Booyakasha Bolivia!

Wow, Bolivia. Where do I start? Sensory overload is one way of describing my journey into this paradox of a country...

Bolivia may be one of the most poorest countries I've visited in my lifetime, but it certainly makes up for it with its breath taking scenery. It is one of the highest, most isolated and rugged of the South American countries I've had the fortune of visiting thus far. It is amongst the earth's warmest and windiest spots and one of the driest, saltiest and swampiest natural landscapes in the world. Having visited some of these places in the last few days Id have to concur. 

Having eventually made it through passport control and into Villazon which is the first town you enter when crossing the border into Bolivia, I was once again mistaken for being Jewish (It must be my Hebrew name and dark hair?!) and immediately taken under the wings of some friendly Israeli travellers who must have sensed that being a solo female traveller I needed a cup of their Chai tea they were drinking. 

All of us were blown away by the chaos surrounding us, people scurrying around the town, especially the Cholas. Cholas are Bolivian women who wear traditional clothing consisting of pleated skirts, bowler hats or boaters, cotton aprons and a shawl. All of this accompanied with their hair parted in the centre and in two plaits. Some with a multi coloured fabric sling across their backs carrying everything from coca leaves to a baby. 

Id read about these women and seen pictures of them on the internet before Id set off travelling, however nothing can prepare you for the fascination that they bring. It is unlike anything Id ever witnessed in another country before. I think it is because I have never been to a country where traditional dress is still adhered to. Especially considering that nowadays these women choose to dress this way, it is not a religious practice, nor enforced by the state. Having researched it a little more, I found out that back in the 18th century a Spanish King (I was unable to get his name...) did actually impose that Bolivian women dress this way. The customary centre parting of the hair was as a result of a decree by the Viceroy of Toledo, Spain. Fascinating.

I travelled with the Israelis until Tupiza which is roughly three hours north of Villazon. Our journey there was surprisingly straight forward albeit slightly manic as the bus was rammed with locals, some sitting in the aisles as there weren't enough seats...

Arriving in Tupiza I signed up to a four day tour of the South West circuit of Uyuni which is the gateway to the infamous Salt Flats. Unfortunately I had a little issue paying for my trip as my bank, in its usual over protective way, had blocked my card (tends to do this each time I enter a new country) and thus prevented me from withdrawing any cash. My spare cards also were useless as they hadn't been topped up by me in a few days (my fault) and given that the internet in Bolivia is akin to dial up circa 1998, there was no way I was going to be able to sort this out in time. Thankfully the tour operator - Tupiza Tours - were very kind and let me pay for the tour a few days later when my card decided to work. Thanks to the BF and the sister for helping me out during my mini cash crisis : D

My tour group were lovely and consisted of a Spanish couple - Jordi and Tamara, and a Brazilian girl called Janete. We travelled in a Toyota 4x4 jeep - the Bolivians had obviously seen the episode of Top Gear where Jeremy Clarkson puts the same model of vehicle, albeit the pick up truck, to the ultimate test and crowned it the worlds most indestructible truck as every tour company was driving it!  It was driven by our expert chauffeur Abner who was accompanied by our cocinera (chef) and surrogate mama, Maura. 

Abner - our chauffeur standing by our 4x4 after our 4 day trip, hence all the salt on the car!

Maura our cocinera (cook) and sarrogate mama

There was a lot of driving involved during our tour, so we were all grateful for the comfortable leather seats that the Toyota had. Not to mention our iPods, although I have to be biased and say my music was the best. No offence guys but I think my eclectic music taste was more interesting to listen to! ;-p

The altitude unfortunately hit us all pretty hard, at different stages of the journey. We were averaging between 3000 and 5000 metres above sea level throughout the journey so it was inevitable. I was fine until the second day when I just hit a brick wall (not literally) but I lost all energy and had the worst migraine and nausea. Abner and Maura attempted to alleviate the altitude sickness with several methods, including chewing (well actually sucking) on coca leaves, sniffing a local herb called Chachacuma and drinking mate tea made of another herb called Pupussa.  Unfortunately none really helped, rather it was the anti altitude sickness tablet that Janete gave me that managed to make me feel better. I ended up buying more later when I arrived in Sucre as the sickness was really debilitating and I didn't want it ruining my trip. 

The scenery throughout the journey was stunning. At times I couldn't quite believe where I was and kept having to pinch myself. It really was breath taking. I wont lie though, it was a little samey at times, I think you can have a few too many lagunas to look at, but other than that it was epic.

We saw the first of many llamas, which I was ridiculously excited about as Id not really seen any through out my travels up until that point. I think the llamas themselves were also a little over excited as one of them couldn't help but spit at Janete who was trying to take a picture of them! Despite this, they are such gentle creatures and are so cute when they have lots of fur as it looks like they're wearing trousers! They also all had coloured bobbles hanging from their ears so as their owners could distinguish theirs between other llamas.

Hello!

Strike a pose. Vogue.

Escapee!

Apologies for slightly lowering the tone here, but it must be said that there were several trips to the toilet al fresco during this tour. Id like to say that this brought me closer to nature. And it did. Just not in the way I would have liked it to. Rather I shall now just look at most of my photos and think of the time that I peed by that tree, rock, building...

The accommodation throughout our tour was pretty basic, with no showers in most places so we were all a little stinky by the end of day three. Thankfully the accommodation during day four had a shower, albeit a typical Bolivian one, with the electricity wires attached to the shower head to heat the water!!! More about this delightful hostel later on...

Foodwise, Maura did her best to feed us well. Unfortunately Bolivian cuisine has yet to compete with European food. We all agreed her version of the Bolivian special Pique macho was unique. Hers was made with llama meat instead of beef. Which I have to say was pretty tasty with its gamey flavour. 

it tasted better than it looked...

Most mornings consisted of waking up at 4am and setting off to whichever site we were visiting that day - typically a Laguna or mountain range - so we inevitably always saw the sun rise. Magnificent compliment to the stunning scenery we were off roading in. 

Sunrise over the mountain range...

We visited the Reserva Nacional de Farma Andina Eduardo Avaroa which was founded in 1973 to protect endemic species including the vicuña and the nesting grounds of flamingos and other birds. This semi-desert region boasts some of the most beautiful and unusual landscapes I've seen thus far in Bolivia. Apparently ninety-six species of fauna have been recorded in the reserve, including 69 species of bird! phew

Check out the altitude...

It was $150 Bolivianos (approx £13) to enter the park, which benefits the residents of a "town" called Quetena Chico and also the state. The "towns" (I use this term loosely as it was was tiny as the name suggests) inhabitants mostly go to work in Chile where they can earn more money. The rest stay and raise llamas which they sell in Uyuni. Most of the reserve had received a lot of rainfall over the past few days and weeks so we were driving through mini lakes and rivers which proved exciting albeit a little terrifying at times! Thankfully Abner was quite the accomplished off-roader.

One of the many rivers we crossed in the 4x4...this one was shallow!

The first laguna we stopped at in the park was called Hedionda Sur. The water reflected the sky so perfectly which looked amazing. The second laguna was called Kollpa and had flamingos. Being a bit of a flamingo fan, I was a little excited to see these exotic birds up close again. Interestingly the laguna had lots of white stuff around the edge of it. We were told that this was a mineral called colpa which is used as an ingredient in shampoos.

The colpa which is used in shampoo. The 4x4 in disrepair wasn't ours thank goodness...

We then stopped for lunch at the Salar de Chalviri which actually isn't really a salt desert at all. Rather it just looks like one because of all the natural mineral Borax (also known as Boron) which is used to make plastics and is also used as an ingredient in detergents. I was (sadly) quite interested in all of this as my uncle used to work for the company Borax which is owned by Rio Tinto so it was interesting to see where all the Boron they used came from. Sheesh what a geek I am...

Boron

There was a natural hot spring in the laguna which everyone chose to chillax in after the long hours spent in the jeep - hard work!

More boron...

The hot spring is where all the people are by the hut...

Whilst at lunch we were given some Bolivian Fanta, which just tasted rank. It is luminous orange and resembles the taste of those effervescent vitamin c tablets you buy in Boots pharmacy. Without the goodness. Not nice. Give me a Coca cola any day...

After the hot spring, we then visited the Desierto de Dalí which as the name suggests is a desert named after the famous Spanish painter Salvador Dalí. Its so named because of the random rock formations there are there against the backdrop of the fantastically different coloured landscape.

That is a 4x4 in the distance, not a rock...

In the desert we visited the Arbol de Piedra which is a rock formation that resembles a tree. It was pretty spectacular to look at. There were loads of other giant rocks surrounding it which the Bolivians didn't appear to mind us scrambling up. So after my rock climbing success in Mendoza, Argentina, I decided to scale one of them. Pretty awesome even if I don't say so myself : D

The rock that looked like a tree

Mission accomplished : D

Close up for evidence

With the exhilaration still pumping in us, we decided a group piccie of us jumping up and down was in order:

My pic didn't come out as good as the others :(

Afterwards we visited the Sol de Mañana Geyser. This was the highest point during our tour - 5000 metres above sea level. Whilst they were pretty amazing to look at bubbling away, we were all a little disappointed by them as none were really spurting any water. I think after not being able to see the Geysers in Chile due to snowfall (yes that was the excuse they gave us...) I was expecting greatness from these Geysers.

Geyser action

The next day after eating some birthday cake for breakfast (compliments of a French girl in one of the other 4x4s whose birthday it was), we set off for the Laguna Colorada. There were more flamingos here than any wed seen thus far - three different types as well - Chilean, Andean and Guelmes which apparently fly in for winter from Africa. It was breathtaking watching them all in the laguna eating and flying around. I hope the pictures justify how amazing it was to see:

Walk like a flamingo...

After a few more laguna stops (there really were a few too many...) we rested for lunch at another which was black in colour - very eerie! The weather even took a turn for the worse and it began to snow?! very lightly but it was still snowing which was weird.


We stopped at the Valle de las Rocas which are is a valley of rocks which have several which resemble the native Condor bird. 

El condor pasa

While the lagunas we saw were impressive and provided some beautiful scenery throughout the four day tour, to me, it was these constantly changing landscapes and abundance of differing colours in the mountains and rock formations awed me most. 

To be continued...