Currency: Bolivianos (7 Bolivianos=$1 USD)

Cities Visited: La Paz, Potosi, Uyuni, Tupiza

Bolivia is the poorest country in South America, but it is a budget traveler´s paradise.

Three-fourths of the roads in Bolivia are unpaved and the buses are back to basic with no air-conditioning, lots of stops, and aisles full of people.

Bathrooms in Bolivia are horrendous.  It is advised that you plug your nose to bear the smell of them.

The difference between alpacas and llamas is…alpacas are smaller.

Dried out llama fetuses are sold at the Witch Market in the streets of La Paz and are buried under houses to protect them.

Coca is a big part of Bolivian culture. You will usually see men (and women) with cheeks engorged with coca leaves.

Bolivians do not like having their picture taken and will get angry if you take one without their permission, especially of their children.  It is believed that photos steal a part of the soul. 

When in Potosi, do not pass up the opportunity to stay at the Koala Den.  It is colorfully painted on the inside and its like a cozy little home for travelers with a great breakfast in the morning, dvd room, wifi,computer room, and big book exchange.  You will make lots of friends here!

Things we liked:

Deenaree´s list…

• Food: Bolivian bread rolls eaten for breakfast
• Experience: Salar de Uyuni with Megan, Shem, Alistair, Bruce, Luis, and “Condor” 
• Something to remember: Coca and the indigenous are a big part of Bolivian culture

Ben´s list…

• Food: Hamburgers at street stands in Potosi
• Experience: Crawling to the center of the Earth in the Potosi mines
• Something to remember: My first horseback riding experience in Tupiza

To add to our feeling of being in the Old West, we arrived in Tupiza by train early in the morning.  The scene was chaotic, with families greeting loved ones, tour companies offering jeep and horseback riding tours, and hostel owners trying to sell their hotel as the cheap place in town.  We arrived with three new British friends from our Uyuni tour, who were an absolute delight.  With all of our bags in tow, we ignored the salesmen and took off by foot to find a reasonable tour and hostel for the night.

I had never ridden a horse before.  Unless you count the circular pony rides at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo when I was seven years old.  I was tentative, unsure if I ever wanted my life in a beast’s hoofs that weighs at least twice as much as myself.  I know about Christopher Reeve, thank you very much.  But we are traveling the world and this is what it is all about right?  Surely we have dodged, and will continue to dodge, much greater dangers than horseback riding…right?  Tour companies in Tupiza offer 3 or 7 hour horseback riding tours on a daily basis, as well as multiple day excursions.  Mercilessly, our group of five settled on an agreement on the 3-hour tour.  The cost was to be 70 bolivianos, or 10 dollars.

To add to my woes, delightful bouts of nausea started hitting me as we walked toward the edge of town for our tour.  Not sure if something would come out of one end or the other (or both!), I was becoming more hesitant by the second.  As we arrived at the train tracks where our horses were gathered, it was clear this was to be no pony ride.  The horses were thin, but sufficiently tall to sever a spine if one was thrown off.  Also, our tour company was one that went the route of gimmick over safety.  Instead of riding helmets we were provided with cowboy hats, bandannas and chaps!  I was assigned a gorgeous white mare, which looked to be the healthiest of the bunch.  Deenaree was unlucky enough to get the old man of the group who looked tired and half dead.  The teenaged Bolivian tour leader helped us up, adjusted our stirrups and we were on our way.

The first part of the ride was on the railroad tracks in town.  People were everywhere and we were allowed only a slow walk.  Perfectly satisfying for a first time on a horse with no training or riding helmet.  It quickly became clear that the horses had done this before.  As the path left the tracks, and civilization, to head into the mountains, the horses immediately sped up to a decent trot.  All of us, bouncing like mad, did our best to regain control of the situation.  Some tugging on the reigns and more bouncing seemed to do the trick.  Of course, curiosity got the best of me and I left Deenaree and my safety behind to try it out again.  A number of additional attempts and getting used to the awkward bouncing of trotting was impossible.  It did allow me to catch up with two of our other ride mates, who had bound ahead long before.  They had their horses at full canter, they reported.  It looked like there was one more challenge ahead of me.

In cantering, I found the thrill and enjoyment of riding.  Past the bouncing like a bus on a Bolivian highway of a trot, the bouncing was smooth and rhythmic, like a boat riding calm ocean swells.  Control returned and the riding felt safer than at slower speeds.  Butch Cassidy here we come!  I spent the rest of the ride cantering ahead and doubling back to check on Deenaree, whose horse could not break into a trot if she wanted it to.

The final highlight was near the end of the ride when a shallow creek bed formed the trail and allowed the horse level ground on which to bound ahead (and quickly!).  For a second, I felt like Gus McCrae of the Texas Rangers chasing down Butch Cassidy and the bad boys of the West.  Our ride ended us wishing we could go again and me absent a bout of nausea.  We have no idea when we may ride again, but I can see no better first experience on a horse than our first in Tupiza.

We also struck gold with the rest of the members of our group.  Sometimes, tour groups can be a gamble because you never know what kind of people you’ll end up with, but our group (consisting of Megan from Washington, and Bruce, Shem and Alistair from England) was a charismatic mixture that, when put together, equaled fun.  Our countless hours crammed in the jeep and freezing in salt hotels went by quickly only because our conversations were filled with laughter and hearty discussions.

Salar de Uyuni used to be an ocean long ago, but it dried up leaving the salt behind.  One of our first stops was to a town that manufactures the salt from the desert for the rest of the country.  Luis explained the manufacturing process to us in the “factory”, which happened to be a two-room shack.  It seemed as if everything was made of salt… souvenirs of ashtrays and jewelry boxes, even the buildings!  We saw an area where they had stacked up large concrete-like blocks made entirely of salt that would be used as building material.  Luis explained that these blocks have to be replaced every few years due to deterioration.

During our lunch stop, we explored an island that contained thousands of cactus plants.   Luis told us that the cactus plants grow at an incredibly slow rate of speed due to the extreme desert conditions so the tallest ones could easily be a thousand years old.  We were able to hike to the highest part of the island and look out across the shockingly bright landscape.

After lunch, we spent the next few hours attempting to take perspective pictures.  We came ill-prepared because we hadn’t known about taking perspective photos in the Salt Flats.  We experimented by taking photos of us “standing” on our Toblerone bar.  Luckily, Shem, Bruce, and Alistair knew about these pictures and produced an array of toy dinosaurs, plants, and insects from their bag.  They even had “costumes” including luchadores’ masks.  Take upon take, we all tried to find the correct camera angle that would give us that “perfect” shot, but everything was blurry.  Fortunately, Luis saved the day by helping us figure it out.  Supposedly, the trick is to lift the object off the ground a bit and to adjust the camera accordingly.  We were happy to walk away with a couple of Toblerone and dinosaur shots.

For our lodging, we stayed at hostels each night with adequate facilities.  Our first hostel caught my attention because it was made entirely of salt right down to the floors.  All hostels had strict regulations on electricity so lights went out around 11 or 12 at night.  The showers cost money and we found that the second hostel’s showers cost more than the first hostel’s showers did.  However, we were pretty desperate for showers by then so it didn’t matter.   The added bonus of the second night’s shower was the wood burning stove that heated the water and the room it sat in.  The weather in the desert was so extreme going from scorching hot during the day to freezing cold at night that the wood burning stove was such a comfort to sit next to as we waited for our showers.

Our next few days were consumed with climbing on giant rock formations, walking around smelly, sulfuric geysers, and dunking our freezing selves into hot springs.  We spent a great deal of time looking at lakes where flamingos hung out.  The unfortunate thing about these lakes was that they have drastically shrunk due to global warming.  Like the prehistoric ocean of which the Salt Flats originated, these lakes are slowly disappearing.

Although the affects of human activities can be seen and felt in this desert, we were glad to have been able to experience everything it had to offer before it vanishes.  The beauty of this area of extremes is something special to behold and we had fun taking it all in with a good group of people.

These days mining in Potosi is generally done by independent contract, which means that miners sell their own minerals.  Usually less experienced miners work for these contractors and earn a measly salary for their efforts until they have enough experience to set off on their own.  Work schedules are dictated by earning enough for families at home, which usually means 6 day, 72 hour weeks.  The mines in Potosi are known for silver, but miners are paid for zinc, lead and other minerals as well.

At the start of the tour, we were provided with clothes and boots from the tour company to get as dirty as we liked.  After a bus ride up a hill and a stop at the processing plant, our tour started with a long, straight walk into the middle of the mountain.  Many of the initial tunnels were built by the Spanish more than 400 years ago using solid stone.  I quickly became adept at hitting my head on the old stones every few meters.  Thankfully, hardhats were provided!

The particular mine that we toured was quite small near the base of the mountain.  It has a total of 6 floors, 3 above the entrance level and 2 below.  Although it may seem like a large mine with 6 floors, even larger mines exist in Potosi.  The largest mines are more than 15 floors and extend 1km under the surface of the earth.  Part of the tour took us down from the entrance floor to the bottom floor of the mine.  Our climb down was taxing, requiring crawling in most places and dust billowing everywhere.  Breathing was difficult and descending another 10 stories would have been unbearable.

As we moved in deeper, we found our first group of miners getting ready to blast a bit of rock.  A quick conversation with the group of 5 revealed that they had been working in the mines for between 7 and 38 years.  All were victims of silicosis or black lung and were literally dying as we spoke.  They constantly breathe in dust, including asbestos, without a mask of any kind.  We were provided with bandannas to filter some of the dust, but our lungs still ached after 10 minutes.

The lifespan of miners is shockingly short.  A standard miner who starts work at 15 (a very normal age) will die before he reaches the age of 50.  With some advances in technology, pneumatic drills are used to prepare for blasts because they help miners drill faster.  However, these tools increase the amount of dust for the workers and most die within 10 years of starting work in the mine.  Many also die inside the mines due to accidents and collapses.  The work is so treacherous that the Catholic men tend to worship the devil.  Because they are working underground (the territory of the devil), they are ask him for good luck in surviving on a daily basis.  Even statues of the devil have been built in each mine.

Our guide explained that the environmental impact of the mines is not much better.  Our first stop on the tour (before entering the mine) was the processing plant, where the raw rocks are reduced to pure minerals.  A number of chemicals such as calcium and cyanide are used to extract the minerals.  These chemicals are dumped into the rivers and lakes nearby.   The mines are directly under Cerro Rico mountain overlooking Potosi and have been in continuous operation for 500 years.  The impact on the mountain is substaintial as it has lost an estimated 300m in height over the years of mining.  Locals are unsure how much longer the mining industry will be able to continue without completely devastating the mountain, and consequently, Potosi.

As the tour came to an end, we were provided with a bit of a shock back into reality as we witnessed a demonstration of dynamite exploding.  The Potosi mine tour was of great interest in understanding the impact the mining industry has on both the community of Potosi and the surrounding environment.  With so much of the population relying on the mines as their only source of income, it is a necessary means of survival in the region.  Hopefully, as the country continues to develop, the conditions and environmental impacts continue to improve.  Otherwise, the beautiful city of Potosi may not exist much longer.

As we rode the bus from Puno, Peru to the border of Bolivia with new friends from our Lake Titicaca tour, we were constantly reminded of USA’s political standing with Bolivia.  Our friends from Sweden, France, Switzerland and Japan require no more than a cursory look at the passport and a stamp to get into the country.  As the only US citizens on our bus, we had heard a hefty fee and “visa” are required of us as reciprocation for US visa policy toward Bolivian nationals.  Sure enough, upon arrival at the border we were whisked away to a special line for US passports where our $135 per person was collected.  A bit lighter in the pocketbook, and still excited for the next few weeks, we continued on our way.

Our first stop in Bolivia was the capital, La Paz.  As usual, one of our first conversations with a Bolivian naturally turned to politics.  The Bolivian explained to us that the election of the first primarily indigenous president, Evo Morales, in 2005 led to massive changes in domestic and international policy.  The indigenous population, so long repressed by the European minority, began to see an increase in rights.  However, for all the good accomplished by this, our local said, the two groups generally remain unintegrated.  Instead, the block of indigenous has now swapped positions with Europeans, who are slowly losing their rights.  This situation nearly brought the country to war in 2006.  Things are more stable now, but hard feelings still exist all around.

Globally, positions have radically changed as well.  US DEA officials were kicked out of the country and coca leaf production increased.  Coca, the plant processed to produce cocaine, is very important to the indigenous populations in the Andes to combat altitude sickness amongst other things.  The western stance that all coca production should cease has played a large role in shifting political alliances.  Bolivia has moved left and forged relationships with Venezuela, Ecuador and Iran.  This was highlighted on our last day in La Paz.

Two of our friends heard grumblings that a meeting was occurring between Morales and Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  3PM was the reported finish of the meeting and we decided we had to be on hand for this.  At approximately 3:05PM, Morales and Ahmadinejad walked the red carpet arm in arm and greeted the throngs.  A few Iranian secret service, half a dozen policemen and a Dodge Durango were all that separated us from the leader of a third of the “axis of evil”.  The locals loved it and chanted about sharing a heart with Iran.  After a few minutes and numerous waves to the crowd, the motorcade sped off and life returned to normal.

Not very often do political conversations turn to real-life brushes with the big players as they did during our time in La Paz.  In Bolivia, it was fascinating to see the world from a completely different perspective.  We may not agree on their policies, but to see the system at work in person certainly helps to build mutual understanding and cooperation.