Last Stop La Paz

Final Stop: La Paz, Bolivia (April 8-13, 2011). La Paz was to be the last stop on our amazing South American adventure. To break up the journey from Sucre to La Paz, we made a brief stop in Cochabamba. We had heard that Cochabamba had great markets, so we were excited to do a lot of souvenir shopping. Well, Cochabamba did have A LOT of markets...but unless we were planning to bring home rooster heads, lamb hooves or cow tongues, these were not the markets we were looking for. Shopping FAIL. So for the first time in Bolivia, we were very excited to board a 7 hour bus ride out of there, direction La Paz! We arrived to a bustling and LOUD city (I swear I tried several times to see how high I could count between car horns and the highest I got was three.) La Paz is the highest capital city in the world at 3650m above sea level and it is surrounded by the high mountains of the Altiplano.

Saw: Our time in La Paz was mostly centred around shopping for souvenirs (this time we succeeded!).

Mirador Killi Killi

Since we had such little time in the city we thought we'd try to get a feel for the main sites of the huge city by joining a "Hop on Hop off" bus tour. FAIL. EPIC FAIL. The city is so congested, traffic is so jammed that the big double decker bus was barely crawling. The one good thing we got out of it was the Mirador Killi Killi which provided really great views of the city and the surrounding mountains. Not long after the lookout stop we started to feel the pain that the bus tour would never end so we cut our losses and bailed. The following four pictures pretty much sum up what we saw on that bus tour:

 

Power lines....dangerously messy power lines.
We didn't need to be told not to stand up on
the bus.





GRIDLOCK. HONKING. And no one getting anywhere.

A bus that drove into a pole. 

We knew we couldn't leave La Paz without mountain biking down "The World's Most Dangerous Road." Scary? Definitely. Thrilling? ABSOLUTELY. Recommended? Without a doubt one of the best adventures we had on the trip. We chose a company that came with good recommendations, B-SIDE Adventures. They were very professional, the guides were great and the equipment was excellent. This trip is not one to save your dollars on. 

When the road was used as a main traffic roadway, an average of 200 to 300 people died every year. Nowadays it is mainly used for mountain biking but it is still open to traffic. 

The road we cycled is approximately 63km and there are three parts to it: first we biked on the highway with vehicles, the second part was steep and covered in loose rocks, and the third part was still gravel, but more packed. We biked under waterfalls, and through streams, all the while barrelling 3600m downhill. We started in the morning at 4700m and finished early afternoon at 1100m.  



Narrow roadway. Add to that the speed of going downhill - a
dangerous combination. It looks flat but it was in fact quite an incline.
I remember well because my forearms were screaming from
pumping the brakes the whole way down.



The whole mountain biking experience was thrilling but the entire time, you had to be focused on what you were doing because one wrong move and you could become an offering to the rain forest that lies below the sheer cliffs. It was sobering to pass by monuments to those that had lost their lives on the road, the last only 8 months ago. This road still claims on average over one life a year. Basically, this is the deal: If you go over the edge, the guides have 100m of rope with which to try to rescue you. The valley is MUCH deeper than 100m, but it becomes impossible to perform a rescue beyond 100m without putting the lives of the guides in danger. 



  

Frankly put, if you go over the edge, your chance of survival is minimal. I in no way want to dissuade anyone from trying this adventure, it was exhilarating, but it merits a word of caution. Anyone can do this ride, but over confidence can mean the difference between a fun trip and a tragic end.

 

We decided to stay at the lower (warmer) altitude and spent a night in Coroico. It was a nice place to rest and a quiet respite from the loudness of La Paz. We lounged by the pool and took a stroll in the coca fields nearby. 

Our accommodation in Coroico

            

The view from our room



Coca field

We took a minibus (van) back to La Paz and THAT ride was scarier than the death road: 

It started to rain and then a thick mist rolled in, so thick that you couldn't see more than a metre in front of the van, but that didn't deter our driver, he hardly slowed down AND he still kept passing slower cars, sometimes on blind corners...with oncoming traffic. I was thankful that Erin had fallen asleep before this part of the journey because I did enough panicking for the both of us. 

Met: We also couldn't leave La Paz without one last visit with our new friends Mike and Laurie. It was so nice to have people to connect with again and again all along the way and share in the experience. Til we meet again!


Stayed: Estrella Andina Hotel in La Paz. This was an awesome hotel, full of character and very clean and comfortable. The hallways and rooms are beautifully painted with murals. Service was great, price was good, location was excellent and breakfast was included. What more can you ask for?
       

Ate: The food in La Paz was for the most part just OK, we had some mediocre Thai, traditional Bolivian and then AWESOME Indian curry at Star of India, the "highest curry house in the world." It was so awesome, in fact, that we ate there two nights in a row, a decision we later came to regret. It would seem that the average Caucasian body was not designed for that much curry.

My favourite Bolivian beer

          

        Beef-tomato-green pepper-cheese-wiener kabob

Last dinner in La Paz with travel mates

Final Tips for Traveling in South America:

• Travel with your smartphone or netbook. WIFI is EVERYWHERE. Add Skype to your device for making reservations for hostels etc.
• Don't bother with handwashing clothes to save money. It is so cheap to have your clothes laundered. Drop off your dirty clothes in the morning and by the evening they will be ready for pick-up, clean and folded, all for around $3 CAD.
• If you are planning to take some flights within South America, consider an air pass. We purchased a South American Air Pass with LAN Airlines. This allowed us to purchase one way fares at greatly reduced fares. There main conditions are:
• you have to fly into and out of South America on a OneWorld alliance airline (there are other airline alliances that offer similar air passes, but this one worked best for us)
• you need to purchase a minimum of 3 different flights and they must be purchased before you leave your home country
• Additional flights can be added at any time and the fee to change your flight is $30 CAD.

And so concludes this amazing South American journey...for now. This magical continent has stolen my heart. It's only a matter of time before I return and when I do, Travel Junkie Jane will be documenting the whole experience again. Stay tuned.

Finding sweetness in Sucre

Next Stop: Sucre, Boliva (May 3 - 6, 2011). Our Bolivian salt flats crossing ended in Uyuni, Bolivia. There isn't really anything to do in Uyuni so we just spent the night there and headed off the next morning on a bus to Sucre. We booked the nine hour bus ride for the exorbitant price of $9 CAD (and that was the more expensive option). Choosing your public transportation in Bolivia is like taking a shot in the dark, you hope for the best (this was becoming a common trend in Bolivia). There are numerous bus companies but no discernible difference between them. The only thing we knew for sure was that we wanted to travel by daylight, as we had heard horror stories of drivers nipping from the bottle on night rides. Also, we knew that the roadways would be harrowing with the narrow roadways and steep cliff sides and we figured that we might as well be able to witness our own demise rather than fear the unknown in the dark. So, we again went with our gut feeling and booked our tickets with our fingers crossed. The next morning when we caught the first glimpse of our bus and we saw that the front of it was emblazoned with the word "CRAZY", we knew we were in for the ride of our lives.

A few observations from our bus ride:

• Our luggage was thrown on top and covered with a tarp and a bit of bungee cord. I figured that I was lucky enough to be sitting on the same side of the bus that my bag was packed on so that if it should fall off along the way I could at least have the chance to see it tumble off the cliff side.
• I dressed in five layers of clothes for the bus ride and I was still cold! The bus company was kind enough to provide each passenger with a blanket, and I was grateful, despite the fact that the blanket smelled as though it was fresh from a llama farm.
• One hour underway, we got a flat tire.
• In total, about half of the road was paved, the rest was gravel, and there was one stream crossing.
• Yes, the cliffs were sheer and there were no guard rails. Our driver, bless him, honked his horn before every blind curve. There were some white knuckle moments and, miraculously, I found the ability to nap.
• Our nine hour bus journey ultimately turned into eleven (is it any surprise really?).

We had a stop in Potosi to change buses before continuing on to Sucre. While all the passengers (which all happened to be tourists) stood around retrieving their bags and sorting out where to catch the next bus, there was a girl of about ten, a little thief-in-training, circling the group, eyeing up the bags, looking for an opportunity. I watched her with mild amusement for awhile and when I caught her eye I gave her the universal I'm-watching-you symbol. She smiled coyly and kept on with her work. Although what she was doing was wrong, I felt sorry for her, this poor girl, because this was her reality. Forget about education and just being a kid, she was being raised into this life, her father watching nearby. Her present is her future. 

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Sucre is a pretty little city that sits in a valley surrounded by low mountains. It holds the honour of being a UNESCO World Heritage site, which is no surprise, really, given its whitewashed buildings set in colonial architecture. It is very easy on the eyes. It also happens to be the constitutional capital of Bolivia (La Paz is the governmental capital).

 

On our first day we made a trip to the Parque Cretácico (a dinosaur park) to view real dinosaur footprints from the Cretaceous period - sixty-eight million years ago. The footprints were discovered only 20 years ago when grounds at a cement quarry were being cleared and employees uncovered the limestone wall bearing over 6000 tracks from over 150 different species of dinosaurs. Unfortunately, the limestone walls are crumbling so the footprints won't be around much longer. In fact, only ten months ago, a large portion of the wall collapsed and turned to dust.

There's nothing quite like standing there, looking at sixty million year old fossils to make you feel like an inconsequential blip on the map of life.

Our ride to the Dinosaur park, the Dino Truck...
Yes, that is a Dino head on the front






Yeah, that's my Dino imitation

Fake Dino's but, I mean, what else do
you put in a park like this?



No details left out of these replicas

 

Voila!! Some of the Dino footprints. No, Dino's didn't scale cliffs, this piece of earth was 
once horizontal, but due to the earth's movements, it was pushed up vertically. 

 

View of Sucre from the Dino park. It gives you an indication of how hilly Bolivia is.

 The rest of our time in Bolivia was spent taking in the city, its parks and its market. 

A mini replica of l'Arc de Triomphe

A mini replica of the Tour Eiffel

 

Stayed: Hostal Charcas, Sucre. We had a room with 2 twin beds, cable TV, and an ensuite bathroom for $10 CAD per night. Ridiculous. It was very good value for the price.

Met: Again, Mike (from Uruguay, Torres del Paine, Mendoza) makes an appearance. He must be some sort of stalker. Just kidding, we weren't sure exactly when he and Laurie would rejoin us, but we were pleasantly surprised when we randomly ran into them on the street in Sucre.

Ate: The central market in Sucre had the most amazing produce. The mangos were to die for. They changed my life.



At one of the many juice bars in the market.

Fresh produce - a.k.a our breakfast

                                                     
Quotes:
"Why am I still wearing my sunglasses?" -Me, in a moment of realization, while stargazing on the bus to Sucre (it was well past dark).

Scene - Jane is in the shower. Erin is watching TV. TV turns to static.
"There's something wrong with the TV."
Shower stops. Silence except for TV static.
"Jane..???!!"
- Erin's poltergeist moment. The hilarity came from the rising panic in her voice as she called out my name.

Don't bring your open wounds to the Salar de Uyuni

Next Stop: Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia (April 30 - May 2, 2011). One of the biggest attractions in Bolivia is crossing the Salar de Uyuni (salt flats) in a 4x4 vehicle over 3 days. (Because of the dangerous terrain, it is in your best interest to experience this part of Bolivia with an organized tour.) We chose to depart from San Pedro, Chile and end in Uyuni, Bolivia. (The only other departure points for the crossing are Uyuni and Tupizia, Bolivia). Luckily, in San Pedro there are numerous tour agencies that offer these trips - unfortunately, each one has mixed reviews. We visited a few agencies and essentially based our decision on the company that gave us the best "feeling." That's about all you can do, hope for the best. Hope that you get a good driver and a good 4x4, and hope that someone on your tour speaks Spanish, if you don't, because your driver won't know any English besides a few basic words. We chose Expediciones Estrella del Sur and we're glad that we did. Our 4x4 was in great condition, our driver, Andreas, was excellent, and our trip overall was AMAZING.

Saw: The Salar de Uyuni is the world's largest salt flat, covering approximately 11,000 sq km and it lies at about 3653m above sea level. If altitude sickness doesn't take your breath away, the stunningly beautiful landscapes surely will. It is such an otherworldly place that trying to describe it in writing hardly does it justice. I'll leave it to the pictures to re-cap the 3 day adventure.

The first stop was the Bolivian border crossing, definitely the
most rustic immigration stop I have ever come across. 

 

Everyone "does their business" behind this broken
down bus at the border



                          

                             Laguna Verde



Polques Hot Springs (The water was about 38C - the air maybe 5C)



Morning Sun Geyser - such a cheery name
 for something that emits toxic sulfur

                 

             Red lagoon with pink flamingos. The flamingos are pink because of
       the red algae they eat. Who knew?!

Do as the flamingos do

Our sweet ride

Desert lovin'

Rock tree - this is a natural formation



Volcano Ollague - it is active as you can see in
the tiny plume of smoke in the picture



Such risk takers! 



               

         Andreas concentrating on the risky water crossing (the salt flats were still a little flooded).
Our group was actually the first group to make the crossing this season since
the plains were still somewhat flooded from the rainy season.



A little less water, a little more salt

A salt island amid the flooded salt plains

                                  

                                   Isla de Los Pescadores (Fisherman's Island).
                                  A totally out-of-place island in the middle of the salt flats covered in cacti.
                              Some are thousands of years old.



Is it just me, or is this bizarre? A sea of salt, a desert island full of cacti and a mountain in the background...
what planet is this?



And now for the fun perspective shots on the salt flats:

Met: We had an awesome time in our 4x4 with Anthony and Claire (France) and Christina (USA) and of course, our amazing and loveable driver, Andreas. I can't thank him enough for keeping us safe and for ensuring that our trip was one that we'll never forget.



Stayed:

Hostal Huallajara - Our accomodation on the first night. I won't sugarcoat it, it was basic...and freezing!



    Hotel Candelaria - Our accomodation on the second night.
It was a salt hotel, entirely made of salt bricks. The staff
were so lovely and the rooms were very cute...albeit salty.