Week 37: Bolivia

Our time in Bolivia has been so full of activity that I managed to get a full week behind on posting!

We spent our entire week with Monika, one of the most easy going people we have met. We had so much fun together! We also spent nearly the entire week at high elevation, moving between 3600m-5000m. Aside from being winded walking up hills, we have felt fine up here!

We crossed into Bolivia on Easter Sunday, and the border crossing was totally uneventful, except for Will buying us some Easter chocolate. 

Our first stop in Bolivia was Tupiza, a quiet little town that we really enjoyed exploring. Our time here was divided between walking around the town, sorting out a tour for the Salar de Uyuni, exploring the market, and hiking amongst the red rocks. Oh, and our first breakfast in Bolivia is totally worth mentioning, as it was one of the most glorious breakfasts we’ve had on this entire trip- a seemingly never-ending buffet of coffee, tea, fresh orange juice, various breads, cheese, meat, avocadoes, fresh fruit, yogurt, pancakes, and cereal. As a total breakfast fanatic, I was in heaven!

The market was especially interesting here, as it is made up of permanent market stalls inside a building, surrounded by semi-permanent stands set up along the perimeter. These stands are filled with fruit, vegetables, fresh baked goods, meat, candy, clothing, and toiletries. The cholitas, Bolivia’s indigenous Aymara and Quechua women who manage these stands, are so mesmerizing in their traditional dress. The look: two thick braids, bowler hat, thick knit sweater, puffy pleated skirt, patterned apron over top, thick tights, and heeled sandals. They were so kind to us, offering us fruit to try as we passed by. We even enjoyed walking through the empty market stalls when they were closed for siesta, which happened every day between 2-5pm or so.

We enjoyed hiking to Puerto del Diablo (a very thin rock resembling a door), through Valle de Los Machos, and into El Canon del Inca.

We then set off for our four-day Salar de Uyuni tour. We knew we would visit the salt flats, but we didn’t really know what else to expect to see the rest of the time.

We were fortunate enough to travel with some great people (Ben, Carmen, and Monika), led by our awesome guide, Mario. The four days were absolutely packed with amazing scenery and activity, so I will just outline the highlights.

Day 1:

Seeing SO many llamas- running in the field, playing, standing proud atop the rocks

Seeing vicunas (wild llamas)

Stopping in small villages with houses made of clay and brick

Visiting Pueblo Fantasma, a ghost town where buildings built by the Spanish 500 years ago were deserted 28 years ago because people were getting sick from the cold, wind and high altitude. This community once had 24 churches!

Driving up to 4850m

Trying coca leaves for the first time

Day 2:

Visiting a llama farm

Soaking in Aguas Termales de Polques, set against a gorgeous mountain backdrop

Visiting Laguna Blanca and Laguna Verde

Watching the grey mud geisers bubble, pop, and smoke at Sol de Manana

Driving up to 5000m (there’s only 5 mountain tops in Canada higher than 5000m, and we drove to this height in a Jeep!)

Watching three species of flamingo (Andino, Chileno, and James) move around Laguna Colorada

Playing cards with our crew and learning a new game we call Harry Beans (actual name: Bonanza).

Day 3:

Climbing the red rocks of Valle de Rocas

Visiting Laguna Negra

Peering down into Canon de Anaconda

A picnic lunch with mountains, a stream, and red quinoa fields as our background

Walking around the town of San Cristobal

Exploring the train cemetery

Watching the sun set over Salar de Uyuni (3663m)

Staying in a salt hotel in Colchani, where all of the walls, the beds, and even the tables were made of salt!

Day 4:

Watching the sun rise over Salar de Uyuni (but SO very cold, especially after walking in the frigid water in flip flops!)

Eating oreo cake for breakfast in a salt hotel on the salt flats

Learning that the salt flats are 12000km2, 120m deep, and consist of 11 layers!

Taking fun photos on the salt flats

The landscape here included snow-capped mountains, desert covered with red and black rocks, red quinoa fields, small shrubs (no trees), and windy dirt roads stretching far into the distance.

Once our tour was over, we were very happy not to be staying in Uyuni (a really quiet desert town). Instead, we headed straight for Potosi. We made the mistake of taking a minibus called a Rapido… the name should have been an indication that this was a mistake! The driver drove at ridiculous speeds on this mountainous road, passing on blind corners and honking his horn pretty consistently. In addition to the people on board, many of whom were yelling at the driver to slow down, we had two large flat screen TVs in tow. Thankfully, we made it to Potosi unscathed. No more rapidos for us! That evening, we went out with our Salar de Uyuni crew to celebrate still having our lives with burgers and beer.

Potosi is a mining town, so we had a certain image in our head of what it would be like. We were pleasantly surprised by how much we loved this city! Potosi sits at 4067m, which means we were sleeping above most of the tallest mountains in BC! We visited Casa de la Moneda, where a tour guide told us all about the first coins and the machines used to make them. We also learned more about the Wiphala, the indigenous flag flown in northern Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Colombia. I love this flag. It is the flag of the Andean people. This flag was adopted as the second official flag of Bolivia in 2009, and its bright pattern of squares is a beautiful reminder of the first people in this country. We also toured the 400-year-old San Francisco covenant, and especially loved walking along the various rooftops of this church! We then visited the market and ate some lunch, which would turn out to be a major mistake on my part… in exactly four hours time. After the market, we stumbled upon Bolivia’s 1^st Annual Tattoo Convention. We walked by the stalls, watching as people were getting tattoos. Even the security guard for the event was getting one! After taking a little break in a café, we took the local bus down to the large feria (market). With streets closed to traffic, this market sprawled out over many blocks. However, I only know that because Monika told us about it later on. By the time I got down to the feria, I was completely white, and spent the rest of the day very sick with food poisoning. Will brought me back to our hotel room and nursed me back to health with ginger ale and cipro. Lesson learned: no more Bolivian chicken soup (aka broth with a full chicken thigh laying in the middle of the bowl)!

Feeling much better the following morning, we headed off to Sucre. It was a beautiful 2.5 hour drive through the mountains, and much tamer than our drive to Potosi. Upon our arrival, we explored the streets and the main square, Plaza 25 de Mayo. We also met up with Joanne, one of the girls we met back in Cafayate, Argentina. We all walked up to the La Recoleta together to catch an amazing sunset over the city.

The following day, we did a great walking tour through the city with Condor Trekking. They took us to the city’s mini Eiffel tower, the market, a couple museums, and various parks. We tried coca chocolate, market fruit, chicha (local corn beer), and played a game of Sapo. We learned about Bolivia’s tradition around miniature idols used as magnets for things you truly desire. You can purchase miniatures of anything you can imagine (food, money, clothing, passports, car, house, husband), and these tiny wished-for items are offered up to Ekeko, smiling god of plenty. I absolutely love everything miniature, so this was definitely a highlight for me! 

In the afternoon, we met up with Ben and Carmen again, and then later ventured through the massive Cementerio in the city. It was quite powerful to see all of the memorial boxes and flowers and towering buildings.

Wrapping up this week, we ventured out to Parque Cretacico, where dinosaur footprints were discovered in 1994. We saw fossils and incredible life size replicas of dinosaurs, but the most impressive part of the day was the massive vertical wall covered in 5055 dinosaur footprints. The prints varied in size, and gave us a much better idea of how the dinosaurs in this part of the world moved around. 

For this week’s finale, we explored Castillo de la Glorieta, the pink fairy-tale castle owned by a prince and princess here 121 years ago. It felt a bit strange to be let loose to walk through the 30 or so completely empty rooms on our own, but we enjoyed it all, including the view from one of the towers! We also walked through the gardens outside and watched the military training right in front of us. 

That evening, it was a tearful goodbye to Monika as we left her with Joanne and headed off to La Paz.

Act of kindness: Monika made this week so much fun! She was so easy to travel with, suggesting great activities and interpreting for us often. We miss you Monika!