So I made it out of Bolivia okay without being affected by the road strikes. Although I met some other travellers that did get stuck in cities for a few days by them so I guess I got lucky.
The first view of La Paz is one of the more amazing cities to see. You´re driving along the altiplano at about 3600m, and suddenly there´s a huge chasm in the earth and inside is a city of 1.5 million people, filling the entire thing. The main street runs right down the middle, so it´s impossible to get lost because if you head down you´ll always find the main street. But when you´re in it it´s like how the futuristic cities in space must be like, it looks like people are literally living all around. The city itself is pretty lively, there´s always people about.
So I spent 3 days relaxing and souvenir shopping (La Paz is also one of the best places in South America to buy souvenirs). Then this morning I took a bus from La Paz to Arica (Chile). I was surprised because the road was paved the entire way. The border crossing is a pass at 4660m, and then in the next 3 hours we dropped all the way to Arica at sea level. Wasn´t as impressive as the Friendship highway between Tibet and Nepal but the scenery still was pretty good.
See most of you soon!
Thursday, June 13, 2002
Sunday, June 09, 2002
Potosi, Bolivia
Well I have returned from a 4 day trip around Uyuni. I took the train from Tupiza to Uyuni, which was quite nice in Ejectivo class. It was even heated, which is a novelty in transportation here. I got to Uyuni around midnight. Uyuni is at 3600m and it's pretty cold at night. Unfortunately most hostels don't have heating, but they do have a million blankets. So I was quite warm at night but my nose froze.
The next morning I woke up without a headache so I figured I was acclimatized enough (given the altitude) to sign up for the trip. There was a driver, a cook, and 6 of us (4 Danes, another Canadian and me), in a Toyota Land Cruiser. This is the slow season in this part of the world, and there were about 6 or 7 other groups that left the same day. I'm glad I'm not here in the busy season.
The first day we saw Salar de Uyuni. This is a huge dried up salt lake at 3600 m. It is a big huge flat surface, white as far as you can see. It was so flat that I could have raced my Civic across it. This is one of the top 10 things to see in South America in my opinion.
The next day we reached Laguna Colorado, which is a lake that is a type of red colour (I guess Colorado red). It was quite beautiful. Unfortunately I decided to climb up a little hill (about 100m up) to get a better view but the exertion triggered a headache from the altitude (we were now at 4200m).
On the third day we got up very early (at 5:00) to see geysers. This was at 4950m, and the combination of altitude, early morning and season meant that it was -30 C outside. I didn't take many pictures. Then we got to some hot springs at 4600m, and it was quite refreshing just to stick my feet in (I think the water was at 35C, and the air temperature had warmed up to about 5C). Unlike other hot springs that I have been too, this one had absolutely no infrastructure around it. Just the water coming out of the ground. Some other tourists from the other groups actually went fully in, with bathing suits, but I think it would have been too cold after.
Then we went to Laguna Verde, which is a green lake. (They are very boring with the naming of the lakes here. We also saw a Laguna Blanca and Laguna Negro. There's an area we drove through that's called Valley of Dali. Not the original name I'm sure.) Laguna Verde is at 5000m, and the peak of Volcan Licancabur at 5950m is in the background. This also makes my top 10 for South America. The whole area that we traveled through over the 4 days is very beautiful, one of the most amazing natural areas that I have seen.
The last day was a long drive home. The whole trip cost only $70 US, including transportation, accommodation and food (although not the Hilton, but still pretty good). I think Toyota should be doing commercials here. Almost all the vehicles were Toyota Land Cruisers, and over the 4 days we drove over salt lakes, through dusty sandy areas, temperature ranging from 10C to -30C, fjording rivers up to 3 feet deep, without problems.
That night I caught a bus to Potosi, which in the 1600s and 1700s was a very important city because of its wealth from the silver mines. Potosi sits at 4050m, and according to the LP is the highest city in the world. Although I'm sure there's a bunch of cities that claim this title. In any case, this morning went on a tour of the mine. They still mine in much the same way as they did years ago. The conditions are terrible, most miners die after working there 20 years. We bought cigarettes, coca leaves and dynamite (!) for gifts for the miners so we could take pictures. Yep, you can buy dynamite from street stalls here. And there I was, dynamite and fuse in a plastic bag clambouring about in narrow tunnels in the mine hoping it wouldn't go off before I gave it to a miner.
Potosi itself is a beautiful little town, with cobblestone streets and colonial architecture. (Even with my jaded view of colonial architecture I still think the town is beautiful.)
So now I sit in an internet cafe, drinking a CocaCola, eating a llama burger, catching up on my news and sending emails. It's still very odd for me that in the middle of nowhere I can do this. Next I am going to La Paz to buy a whole bunch of souvenirs, and then somehow get back to Santiago for my flight. I have heard that the road from here to La Paz is being blocked occasionally by strikers, but that on Sundays I should be okay. Well I have a week to get to Santiago in any case. (The llama burger tastes like a burger).
Hope everything is going well at home!
The next morning I woke up without a headache so I figured I was acclimatized enough (given the altitude) to sign up for the trip. There was a driver, a cook, and 6 of us (4 Danes, another Canadian and me), in a Toyota Land Cruiser. This is the slow season in this part of the world, and there were about 6 or 7 other groups that left the same day. I'm glad I'm not here in the busy season.
The first day we saw Salar de Uyuni. This is a huge dried up salt lake at 3600 m. It is a big huge flat surface, white as far as you can see. It was so flat that I could have raced my Civic across it. This is one of the top 10 things to see in South America in my opinion.
The next day we reached Laguna Colorado, which is a lake that is a type of red colour (I guess Colorado red). It was quite beautiful. Unfortunately I decided to climb up a little hill (about 100m up) to get a better view but the exertion triggered a headache from the altitude (we were now at 4200m).
On the third day we got up very early (at 5:00) to see geysers. This was at 4950m, and the combination of altitude, early morning and season meant that it was -30 C outside. I didn't take many pictures. Then we got to some hot springs at 4600m, and it was quite refreshing just to stick my feet in (I think the water was at 35C, and the air temperature had warmed up to about 5C). Unlike other hot springs that I have been too, this one had absolutely no infrastructure around it. Just the water coming out of the ground. Some other tourists from the other groups actually went fully in, with bathing suits, but I think it would have been too cold after.
Then we went to Laguna Verde, which is a green lake. (They are very boring with the naming of the lakes here. We also saw a Laguna Blanca and Laguna Negro. There's an area we drove through that's called Valley of Dali. Not the original name I'm sure.) Laguna Verde is at 5000m, and the peak of Volcan Licancabur at 5950m is in the background. This also makes my top 10 for South America. The whole area that we traveled through over the 4 days is very beautiful, one of the most amazing natural areas that I have seen.
The last day was a long drive home. The whole trip cost only $70 US, including transportation, accommodation and food (although not the Hilton, but still pretty good). I think Toyota should be doing commercials here. Almost all the vehicles were Toyota Land Cruisers, and over the 4 days we drove over salt lakes, through dusty sandy areas, temperature ranging from 10C to -30C, fjording rivers up to 3 feet deep, without problems.
That night I caught a bus to Potosi, which in the 1600s and 1700s was a very important city because of its wealth from the silver mines. Potosi sits at 4050m, and according to the LP is the highest city in the world. Although I'm sure there's a bunch of cities that claim this title. In any case, this morning went on a tour of the mine. They still mine in much the same way as they did years ago. The conditions are terrible, most miners die after working there 20 years. We bought cigarettes, coca leaves and dynamite (!) for gifts for the miners so we could take pictures. Yep, you can buy dynamite from street stalls here. And there I was, dynamite and fuse in a plastic bag clambouring about in narrow tunnels in the mine hoping it wouldn't go off before I gave it to a miner.
Potosi itself is a beautiful little town, with cobblestone streets and colonial architecture. (Even with my jaded view of colonial architecture I still think the town is beautiful.)
So now I sit in an internet cafe, drinking a CocaCola, eating a llama burger, catching up on my news and sending emails. It's still very odd for me that in the middle of nowhere I can do this. Next I am going to La Paz to buy a whole bunch of souvenirs, and then somehow get back to Santiago for my flight. I have heard that the road from here to La Paz is being blocked occasionally by strikers, but that on Sundays I should be okay. Well I have a week to get to Santiago in any case. (The llama burger tastes like a burger).
Hope everything is going well at home!
Tuesday, June 04, 2002
Tupiza, Bolivia
Well I´m now in Bolivia.
I spent the last few days making it through Argentina. Mendoza was nice, it reminded me of Guadalajara (Mexico), both of them are big cities that are very nice to walk around in. I went to a restaurant for a big barbecue dinner. In Argentina they are called `Parillas` and this one was an all-you-can-eat, which here is a tenedor libre, literally translated as free fork. It was very good. I had a steak, then some pork chops, and then some beef ribs. Had a 3/8 bottle of local wine, and dessert. All for $5.
The next day I got on a bus for Salta, which is in the north west of Argentina. Unfortunately this meant I missed the Argentina-Nigeria game, which the bus driver and bus attendants were very disappointed about. The long distance buses in Argentina are very good, I was in a semi-cama which means it`s almost level to sleep. Plus they serve you dinner, snacks and breakfast, show movies, and play bingo. (Fortunately I didn´t win because two people tied and because they only had one prize the two people had to tell a joke to decide the winner, and my spanish isn´t that good yet.) We were stopped at a gas station when Argentina scored their only goal so that was good because we got to see it on TV.
Salta is a nice colonial town, unfortunately I have seen too many nice colonial towns to care. At night, watched game 7 of the Lakers-Kings game. Travel really has changed since I went on my big trip 5 years ago. It´s so easy now to keep in touch with email, read the Toronto news on the net, most places have satellite TV with all the US stations, there are ATMs everywhere. A lot of travellers now travel with digital cameras and download their pictures in internet cafes to wherever they have disk space.
Argentina really went crazy after their win. It was the same as when the Leafs won the second series. They haven´t really won anything yet but everyone was partying in the main plaza until daylight. It would be pretty crazy if they actually win the whole thing. Although this country does need something to cheer about I guess.
So from Salta I crossed the border at La Quiaca, and then made it up to Tupiza where I am now. Last night I was a bit affected by the altitude but I´m okay now. Tonight I am taking a train to Uyuni, I upgraded from the regular class to first class for a whopping $2. In Uyuni I´m hoping to take a jeep trek around the southwest corner of Bolivia for 4 days, there are some really cool natural sights to see.
I spent the last few days making it through Argentina. Mendoza was nice, it reminded me of Guadalajara (Mexico), both of them are big cities that are very nice to walk around in. I went to a restaurant for a big barbecue dinner. In Argentina they are called `Parillas` and this one was an all-you-can-eat, which here is a tenedor libre, literally translated as free fork. It was very good. I had a steak, then some pork chops, and then some beef ribs. Had a 3/8 bottle of local wine, and dessert. All for $5.
The next day I got on a bus for Salta, which is in the north west of Argentina. Unfortunately this meant I missed the Argentina-Nigeria game, which the bus driver and bus attendants were very disappointed about. The long distance buses in Argentina are very good, I was in a semi-cama which means it`s almost level to sleep. Plus they serve you dinner, snacks and breakfast, show movies, and play bingo. (Fortunately I didn´t win because two people tied and because they only had one prize the two people had to tell a joke to decide the winner, and my spanish isn´t that good yet.) We were stopped at a gas station when Argentina scored their only goal so that was good because we got to see it on TV.
Salta is a nice colonial town, unfortunately I have seen too many nice colonial towns to care. At night, watched game 7 of the Lakers-Kings game. Travel really has changed since I went on my big trip 5 years ago. It´s so easy now to keep in touch with email, read the Toronto news on the net, most places have satellite TV with all the US stations, there are ATMs everywhere. A lot of travellers now travel with digital cameras and download their pictures in internet cafes to wherever they have disk space.
Argentina really went crazy after their win. It was the same as when the Leafs won the second series. They haven´t really won anything yet but everyone was partying in the main plaza until daylight. It would be pretty crazy if they actually win the whole thing. Although this country does need something to cheer about I guess.
So from Salta I crossed the border at La Quiaca, and then made it up to Tupiza where I am now. Last night I was a bit affected by the altitude but I´m okay now. Tonight I am taking a train to Uyuni, I upgraded from the regular class to first class for a whopping $2. In Uyuni I´m hoping to take a jeep trek around the southwest corner of Bolivia for 4 days, there are some really cool natural sights to see.
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