Crossing the border into Bolivia, we immediately felt the difference from Argentina. There were a lot more indigenous people dressed traditionally with colourful skirts and bowler hats, you could feel the altitude and the buildings were more basic.
I pretty much missed Tupiza, our first stop, as I was sick with gastro and the altitude was making me dizzy.
Our next destination, Uyuni, was much more memorable. We did a 2 day excursion to the Salt Flats. Before we got to the flats, we visited a train cemetery, some markets and the house where a local merchant processed the salt. The salt flats were a vast white expanse with beautiful hexagonal patterns.
We explored them by four wheel drive and the drivers even let us ride on the roof! We stopped for lunch at a salt hotel near flags from the Dakar rally and ate llama steak. In the arvo we took funny perspective photos, checked into our salt hotel then went to some caves that were filled with coral formations from when the salt flats were an inland sea as well as with graves and bones.
The next day, we rose early to see the sun rise from Fish Island then visited a volcano. At its base there were some lagoons with flamingos and a pasture with llamas. On the volcano there was another cave serving as a cemetery with intact mummies still inside. After a rough walk up to 4400m through quinoa fields and we had an incredible view of the crater. What an awesome excursion! Definitely one of the best things we'd done so far.
Our next stop was Sucre, the political capital. We loved the white washed colonial buildings and it was a joy to walk around. The central market had everything and the street food around was delicious and tasty. My favorite was the deep fried mashed potato ball with cheese on the inside (papa rellena). There were some beautiful churches where you could climb the bell towers for good views over the city and some interesting museums. One noteworthy one was the dinosaur park where you could see thousands of dinosaur footprints tracking up a limestone wall (it used to be a lake bed but had been pushed vertical by movement in the tectonic plates).
Potosi was a silver mining city that again had a colonial centre but was a bit rougher round the edges. It was hard to believe that Europeans used to move there because it was such a wealthy city and 'the' place to live. I did a mine tour of 'Cerro Rico' and was quite shocked at the conditions. The air quality was appalling and I must have hit my head at least 10 times, but it was fun to crawl up the tiny tunnels. Not so fun if you have to do it for 12+ hours a day though. The mint was also worth checking out and Brodie actually quite enjoyed the local food - chicken heart skewers!
After another day's drive we arrived on the outskirts of La Paz in the late evening to watch some Cholitas wrestling. It was quite possibly the weirdest thing I've ever seen - indigenous ladies dressed in traditional clothing tackling each other with choreographed moves! The next day things got even more exciting as we cycled Death Road with Gravity Tours. I've never been so scared that I'd die (lots of people still do) but we arrived at the bottom without a scratch and I even managed to enjoy coasting down the narrow, rocky road with steep drop offs to the side. I might even go as far as to say it was a trip highlight. The following day we did a walking tour where we learned about some of the corruption in San Pedro prison and walked through the witches market. We learned about some of the superstitions that people had, like using llama fetuses as sacrifices to Pachumama for good fortune in a new home. Even more scary, there is an urban legend that witch doctors bury homeless people in the concrete foundations of high rises for the same reason. Apparently bones have been unearthed to support that theory! My other La Paz highlight was 'Urban Rush' which involved dressing up as Spider Man and abseiling face first out of a 17 story building!
Bolivia was full of culture and adrenaline. Our favourite country in South America so far.
