Maturity is not our strong suit - Day 3

I couldn't have Kyla visit me all the way in Bolivia and Peru without giving her a little flavour of the "life of a backpacker"and so, on day 3 of her visit, we boarded a 4hr bus in LaPaz at 7.30am bound for Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca.
As was to be expected there were delays. Seems the poorer folk living in El Alto (a suburb of La Paz) are not down with the public transportation price hikes (I hear you nodding your head in agreement Mr. Wehrspann) and therefore the blockades took us off route some but was interesting to see some more local areas of La Paz from the safety of the bus. 

 As part of the journey our bus also needed to cross part of the lake... here is a little insight into how this is accomplished.  Do you see our bus doing a slight nose dive on the wooden plank of a boat it was placed on?  We were on this blue, red and while beauty in the foreground.

When we made it to Copacabana our guide Mike set us up with a private boat to the North part of Isla del Sol (the island of the sun) in lake Titicaca so we could see the largest ruins on the island and hike to the south where we would sleep for the night in a hostel. I had heard the north was beautiful and the walk worth the effort so I figured it made sense to make this part of our itinerary.
Below is the view of Copacabana from our private boat. We are so shee shee to have our own boat but it was terrific to have so much time together and be away from the throngs of backpackers I am normally surrounded by.

Once we arrived on Isla del Sol we understood better that the hike was 10km long, we had arrived late so would be walking in the dark for probably half of the journey and the trail of course was up and down so the fact that we were now at 4,300m was going to give us some respiratory challanges. Kyla kept telling me that she did not recall me mentioning this as part of our itinerary. I told her this will teach her to read the fine print! Here is part of the trail while the sun was still in the sky. It is beautiful and as Kyla continues to say... it is even more memorable because we both thought we might die during the walk. Ah memories to last a lifetime.  I could not love my sister more.

Ky and I at a part of the ruins we visited before the sun dropped out of the sky and I had to break out the head lamp so we could see where we were going for the remaining 3-5kms! (Thanks for the great Christmas present Mom & Dad!)  There really is no way to describe the hike. We wanted to laugh so badly but there was just so little oxygen in our lungs to begin with that we had to wait until we finally arrived to our hostel (yes Kyla stayed in a hostel after all this! How great is my sister!). The room was freezing so we drank about 6 cups of coca tea (said to help with altitude) and enjoyed yet another trout dinner (main dish served here from the lake even though the fish is not even native to the area)  and headed to bed. 

 This is the view we woke up to from our hostel window. Yes hostels can be amazing.

Sadly this was about 20mins before the torrential downpour started, which lasted the entire day. We had to walk down to the boats you can see in the bay to get back to Copacabana. The path was a landmine of animal poo and a river of water. Which would you choose? I feel like I ended up choosing both over the 30mins it took to decent. Lose/Lose. Needless to say we got drenched and sat in front of the small resturant wood fireplace in town at lunch in an attempt to dry off slightly before boarding our 3hr bus to Puno, Peru. Yes I am packing in the adventure every day so Kyla goes home with plenty of stories and possibly a need to go on vacation. Sorry C Roy!

xox

b and B

Don't Bbbbbbbbb Nervous! - Day 1 & 2

KYLA IS HERE!
Here's proof... oh sorry are you still not sure that this is in fact my sister? That's understandable. "Don't be Nervous" she won't rob you.  Is this better?
Here she is in the flesh! Day one of Kyla's 10 day visit starting in La Paz ând the entire city came out to welcome her... marching band and all!
This is actually a "hat" we had to buy while we shopped in theWitches market in La Paz. Hoping it will make it up to Rose cottage at some point so one of you lucky souls might have the opportunity to wear it during a dinner, as is the tradition. We were told it is a traditional mask worn at Carnival and other festivals. Riiiiighhhhtt.

The photo to the right includes some more items from the Witches market that we managed NOT TO BUY. Still born llama fetuses are considered "lucky" to the Bolivian people (can't imagine the Llama parents feel the same way). Either way they are said to bring good luck if you bury one under your home. As much as I wish good luck for Linda & Dave, Hali & Chris and Shannon & Andy (all new homeowners). You will not be recieving one of these upon my return. Appologies to you all.


I was originally worried about Kyla dealing with the altitudes in Bolivia. La Paz being about 3,600m and Lake Titicaca at over 4,000m but she seemed to be taking everything in stride (thank you altitude pills) so on day two we decided to bike down the World's Most Dangerous Road.  Here on the left is a view from the top of the ride. Below right you can see in the center of the image, one of the buses that plummeted down last year.               No survivors.  For some reason, the Bolivian people who are typically very kind& calm become mad men when given the wheel of a car. That combined with awful roads and staggering cliffs doesn't make for a happy ending in many cases. 

It is a common tourist thing to do in La Paz but knowing that there have been more deaths on this road that any other really freaked me out. The road you bike on is no longer the main road down to the town in the valley but still check out the photos of our day spent traveling down 3.5kms in altitude over 54km in length with sheer cliffs diving down as steep as 400m

The first 21kms of the WMDR tour is spent on proper tar roads up in the clouds at 4,860m. I didn't really consider how beautiful the ride would be. I was more focused on how scared I was of becoming the 19th person to bike off a cliff and die in the 18yrs that this has been a tour. Good news though, I'm here to blog the tale so "Don't be Nervous"...

The real beginning of the WMDR starts where the tar road ends and the joy of riding on a road that becomes as thin as 3m across (meant for 2 way traffic?) and consists of dirt and "baby head"rocks begins.

Here we are at the pay station. About $5cnd per person is paid to help the locals deal with all the landslides that block the road and put up the sporadic barriers along the cliff edges. A fair price to pay I think you'd agree.  

There are a ton of waterfalls throughout the valley and of course some fall right into the road so you have to peddle through them and take the road as it comes. We were taught not to look at the view much because people tend to drive towards what they look at and well... you get the idea.  You probably can't really tell but at the beginning of the ride the temperature is pretty "nipply" as Kyla would say so we were bundled up in layers (long rain pants over long LuLus over shorts, rain coats over hoodies, over thermals over tank tops, gloves, scarves and of course helmets) but as we dropped in altitude the heat became thick. Glad we could peel down at the bottom!
Here is a look at one of the most sheer cliffs. 400 meters of vertical drop. Made my heart sink every time I looked over. This photo was taken by our Aussie guide Mark from the bus window on our drive back up.

At the bottom Kyla agreed to support the local community by paying to do their Zip Line circuit flying at  400meters above the ground. Makes my stomach turn thinking about it. Then we had lunch at the animal refuge at the base of the valley and met these guys!

Got back to La Paz by 7.30pm. Enough time to shower and meet our guide Mark at La Comedie. A french restaurant in the nicer part of the city.  Who says there isn't any fine dining in Bolivia!?  Day three we are off to Lake Titicaca. With a name like that who could resist a visit? La Paz, you were good to my sister and I.

Muchos Gracias!

Sweet, Sweet Sucre, Bolivia

Barbora and I took the 3hr bus  from Potosi to Sucre and I couldn´t miss the opportunity to film what it was like in the Neuevo (new) Bus terminal. It is a huge round building and on the second floor there are dozens of bus companies selling tickets to all the same destinations. The notable thing is that they all YELL the names of the place they are headed to in a constant drone. While this is annoying it is also a complete waste of time because we agreed that even if we wanted to find one of the ladies we wouldn´t know where she was. Insanity.

Okay so made it to Sucre and Yeah! I LOVE SUCRE. Phew after Potosi.

Still traveling with the crew from my Uyuni tour so managed to share a double room with ensuite with Barbora (Slovacian) and I can honestly say that sometimes just having a little privacy and the ability to use the toilet at night without bundling up can be a joy!
Here´s Barbora and I above her language school (she decided to take some more spanish lessons since she is staying in Sucre longer than I am). Do you love my hot pink nail polish and new shades? Ah, the things we do when we are on the road. 

 The town is really a student city. Loads of young people mixed in with the traditionally dressed vendors. Really pretty. The shopping here is cheap (managed to buy some earrings & above mentioned sunglasses) & they have great resto. Enjoyed Mexican, Indian and Thai food + delish drinks w/ mint & cuccumbers and even tried a quinoa beer which was really nice.

Kinda reminded me of the Chambly beer Nicola is featured on that they seem to only sell in Quebec. Either way it was a nice surprise to have good food and drink in Bolivia. My hopes were pretty basic and as Piotrek says (Polish guy in the red shirt below) "it pays to have low expectations".  The gang below from right to left... Andreas, Amit, Piotrek, Tara and Jon then yours truely. Our meeting spot was Sucre's main square. From there we were off to enjoy multiple meals as a group.

 Something I wasn't expecting to find when I rolled up to Sucre was the Parque Cretacico.

Seems the miners in the local quary discovered dino footprints that are 68million years old and now the site is open for the public to check out.The wall above was once a shoreline to a lake and the tectonic plates moved it into a vertical position. To the right here is a zoomed in view of  some of the footprints. 

The Bolivians have created dinasaur replicas around the park. Pretty great work I would never have expected from this part of the globe. Love that anywhere in the western world this would have been a major event but it's almost completely ignored by tour agencies in Sucre. You know how I love Dinosaurs so had to take the below picture! Hillarious and ridiculous at the same time.

Town even has dinosaurs as payphones on random streets. I mean was this place made for me or WHAT? Truely I was finding it hard to leave but I knew I was headed to meet Kyla so it was worth it.

Final day was spent visiting the Recoletta neighbourhood of Sucre where they have a textile museum, markets and as usual steep streets.

Wandered around with Tara and Jon (photo to the right) and then, as the "flash"packer that I am, I boarded a plane bound for La Paz. It was either a 45min plane ride for $80cnd or a 14-16hr bus ride overnight with a potentially drunk driver on dangerous roads for $20cnd. I believe I made a wise choise.

See Linda and Nicola I am using caution when caution is required!
xox
wishing you all the best!
b

Bolivians love to place their cities in the sky - Potosi at 4,090m above sea level

I had heard from other travelers in Argentina that Boliva was an entirely different bag of toys and boy were they right. I´m not sure if it´s the poverty or the altitude or the fact that I´ve been on the road now for 8 weeks but I definitely notice the difference in culture.

The rules I was taught in Argentina, by other single femal travelers, were 1. Never take a night bus since the roads are a disaster in Bolivia and  
2. Never take local buses. Take the Tourista buses that blend locals and tourists.
3. Try not to travel alone.
Hmmmm okay so I broke rule 1 and 2 on my first trip but it was my way of following rule number 3 so that evens out I think. 

My plan was to skip Potosi all together because I had heard there wasn´t much there except a town at an elevation of 4,100m (highest city in the world) with tours of active tin mines. Having been to a closed asbestos mine in Lennoxville, Qc last summer I already knew I didn´t like it in the center of the earth and that wasn´t paired with men (and sadly children as young as 10) who were risking their lives for less than 2 dollars a day with a life expectancy of 35 thanks to lungs filled with dust (of course they don´t have proper gear).

However, since the crew was headed that way before going on to Sucre I figured I´d stick with the crowd. Strength in numbers and all that. 

On the left is a view of the city of Potosi. Basically all the buildings in Bolivia are made of red brick and aren´t more than a few storys. The landscape is continuous rolling hills/mountains so traveling distances takes much longer than you´d think looking at a map with all the weaving along the cliff riddled roads.
 We made it safe and sound though and the five of us all huddled into a cab together  (yes 5 adults with backpacks the side of small sedans all loaded into one station wagon that had seen better days). This is what we were willing to do to stick to rule number 3.
 After living it I can tell you I would have HATED myself if I´d done it alone. 

Plan was to stay for two nights including the night we arrived so it was a brief visit. Day One we wandered around the markets which sold mostly socks and underwear, soap/sun block and cheap watches. Not really the markets one travels for weeks to find but interesting none the less. They also of course had food stalls selling fruit and meats (snout and horns intact). We enjoyed a snack of Saltinas and Empinadas from the stalls on the street.
Later on we came across the Potosi futbol (soccer for my
N. American friends) stadium and it wasn´t locked so we took a peak inside. Tara got chased away by a dog so we knew out time should remain short but it was fun to check out.
We´ve since learned that Bolivia is no longer allowed to host games because no team can beat them at this altitude.  I can´t decide if I think that´s fair or not. I mean use what you´ve got right?

Potosi was once one of South America´s riches cities, when the Spanish showed up and forced the native people´s to work in the mines which previously had silver reserves but they´ve since exhausted that metal and are left with mostly  tin now.  You can tell there was wealth based on the churches and some of the buildings but it´s mostly run down now.   The miners believe that the underground belongs to the devil `Tio` (because the original people´s didn´t have a D in their alphabet) and have subsequently created shrines/statues of Tio in each mine where they offer coca leaves, and booze plus the random stick of dynamite so he will protect them when they work. Over 8million people have died in the 450yrs the mines have been open (about 50 a day) so once again I´d argue the religious angle is not helping but I`ll keep that to myself. 

I chose not to visit the mines but, on our second and final night, did watch a documentary at the hostel about a child miner who started at age 10 and worked until he was 14 (his father had died so he had to become the breadwinner) thankfully became tour guide after the film was released.  The sunset on night two was a stunner and reminded me that no matter where you are you can find quiet moments that allow you to reflect on how amazing the world really is. I´m happy to have seen Potosi but ready to get on to Sucre, one of the two capital cities in Bolivia. Hoping it´s more advance and secure. xox b

Up, Up and Away!

Made it to country #40. Bolivia! 

So glad the boarder crossing from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile into Bolivia was set up to take a classic photo including flag, `migration sign` and parking for the trucks that, for three days, took us through some pretty incredible scenery finally ending in the Salar de Uyuni (Uyuni Salt Flats). 

It really made the moment easier to document and honestly some days I find myself getting a little tied up in documenting what´s going on around me vs. actually allowing myself to be immersed in it. We all have things we are working on right?

Okay so there were 3 4x4 trucks in our group traveling together with 6 `tourists`in each Pathfinder. My truck included Miguel (our driver who was always dancing between silent indifference towards us or grumpy with a few smiles splashed in every few hours)... then Tara (Aussie) and her BF Jon (Kiwi), Sam (Quebec) Maya (Swiss) and Manuel (Swiss as well but not traveling together). The rest of the crew was a mix of 6 Germans, 2 Canadians, 1 Slovac, 1 Brazilian, 1 Pol. 

Day one included some spectacular views of the region`s Lagunas, almost all named after their colour due to the sediment and minerals in their waters. Here´s a peak but as my friend Neil says ... `if you haven´t been you really must visit` (said jokingly in his English accent).

 Above is Laguna Blanco... the reflection made me want to just sit down and stare for a few hours but we were only permitted to stay 20 minutes before getting back in the truck to see more stunning beauty down the way.  To the left here is Laguna Verte with a volcano in the background for good photographing measure. There were tons of stacked rocks on the shore. When we asked Miguel, in our broken spanish, if it was locals who had placed all the stones here he looked at us like we had two heads and said.`No, touristas. Bolivians don´t have time to stack rocks`. Right. Point taken. Moving on. Literally.   

Next major event was to take a dip in the thermal pools about 30minutes away. Having done this the day before I was considering skipping it. Changing into my bathing suit in this brisk weather, in the open of course, and then having to change out of it wasn´t so appealing but then I saw the pool/views and tested the water temperature and had to change my mind. I mean how often do these opportunities come up right? I´m trying to subscribe to the motto of saying Yes more often.

From left to right here´s a pic of Manuel (Swiss), Moi, Barbora (Slovac), Andreas (German), Two of the German med students in the back and Sam (Quebec). I just wish you could see the flamingos in the water behind us. I should have mentioned that there were a ton of stops each day. Didn´t really stay in the car longer than an hour without getting out to see something relatively spectacular and most often it was more like every 15-20 minutes. Nice way to travel for three days. Constantly wandering around amazing views.

Headed to the Geysers next. Again I´d been to the geysers in the Atacama desert in Chile the day before but these smelled worse (more like Rotorua in NZ) and were more bubbly. The other difference is that these bad boys are at 5,300m. Yah sit down and chew on that for a while. We weren´t aware of it at the time but let me tell you there were plenty of folks who suffered from the altitide later on that day as a result. 

Probably didn´t help that we stayed over night at 4,300m next to Laguna Colorada which is the most erie colour of burnt red/orange but was filled with Flamingos. Beauty.

A glimpse into our accommodation for night one where it dropped below freezing (no heating of course). Beds on cement footings and in spite of it all I think I got a relatively good nights sleep! Lunch that day was hot dogs and powered mash potatoes plus salad. 

Day two was more lagunas and rock formations. The one on the left is called the Rock Tree and is one of the most photographed things in Bolivia I think. Having this image feels like a right of passage. I prefered the rocks that looked like Mushrooms or the one I could crawl into that looked like a condor.

  

As always we saw more Vinuas (wild - below left), and their domesticated cousins the Alpaca, and Llama (below right) which get amazing colourful accessories to prance around in (which helps identify their owners)

Night · 2 I got to take a shower. Sadly it was ice cold. 

 Ice cream headache without the yum.

Happily though it was surrounded by quinoa fields. How pretty are these? Reminds me of my awesome cousin Tuna who taught me to cook with the super food Quinoa. Miss you my dear. 

 Our final day was best called `game day`. We visted the train graveyard outside the town of Uyuni. The Bolivians have taken the metal and made swings and sea-saws so we, of course, took a few minutes to be kids again and then headed into the worlds largest salt flats at 12,000km square and 10,000km deep. 

It is BEYOND me why Bolivia doesn´t export any of the salt since they do go out and collect it as you can see on the left but putting economics aside the area allows you to play with perspective since there is almost nothing on the horizon...  

Sam bought a Raptor toy before the trip so that we could come up with some creative photos. I think they came out pretty well. Sam is a feature film digital animator so he took his time setting this up. 

 Pretty amazing 3 days and I´m glad to report that 5 of us had exactly the same plan to head to Potosi that evening on the 6hr night bus while another 3 were booked to show up in Potosi the following day so much of the crew remained intact for 8 days total. Nice to be with familiar faces even if it is only for a week and I don´t really know them. 

Had to photograph the tyke to the left as we waited for the bus and then there was the lady in charge of collecting tickets... no one was messing with her.

As always, hoping everyone is well and enjoying the spring conditions in Canada that I keep reading about on Facebook.

Much love

Stacey