom of a canyon. I can't lie, I almost needed a change of underpants as I lent over the edge of the cliff, especially as our anchor was a flimsy looking tree. But we all made it down safely, heart thumping in our chest. From there we walked and swam the canyon, acting like 8 year old children the whole way, our guides laughing at our childishness the whole way. After all of the days activities we all agreed it was one of best days of our trip. After a rough night on some awesome Nicaraguan rum we all boarded a bus to Potosi, we were told it was a 2 hour trip but after 4 and a half hours we arrived in Potosi 4090 meters above sea level, the highest city in the world.
Potosi has been a mining town ever since the Spanish discovered it mountain contained many valuable minerals including Silver and Tin. We managed to get a tour outside the normal time, our guide was very good and an ex-miner himself which gave me more confidence. We first stopped at the miners market to buy some presents for the miners, including some special cigarettes with cinnamon and other herbs to help with hunger and altitude, coca leaves and dynamite. We all tried coca leaves for the first time, the leaves themselves where not that bad but the catalyst, made from potato and ash was truly gag worthy, horrible. After donning our mining gear we headed into the mountain through a small opening, after our mine tour I can never complain about working hard again, these guys have it tough, working in dangerous conditions, ridiculous hours and all for a pittance, Jack and I helped push a mining cart for about 1 or 2 minutes, and we're absolutely stuffed, they do it all day! After finding a safe place we got to blow up one of our sticks of dynamite, a real highlight. All in all the tour was a real blast. We headed back to town and after a few quick drinks, boarded our bus to Uyuni to see the salt flats.
We arrived early in the morning on the 31st and crashed straight into bed. The following morning we set off on our three day tour of Uyuni and the surrounding areas. Starting with the train cemetery, then onto the salt flats, a truly breathtaking sight, especially at that time of year because of the layer of reflective water that stretched across the seemingly never ending white desert and the floating mountains in the background. After some time for funny photos we headed off for our accommodation for the night in a small local village. After a night of cards and drinking with new friends we head off for our second day which was all about beautiful Bolivian countryside, including the green lake, amazing mountains and the red lagoon with pink flamingos. After another night of cards and a few drinks we hit the hay early in our very danky and simple accommodation because we had to get up at 4.30am to watch the sunrise from the hot springs, well worth the early morning, it was stunning. After a long drive back to Uyuni I had some sort of gastro problem and boarded our bus to La Paz feeling extremely sick.
Still feeling horrible when we arrived in La Paz on the 4th of April, we quickly found a hostel, with our new Canadian friends, Sydney and Sammy, and got some rest to feel better. The bug must have passed because we managed to go out for a big night that night. After a day of rest and recovery it was the 6th, my birthday and Scotti, Jack and I decided to tempt fate a little and do downhill biking on Death Road on my birthday. Needless to say we survived, had a few crashes but still had heaps of fun. After playing drinking games on the bus back to town we passed out and missed going out for my birthday. Needless to say we made up for this the next night and partied well into the morning. On the 8th everyone left for Cusco but because I'd lost my bankcard I had to stay in La Paz and wait for a transfer to come through. After 3 very boring days the tranfer did come through and I boarded a bus to Copacobana.
Copa was a town on the edge of Lake Titicaca. I did a tour of Isla de Sol (Island of the Sun) and very important island in Inca history. With a couple of new friends we trekked the whole length of the beautiful Island, got heaps of photos and some sunburn too. I just got back in time to board my bus to Puno, Peru.
I waved goodbye to Bolivia at 6pm on the 11th of April. Bolivia is an amazing county despite extreme poverty the people were extremely friendly and helpful and all in all seemed quite happy, proving money isn't the key to happiness. I made new friends for life some of which I'm still travelling with now. Had some awesome times partying and saw some truly breathtaking sights on our many tours. Survived the deadliest road in the world and a mine well overdue for collapse. All in all I loved Bolivia, one of my favourite countries so far.
(sorry for the lack of photos, but it takes about 20 min to upload 1 photo here in Peru, will add some later)
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