Posts From Bolivia

We were up and away early this morning to give ourselves plenty of daylight for our first foray onto Bolivian roads. We have heard so many horror stories about these roads and this is apparently one of the worst areas of the country.

Another change of plans - today we decided to take the plunge and follow the trail north rather than return to Chile as was our original plan - why did this feel like a plunge. We had no GPS way points, poor maps and no idea how far to the next fuel source. But there are many tour company Toyotas so we did not feel too bad about the prospects.

We were up and away early this morning looking forward to a shower in Uyuni - we hoped.

The rough roads of the last few days finally destroyed the fix I made to overhead cabinets way back in April last year on the road to Inuvik. The screws holding the cabinets to the ceiling pulled out and in the process pushed a small hole right through the fiberglass roof. Todays task was to fix both the cabinets and the roof.

Today we ventured onto the famous Uyuni Salar or salt lake. Out goal was to make it to the center of the salar and an island called Isla Inca Huasi. In preparation for this adventure across the apparently roadless salar I had determined a series of GPS coordinates for points along our proposed route - courtesy of Google Earth again

We experienced a strange coincidence this morning. At breakfast I noticed a group of guys wearing identical jackets each sporting the emblem of the Coyhaique 4x4 club - Coyhaique is a town in Southern Chile that we passed through while traveling the Carretera Austral to Villa O'Higgens. At the gas station later in the morning we bumped into them again, this time they were in their vehicles. A bunch of old FJ Toyotas. One of the guys came up to me and in Spanish told me that we had met on the Fiordo Mitchell ferry crossing (on Jan 16th - half a continent and almost half a year away). Once pointed out I recognized him - he was driving a late model Dodge Ram pickup truck and at the time we chatted in broken Spanish and English about our vehicles.

Not withstanding an early start the town of Potosi was alive and bustling when we arrived. And so we had the pleasure of trying to navigate through dense vehicle and foot traffic to the hotel we hoped to stay at but for which we had only GPS coordinates and no address. As it turned out an address would not have helped as there were no signs naming the streets. Sharp observing by Nina who spotted the hotels sign, finally got us parked in a cobbled courtyard.

Getting out of Potosi proved to be a bit of a challenge. On entry to the town yesterday we saw no signs towards Sucre, our next destination, and throughout the day we saw nothing that gave a clue as to where we might find the road to Sucre. Late yesterday we got some directions from a tourist office but the lady that gave them did not seem very confident. So this morning we headed into the throng of buses, taxis and pedestrians with some nervousness. We did eventually find the correct road. The directions helped a bit, but following the buses (now a standard navigation strategy) proved to be the key ingredient.

Today we took a bus to the nearby town of Tarabuco which is renowned for its Sunday craft market. We took a bus partly because we did not want to go through the process of leaving and entering our parking position more than necessary.

We had a quiet day around the hotel with a bit of walking around the plaza area of Sucre. The day was pleasant, sunny and warm - but the altitude surely slowed us down, even though Sucre is low by comparison with Potosi and La Paz.

We thought the big challenge of the day would be getting the Tiger out of the area in which it was parked. But as luck would have it another vehicle was parked near the gate and this forced us to consider a different approach - turn up hill not down. This was a stroke of luck as it made the whole exercise much easier. It did not stop all the locals from the nearby souvenir stands from coming over and offering advise.

We had not intended to get as far as la Paz today but the road was good and we made better time than we had anticipated. After about an hours driving the mountainous topography gave way to flatter more open territory facilitating faster travel.

After a leisurely start to the day, with a shower and other chores to occupy us, we took a taxi into the city around lunch time. The ride was hair raising - the route into the city from Mallasa winds up and down the walls of the canyon in which the city sits, but this did not deter our driver he pushed his little Toyota sedan to its limit the entire journey with brake and tires squealing on corners and downhill sections.

Into central La Paz again today to find the location of the Spanish school I will attend next week, to check in at a hostel (we have a very early start tomorrow for a tour), and a guided tour of the the city.

We had heard about the Bolivian death road well before we started this journey, and had even seen TV shows about it. But nothing really prepares one for the reality of this road, and the bike ride that is now the primary use of this road.

It has been a week since the last entry and during that week we have learned a bit more about Bolivian culture and I have attended 4 days of a 5 day Spanish course.

Getting out of La Paz this morning and onto the road to Sorata was an interesting challenge that afforded us an up-close look at markets and traffic. The direct road from our hotel in Mallasa to highway 1 on the plateau in El Alto was closed for repairs so we had to resort to going directly through the San Francisco area of downtown La Paz. The traffic was perhaps the densest we have encountered. From there we climbed up to the plateau via a freeway and onto the road to the airport. Unfortunately we missed a turn and found ourselves on the southern side of the airport so spent sometime trying to correct this error. In the process we traveled through some miles of poor outer La Paz suburbs. A few more navigational adventures got us onto the road North to Sorata. Leaving the La Paz area we passed through a series of small communities. It was market day, and it seemed that in this part of the world markets are situated in the middle of the highway; which was packed with buses, trucks unloading people and goods and pedestrians darting across from one group of sellers to another. Quite exciting.

Late in the morning we ventured up into the center of the town from our Oasis camping ground. This was a notably strenuous excursion as it required negotiating a narrow steep footway, firstly down into the river and then up the steep valley wall on the other side.

Today was a public holiday for the celebration of the Ayamaran New Year and the winter solstice. Throughout the day we saw vehicles decorated with colored ribbons and flowers and in the town of Achacachi we had a chance to witness a colorful parade. We did not get up early enough to see any of the welcoming of the sun that we later heard about from other tourists. But I am getting ahead of the story.

It was cold this morning so we lingered in bed a little longer than we had planned. As a result we did not get to canvas the tour agencies in town about the day tour to the Isla Del Sol and Isla De la Luna before those tours had departed (at 8:30). Our tardiness was rewarded as the only way we could then do the day tour was to hire a private boat - which we did for a whopping US$100.