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Rugged and Beautiful Bolivia

April 1, 2014 Erim Leave a Comment

In 2006 I spent a couple months in South America attending a friend’s wedding in Peru, visiting Machu Pichu and other sites and doing a little traveling on my own..

After the wedding in Lima about a dozen of us went to Cuzco for a week or so, checked out the ruins, sucked wind (there’s not much air up there), drank coca tea and did the things you do in Cuzco.

After celebrating my last night in Cuzco by staying out way too late at the disco, drinking too much and meeting some fellow travelers, I dragged myself out of bed at six in the morning to catch the train south to Puno on Lake Titicaca.

This is a beautiful train ride, even hung over and running on two hours sleep. But it’s a long one too; about twelve hours if memory serves.

After spending a few days in Puno, I made the journey around the lake to cross the border into Bolivia and head down to Copacabana. This is a cool little town on the south side of the lake, and not the namesake of the Barry Manilow song. Interestingly, the namesake in Brazil was named after this Copacabana. Or, so I heard somewhere.

You can’t go to Copacabana without visiting the Isla del Sol, or Isla de La Luna or both. I just did the former, but it was beautiful. I spent Thanksgiving Day, 2006 there, and enjoyed some truly delicious lake trout with quinoa vegetable soup in place of turkey and stuffing while meditating on the sunset you see below.

Copacabana and Lake Titicaca

view of copacabana from the lake
boats to the islands in copacabana
looking down the street in copacabana
tiled cathedral dome in copacabana
woman and child and boat
motor boat and sailboat
isla del sol town and lake
donkey on isla del sol
mama and baby lllama
donkeys behind a stone wall
pretty cactus flower
terraces on isla del sol and lake titicaca
scruffy puppy on the isla del sol
women surveying their realm
panoramic sunset over lake titcaca

La Paz and the World’s Most Dangerous Road

I liked La Paz a lot. Small enough to not be too crazy, but big enough to be an actual city, at least by Bolivian standards. And it just has an interesting, hilly quirkiness that I dug.

I also took bike ride down the “world’s most dangerous road,” which was a blast and something I highly recommend. Pro tip: spring for the full suspension mountain bike though. I did, and my ass was still sore for days. I can’t imagine trying it with a hard tail.

my bus crossing the river
bolivian bus in la paz
statue of child in la paz
people rallying in la paz bolivia
bolivian lawyer in la paz
downtown la paz street
demonstration in downtown la paz
jaw of pickled lizards
various status for sale
herbalists in the la paz market
local herbal remedies
herbal remedies in the market
mummified alpaca fetuses
carrying a bed frame
statue of christopher columbus
ceramic heads
child's skeleton in la paz museum
taking a break on the world's most dangerous road
landslide in the andes
the world's most dangerous road
driving home in the fog

Uyuni

After La Paz, I took a long bus ride south down to the quaint town of Uyuni in the southwest part of the country. It’s actually a cool little town, but most people come here to see the amazing Salar de Uyuni nearby. At 4633 square miles, it is the world’s largest salt flat, and home to salt brick hotels, weird islands, pink flamingos and some really tough people.

From Lonely Planet:

From strange islands in a sea of blindingly bright salt to delicately colored mineral lakes in the Andean mountains, this is an unforgettable Bolivian landscape.

True dat. Even truer:

However, travellers should take great care in choosing which tour operator to go with when visiting the salt flats. Fatal accidents due to unsafe vehicles and drivers are not unheard of. Make sure your vehicles have seatbelts, emergency radio transmitters and first aid equipment, and don’t shy from asking about guides’ levels of training and experience. Of course, there are also many reputable tour operators in the area who will ensure your experience of this natural wonder is both memorable and safe.

Our guide, while not unsafe so far as I could tell, was a bit of a grumpy douchebag. He must have been buying the cheapest tires in Uyuni too, since we had about five flats on the trip. Oh well, all is forgiven. The scenery is amazing, and my hat’s off to the people who live there.

The train museum is cool too.

metal sculpture in town of uyuni
little kid with soccer ball
front of old boiler in train engine
cattle guard on old train
engine in train museum outside uyuni
mechanic needed with experience
old train boiler
old truck at salt hotel
doorway of salt hotel
uyuni salt hotel
vase embedded in salt wall
windmill on pile of salt
view of island in salt desert
big catus on island
llama in uyuni
herding alpacas on the salt desert of uyuni
hanging out in the hot springs
taking a break from driving in uyuni
old volcano caldera in uyuni
mountain reflected in lake
shore of salty lake
pink flamingos in the mud
uyuni llama
people amidst the steam of a hot springs
the uyuni geysers
mud hole at hot spring
cool looking rock in the uyuni desert
uyuni coyote
the land cruiser and rocks

Potosí

I stopped in Potosí to check out the town as well as the Cerro Rico mine. If you’re not familiar with the story, I urge you to check it out.

Basically, it’s a mountain made of silver that has been one of the richest treasures in the Americas since colonial times, and much suffering and despair has accompanied that wealth.

There are times when I’m traveling that I really feel like an overprivileged wanker wandering around amidst poverty and struggle. Taking a tour through this mine and seeing miners aged 12 to approximately 112 was one of those times.

The tour guide did make and set off a bomb for us. That was cool.

church and silver mountain
potosí cathedral
statue of bolivar on horse
dog looking out on sidewalk
mine buildings and town of potosí
mine kitty
mine puppies
making the bomb
our guide holding a bomb
planting the charge
bomb exploding outside mine in potosí
shrine in potosí mine
winch in the potosí mine
kids in potosí mine
old miner and tourists

Sucre

Pretty town. I think I’ll leave it at that. You know how to use Google.

rainbow over buildings in sucre
church at top of hill
gringa and quechua
quechua women
view of street in sucre
view of sucre
windows and flowers

Cochabamba

One of Bolivia’s most economically and socially progressive cities. Known for a public uprising against privatization of their water utility back in 2000. Suck it, Bechtel!

I got caught in a storm here right before my bus was supposed to leave. Think hail the size of peas and torrential rain. The streets were flooded but people didn’t seem too concerned.

Nothing like rushing to catch a bus through knee-deep water in the streets. But everything worked out and I was soon relaxing on the night bus back to La Paz.

a street in cochabamba
moe's grill in cochabamba
dog waiting on the corner
little kid playing in fountain
mime in cochabamba
cleaning up the park in the morning
shoe shine guys in the morning
crazy rainstorm in cochabamba
flooded streets in cochabamba

Coroico

Before heading home I had to return to the lovely town of Coroico. Coroico is in the cloud forest the at the end of the bike ride down the sketch road from La Paz, so some of these photos are from earlier.

We visited Senda Verde Ecotourism Resort, which is an amazing place and where all the photos of monkeys come from. Lookit’ that baby spider monkey! Too cute.

baby spider monkey
spider monkey on leash
spider monkey on rock
squirrel monkey on hearth
squirrel moneky sitting
monkey poking cat with a stick
pissed off kitty
looking down the hill in coroico
view of coroico bolivia
coroico street
coroico doorway
burnt shoe in the road
dog and fence
funky balcony tv antenna
kids looking over a fence
parrot on branch
villa bonita helados

Visit Bolivia if you have a chance and you won’t be disappointed. It has a distinct character and beauty that is incredibly touching, at least for me. No coast, of course, but nobody’s perfect. Blame the Chilenos.

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