The next day we wanted to see some of La Paz and luckily it was a really sunny day making the sprawling city seem even more interesting. The main square where the presidential palace and Houses of Parliament were only a few blocks from the hostel. La Paz had had some pretty mixed reviews from people I'd met along the way but I got a really nice feeling for the city, yes it is chaotic but a lot less touristy than cities in Peru, people seemed friendly and can better it is ridiculously cheap! We set off first to take the red Teleferico line up to a area called El Alto. The teleferico in La Paz is modelled on the one in Medellin in Colombia and was built to make the centre more accessible to the poorer communities living on the hills surrounding the city cutting out hours from the usual daily commute through the horrendous traffic full of collectivos (mini vans used as cheap buses) and winding roads leading to the city. It only cost 3BS (about 50c) up to el alto. The day we visited was a Thursday and it just so happened that big market days in El Alto are every Thursday and Sunday just outside the teleferico station (we later learned it was the biggest flea market in South America). The market sold literally everything from car parts to army wear, underwear, dvds and food. Local shaman (witch doctors) were lined up in coloured huts giving people advise on every day stresses and 'curing' ailments. The views of La Paz from the top were great displaying the vastness of the poorer suburbs surrounding the city. We wandered around the market for an hour or two until the rain came so we headed back to the teleferico. On the way back down a Bolivian guy started chatting to us and it turned out he was a tour guide who was keen to hear about what our plans were for Bolivia telling us we had to do death road and showing us selfies of him with a puma he saw in the jungle (crazy guy). On our way down in the teleferico he pointed out a car that was wedged in the cliff below the main road entering La Paz. He told us that about five years ago the driver of the car was drunk and drove off the cliff with three of his friends in it...no one survived. Just as he was telling us this the rain got harder and the lightening came leading to the teleferico being halted for about five minutes until the storm passed. Luckily we were just passing through one of the sheltered stops but I imagine being stuck in one of the pods outside was nerve wracking. None of the locals seemed that bothered though and we got moving again quite quickly.
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| Teleferico, La Paz |
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| Selling cars in El Alto |
Again as I mentioned I failed terribly at trialling a vegetarian term in Bolivia and I love trying all the local street in the countries I visit so decided to just go for it and sampled the street food of chorizo in bread for 2.50BS (about $0.35) as well as the food in the local markets where you can get a big bowl of sopa de mañi (peanut soup with pasta in) and a main of meat/chicken grilled or stew with rice, potatoes and sometimes pasta (they love triple carbing in Bolivia) for about $2. Vegetables are also not widely used here despite the food markets being full of them. The main source of vegetables seem to be the big bowls of soup people have daily.
I also visited the 'Calle de los Brujas' (Witches market) selling llama foetuses (yep not a typo) to incense and powders and seeds for every ailment from appendicitis, cancer to impotence..being with three medical students and myself all coming from science backgrounds we found the produce on offer both interesting but hilarious! Next to the witches market was lovely artisan market with the typical alpaca jumpers but also beautiful fabrics in stunning colours.
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| Calle de los Brujas |
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| Cures for diabetics and even cancer |
We rounded off our first day in La Paz with the biggest open air food market in the city (Mercado Rodriguez) where I was delighted to find homemade pure peanut butter at a bargain price of $1.80 per pound (sad I know but peanut butter in the supermarket is so expensive and it makes for a delightful snack)! Later that evening we took our small backpacks that we would use for the next few days leaving our big ones in storage in Wild Rover and went to the bus station that evening opting not to book the overpriced options through the hostel to go to Uyuni. We ended up getting our overnight bus tickets to Uyuni for 65BS ($10) arriving in Uyuni at 6am very sleepy after being kept awake by a snoring Middle Aged Bolivian man sitting right beside me. As we stepped off the bus we were swamped by tour operators selling the same salt flats tours.
After a coffee and some breakfast we shopped around different tour operators and ended up booking a two night, three day tour with Lipza tour company for $115. Before we left we had some time to stock up on water and a second breakfast from the market of meat, chifla (corn) and potatoes in a bag for 6BS ($1)...may as well totally live on the edge with the street food. We met the two other girls in our jeep making us a group of six and our young, quiet tour guide/driver called Omar. The other jeep also leaving that morning consisted of six very muscly, young danish boys on their gap year! I was clearly the oldest of the bunch. When did this happen!
The first day was our day on the salt flats, first stopping off at the train cemetery which was basically a big adults playground where we could climb up on all the trains. Of course the Danish boys had their tops off within about five minutes to get their photos...this will be a long two days of pale abs and flexing. When we made it to the salt flats I was blown away by the vastness of the flat, white landscape. With it being wet season some of the salt flats were covered with a couple of centimetres of water giving the plane a mirrored effect which was mesmerising. We had time here to admire the scenery and take the obligatory tourist photos. Our 'girls' jeep were done after about twenty minutes getting bored of all the posing for the perfect tourist pictures however the boys were clearly in their element..tops off, shorts rolled up and dabbing like there was no tomorrow with their tour guide Domingo allocated as photographer. After the mirrored salt flats we went to the drier salt flats for some more photos, the girls and I opted to do a quick lunge/squat class while we waited for the boys (Again) to perfect their poses.
We had lunch that day in a salt hotel (if you hadn't guessed it's a basic hotel made out of salt). We had meat (ok so there's no way I'll be vegetarian in Bolivia), quinoa, vegetables and salad. We had planned to watch the sunset over the salt flats but unfortunately the weather took a turn for the worst and we headed back to Uyuni for the night where we had dinner and stayed in a basic hostel (no wifi, or running water) but cost fleece sheets and pillows.
Day two we set off early after a pretty basic breakfast of bread and coffee (our peanut butter investment came in handy here). The day was spent in and out of the jeep and was pretty jampacked but mainly consisted of stopping off at various rock formations and lakes. The landscape got progressively more rugged and beautiful the further south we went and the higher altitude we climbed. Bolivia is really surpassing all expectations. What I wasn't expecting to see either was hundreds of pink flamingoes in a vast pink lake (the lake is pink because of the algae in it). There were quite a few flamingo skeletons littering the rim of the water and Omar told us due to the water shortages in Bolivia as a consequence of global warming the flamingoes are dying (another reason lots of communities only have running water for a couple of hours a day).
That night we were staying in another basic accommodation in the Andina Eduardo Avaroa national reserve on the border with Chile. We paid $23 park entrance and entered the dusty reserve driving for about an hour gaining an altitude of 5000m and stopping to see some amazing geysers on the way in. We got to our lodge at about 6.30pm which was right beside some hot springs and at 4900m. Unfortunately two of the Danish boys were struggling with altitude sickness but thankfully the rest of us were ok and had a very disappointing dinner of spaghetti and sauce. However it was quickly forgiven when Omar and Domingo brought us out a couple of bottles of Bolivian red wine! After dinner we all got changed, grabbed some more beverages (because drinking Bolivian spirits in a hot springs at high altitude is a great idea) and headed to the hot springs about 200m from our hostel. We joined about thirty other backpackers and their tour guides in the Bolivian countryside beside a huge lake, surrounded by snow covered mountains and under the stars. We stayed in the hot springs into the night chatting and drinking until we ran out of alcohol and were shrivelled up like prunes.
The next day we dropped off Ellie and Anna (the two other girls in our jeep) at the Chilean border and Omar brought the four of us back the long dusty very bumpy roads to Uyuni to get a night bus back to La Paz (of course before we left Uyuni we had to indulge in some more chicharron de llama in a bag)...too tasty not to.
The morning we got back from the salt flat tour and the girls last day in Bolivia we decided to take a Red Cap Walking tour which left from San Pedro Square at 11am. It was run by two girls, Andy and Maricel. I love a good walking tour and this one didn't disappoint. Even though we revisited the markets we had already been to, it was really interesting to learn about the customs of the 'Cholitas' (indigenous) women that run all the market stalls. They are easily spotted by the way they dress. Their long black hair always plaited, they wear big skirts and wear leggings to cover their ankles. They also wear small boulder hats either to the side (if they are single) or in the middle of their heads (if they are married). We learnt that the women's calves are thought to be the sexiest part of their body and that only their husband should be aloud to see them! We also got to see the famous San Pedro prison which is in the middle of La Paz and which the famous book Marching powered is based on. This prison has capacity for 400inmates but has a total population of 2500 (prisoners, their wives and children). The prisoners run the prison and there are only fifteen guards which patrol the outside perimeter. Inside the prisoners run the prison themselves, most having small business inside to make money in order to feed themselves and their families as well as to earn money they need to buy 'real estate' (cells) whilst insider. Standing outside it seemed bizarre, children coming back from school and entering the prison and seeing the prisoners standing in the open windows, polishing their belongings or just staring out st the bustling square! Only in Bolivia I guess.
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| San Pedro prison |
Stayed: Wild rover La Paz, $10 for dorm. Hostel accommodation in salar de Uyuni.
Food/drinks: Bolivian red wine (surprisingly good). Singani (Bolivian spirit distilled from grapes) with lemonade and limes as recommends to us by a local shopkeeper. Chicharron de llama (fried llama meat) with choclo (corn) and potato. Papa rellena (giant potato croquette stuffed with meat, onion and vegetables)- $1 Salteñas (bakes empanadas stuffed with meat/chicken) - $1 from the market.
Bars/Restaurants: wild rover bar. Mercado Lanza for typical, cheap food in La Paz. Writers coffee for really good (slightly more expensive) coffee.
Next Stop: Cochabamba, Bolivia
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