Uyuni Salt Flats

The Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia are a highlight of anyone’s trip to South America . When Charmaine, Steve, Roxana and I reach the Agency (La Torre Tours) with whom we booked the tour The 4X4 is waiting for us already loaded with 4 days provisions, cooking equipment and two 150 litres barrels of diesel for refueling.

Only a 4x4 will do

Delvira and her assistant Jeremy (from  South Africa) introduce us to Isabel and Vicente who will be our guide/driver/cook/companions for the next 4 days. Vicente is in his early forties and he is a very nice gentleman whose calm and secure driving reassures us straight away. Isabel, the cook is a very sweet lady. A mother of 5, she must be in her fifties.She is always trying to make us laugh with a joke or two. 

The sense of imenseness is humbling

We stop right at the edge of town because she spotted one of her daughters with her two children. She picks up her grandson whose head is shaved just like mine, and to our great surprise the little boy of 2, point s to my head and exclaims “Coco Manzana!” (which means: Apple Head!).

The twin volcanoes are quite a sight

We set off in high spirits and don’t have to wait more than 5 minutes before the scenery gets spectacular. We drive through impressive valleys and high plateaus, along dried river beds and breathtaking ridges. We speed past Llamas (domesticated)  and Vicuñas (wild).

Vicente has identified the origin of the problem

Then at some point Vicente stops the Jeep because his wheel was stiffening. He checks and discovers that we are losing hydraulic fluid for the power steering. Vicente syphons the remaining hydraulic fluid in a container, finds the leak, repairs it and refills the circuit. He turns on the vehicle and tests the wheel: everything works perfectly. We climb back on board and set off. It turns out Vicente is a mechanic by trade!

Isabel getting everything ready

Next stop is for lunch. Isabel labors around and quickly sets up our meal. It’s hot food: chicken in gravy, salad and pasta. Yummy. In the afternoon we continue driving amidst more incredible scenery.

Lago Verde (Green Lake)

In the next few days we visit Lago Verde (the Green Lake) which changes colour from almost black in the morning to a greyish green due to temperature change and speed of wind. We also visit the Lago Colorado (The Coloured Lake) which turns to a brick red colour in the afternoon. We’ll also visit lakes with thousands of pink flamingos and swim in thermal bath coming down from the volcanoes.Some other highlights are the Arbol de Piedras (The Rock Tree) and the geisers which were spurting out toxic fumes and boiling mud.

Hot water springs at 35°C - Air is at 8°C

The red lake - quite biblical really

Geisers of toxic fumes

From 3 metres deep to only "flakes" now

We are hoping the "tree" does not tip over

Pink Flamingoes with a jaw dropping background

Amazing sunrise in this special place

The accommodation (as we have been warned)  is very basic during this tour: hardly any running water and  electricity for only a couple of hours at night. The temperature after sunset plummets in the desert. The coldest night we spent was the eve of the Uyuni Salt flats and it must have been -5°C outside because it was just above zero in our room. We had plenty of covers and a thick sleeping bag. We managed to scrape through the night and had a 4.30am rise to see the sunrise on the flats.

Gazing over the huge spans of the flats

We drove over the Uyuni Salt flats which are the biggest in the world. It is 12.000km² (that’s 6 times the size of Mauritius) and  is between 40cm to 1m thick with salt. The people around the flats “harvest” the salt and send it off to the rest of Bolivia for domestic consumption. One can purchase a  50kg bag of salt here for 12Bs (that is 1.20€)!!!

Roxana in equilibrium on a nescafé pot

It is truly  breathtaking. Such a huge spans of immaculate white salt surface. We readily start our photo shoot session with all the props we brought along with us.  When we return we are tired but filled with a sense of accomplishment.  


For more pictures of the tour : Uyuni Salt Flats

To see us having fun with the props : Salt Flats With Props

On Isabel's braids

50kg of salt for 1.20€

Changing a tyre after 4 days of battering

Tupiza

We left Potosí and took the theoretical 6hr bus ride to Tupiza. We got ripped off by probably 50% for the bus fare because we saw a local's ticket : he was gong further than us and paying cheaper. I hate when this happens. It’s not for the absolute value but more for the principle of it. But this is to be expected in Bolivia (which is not my favourite type of country).

Roxana and Steve crossing the dried Tupiza river

 

Anyhow after 6 long hours we get to the entry of town where there is a blockade. The two taxi companies of Tupiza have blocked all the road and town centre because they have had an argument with the taxi company of another small town over the right to do business in each other’s town. So by paralyzing their own town they are shooting themselves in the foot. Funny logic but hey welcome to Bolivia.

We have travelled with Charmaine and Steve since Sucre. We go out in town to book the 4-day tour we came here to do. This is the famous tour to the Uyuni Salt flats. After comparing prices and services in three different agencies including our own hostel, we go for the one that Steve’s friends recommended because the food was supposedly better with them (we were not disappointed). We do bargain a fair bit anyhow and manage to get a discount of 100Bs (10€) each and get them to throw the sleeping bags in for free.

Amazing match sticks standing in the desert. 

With this booked and having an extra day in Tupiza we book another tour, with the same agency. It’s called the Triathlon : Jeep, walking and horse riding; The surroundings of Tupiza are astounding. There are cliffs that have been eroded over the years by rain and wind and are left with sharp edges. The colours are so intense (orange, brick red, yellow and green) that they look like they come straight from a Lucky Luke comic strip.

We felt like cowboys in a western!

We particularly enjoy the horse riding in the middle of this incredible scenery. When on horseback the nature is enjoyed in a different way as with a jeep. The noise of a diesel engine is not there and the horse can get through narrow passages that cannot be traversed with a motor vehicle. Also because you are sitting much higher, the perspective is much better and you really have a 360° view.

The day was over before we know it, and that’s always a good sign. 

For more pictures : Tupiza

Beautiful setting for this church

Impressive geologic formations

Potosí

The main church in Potosí

The town of Potosí and it’s silver mines. Potosí was founded in the mid 16^th century when rich ores were discovered in the mountains here. It is said that at 4070m altitude this is the highest city in the world. The Spaniards leapt at the opportunity and started the extraction of Silver. The ores they were extracting were of incredible quality – up to 85% pure silver content. The Spanish empire and it’s vice royalties in South America greatly benefitted from this silver.

When the indigenous could not keep up anymore with the pace set by the colonial powers, African slaves were brought in. In the first three centuries of operation 8 million workers died in those mines. It is said that with the bones of the dead, a bridge could be built from Potosí in Bolivia to Seville in Spain.  

It is also said that a similar bridge, this time of pure silver, could be built between here and Spain with all the precious metal that has been extracted from this mountain. Indeed at it’s height, Potosí was very rich and it was one of the biggest cities in the world, bigger than Seville or Paris.

Our guide Ronald who is himself an ex-miner

We came to Potosí to do something really crazy: we wanted to visit the mines. Now this is not a museum, nor is there a small gallery which has been "sanitised" for the benefit of the curious tourists. No no no this is a real mine still in activity, brutal and dangerous.

Ready to go into the mine

After they made sure we do not have any heart conditions or respiratory problems, they made us sign a waiver that would protect them from any thing that could happen to us down there including death! We signed the paper and were given a miner’s kit, pants, boots and jacket, a helmet and an electric head lamp.

I'm holding a dynamite stick!

We boarded the bus and made our way to the mines. We stopped at the miners’ camp where we were supposed to buy some gifts to the miners who would show us around down there. It’s nothing much, we bought fizzy drinks, coca leaves to help relieve the pain … and some dynamite! Yes real dynamite (TNT), a fuse and detonator. The whole package comes in at 20Bs (2€). A cheap alternative to fireworks for new years’ eve ?

With our gifts we headed to one of the Candelaria mine. Only just before entering that we realize what we are doing … this is a real mine, it’s not a zoo or museum, if there is an accident we’re in big trouble. But it’s too late now, no chickening out.

We start by walking 400m along a rail line which carries equipment in and out of the mine. We have to make way for the carts as they pass every now and then. We salute the miners as we go past them. It’s 3pm and they look tired.  The first thing that hits you is the darkness, the narrowness of and ruthless environment of this place. Then the sulphur fumes are a constant hassle too, they burn the eyes and the throat. The handkerchief I’m wearing over my nose and mouth is not helping.

Copper Sulphate Crystals

We reach the end of this tunnel and go down to level 3 which is  about 600m inside the mountain. As we climb down the ladder into that gallery, we immediately feel the difference in temperature. Ronald our guide, who is also an ex-miner tells us that it is only 35°C here. Temperatures in the mines can vary from below freezing to 45°C!  Anyway my sweat glands have kicked in and I’m dripping. We continue in the mines and see some beautiful yellow Sulphur precipitations on the wall. There are also some amazing greenish-blue Copper Sulphate crystal and also chocolate brown Zinc ore veins. 

This cart weighs 2 tons

The dazzle only lasts but a few seconds before the next cart is announced. We make way but this time it’s not pulled by an electric winch. A man, topless emerges from the darkness, he is pulling the cart. I can see the rope burning his skin. Behind the cart two other men are pushing as hard as they can. Ronald tells us that the cart and its content weigh about 2 tons and that as long as the tracks are flat, the guys can move it themselves …

That's how narrow it is

We continue the tour and we have to scrape down through a narrow shaft (no more than 50cm diameter at some points) to another lower level. That where I let the bottle of water I was carrying go. It rolls down and gets stuck in a small gallery which is even narrower. I ask the guy in front of me to wait up while I try to go get the bottle, I manage although I can feel the heart rate increasing. I had not seen that there was a hole big enough for a man to fall through. I don’t know how deep it is, maybe 2m maybe 50m – but I don’t want to find out.

After this little extra thrill I catch up with the group and three other miners waiting for another cart to arriveing to load the ore in a rubber basket that will be pulled up by an electric contraption. 

It's hard work loading these baskets

When the cart arrives, I volunteer to help by shoveling the rocks from the cart to the baskets. After only three minutes I’m panting, sweating and a little bit dizzy. Ronald suggests chewing on some coca leaves. I politely decline preferring water at this point.

After another 500m down, we turn around and start our ascent. The air is almost not breathable and the heat is unbearable. We constantly have to bend forward in order not to bang our heads with the gallery ceiling. Our necks and backs hurt and thighs are burning. There is about 10cm of muddy water at our feet. This place is not for claustrophobes. 

Don Basilio at the back and Ronald on the right conversing

On our way back up we stop close to a small gallery where a miner is taking a break. We’re lucky because this man, Don Basilio, knows our guide and therefore we get a priviledged interview with him. He speaks Quechua and our guide Ronald is very happy to translate for us. He also encourages us to ask him questions.

So Don Basilio is 42 years old and works in the mines for 26 years. He has 8 children, and his two eldest sons, 17 and 21 also work with him in the mine. I ask him how long he’ll work more and he says maybe another 10 years in order to get a full pension from the cooperative. Another group member asks him whether he likes it at all and you can tell Don Basilio could not quite understand what the question was. He finally answered that there is nothing to like ot dislike but that this is all he knows how to do and that it helps him sustain his family. We thanked Don Basilio and offered him the dynamite for which he was very grateful.

Roxana is feeling the heat in the mine

As we were climbing back up Ronald told us about how it all works : most miners work for a cooperative. They pay a 15% tax on whatever they extract to the co-op which itself pays half of that to the state. The miner has to buy his equipment, dynamite, etc himself, those are not supplied by the co-op. 

Ronald goes on by telling us that a miner may earn between 1500-3000Bs per month (150-300€) as compared to the 500Bs average salary in the region. They often have big families and the older sons come to work as young as 13. Because they breathe asbestos and silica dust all the time, the life expectancy of miners still today Is between 45 and 55 years! The most common cause of death by illness are lung cancer or Sillicosis, when you start coughing blood and die soon afterwards. 

We go back home, back broken, soaked in sweat and dirty. But that’s nothing as compared to what is going on in our heads. We live in a completely different world, we know so little of this one. It does indeed make one ponder …


For more pictures on Potosí

Sucre

The Santa Maria convent is a great visit

It’s funny how after some time traveling around you immediately know when you’re going to like a place or not. For Sucre we knew we’d like it on the way from the airport. When we got to the hostel, Vincente (actually Vincent from Lille, France) welcomed us with a big warm smile. His hostel is beautifully set in an old colonial house with an interior patio which is abundantly blessed with sun. He showed us around the place, we have a nice clean kitchen to share with the other guests and the bathrooms are clean and spacious. He has got a nice TV and hundreds of DVDs. He readily tells me it’s absolutely ok (and even keenly encouraged) to watch the Premiership football or the Rugby World Cup even if it is at 4am. Yep I heard that loud and clear!



On the Convent's roof

José de Sucre amidst the Bolivian and provincial flags

After Vincente explained what could be done/visited in Sucre we headed out to discover this beautiful little colonial town. Sucre is a very important place for Bolivia and South America. Simon Bolivar and José de Sucre (hence the name of the town) actually dealt the final fatal blow to the Spanish army close by and sealed the independence of Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and Bolivia from the dominion of Spain. It is also here that the independence of Bolivia was proclaimed. Sucre remains the capital of the country as according to the Bolivian constitution even if the seat of government and financial power were transferred to La Paz. The judiciary power stays here in the form of the Supreme Court of Justice.

Mausoleum belonging to a powerful family

Sucre has a great climate: it’s sunny and warm but not too hot - temperatures hover in the mid 20’s. The sky is blue and you can feel that there is so much less pollution and hassle here as compared to La Paz. The white buildings are a testament to Sucre’s past as capital. There are big parks and open spaces and the squares are beautiful. Even the cemetery is well worth seeing. Sculpted trees and hedges and beautiful mausoleums.

On our way back we stop by the supermarket and buy a lot of provisions for our stay in la Dolce Vita (a truly appropriate name for our hostel). We buy eggs, bacon, oil,  freshly made bread, cheese, tacos, meat, veggies, Bolivian wine (good, easy to drink and cheap), some dark beer and some lager.  And then what do I see there lying casually on the shelf starring right back at me: PEANUT BUTTER!!! They’ve got it all: classic recipe, crunchy chunks and smooth & creamy! It’s official, I really LOVE this place!



The beautiful theatre building stands high in Sucre



Yummy fruit juices

Closer to home we fling by the market. It’s great, all the fruits, the dairy products, the vegetable, the meat and chicken. It’s as colourful as in Mauritius. There are vendors selling sandwiches and hot food. In a corner, a lady is selling ice cold milk coloured with rose syrup … if it had agar agar in it I would be tempted to yell at her: “Ene gros verre Bhai Cassam!”. Then there are the fruit juices : there are all the fruits you can imagine and some more, plus carrots and celery. You just make your choice and ask the lady to blend your juice. A vitamin supershot.

Relax and Enjoy the view

We also climbed up to the old parts of the city on the hills. From there we had a really good view of the city lying down in long chairs and enjoying a cold juice. Roxana chose the winning combination : melon, strawberry and orange fruit juice to be enjoyed in a long chair.

Another great sunset from Dolce Vita's kitchen

A great night out on the town

Following Vicente’s advice we went to the best show in town. A professionally choreographed folkloric dance spectacle. It was superb, much better than anything of this sort we had seen so far. And we really liked the meal while enjoying the show. The food is prepared by the same chef who owns one of the best restaurants in town : La Taverne (French cuisine). For more pictures on the show : Origenes Folkloric Dance Show



Catholic Boarding School in Sucre - co-ed

 

Roxana humbled by a 30 metre Brachiosaurus

On the second day we took the “Dino Bus” to visit one of the most spectacular dinosaur sites anywhere in the world. It is a huge quarry where in 1998 they discovered by pure luck thousands of dinosaurs tracks. There was a big earthquake in 1979 which destroyed a lot of Sucre and the government immediately started to rebuild. The needed a lot of cement and they gave permission for this huge cement plan to start extracting their raw material from this area. That’s how they stumbled, so to stay on these dinosaurs’ tracks. It was amazing to think that we were seeing footsteps left behind by animals dead close to 100 million years ago.

A voter reading the protest campaign

Sunday was election day in Bolivia. For the first time in history the Bolivians have to elect their public prosecutors and chief judges etc. This election which should have been a minor one, has been blown out of proportion by both the government and the opposition(s). The president Evo Morales wants to put on a display of how democratic Bolivia is and wants to redeem himself somewhat in the eyes of his once huge indigenous supporter base. The latter feel they have been betrayed by “their” president (who also is of indigenous descent) who broke some electoral promises (first time I hear that!) and especially a very controversial development project in the middle of a sacred forest.

"Roxana lost for words as alcohol sale banned"

There has been a huge march for weeks within Bolivia arriving in the capital city the day before the elections. The people want to make sure Morales knows they’re not happy. And they  did achieved it. The government decreed that no public transport would operate 48h before election day. Alcohol sale stopped on Friday night leaving all the tourists in Bolivia baffled! Fortunately Vincent had told us and we stocked up. I don’t want to be caught "dry" for NZ vs Australia or Liverpool vs ManU (yeah I know it’s 4am here but so what?). Anyway that was the most surreal weekend we’ve spent in South America so far. No cars, everything closed and people just walking in the middle of the streets. Election day came and went and the driver of the taxi we took to Potosi tells us that the Preseident’s party lost. He seemed very happy so I know who he voted for.

Next stop the Silver mines of Potosí. 

For more pictures of Sucre

   

La Paz

Incredible cable work

We arrived in La Paz from the lake Titicaca late Sunday afternoon.  I was not feeling too well after having eaten "fresh" meat from the market the day before.  The sun was going down and we entered La Paz via Palo Alto, a HUGE slum bigger than La Paz itself. It was nasty and that was not a good start.

Then we arrived to our hostel, in the ugliest neighbourhood of the city. Now the Bolivian capital (the highest Capital city in the world actually) is not pretty; it’s polluted, overcrowded and the traffic kills any charm that could be left. And on top of that in the more popular neighbourhoods buildings are badly maintained and the amount of electric and telephone wires hanging in the open is scary.

Llama foetus at the witch market

The columbian fans are great

The best thing that I did in La Paz was to go to the World Cup qualifier in the National stadium. Bolivia was entertaining Columbia who never did better than a draw in La Paz. It’s a privilege for a football fan to experience South American football. The atmosphere was electric. It reminded me much more of football in Mauritius when we still had packed stadia and a competitive league (Sunrise, Fire, Cadets, Scouts, Police etc).

There were some police  and military, vendors inside the stands proposing all kinds of goodies to the spectators, again like in Mauritius in the good old days : chicken sandwiches, ice creams and for the benefit of Mauritian readers: pikisidou, sorbet dilé and calaminedasse! I kid you not.

The game was underway and the Columbian team, who flew in just before the game to avoid altitude related problems, was having a lot of the ball. The game was of excellent quality and I thought the ref was doing a good job. Many Bolivian fans did not think this way and they were letting the ref know about it. From what I could understand it appears the ref’s wife was a tiny three eyed, hairy leprechaun! Must be the related to the refs in Mauritius! With Brazil automatically qualified, you can feel the extra tension within smaller nations like Bolivia who realise they have an extra chance to clinch a direct or a playoff spot for 2014.

The Colombians celebrating after their first goal

The crowd was really behind their team while yelling at the players they felt did not play to national standards. The most common one was hilarious : "Guiterez, pare con empanadas!" which in good Mauritian Creole translates to the classic "Guiterez, arete manz dhol pouri!". I almost fell down laughing.  

A Dark spot was that some of the public were shouting racist abuse at the black Columbian players. Sadly, this too reminded me of Mauritian football. Two imbeciles in particular were comparing them to chimpanzees. I turned round to discover that it was a couple, husband and wife in their 50’s!  For a nation that calls itself multiracial and multiethnic that’s a disgrace. The last comment applies to both Bolivia and Mauritius…

Oh yeah I almost forgot … guns. You know how sometimes in South America you hear that a ref or a player had been shot inside the stadium while on the pitch. I’ve always wondered how they could smuggle guns inside the ground – I theorised that they would conceal them in the drums or trumpets they bring in, or they would bribe a stadium clerk, or even hide one with a kid that accompanies the bad boys. Well mystery solved! I know how they do it … they just walk through the gates with it. Oh there are signs posted everywhere warning people not to bring knifes or firearms inside, but body searches are non-existant at the entrance. Anyone could bring whatever they wanted inside and throw at the opposition players, and they did during the game but nothing too nasty fortunately.

Anyway I had a great day out and hope I can see more games as we travel around. 

This literally is a zebra crossing

The next day we went for the city bus tour. We walked briskly through downtown and arrived on time at the stop. NO bus … hmmm. After 15 minutes we called the tour company and they very casually said that they cancelled the morning’s outing. Great! Half a morning lost.

Pied Piper of Hamelin ? 

Enjoying the Japanese food

We decided to walk around town for a while until lunch, and we headed to a very nice Japanese restaurant. The ramen, beef teriyaki and gyosa were excellent. It was so good that we went there again that evening. This time we had tempura, maki and other goodies.

We took an early taxi to the airport. Higher poorer La Paz sits at around 4000m altitude while the richer nicer neighbourhoods lie 1000m lower. The International airport is also at about 4050m (13000ft) which makes it one of the highest in the world.  The runway is a staggering 4km long for airplanes to take off safely. At this altitude, the air is less dense and the jet engines produce less power and thrust. Also the lift is smaller on the wings, therefore a longer distance is required for the plane to reach a higher take off speed. If not, well KAPUT!

After these few days we were happy to leave La Paz for Sucre. 

For more pictures : La Paz