Bolivia

Over the past week or so we´ve been traveling throughout Bolivia, which has been spectacular. The last entry I had was from La Paz, so I will begin from there...

From La Paz we had to get to the town of Uyuni, a small town on the right outside the Salar de Uyuni, a salt lake/sea that dried up and now has crazy landscapes and thermal activity. But first the adventure getting to Uyuni. We were supposed to take a bus to Ororro and then a 7 hour train ride to Uyuni, but we learned that the train workers were striking, so it appeared we´d have to take a bus all the way. This is quite a usual occurence here, our guide, Melanee said out of 8 trips from La Paz to Uyuni only one has gone smoothly. By some stroke of luck, the train workers stopped striking the day of our journey, so we were back to the bus-train ride. On our way to Ororro there were students protesting on the road, blocking the road with fires and rocks. The bus had to go off road in a field for a couple of miles to get around the protest. This worried us, because now there was a great possibility the train workers would be striking again once we got to Ororro. Welcome to the craziness that is Bolivia! Fortunately, the train workers decided not to strike and we were able to get on the train.

The train, a private company, was actually really nice. I enjoyed the train ride very much. It was nice scenary (including pink flamingos) and good conversation with my travel mates. The dining car was nice as well. The only problem was the carriages got real dusty as the ride went on. People began putting their shirts over their mouths. This was quite funny as I was on the train at one point reading a book Todd loaned me about a guy taking trains from Boston to Patagonia and while in this dusty carriage I read a page where he was describing a train trip where the dust was so bad people were putting their shirts over their mouths. Ironic!

We got to Uyuni around 10 PM and it was freezing! The Salar over the next 4 days would bring me some of my coldest nights of my life. The next day we set out on the Salar in 4 wheel drive vehicles. The first part of this was amazing, nothing but salt for miles. It kind of looked like ice, but it was solid salt! We drove for a little while on the salt flat and reached the salt hotel, a hotel which is now not in use, made completely out of salt, from the building down to the table and chairs. Then we drove for a few hours until we reached what I describe as ¨cactus island, an island in the middle of the salt falt full of cacti. This to date has to be the most bizzarre landscape I´ve ever witnessed. Cactus island, then salt flat, then in the distance snow capped mountains. Afterwards we drove for an hour or so and then took pictures out in the middle of the flat. It is traditional to do weird things with these pictures since it is nothing but white landscape. Then we headed for some caves, which were nice, but after the salt flats kind of anticlimatic.

The next morning we woke up early and headed out to see some multi-colored lakes and the famous rock tree, a windblown rock in the shape of a tree. The lakes were spectacular, one black and one red. All had pink flamingos feeding and flying around. We also got to see an andean fox around the lakes. All these were surrounded by volcanos and volcanic rocks. There was one volcano that was still spewing some ash into the air.

The following morning was the earliest, a 5 AM wake up call. We drove for a few minutes and reached an area with multiple geysers and boiling mud pools. They were nice, but not as spectacular as Yellowstone. It was also might have been the coldest I´ve ever been. I had to stop taking pictures because my hands were frozen in a fistlike postion. At about 8 AM we arrived at some natural hot springs, where the brave ones changed into swimsuits and hopped in. It was subfreezing outside, but very warm in the pools, a nice reprive. While driving in the desert we stopped for a brief bit at ¨Dali´s Rocks¨ the inspiration for Salvador Dali´s Melting Clocks picture. It was cool because you could really see where he got the landscape from. I had no idea he had ever even been to Bolivia. We traveled to another lake, this one green! It was like we were seeing a rainbow of lakes! I really liked the next stop a lot. It was called ¨Valley of the Rocks¨. Basically they reminded me of Arches national park in Utah. A valley full of huge rocks windswept into crazy formations. The Salar was awesome in that each stop was a whole new landscape, thermal activities, etc. all in a relatively condensed area. We climbed around for a while then headed to our next sleeping spot. The sleeping conditions were interesting in the Salar, freezing cold and dorm style. One night the beds were literally a concrete slab. I slept in layers and layers of clothing, including my hat and gloves. It was definitely worth it though because of uniqueness of the area.

The last day of the Salar was mainly a travel day, although we did stop in at the train cementary, a spot where they moved abandoned trains of 50-100 years old. From there we headed to Potosi.

I was really looking forward to Potosi more than most because I saw an intriguing program about the famous Cerro Rico silver mines. Potosi was once the richest towns in all of the Americas as in the Cerro Rico mountain huge amounts of silver and other metals were found. It is still mined today, though not for silver, in horrendous and dangerous conditions. Approximately 8 million people have been killed working in the mines since the 1500s. There are interesting customs and superstitions regarding the mines, one being that the devil lives in them and miners must make sacrifices of cocoa leaves, alcohol, etc. each Friday. Every one of the approximately 5000 entrances has a statue of the El Tio, the devil, as you get into the mine. A group of us went into the mine, it was quite an experience. Inside the mountain are many shafts going in every which way. There is no machinery except in the far bottom of the mountain, so everything is done by hand. This includes a miner spending three hours chiseling a hole for dynamite, something that probably could be done in a minute using a drill. It is obviously horrific conditions inside, dark, dusty, gaseous. We observed many miners doing different jobs, and helped them out some too. It was extremely hard labor. Most of the miners work 12 hours a day and earn the equivalent of $5 per day. They don´t eat or drink during the entire time because there is nowhere to go to the bathroom. To keep sustenance they only chew on cocoa leaves. As gifts we brought the miners cocoa leaves and dynamite. We saw all ages of miners ranging from 12 to 45. One interesting thing we did was get lowered down a shaft on a rope. Also, we heard 16 explosions of dynamite. You could feel the vibrations of the rocks. It is scary because there really are no safety precautions throughout the mine (thus the number of causalties). The miners really appreciated the gifts we brought them because for a lot of them it was equivalent to a day´s pay. They are also very proud of the work they do. No conveyor belts either, all extracted materials is removed in wheelbarrows. It was really quite an experience to see.

Now we are in Sucre, a picturesque town. Most buildings are white. Yesterday we saw some dinosaur tracks. It is strange because they are so unprotected right now (although supposedly they are going to try and preserve them in the next year). They are in the middle of a quarry where workers still dynamite. It was a fun tour (many laughs) and interesting to see. I have now have today in Sucre and then fly to La Paz. This is the last day with the group, who I will really miss a lot. Then it is on to Ecuador.

(Sorry if this post sucks, I am struggling a bit today after a night of drinking last nice. The British are kicking my ass)

Cactus island