I have to say it but this trip was the best trip I have been on in years. Bolivia is a great country. Intrepid had a great itinerary and fabulous guide and most of all I was in great company. There were only 3 others in the group, two from the UK and 1 lady from Canada and we all got along so well.
When I landed in Bolivia at 5am my first shock was my name being called on the loud speakers. I suddenly had that sinking feeling that something was wrong. False alarm! They had only found one of my credit cards that I had dropped while disembarking the plane. That’s what happens at 5am and a lack of sleep. I took a taxi and hoped the hotel room would be ready for me to sleep in but usually you’re not allowed to check in until noon. When I got to the hotel I was greeted by a very old man…really old possibly in his 90s. He walked really slowly and with so much effort. He was in fact sweeping the foyer when I knocked on the glass doors for him to let me in. 10 minutes later the door opened and he showed me to reception where I met the wonderful Bruno who checked me in straight away and showed me to my room and where I fell into a deep coma.
I woke up around noon with what felt like the heaviest weight on my shoulders. My neck hung low as if I was carrying a wardrobe on my head and I felt so tired. It finally dawned on me that I was suffering from altitude sickness. It was pretty bad especially the headaches. This then lead to the nausea and lack of appetite and energy. I was not going to let it defeat me this time. After 4 days in Puno, Peru and not taking part in the activities I decided not to surrender to it with a mind over matter attitude. It didn’t bloody work. I was knackered and in pain. I struggled to get around the town and markets and had to rest every few yards with a sit down on the pavement. I didn’t eat nor could I even if I wanted to. I tried altitude sickness pills hoping they would be the miracle drug that I never had in Peru but they didn’t work either. I met my small group and my guide and found out the Canadian lady was suffering too. I couldn’t join them on the first night’s dinner as I couldn’t eat a single thing. I even tried to force myself to eat a cookie as I didn’t want to take medicine on an empty stomach. I was also told to monitor my symptoms and to inform the guide if it got worse. You could die from altitude sickness! La Paz was at 3600m which is one of the highest cities in the world.
It was an awful night’s sleep. Every head throb and banging woke me up. There is literally a banging in my head and by 3 am I decided to try some Ibuprofen. I couldn’t believe it, I slept through to 7am and when I woke up my head wasn’t hurting. Don’t get me wrong, I was still suffering from lethargy and any fast movements I made was very tiring but I didn’t have the headaches anymore. This in turn stopped the nauseas which was the best thing ever.
I joined the first day trip to the Moon Valley. Our little group was joined by the previous group from Peru. The valley looked like a little version of Cappadocia in Turkey. Not as spectacular but it was worth seeing. There were a few steep inclines on this walk but I persevered and went slowly which is all I could do. Then we had a small tour of La Paz and stopped at a local café for lunch. I could only manage a small cheese empanada and after the tour I looked for Barracuda Biking Company to pay for my excursion at the end of the trip and then went straight to bed. I still could not manage to eat full meal yet. I was wondering when my body would get used to the altitude.
The next day we headed to Uyuni by 4WD which was much better than the original overnight bus planned for us. The drive was great and we stopped at several places to eat and take photos. I was able to have a small burger at lunch and it didn’t make me feel sick. This was progress. After the long drive and we eventually arrived at our hotel. That evening we had pizza and I joined in my first group meal. We had quinoa based pizza as this is the main produce of Bolivia. It’s damn expensive around the world but extremely cheap here.
The following day was Christmas Day and our guide bought us all Santa hats to wear. We drove to the salt flats and had the best time ever. It was so bright with the burning sun and the white salt as far as the eye can see. They say that the salt flats of Bolivia can feed the world for 50 years.
As it’s the rainy season the salt field was a little wet but not too deep. The crunch on your feet was almost like stepping on coral and without shoes it hurt my feet. We played about taking silly photos of each other. Our guide was the best photographer taking everyone’s photos at any time. We jumped about, we stood on mounds of salts posing and then one of the girls even cartwheeled. Basically lots of very silly shots with lots of stupid poses but fun.
We headed to the middle of the salt flats for lunch. We were in the middle of nowhere with no other people or vehicles around for miles. We had burgers for Christmas lunch and then more posing for photos again. Because of the vast whiteness of the salt flats the depth perception of objects you pose with can be easily manipulated. I could be standing on a giant bottle of beer or I could be squishing a tiny person under my feet. It was all fun and we spent hours taking photos in every position and pose we could think of. Eventually we headed for the Island of the Cactus which is exactly what it is, a small island filled with cactus. After that we headed for our night in a salt hostel which is a building made of salt bricks. Even the beds are made of salt.
The next day was my birthday and I was greeted with a cake made by my guide decorated in Dulce de Leche. It was strange having a birthday cake for breakfast but it was a great start to a fabulous day. The guide kind of pushed my mouth into the cake as is the tradition in Bolivia. Luckily only my lips were covered in cream and not my whole face. We had a mini safari which started with a soak in the thermal pool, then a drive to the blue lake, green lake and white lake. All of which had flamingos that didn’t fly. On the rare occasion they flew, it was far away. We saw the wild rabbits (vizcachas), deer like creatures (vicunas), thousands of llamas and the very rare Andean fox. It also snowed while we were in the desert which I found amazing. We also went to the Salvador Dali Valley, it inspired Salvador Dali’s paintings. When you look at it you can see why. The scenery was so beautiful, almost like looking at paintings. Then we eventually headed back to our hotel in Uyuni. My altitude sickness gradually went away as I got used to the levels but on occasion I had to pop a couple of Ibuprofens during the trip. The highest we ever got on this trip was at 5000m when we visited the mud pools. It was cold, foggy and misty but very eerie.
The next day we headed up higher to Potosi at almost 4300m. Potosi is a famous mining town but with such sad history behind it. The mountain they mined usually called Mountain of Death or the Mountain that eats Men Alive. The name comes from all the deaths it has caused; nearly 9 million people have died in that mountain. We joined a trip to go into the mines, where a genuine miner would take you down to the tunnels so that we may experience at least an iota of what the miners have to go through.
First we all had to squeeze into the tiniest van ever with the smallest seats. Then we went to get our equipment such as hats, torches, jacket, trousers and rubber boots. Then we got into the van again with all our gear on which was an even tighter squeeze. Then we got off at a market to buy provisions for the miners such as coca leaves, cigarettes, alcohol which was 90% proof and the major buy of all, the dynamite. The alcohol is used to say a blessing to Pacha Mama (mother earth) and then you swigged it before going into the mines…which I thought was crazy. It’s 90% proof!
I’d like to say how cheap it is to buy dynamite. It was barely $3 and you get the trynitro glycerine, the ammonium sulphate and the fuse. Bargain! We were all a little perturbed by the fact that the guide was smoking a cigarette while giving out the dynamites and even more so when in the van, the number of bumps we had while the dynamites were in our laps.
We got to the mines and were shown the process of mining and what minerals were taken out; you know all the boring stuff. Then finally we entered the mine and slowly began to see how dark it was and how cramped it got. Eventually we had to crawl to get from one level down to the other. I ripped my trouser sliding down on my bum as it was the safest way to get down. You constantly had to keep your head down in case you hit it on a beam. The air was so thick it was difficult to breathe and what with some of us still suffering from the remnants of altitude sickness, made this trip a traumatic and claustrophobic experience. We literally had to stop so many times as some of us at one point or another could not breathe, me included. When we had to get back to the top after what seemed like an age down in the mines, we had to crawl on our hands and knees to get to the next level. It was an absolute relief to get out of the mine even though we were met with torrential rain and hail stones the size of marbles. Luckily we had out hard hats on. What an endurance and the miners had it a million times worse than us every day and putting their lives on the line.
The trip was coming to an end as we headed to our last city in Bolivia which is the beautiful town of Sucre. We took a local bus to Sucre. The change in atmosphere and weather was a total shock to the system. It was hot and sunny and low in altitude as well which was a bonus. Suddenly we all put our shorts on and were more relaxed. It’s amazing what a little bit of sun can do to your mood. Don’t get me wrong, we were not miserable at all as we had enjoyed the days but the sunshine just does wonders to your soul.
The first thing we did was to find a bar/restaurant that would take us for New Year’s celebrations. We visited a couple and finally decided on Café Amsterdam. It’s a little café run by a Dutch lady who does a lot of outreach work with the local kids in the area and especially to the kids who are working in the mining town of Potosi. That evening we watched a film about a boy who works in the mines and about his life. The proceeds of our tickets went to the children who worked in the mines. We ended the night with the worse meal ever at some poncy Italian restaurant that wouldn’t know a Caesar Salad if it was thrown in their faces.
The next day we had a free day to enjoy Sucre ourselves. I had a fab time tasting the best chorizos from a small cantina called 7 moles and then followed by an Amaretto filled cup made of chocolate in the famous chocolatier in Bolivia, Paraty. I also managed to buy yellow and red underwear for the celebrations. The saying in Bolivia is, if you wear red underwear when the clock strikes twelve on New Years, you will find love and if you wear yellow underwear, you will find money. I was being greedy so I wore both red and yellow. It’s always a good idea to have all your bases covered.
The evening started off with welcome Margaritas followed by several Caiprinihas with extra lime. Then we started seeing in the first New Year which was the European New Year. An hour later it was our New Year (UK) which wasn’t that spectacular. We then tried to find another country that very slightly had a connection to one of us so that we may see in the New Year every hour until midnight. We kept this game going until someone from another table decided to question one of our countries. Spoil sport!
It was the Canadian lady's birthday the same night so she also got a cake. So I started a small chant of “Cake in the Face” so my guide very gently pushed the cake into the Canadian lady's mouth. We took photos and we all chanted cake in the face when a stranger came to our table, picked up the cake and smashed it into the Canadian lady's face full on. She had cream in her hair on her hat and all over her face. I was shocked and so were the other 2 Brits in our group. If it had happened to one of us, there would have been a punch up no doubt. After seeing our reactions the rude lady offered to buy us drinks but our friend being Canadian, she was ok with what happened and shrugged it off while she went off to clean herself in the toilets. We eventually convinced her to do the same to the rude lady which she did with gusto.
Just before it reached midnight we headed to the square for the fireworks. They were great and what was scary was the local guys had fireworks in their hands and were letting them go off. The rockets flying up to the sky were just being held by make shift cardboard while the guys were actually holding them. Some of them went off sideways which was crazy!
We ended the night with a dance and a boogie back at Café Amsterdam and by the time we got back to our rooms it was about 3am. This was not good as we were going to visit an orphanage the next morning. And boy did we feel it while we were waiting for the bus to take us there the next morning. Even though we pushed the meet up time to 11am we were all still very tired and very hungry. We cut our visit time and decided to get a taxi as it was quicker. Then for lunch we went to the only open pizza place for some high calorific meal to soak up the night before. Just as well as the trip back to La Paz the same evening didn’t go as planned. With a stopover that lasted longer than the whole drive back to La Paz it kind of spoiled the end of what was an amazing trip.
I had one more day left in La Paz while everyone else went back home. On my last day I booked a mountain bike trip on the famous Death Road. It is a 69-kilometre roadleading from La Paz to Coroico. It is legendary for its extreme danger and it was christened as the "world's most dangerous road". Nearly 200 to 300 travellers are killed every year along the road. Part of the road is marked by crosses where vehicles had fallen or crashed. The road is just about the width of a single car so when another vehicle appears on the opposite side it becomes extremely dangerous. When it rains the fog hampers visibility and water turns the road into a muddy track and in the summer they have to put up with rock falls.
There are many mountain bikers who come here for the thrill of riding downhill on the gravely paths with 600 meter drops over the edge. At least 18 cyclists have died on the ride since 1998.
The Death Road was on the BBC show, Top Gear: Bolivia Special where Jeremey Clarkson and gang travelled 1,610 kilometres from the Bolivian rainforest to the Pacific Ocean. The danger of the road was bloody obvious when the damn thing began to crumble under Jeremy Clarkson's Range Rover wheels, because he was forced to the edge while passing another car. Let’s just say Jeremey shit his pants.
Now with all the information I was a little scared. I am not a mountain biker. I had set my mind to go slow and to enjoy the ride rather than be scared. We had our guide explain to us safety issues. What to do and what not do and then we even had a practise. I found my jacket and trousers slightly on the small side and it definitely looked snug in the photos. Before we started our ride the guide pulls out a bottle and it kind of looked familiar. It was only the 90% proof alcohol. He said we had to give blessings to the bike and Pacha Mama and of course one swig for luck for our ride. I didn’t taste the one in Potosi so I gave it a go. It was like drinking nail varnish remover or paint thinner. It almost immediately evaporated as it touched my lips. Then off we went!
We started off on tarmac road first before getting to the real gravely stuff. At this point we were at 4600 metres but I didn’t feel a thing. It was a great ride until we got to the start of the Death Road. You knew this by how foggy it was and how the road became narrower and by the scree on the road. This was the serious stuff. There were over 100 of us, all from different groups taking part today so it was a little crowded. As I had planned to go slowly throughout the journey I was able to enjoy the view and stop and take photos. I guess it was a pain for the guide at the back as he had to be the last to make sure everyone in the group was looked after plus he was taking all the photos. Because I went slowly I was able to have the road to myself most of the time. When a large group came whizzing past I just stopped by the side and got out of the way. I guess the road got to me as I began to get braver. I started going a little faster especially near the bends. Occasionally a car or van will be coming the opposite way which always was a surprise. I would always stop and let them pass but other riders just carried on. Like I said I got braver every time I passed a bend. The views across was amazing as you saw the tiny road slithering along the mountain with tiny little riders on them. Three quarters of the way there I was being a daredevil. I literally was going faster than I had ever gone and I loved it. I loved skidding. I heard one of the girls had crashed when she braked hard and flew over the handle bars. She was still way ahead of me; as usual I was the last in my group. I could see how fast I was going and I could see that I was having difficulty in stopping. I tried to bake slowly but the bike was just going too fast and the front wheel hit a small rock and I was a goner. My right knee hit the floor and the velocity of the bike spun it to the left with me on it and I landed in the ditch to my right still on the bike. It was a spectacular crash and I expected something to be broken or a piece of bone sticking out. I heard my guide ask if I was ok and I saw one of the girls come towards me as well. I managed to get myself up and off the bike and as I checked myself I couldn’t’ believe there was nothing. I wasn’t hurt. Then suddenly my right knee throbbed and I thought oh oh that’s it. My knee cap is broken. As the throbbing continued my guide tried to check if I was ok. I said I was even though my knee was hurting but I was able to walk on it. If it was broken that wouldn’t happen plus I wasn’t crying my eyes out in agony. He then checked the bike and fixed the loose wheel. I was ok and not hurt as much as I thought I could have been. My guide said I was lucky that I didn’t fall to the left side which was the edge with the 600 metres drop. I said yes I guess I am lucky but obviously I am also stupid to have gone so fast. I didn’t think I was going that fast, not as fast as the others but he said I was. I obviously didn’t realise this until I crashed when I couldn’t stop the bike. I am an idiot and I should get the stupid award of the day. At least I got a t-shirt for my troubles.
I rode the death road, crashed, survived and got a t-shirt. Not a lot of people can say that. It was definitely a spectacular end to an amazing trip. The worst bit was the flight back home with my sore knee. Every cramp was felt while trying to get comfortable in the tiny plane seat. It was a week until my knee was back to normal again.
