[Bolivia]
Tuesday, 29 June, 2004
Hi
I have a million things I want to tell you all but
some of it will just have to wait. I think the last
time I emailed you properly was from Salta in
Argentina. Here's a quick description of what we have
been up to.
The bus trip back from Salta was the same as the way
over, very very long, dusty and hot. Bus broke down a
couple of times, Chilean customs were very thorough
(to put it politely). I think the bus company I chose
to travel with have a bad reputation, cause everyone
got hauled off and got totally searched right down to
emptying every single pocket, opening wallet etc. They
even emptied my toilet bag which I though was pretty
unnecessary. Not really nice when they are pulling
out your personal items in front of everyone else on
the bus who is waiting in the queue. They also washed
our shoes with soapy water. I was exhausted from my
trip to Argentina so Andrew and I had two very
relaxing days in San Pedro de Atacama to relax and
recover. We slept in till lunchtime every day, and
took naps every afternoon too.
Gary and Cathy came back from Salta on Thursday night,
so the four of us booked ourselves on a 4wd tour to
Bolivia over the altiplano. We are lucky and chose a great
driver, with a good vehicle and even had a good
collection of recent english music to listen to. Our
driver was called Groovy (actually his name was
something similar to that, but we couldn't prouounce
it so Groovy stuck). He spoke no english, but we met
two others that came along with us and translated for
us. 6 of us in the vehicle was comfortable. Not
squashed. All the luggage on the roof along with
petrol, tools and food.
Day One was drive to the bolivian border and go
through. Literally the easiest border crossing to
date. The little bolivian just looked at me, smiled,
stamped my passport with no questions and said
Welcome. You pass through a few national parks along
the journey - although I have no idea how they know
where the boundries are cause all the terrain looks
the same. we were allowed to stop whenever we wanted
to take pictures, ask questions etc. So on the first
day we passed blue, white and green lakes (lots of
salt up there). We went to some hot spring and I went
for a swim. Air temp was below freezing so it was a
bit of a laugh. water was only just warm enough to
stay in for half an hour. We saw gysers and boiling
mud pools. we passed and stopped at a very red lake
(from Borax) and saw lots of flamingos. Cool birds.
Did you know that in winter they wander out into the
water around the edge, and sleep and their legs get
frozen into the lake and they die. There was a lot of
large salt bergs (just looked like ice bergs). Our
accommodation the first night was fairly basic but
comfortable if not cold. Nightime temperatures drop
to around minus 20-30 so its fairly cold when you have
to dash out to the loo in the middle of the night (and
the loos don't flush cause all the water is frozen).
The food was amazing though.
Our first night was spent at 4400m altitude and
consequently all of us woke up the next morning with
mild altitude sickness. I managed to time this with a
bout of the flu so felt particularly bad.
Day two was a long one. We blasted across the desert
for ages, along sand, past weird wind erroded rocks,
saw some wee animals that looked like rabbits with a
long tail. We passed more lakes, active volcanoes,
got a flat tyre (we were lucky - one of the other
vehicles had 4 flats in one afternoon!!!). We got
really close to more flamingos and got some amazing
photos. Passed a railway line in the middle of a salt
flat literally in the middle of no where. Its so
crazy to be driving for so long and then cross over a
railway line. Got asked for passports in some weird
bunker place in the middle of another salt flat and
were told strictly not to take any photos. The
bolivian on the desk was reading porn when we went in.
Bit of a laugh. By this time I had a real fever, and
was getting the hot and cold shivers all day, along
with a full head cold all on top of the altitude
sickness (tired, headaches, racing pulse etc etc).
Spent a few hours on the verge of vomiting in the back
of the vehicle, but managed to hold it together. Hard
work when its rough 4wding and lots of corrugations.
Felt like every bump was totally drilling into my
head. We stopped in a wee town called San Juan and it
was the Bolivian All Saints day, so a public holiday.
In the town centre there was dancing, a band, bolivian
woman in their traditional attire (amazing dresses,
hats and colours). Lots of men trying to dance but
they were all too drunk to have any rythm. It was
such a fantastic thing to be able to experience. I
think we were very lucky.
Day two night was in a flash hotel on the edge of the
Uyuni salt lake. Warm, hot showers (a definite
luxuary in bolivia - not many places have hot showers
at all despite the fact that its totally freezing
outside all year round). We had an amazing meal,
except I was too sick to eat any of it, so I went to
bed. Day three was feeling better after an assortment
of pills and we had a great time. We blased out over
the salt planes feeling like we were in antarctica.
Went to an island in the salt plain for lunch. On the
island was hundreds and thousands of crazy cacti.
Very very surreal. I can't wait to get the photos
back. I took 3 slide films and andrew took about 300
photos on the digital camera in those three days. We
stopped into a hotel on the salt flat that was
entirely made of salt. Beds, tables, chairs etc, all
salt. Amazing.
Had one night in the small town of Uyuni (the end of
our tour). Found a fantastic pizza restaurant and had
a great meal out followed by a cold night in cheap
accommodation. You can get a middle of the range
hostel for $5 NZ. And the food just gets cheaper.
A whole group of us have got together and are
travelling togther for the next few days. Its great
fun having 7 of us running around together seeing
amazing things, having problems and laughing a lot.
we all caught a bus today to the city of Potosi. Its
still on the edge of the altiplano so we are still at
over 4000m. we are acclimitised now though, so
feeling better, and the aching muscles, headaches and
sore throat are nealy gone. I managed to get through
all of today without popping any pills so things are
looking up. Andrew on the other hand is going
downhill with a headcold....
Potosi is a mining town. They used to mine silver,
and I think still do. We are going to do a mine tour
and you get given explosives to use yourselves.
Cool!!
Then we'll have a day to catch our breaths before
dropping down to the oxygen at the large city of
Sucre. Its supposed to beautiful.
We're going to love bolivia. Its so different from
Chile and Argentina and is a breath of fresh air.
Although a lot more tiring and difficult to travel in
than Chile and Argentina.
The people are so genuine and have the most classic
faces with fantastic expressions and colourful dress.
Its taking a while to get used to the land of small
people though. A good proportion of the woman and men
don't even come close to reaching my shoulders, some
of them are so short they only reach my waist (not
kidding either - we're talking dwarfs!!). So I've
spent the last 2 days wandering around banging my head
on things.. Door ways, bus roofs, bedroom roofs,
stall umbrellas etc.
Its really hard to work out ages of people too. some
of the woman walking around with babies look old
enough to be grandparents. I think they age quickly
here though. Their faces have such character, and are
very dark, and weathered. I would love to be able to
capture some of it on film, but they are very shy and
don't like cameras so you can't take any - unless you
can do it very descretely. Its just too rude and
you'll offend them.
So far its been hard getting used to how things work
too. The buses and roads have taken a definite dive
in quality (and safety) and it is difficult to buy a
bus ticket when there is no bus station, and no ticket
office... The gravel roads are one way and the
drivers don't slow down for the blind corners, they
just sit on the horn. So its a good idea to pick the
biggest bus to travel on with the hope that whatever
comes around the corner towards you is smaller than
you so you will come out better off if you crash.
Its great to see a culture that is so traditional
though. They arn't trying to be like westerners, they
are happy to be who they are. Very genuine, and
lovely.
Just today, a woman spent half an hour in the street
talking to me and Cathy asking all sorts of questions
about us and home (andrew and gary in the meantime
were finding us somewhere to stay for the night). It
was a painful conversation cause of my lack of spanish
and she spoke no english, but with lots of hand
signals and laughing I found out she was a school
teacher and had a degree in philosophy. She told us
all the good places to visit. she was so lovely and
tried so hard to communicate. Then when we left, she
wished us a lovely safe trip, kissed us on each cheek
and said goodbye.
Anyway, I am starving. Had no lunch and its dinner
time. We're all going out for tea then will hit the
sack.
Will get in touch again soon. Probably in Sucre. From
there will head to La Paz and hopefully do some
spanish lessons.
take care
lots of love
nicola
[San Pedro de Atacama]
Friday, 25 June, 2004
hi there
just to let you know that andrew and I are now back in
san pedro de atacama (chile) and will be heading for
bolivia tomorrow (friday) or saturday. Nice to be
back in the sun again.
bye for now
love nic
Nic off to Argentina again - the land of the pastries and alfajores...
Friday, 18 June, 2004
Hi
Have just bought a bus ticket to Salta - Argentina
leaving tomorrow morning (friday). Its a 12 hours bus
trip. Will be over there for a few days, and will
return around the same time Andrew does from his work.
Will let you know how it all goes.
bye for now
love nicola
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