The good, the bad & the ugly in Bolivia

After our longest bus journey yet, 26 hours from Mendoza to La Quiacha, we walked across the border into Bolivia. The bus journey itself wasn’t too bad but things were about to get worse. After collecting our bags we found they were coated in engine oil. One of the Bolivian passengers on our bus thought it would be a good idea to bring a tub of oil which had burst open due to the high altitude we had reached. From the border town of Villazon we then caught another bus up to Uyuni – this proved to be a big mistake! We were promised a semi-cama bus and were given the Bolivian version – an old bus with uncomfortable seats that barely reclined. At the first town we stopped at, about 40 more Bolivians got on the bus, as well as about 10 babies. There were about 30 people standing up on the most packed out bus we have ever been on. At one point there was a police check and they asked the owner of a bike to come and talk to them. The bike owner was standing up at the back of the bus and it took him a good 5 minutes to shuffle past all the other passengers standing up to get out – things like this dragged our journey out massively. The road was a dirt track the whole way and would have made a good 4wd track. We both had sore backs a couple of hours in! After what seemed like an age we arrived in Uyuni at 2am, the journey taking 10 hours instead of 6 as promised by the ticket vendor. A rough introduction to Bolivia!

The border between Argentina and Bolivia

Haylee looking very happy as she boards the bus for the worst trip of our lives - if only she knew what she was in for!

We had heard that Quechua Connections were the best company to go with, and planned on doing a one day tour before heading north to La Paz. We asked the guy at our hostel where we could find Quechua (one of the most well known companies) and he blatantly lied to us – trying to get us to go with his company instead. We eventually found the place and met a French couple there who needed two more people to join them in their 4wd – so we went for the 3 day tour instead which proved to be a good choice. We only had 4 of us plus our driver (Omar) in our vehicle so we could spread out a bit. We left a bit later than the other companies to avoid the rush.

First stop was the famous train cemetery just out of town – where dozens of old British trains lie along with new trains which have been in crashes. It looks like a scene out of Mad Max here that is for sure! After this we spent the rest of the day on the world’s largest salt desert which is spread out over 2000 square km & is 100m deep in some places. Most of this area is a national park and they only mine salt to supply Bolivia which is surprising. We stopped off for lunch next to the original salt hotel, which is pretty much closed down now due to the pollution it used to pour onto the salt flats. We had a real Bolivian lunch of llama with quinoa and apple pie to finish. Our guide Omar then took us to a quiet place out on the salt flats to take some photos. Because all the terrain is the same out here and there is no sense of perspective you can get some weird looking photos..

One of the old trains at the train cemetery outside of Uyuni

Salt hills drying out before being manufactured into table salt

Haylee and I in front of our 4wd for the 3 day tour

Eating some llama for lunch

After checking out fish island which has thousands of ancient cactuses on it Omar took us to another island for the highlight of the day. We went inside a cave which looks out to the sun setting over the salt. We were the only ones there which was pretty special. We stayed in a hotel built out of salt that night, and our beds (with a salt base) were surprisingly comfortable. After another top notch dinner we were taken out to the salt flats, where there is no light pollution, to see the stars in the clear sky.

Standing next to a cactus which grows 1cm per year!

Sunset over the salt flats

Our room in the salt hotel

The following day we headed up into the mountains where we saw 3 lagoons, all with flamingos on them. One is really red from all the plankton which the flamingos were feasting on. We went up to around 4,700m where we stopped to see a rock which has been carved by the wind over time into the shape of a tree. We stayed in a very basic concrete building and had to rug up as it got down to -10 degrees outside.

We both woke up with the worst pounding headaches we have ever had as we were hit with altitude sickness. I was able to kick mine with a couple of strong painkillers but Haylee wasn’t so lucky, spewing up anything she drank or ate for the next two hours. She looked like death warmed up for a while there! What was worse is that after breakfast we headed up higher (over 5,000m) before we came back down. First stop was a group of geysers, some of which were quite powerful. Our guide told us how some tourists had fallen in to them in the past and got some quite bad burns. Anywhere else in the world they would be fenced off, but not in Bolivia! We warmed up nicely in the hot springs just down the hill before driving close to the Chilean border to see Laguna Verde (the green lagoon), which had some nice view of mountains reflecting across the water. Haylee was feeling a bit better by now as we had come down below 4,000m. We had one last stop on our drive back to Uyuni which was another one of highlights that Quechua Connections provided for us. This was a quiet wetland in a valley surrounded by rocks. There were a few llamas grazing and some native South American Viscacha (big rabbits with tails) up in the rocks. One again we were the only ones here – a nice way to finish the tour!

Another lagoon with flamingos on day 2

On the road on day 2 of our salt flats tour

Feeling the effects of altitude after climbing this rock.

Haylee and the rock tree

The red lagoon - full of plankton

Hundreds of wild flamingos on another lagoon during our tour

Haylee looking better than she feels at over 5000m above sea level

Laguna Verde

Weird South American native rabbit thing with a tail

Last stop on our salt flats tour

We had another rough overnight bus up to La Paz but at least we had a nice bus which was not too crowded this time. We were woken at 5am to be told by the attendant that La Paz was closed! Apparently most of the city was on strike and were blocking off the roads into town, still not really sure what the reason was. We had 2 options – to stay at the airport for 14 hours until the roads opened, or to walk down into the main part of town. We chose the second option. La Paz is built inside a massive canyon so the walk down was very steep but had some great views! Locals were using anything to block off the roads including rocks, cardboard boxes and pallets of wood. One in particular was impressive as they were setting rubber tyres alight across the road..

Views over La Paz during our walk into the city when we arrived

It was nice to stay in a hotel here after a rough few days. We decided to get a lot of our souvenir shopping out of the way as it was cheap and we didn’t have too much time left to go on our trip. Bargaining is the way to go here, and we found we were able to get some great deals by buying two of more things from the same shop. We got two custom made woollen jackets made for our Dads for just over NZ$20 each. Now we have another massive bag to carry with us for the last few weeks of our trip.

Haylee with some of our purchases on day 1 of shopping

Bolivia was so cheap that we could go out for dinner at nice restaurants each night for around NZ$10 each – including drinks. La Paz has a surprising amount of international cuisines and during our stay we tried Indian, Mexican, Indonesian, and on the last night – a good hearty Steak with mashed potato. We enjoyed living it up in La Paz that is for sure!

We visited the Coca Museum which told us about the history of Coca in Bolivia, how it was made illegal before being legalised again back in ... It was really interesting learning about all of the benefits of Coca – increased work output, helping the effects of altitude sickness, alertness etc. They say that back when the Potosi silver mines were in full operation the workers lived off Coca so they could handle the tough working conditions. At one point Coca itself was worth more than silver! 

Most interesting place we visited in La Paz had to be San Pedro Prison – made famous by the book ‘Marching Powder’. This is one massive building next to San Pedro square which is all open inside and holds over 2000 prisoners. Inside, prisoners have their own set of rules to live by and try to make a living within the boundaries of the prison. There is a range of accommodation options depending on what prisoners can afford. By making money they are able to buy themselves a better cell. Families of prisoners also live in the prison as most of them rely on the male to provide for them. The place is known to be corrupt and cocaine being produced inside is one source of income – the guards of course getting paid off to turn a blind eye to this happening. Until recently tourists have been able to get tours inside the prison, some going in there to have cheap cocaine parties. Apparently tours have now been closed down due to the dangers to tourists. There are 4 deaths per month inside, many being rapists who are stoned to death in the empty swimming pool in the centre. It was visiting time while we were at San Pedro and it was weird seeing women and children coming in and out of the main gate freely. I managed to get a few photos but the guard was shouting at us to leave, waving around a pretty solid gun – that was our queue to leave.. After we were told that you are not allowed to take photos there and in some instances the guards hold a gun to your head until they see you have deleted them! They can’t get me now so here are the photos..

San Pedro Prison

Heavily guarded main entrance with women and children cruising in and out as they please

After a few days in La Paz we travelled west to the highest lake in the world, Lake Titicaca, which sits at 3,812m above sea level. We stayed on the Bolivian side in cool little town called Copacabana which is close to the border with Peru. Apparently the famous beach in Rio was named after this town which seems weird as the beach is far more famous! We spent one day checking out Isla del Sol (meaning Island of the Sun) which was a real highlight! We boarded the early morning ferry before 8am and headed off on a painfully slow 2.5 hour boat ride to the island – not sure why we went so slowly but maybe there is a speed limit on the lake. We arrived on the northern point of the island and had 4 hours to make our way to the south to catch our return ferry. We were treated to some stunning scenery, especially on the northern side where ancient Inca ruins sat up on the mountainside overlooking the clear blue waters of the lake. We were told it would take us 4 hours to get south so we pushed on, taking the track all the way to the main town, Yumani. It barely took us 2 hours so it was nice to chill out for a lunch with a view at one of the restaurants at the top of the hill there.

Enjoying the views on our slow boat to the island

Baby donkey that Haylee quite liked

Clear blue water of Lake Titicaca

Inca ruins on the northern end of Isla del Sol

Llama checking out the scenery over Titicaca

Lunch with a view

Bustling little market on Isla del Sol

The weather was stunning while we were here and we didn’t realise how strong the sun was after catching a few rays the following day at Copacabana. I don’t usually burn too bad but the altitude obviously increases the suns strength here as after only 45 minutes in the sun I got a bit fried. 

The local specialty here is trout which is caught daily on the lake and served fresh. We decided to try some where all the locals eat – right on the waterfront in one of the many stalls which line the beach. The plates were only NZ$4 and although the stalls didn’t look the greatest – the food was awesome! They give you a choice of about 5 different types of trout and it was served with salad, rice and fries. Our favourite was pan fried trout in a butter sauce. Bolivian style fish and chips at its best! It was so good that we came back for more the next day, both times giving a tip of around NZ$1 which the Bolivian ladies were stoked with.

Some tasty trout with butter sauce on the Copacabana waterfront

View of Copacabana from up on the hill

We found Bolivia to be quite a ‘real’ place and although tourism is getting bigger here, people seem to go about their ways of life without hassling tourists too much. The local women have a very unique traditional dress which they wear as their day-to-day attire. Generally speaking Bolivian women are not supermodels as it is and the traditional kit doesn’t really do them any favours in this sense either. Although they may not be the most beautiful from the outside they definitely are inside and the Bolivian people were one of the kindest we met! 

Bolivian woman in the traditional attire

Women carrying their loads around in blankets

Although some parts of this country are a bit third world, there have some great things we have found in Bolivia – it is definitely up there with one of our favourites!

From here we cross over to Peru where I am really looking forward to seeing Machu Picchu – one of the 7 wonders of the world.