March 7th - 18th March
After a brief stint in North Argentina we headed to Bolivia. Here we found the Immigration process particularly slack but that's what we would come to expect from Bolivia. First impressions of Bolivia were interesting. It was like no where else in South America we had been. We were pre warned about the locals being rather ugly and yes they were definitely right. Some of the ugliest people in the world greeted us in Villazon. After finally coming to terms with our new surroundings we attempted to get a train North but being Bolivia the only train of the week had been cancelled. Instead we took a bus to Tupiza which was certainly an experience. The three hour comedy bus was just mental. In Bolivia there is zero infrastructure, there is no roads which makes for an incredibly bumpy and scary journey. At one point, i saw an overturned bus 300 feet beneath us which instilled us all with much confidence. Fortunately our driver was particularly skilled and he managed to negotiate the terrain. We stayed one night in Tupiza and then we headed to the worlds largest salt lakes at Salar de Uyuni in a Jeep. There were five gringos in the jeep, a Bolivian women named Polly (chef) and Wilberforce (driver). Neither spoke a word of English which obviously helps when none of us understood Spanish. However i did enjoy calling someone Wilberforce, what a fantastic name.
We spent the first day of our two day trip driving from Tupiza to Salar de Uyuni stopping of at various touristic spots. There remained no obvious road but the scenery is jaw dropping. We took some amazing photos and our personal chef rustled up some lovely Bolivian cuisine. That night we stayed in a Bolivian house which had been converted for tourism purposes. From the outside, BAD, from the inside, it was actually a really nice place. There was no Plasma screens or WIFI but it was quite a nice random place. The next morning we awoke early to catch the sunrise over the salt lakes which was so cool. It stretches as far as the eye can see and it is easy to mistake the salt for snow. We made some really cheesy but amazing photos doing star jumps, spotty dogs and other random shapes. Very funny. Again another awesome place to visit and highly recommended.
That night we would again risk our lives by embarking on a 12 hour bus to La Paz. The journey was just pure torture, i imagined it would be very similar to being stoned. words cannot describe how uncomfortable this journey was. Anyway, we again arrived safely but Bolivian bus trips are certainly not for the faint hearted. We arrived in La Paz with great expectations of a party city and we have not been let down. 9 days of pure carnage followed. The most obvious thing about La Paz has to be the altitude, you become ARTA BREATH simply walking up stairs. In summary we did not do much sightseeing in La Paz, just partied Hard.
there is a few things to report though. We went to visit the famous San Pedro prison which again was mind boggling. You pay prisoners 250 Bolivians to take you on a tour of the jail. This jail has been made famous by an Englishman named Thomas Mcfadden who wrote a book named "Marching powder." He was an inmate and he started giving tours of the prison to tourists to make additional money. This prison is completely unique in so many ways. It is like a town in a jail where in order to survive you effectively need money. There are restaurants in there, families sleep in the cells and there's a cocaine factory in the jail. It all sounds ludicrous but i can assure you that its all true. It is a ridiculously surreal place. Most of the inmates are in for drug trafficking but there is the token murderer and rapist roaming large. Actually, both our two bodyguards had committed murder, NICE.
I also went to see some Cholitas wrestling. I was flying solo for this event because my ever so reliable companion was nursing one of his many hangovers, GIRL. That boy just doesn't function on a hangover, you would get a better response from a dead squirrel. Anyway, the wrestling was again random. seeing a combination of midgets, women and men attempting to wrestle was rather funny. It was just chaos but the locals seem to love it. I had been told you can throw anything at them and so i did. Plastic bottles, nuts, popcorn were all thrown. I even lived my childhood dream of standing on the top rope of a wrestling ring saluting the crowd. CLASS.
The only other thing to report about La Paz was the St Patricks day celebrations which were immense. We had been staying in an Irish Hostel and so we expected it to be good but it was simply the best day. We got involved in the fancy dress antics and simply had some good craic. I crashed and burned about 1am but again MP was mixing it up at numerous establishments until the early hours. No doubt throwing some shapes along the way.
After 9 alcohol fuelled days in La Paz, a detox was needed and so we headed north to Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world.

ciao