Uyuni
Our first impressions of Uyuni was it was a
shabby frontier town but once we’d found somewhere to stay and had a bit of a
wander it grew on us. We checked into
Kori Wasi Hostel which had small, windowless, clean en suite rooms that were
good value at about US$15 a night.
They’re gradually paving the streets and are putting in lots of seats
which make good sun soaking, people watching spots. To be honest that was all we did until it was
time for tea and we splashed out on a pizza and bottle of red in Wiphala
Restaurant (no gringos and no 80’s music!) to celebrate our first proper trip
of the year out.
Bus
to Sucre
We’d booked seats with Linea Emperador and the
bus was clean, comfortable, plenty of leg room and set off pretty much on time. As soon as we left town we joined a tarmac
road that is so new the work gangs are still putting in the finishing
touches. In fact the tarmac lasted all
the way to Potosi and then on to Sucre.
We very soon started climbing and it was lovely looking back down over
the salt flats. Once over the first
ridge we left the South West corner of Bolivia behind and started looking
forward to our next destination. The
road then plateaued out and we passed through llama farming territory.
The landscape varied from as wild and barren
as areas we’d been in previously to significantly greener areas. There was even the odd tree dotted around and
the clumps of grass that grow in a haystack formation were much bigger and
bushier. To our surprise and delight we
spotted a few more groups of vicuna along the way but after a couple of hours
didn’t see any more. However, it
supports my theory that this is the best area to find them in the wild.
The local ladies carry bundles on their backs
tied up with blanket sized pieces of brightly coloured cloth. Babies and infants are carried the same way
too – the poor things must feel seasick by the time they’ve been slung
around! The costume of choice in these
parts is layer upon layer of knee length skirts in a multitude of colours,
thick stockings, a brightly coloured shawl and topped off with a hat. A bowler perched deportment lesson style is
the top choice but any hat will do. By
the way we noticed the bundles made good seats on busy buses but you’d need to
remember you weren’t carrying anything living or fragile before parking your
bum.
Anyway our journey continued with us climbing
up and over ridge after ridge past lots of valleys with a smattering of hamlets
and villages along the way. The frequency
with which we saw deserted and derelict buildings made us wonder if the people
live a semi-nomadic life. Once the
natural resources or farming opportunities have been exhausted they abandon the
area for pastures new. There’s an ample
supply of natural building resources around for this to be possible.
We drove through white sandy deserts and
alongside narrow, shallow canyons. I
know I’ve already said it but this country really does have and incredible
natural diversity and constantly presents you with new vistas to admire. We arrived in Potosi at around 3pm where we
had to change onto a connecting bus with the same company. In fact we already had the tickets so didn’t
anticipate too long a break. Oh how
wrong we were – 2 ½ hours later, having had to sit in a brand new but lacking
in facilities bus station, we final got on our connecting bus.
Why is it that when one things goes wrong
there always seems to be a domino effect?
Well, following the extended wait for the bus this is just what happened. We arrived in Sucre much later than we’d
anticipated so of course it was already dark and the bus didn’t drop us in the
terminal. Luckily we spied the Youth
Hostel sign so we had a good idea where we were and went to get a room. Hmm, they only had dorm rooms left – do we
look 18?! So after consulting the Lonely
Planet we flagged down a taxi to take us to Hostel Sucre. Not only did the taxi driver rip us off (not
substantially but enough to add to our frustration) the lady in the hostel
looked at me like she’d just trod in dog poo.
Popped into Amigos Backpackers but it was awful, the place over the road
was full and probably too posh for us.
We wandered back towards the main square and
spotted the Grand Hotel which proved to be just that – a good price (180 BOB)
with a big, clean en suite room. It was
almost midnight by this point and we weren’t feeling favourable towards
Sucre. Did it manage to win our hearts
over?
http://www.boliviahostels.com/Grand_Hotel-Sucre_516-en.html
