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So Bolivia, my first inital impressions were that it looks much dirtier and poorer than the other South American countries and this proved to be correct. The streets in general were just covered in rubbish and the houses and even the main cities looked less prosperous.
Our first stop was La Paz the highest capital city in the world and we had a few days here during the switch over of our tours, it was nice to finally stop and have a few days to relax and catch up on sleep. The first night there our tour guide told us there was a football match on Bolivia vs Chile in the world cup qualifiers - not a fan of the game but couldn´t not go and once there i got really into it we learnt the songs, we had the scarfs and the noise makings things! It just amazed me that these guys could play 90mins at the altiutude when we couldn´t even walk up stairs without getting out of breath! Chile ended up winning 2 - 0 but they were the better team although we couldn´t cheer for them as we were surrounded by Bolivians! The next days we just walked around the town, and one guy had been reading a book called Marching Powder which is about an english guy that got arrested trying to smuggle drugs out of Bolivia and was put in San Pedro prision - but this is a prison like no others and he had tourists in for tours and people to stay, so we headed there to see if we could get in. We were told we had to get a prisoners number, so we got one of our friends that was staying in a hostel to try and get one for us with no luck, but we went back the next day and managed to get in anyway, the guard said are you hear to see Angelo or Sebastian so we picked one, next thing we know we are inside the prision handing over some phone cards as a gift. San Pedro is surreal as the prisoners have to pay to stay there, they have to buy their owns cells. But when you see them they are not quite cells more like mini apartments. There are restaurants and shops in there as they are not provided with food so prisoners open shops etc to earn money. We had a little tour and got to meet some of the prisoners, we were told not to point at anyone and not to ask questions about other inmates, so i spent the whole time nodding my head when asked a question and walking round with my hands in my pockets! We sat in one of the guys apartments with about 10 other tourists and he told us all about it and how it works. When i stood up he commented how tall i was and said he was a bit scared of me - not sure how that works when he´s the prisoner! It was such a weird experience i felt scared but also knew we were in a fairly safe situation and that nothing would happen. I have since read the book and learnt even more about how the place works and have no idea how it still carries on - paying to get into prison is a new one, you even have to pay to leave!
After La Paz we headed to Salar De Uyni aka the salt flats, on the bumpiest road i have ever been on in my life - there was no sleeping on that night bus! We spent three days in the salt flats, i´m sure most of you have seen the pictures. It is just miles and miles of salt as far as you can see surrounded by volcanoes and mountains so it is some of the most amazing scenery ever. We got the obligatory pringles and jumping photos. The next two days were mainly spent in a jeep just seeing the surrounding area and lagoons etc. The last day we saw some geyers and it was -15 when we got there at 7am i have never been so cold in my life!! The trip was awesome although we seemed to have spent most of it in the jeep. However the salt flats was one of the things i was most looking forward to and it more than lived up to expectations!
Next stop was Potosi the highest town in the world to visit the silver mines. Note to anyone who might do them in the future - don´t do it with a hangover!! We spent a few hours in the mines crawling through holes, walking over planks, trying to avoid the holes and getting covered in dust! At one point the guide set off some dynamite for us and we sat in pitch black and had no idea what to expect but the boom was amazing and luckily the roof didn´t collapse. However walking through the dust afterwards was horrible my whole throat was covered in dust and dynamtie and i thought i was going to throw up. We then saw some miners working and gave them some food as gifts, and the guide explained to us how they worship the devil as they belive they are in his world, as well as Pacha Mama - mother earth, and no women can work in the mines as Pacha Mama will get jealous and cause trouble. The miners now mine zinc as most of the silver has gone and that which is left it very deep and too dangerous ot mine. People have been known to die after just one day due to the toxic fumes and the greater risk of mine collapse. Even in the normal mines people die after 10-15 years and the minimum age is 12 (only a few more years William!!).
Sucre was next on the map and we had some free time here so we decided to go on a bike ride, buit stupidly picked the one that was 70% uphill and declined the offer of a taxi back. However after getting to the destination - waterfalls we were begging to get a ride home. The ride itself was fun but such hard work. It stopped at the dino park to see some rather unimpressive dino footprints in the rock face across the valley, but it was a much welcomed break from the bikes. The final stop was the 7 waterfalls and we were told we could go for a swim, Steve jumped in and said it was cold but i thought i´ll give it a go, well i think i jumped out just as fast as i got in. It stung it was so cold!! We managed to get a local man to take us back in his pickup although we had to get out at hills as it couldn´t get up with ten people in it!
That night we were celebrating SJ´s birthday with a super hero theme so hit the town with SJ as Mrs Incredible, me and Wonder Woman, a superman and some ninja turtles - much to the bolivians amusement!
The final stop to catch the train was Santa Cruz, a town that was a mix of Bolivia and Brazil and much warmer than the rest of Bolivia - a sign of the sun to come in the next 5 weeks! We mainly spent our time here shopping and relaxing and then got the night train to Brazil the next day!
Bolivia is the coldest place i have ever been in the world but the short time we had here was awesome and at times surreal!
Brazil update will follow soon and i am trying to upload photos but it´s not working so i will try again tomorrow! xxx
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