Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia

The bus from Sucre to Santa Cruz de la Sierra is a long over-night shlog - about 15 hours. We pretty much just slept the whole way, as there were no exciting middle-of-the-night events like when we ran off the road half way to Uyuni. 

                           

It was a nice relaxing time in Santa Cruz. We stayed near the main square, in an extremely inexpensive but acceptable hostel, and mostly just walked around and read our books. We stayed two nights. On the second day we decided we would go downtown and see the art and history museums. Normally neither of us have much tolerance for such things, but since these ones were rumored to be free, and we didn't have much planned that day, we decided it couldn't hurt to check them out. 

Sadly, we barely made it through one small exhibit before I realized I had left my raincoat in the cab. I would have been angrier at my myself if I had realized at that point in time that my BOSE in-ear headphones were in the jacket's breast pocket....... to look on the bright side, Brazil is HOT and now I don't have to carry the jacket around...  Anyway that basically ruined my fragile museum tolerance and we ended up getting some fajitas instead, which I had been craving. 

Earlier that morning we went to the bell tower at the Cathedral, and had a good time getting a view of the city and letting the breeze cool us down. We have been hot ever since we decended from the highlands of Bolivia (4000-5000 meters) and into Santa Cruz (something like 600 meters). It's nice to be able to walk up stairs without huffing and puffing again.

Potosi & Sucre, Bolivia

From Uyuni, we caught a 3 hour bus to Potosi, found a market nearby the Potosi bus station to purchase some food and supplies, and quickly caught a local minibus to a hot spring-sourced lake/crater about 15km outside town. After a short hike uphill with our heavy packs we came to the lake and set up our tent right next to the water. There were a few groups with tents set up, and a few more that were swimming. Shortly after we got our camp set up, the afternoon sun transitioned to dark clouds, and eventually a heavy rainstorm. Fortunately, the rain stopped not long after and we were able to make dinner and enjoy a few beers while the sun set.

The next morning we packed up camp, hiked back down to the road, waited until a local minibus with enough room stopped to pick us up, and headed toward Potosi. We had heard of a hostel that was fairly cheap ($6/p), so we went there and booked a room and decided it was time to do laundry. It was a nice old building, and our room opened up onto a pretty covered courtyard. We walked around that afternoon and evening, wrote the blog for Uyuni, and relaxed. After carrying our backpacks up the hill to the lake, and struggling greatly, I finally decided I needed to get rid of some of my stuff. I have been much happier having lost ~5 lbs of clothes and a 300 page spanish textbook... why I thought that was a good idea to bring will always remain a question.

The next morning we woke up late, collected our laundry, looked online for hostels in Sucre, and took the 4 hour bus to Sucre. When we arrived, I was feeling cheap and decided 10 bolivianos was too much for a cab. I thought the hostel was probably just a few blocks away... after walking half way across town we realized I was mistaken, but had already come too far to pay for a cab! We walked a bit further, found a tourist information kiosk, and finished up the last two blocks. 

We enjoyed Sucre far more than Potosi. The whole place was beautiful and clean. The general population we saw on the street was younger and less traditional than most other parts of Bolivia we visited. We celebrated our 4th anniversary by each ordering our own plate of food! Marcela had a Gyro, and I ordered a Philly Cheese steak, which was great. We also enjoyed an episode of "Caso Cerrado", a funny TV show which essentially is a combination of Judge Judy and Jerry Springer. I also found out I was accepted to grad school at UCSB (the only school I applied to) during our night in Sucre, so that was cool.

Wine & chocolate

Uyuni, Bolivia

If you have trouble with the links to the videos, they are all here on my youtube page:

http://www.youtube.com/user/kitkatbandit1?feature=watch

 

Our trip from Oruro to Uyuni involved an overnight bus ride, which turned out to be a little scary but exciting. The first few hours went smoothly (not literally, the road between Oruro and Uyuni is unpaved and quite bumpy), but at about 3am the bus driver must have fallen asleep because the bus ran partly off the side of the road. This resulted in the two right wheels of the bus getting stuck in soft sand/mud, with the bus tilted about 15 degrees. We immediately got off the bus and began standing around in the freezing cold (We were at roughly 4000m elevation so it was pretty cold). After a bit, one guy retrieved a shovel from the storage under the bus and began digging under the rear wheel of the uphill side. Eventually he managed to undermine the wheel, which slightly leveled the bus and made people more comfortable going around to the downhill side to dig. I didn't realize what was going on, and had already grabbed the other shovel out of the bus and dug the two downhill side wheels out a bit. Someone found a big log to jam under the rear wheel of the downhill side of the bus, and the driver was able to drive it back onto the road. In all, this took about an hour. We arrived in Uyuni at 7am tired and freezing, but it was an interesting experience. 

After arriving, we set out in search of a hostel. We needed to shower, set down our heavy backpacks, and escape the cold morning. We went to every hostel we could find, and they all said they were either full or would have availability around 11am. Growing grumpy under the weight of the packs, we decided to get some breakfast and wait for a while. After eating we busted out the guidebook (which we have found very helpful, despite the over-estimation of bus ticket prices -- Footprint guidebooks) and found one we hadn't visited. Marcela went to check the availability and prices, and came back having found a different hostel that was immediately available. We checked in, showered, and I took a long nap. When I woke up, Marcela had already been around town researching Salt Flats (Salar de Uyuni) tours and prices. We went and booked the best deal, had dinner, and slept again. 

The next day we set out on our 3 day/2 night tour of the southwestern region of Bolivia. Our first stop was a train graveyard filled with trains abandoned 250 years ago. They once carried silver from the mines in Potosi to Chile, but they began breaking down and eventually were abandoned. We saw one train with a massive blowout in the coal-burning chamber, and assumed that was the final straw for that specific train.

 

 

After the train stop, we proceeded to Salar de Uyuni, which is without a doubt one of the coolest places I have ever been. The salt is about 40cm thick, with a lake below. It felt similar to walking on a frozen lake. 

http://youtu.be/Roo9--ZhNQg

We were very lucky to be grouped up with people who were close to our age, and over the three days we enjoyed getting to know each other.

We took over 350 pictures during our three days, and although there are a lot of pictures here, there are many more amazing ones we just dont have the internet speed to include.

After the Salt Flats, we headed back to Uyuni to exchange our old crappy 4x4 for a slightly newer one. The agency we traveled with doesn't like to use the good cars for the salt flats because the salt is bad for them. We headed south, along the border of Chile, and saw some amazing landscapes and lagunas. There were almost no trees or plants, and many places felt like we could be driving on the moon.

Valley of the Rocks

We saw a double rainbow.
http://youtu.be/UUFVnQY1JOg

During the day at the Salt Flats, I remained covered the whole day and therefore felt justified in not using sunscreen... sadly, the sun reflected off the white salt and burned my face. The following days I covered up entirely in order to prevent further face burning. I had a great sunglasses burn for a few days after. We visited lots of lagunas, saw three species of flamingo, and even went ghost riding.

Stone Tree

http://youtu.be/F2YP5-LnzTU

The final morning we woke up, had a quick breakfast, and were on the road by 5am.  We first visited an area of volcanic activity where bubbling mud pits send columns of steam high into the air. 

http://youtu.be/giSdxhFsC-Q

After half an hour, we continued on to a hot spring next to a lake, and enjoyed an hour soaking and taking in amazing views.  

On the way back to Uyuni, we stopped and had another dance party. This time we selected music exclusively from my "Prom Party 2007" playlist, and had a few beers.

 

 Our lunch spot on the way back gave the Salar de Uyuni a serious run for its money. It was an amazing place to eat, take pictures, and go for a short hike.

http://youtu.be/trvZBLkeOvw

We really enjoyed our guide, Rudy. 

La Paz, Bolivia

After leaving Copacabana, our bus had to take a ferry across the channel that connects the northern and southern parts of Lake Titicaca. The ride was 4 hours total, but was broken up nicely by the crossing. 

Before decending into La Paz, the bus briefly stopped so we could snap a few pictures:

La Paz is a very busy, urban place. The streets are jammed with cars, taxis, and micros (mini-busses), and the sidewalks are a mixture of well dressed business people with combed hair, women selling fruit and bread, shoe shiners, and beggars. There are lots of tour agencies, camping stores, banks, money exchanges, and plazas in the area we stayed in. However, a long walk through less touristy areas gave us an excellent view into the average day of a middle class Bolivian living in La Paz. 

This is a picture of our guidebook, where we drew in our walking route for La Paz. Hopefully it's possible to enlarge it to actually see where the places we talk about below are located... If anybody cares haha. 

Average enough looking street to include.

Many traditionally dressed women wear top hats in Bolivia and Peru. 

The main church in Plaza de San Francisco. (Above)

Pigeons ruled Plaza Murillo (above), and there were many local people feeding the birds who were completely surrounded by and covered in them. We found the lack of bird poo fairly surprising. There must have been a nightly cleaning, as Plaza Murillo is directly in front of the Presidential Palace (below) and the Cathedral. 

View of the Sopocachi district from the bridge. (Bridge on map)(below)

Toward the end of our walk it started raining, and we happened upon a pool hall in the Sopocachi District where we took shelter for an hour or so:

When we got back I called up therm-a-rest on skype, emailed them this picture (below) of the mattress that failed the first time I used it, and they agreed to send me a new one to our airbnb host in Salvador, Brazil!  I'm really happy I will have a functioning air bed for Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile because those countries are far more expensive than Peru and Bolivia, and we plan to camp more often. Yay companies that treat customers well!

One funny thing I haven't mentioned yet is an experience we had at our hostel. Marcela researched before we arrived in La Paz and found the cheapest option possible ($6/p/n), and upon arriving we set out walking toward Plaza San Pedro, the nearest landmark. When we arrived, the owner said her only vacancy was a room on the top floor (stairs only, ker-wah) that had 3 twin beds. We really didn't feel like walking and looking for another hostel, so after viewing the room we accepted, to her surprise. We put our backpacks in the room and went out to explore the city before it got dark. When we returned, the key to the room turned and turned but didn't unlock the door. Eventually they ended up breaking the window to get in, which we found funny. The next day we had a guy there installing a new lock and window. We didn't mind though, as we were entertained, sheltered, and it didn't cost much. 

Our short stay in La Paz came to a conclusion at the bus station. It was pretty so I took a quick picture. 

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Oruro, Bolivia

Our journey to Oruro was uneventful, as was our general stay in Oruro. We only took one picture of a parade we happened to come across, but decided we would just lump Oruro, Bolivia onto the end of this post because there isn't much to tell. It was really just us breaking the journey to Uyuni into two sections, dealing with a hotel room that smelled like it had been recently fumigated, buying bus tickets, and playing cards in the plaza. Oh, and it was Marcela's birthday, so we went out for a nice dinner. 

We crafted a birthday cake out of a chocolate covered macaroon and a match. haha.

Next, the eventful journey to Uyuni, and the nearby salt flats.