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Where's Dave O?
What a week or more it's been. Finally managed to get a private bus out of La Paz during the strike which is still ongoing. Made my way south on bus and then a great train journey to the town of Uyuni, famous for the largest salt lakes in the world, formed when the ancient lake dried up thousands of years ago. An amazing sight, with islands of cactus more than 1200 years old and disorientating reflections in the shallow water of the surrounding features. Men work in the uncomfortably harsh conditions under the searing sun to collect salt by hand. I spent 3 days in a 4x4 visiting the extreme south of the country, the wild Altiplano/High Planes (>4000m) where we crossed desert, passed through valleys of rocks eroded into shapes by the harsh wind, saw lagoons, white, red and green due to the minerals or algae present, with pink flamingoes, llamas and vicuñas surviving somehow. The people living in the Altiplano are one tough species: hard, tough, short, stocky and impervious to cold it seems. And that's just the women! Didn't see a paved road, plumbed toilet or hot water for a couple of days and was the coldest I've ever been one morning at 6am watching the sun rise, despite being in the middle of an area of hot geysers, bubbling pools of larva and steaming earth. And that was after spending an uncomfortable night on a concrete bed.
After that I left for the highest city in the world, Potosi (4100m). During colonial times, it was the richest city in the world due to its mountain of purest silver, and was bigger than London or Paris. The Spanish took all the wealth however and now men toil 8 to 10 hours a day in the mines for about 5 dollars a day, not eating or drinking during that time but chewing the coca leaf and taking sips of 96% proof rubbing alcohol to keep them going. Needless to say their lives are pretty short, some fall down mine shafts whilst under the influence and others die young of lung disease or cancer from the silicates and other particles in the air. I spent 3 hours in the mine climbing dodgy wooden ladders up 5 or 6 levels, crawling through access holes barely wide enough to get through, walking slippery planks across shafts 30 or 40m deep and seeing the men rig the dynamite (which anyone can buy a stick of here for 80p)and ammonia nitrate before experiencing the noise and force of the xplosions from inside the shafts. Outside our guide lit a stick of dynamite about 20m away from us, I can confirm it makes a very loud bang and scares the bejaysus out of you if you're not ready for it! Other groups had brought a few cuddly toys to be blown up, a bunny rabbit was blindfolded before he met his grisly end with a stick of Bolivian dynamite up his backside.
We went to a football match between Bolivar La Paz and Real Potosi. Football at 4000m altitude in Bolivia is quite different. The ball travels a lot further in the thin air and riot police are stationed at each corner to protect the away team player from missiles with their shields as he takes a corner. Despite this, one orange or plastic bottle usually gets its target as he tries to get the kick in. Home advantage is a definite bonus and Real won 4-2.
Travelling to Sucre in a taxi due to the bus strike, we came across a road blocade with rocks and trees blocking our path and a hundred people sitting in the road protesting about cheap imported American clothing. Politics and policy are never far away here but in true Bolivian style people always make the best of the situation and for a price we struck a deal with a guy in a car on the other side of the blocade to bring us the rest of the way.
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