Mike here, about time I contributed to the blog (I think Gemma and Guinny would agree). So since our last posting we´ve made our way up from the Salar de Uyuni salt flats through to the silver mining town of Potosi and across to La Paz.

Southern Bolivia was pretty incredible as Gemma described. The flatness, dryness and emptyness of the landscapes was mind-blowing. Amazing to visit but can´t imagine living in a place so completely lacking in fresh water or anything green. Our 4wd trip finished up in the town of Uyuni - imagine Levin or Matuara with dustier streets in the worlds driest desert, on the edge of the world largest salt flat. The sort of place you pass through to get somewhere else but not really somewhere you´d choose to go (sorry if you come from Levin or Mataura but you know what I mean).

Got the bus out of Uyuni the next morning for Potosi. Winded our way up through the mountains on corrugated gravel roads with the expanse of the Salar disappearing behind us. The bus was a bit of a change from our plush rides through Argentina, bags were thrown on the roof and the full leather seats and glass of vino were most definitely missing. The trip took 5 hours but there were a few moments (about 20 perhaps) when we were pretty sure we would end up walking. Whenever we got to a particularly steep section of road the bus got slower and slower before lurching to a stop. This was followed each time by five minutes of the driver revving the engine so that black smoke poured out the back until he figured we could get going again.

The breaks in the journey gave us the chance to get a look at the landscape around us. What seemed so completely empty of people at a glance was actually anything but. The hillsides were covered with enormous networks of stacked-stone walls. There were herds of llamas wandering all over the place with their herders following behind and the bus made many a stop to drop people off at isolated sod cottages along the highway. The people were obviously very good at eeking out an existance in a tough landscape. Made it to Potosi exactly on schedule, so our buses rest stops must be the sort of thing they factor in to the bus timetables in Bolivia.

Back when the Spanish were running things in Bolivia, Potosi was one of the richest and largest cities on earth thanks to the wealth of silver found in the mountain ´Cerro Rico´ that looms over the city. The Spanish mines are legendary for the terrible conditions that the local people were forced to work under. Shifts of up to 48 hours without a break or food were the normal and 8 million people are thought to have died inside the mountain. Today the mines are run small collectives since the silver has largely gone and the big state-run mines closed in the 1980´s. Mine tours are big business in Potosi now and I was keen to check it out. The evening we arrived we watched a documentary ´The Devils Miner´ about the life of a 14 year old boy who had been working in the mines since he was 10 years old. Was pretty horrific seeing what life was like for him and his family and really put us off going into the mines. Didn´t seem quite right to go along as a camera happy tourist to a place where kids are working and dying sp we opted for a relaxed day in the sunshine and checked out the town.

After sorting out a bus to La Paz for the next day we managed to find a taxi and and with the help of our terrible spanish and much frantic gesturing got him to take us to hill we´d spotted on the edge of town with a bizzarre UFO-inspired tower on top. Up on top (after a couple of rest stops that we blamed on being at 4000 metres rather than too much llama meat and red wine) we were met by 360 views of the ´Rich Mountain´, its city, and a sign saying ´Restuarant´ with an arrow pointing up to a metal ladder that dissappeared into a hole in the roof. Not game to try the tower-top ladder restuarant we wandered back to town. Ate at a paradilla/Bolivia BBQ place and apparently our order was for seven sorts of delicious animal (or at least 7 different sorts of meat, possibly from around 5 animals) that came out sizzling to our table on a mini BBQ. After making some wild guesses as to what our meal may once have looked like/how many legs it once had, we figured the best option was just to appreciate it for the sizzling meaty goodness and tuck in.

Bus trip the next day was pretty uneventful, the notable things probably being the reckless, bordering on suicidal/homicidal driving style of our driver, a couple of nasty crashes we passed by and a switch of buses at a less than charming bus station in the town of Oruro. As it got dark we dropped off the altiplano to the night lights of La Paz.

After finding a hostel that wanted us we decided we were deserving of a meal and a drink or two at the hostel bar, end result being none of us were feeling particularly keen and enthusiastic to explore the city the next morning. After a slow start we did eventually make it out the door and went for a look around.The streets were packed with people, 50 year old buses and taxis of every shape, size and colour. Clemens, our adopted German, and I were pretty sure we were the tallest people within a city block at any time as we wandered around.

Made it to the Witches Market, where you could buy charms, potions, alpaca clothing in every colour imaginable and gruesome looking llama foetuses. Visited the Coca museum that was packed with information about the place of the coca museum in Andean history, culture and modern day politics. Interesting to find out that Coca leaves are still used to flavour Coca Cola (minus the narcotic stuff). Finished the day with a bus double decker bus trip around the city. La PAz is a city that seems to have been dropped onto a piece of land not made for a city. It sprawls across a series of valleys and climbs up the impossibly steep valley walls so that you wonder how the whole thing doesn´t just collapse into itself.

Next day the organised girls had booked a tour out to the Tiwanaku archeological site, while Clemens and I were still trying to organise a bike trip for the next day on the ´death road´, apparently the worlds most dangerous road and a popular mountain biking trip. Eventually we sorted out the biking and having missed all the buses to Tiwanaku attempted to get out there using the ¨micros¨ - the minibuses that ply all the main routes through and around La Paz. Our micro wasn´t going to leave until it was full so after an hours wait we persuaded the driver for a few extra Bolivianos to go so we could get there before it got dark. Explored the ruins for a few hours but, not having a guide, weren´t too sure what we were looking at, but was still impressive seeing the carvings and structures. Got a minibus back into the city via the back streets of the El Alto, with the paragraph from our guidebook in the backs of our head that warned about gringos being robbed at gunpoint when making their way back to La Paz. Back at the hostel Guinny and Gemma explained what we´d actually been looking at. So maybe not the most educational day but good for getting to know how to find our way around.

The days biking adventure got off to a pretty rough start for me with what was supposed to be a night of solid rest the night before was instead spent with many a visit to the banos. After coming very close to flagging it away, Clemens and I left early in the morning (Gemma and Guinny were going on to Copacabana). The ride started at 4700m high right up near the snow and finish at 1000m in the jungle - about the same as going from top of Mt Cook to sea level over about four hours riding. Up top it was freezing and we were all rugged up in about 7 layer but by the time we made it to the bottom it must have been thirty degrees. The road itself was pretty crazy, hacked into the cliffside, it snaked its way down the valley walls, rarely more than a single lane of gravel. Apparently it claims about 5 lives a year (or so our guide told us once we´d finished). Considering the drop from the road edge to the valley floor it wasn´t really surprising, though as long as we were concentrating it didn´t feel too dangerous. Made it back to La Paz and off to catch up with the girls in CopacabanaIsla de Sol today.

Right, hope all is well with everyone back home. We´ll try and post something in the not too distant future, probably from Peru.

Mike
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