Can I just firstly say that surprisingly that overnight bus
we took from La Paz to Sucre was the best overnight bus we had in all of South
America. Not only did it only cost us $20pp for a 12 hour bus ride but it was
also the only bus we had which had completely flat bed seats including a leg
rest which you could move into position as a full length bed and a lovely warm
alpaca blanket to combat the air-conditioning. So good! For anyone reading this
that may still be considering buses in Bolivia we highly recommend the full
cama bus seats on the El Dorado buses. The actual driving is a whole other
matter and we’ll get into that more a little later…
Sucre, also known as the white city, has a reputation as the
most beautiful city in Bolivia and for us it definitely lived up to that
expectation. Most Bolivian cities have the pretty standard red brick façade and
are not entirely attractive but Sucre has some beautiful old colonial style
buildings and most of the city is white, hence the nickname.
We really loved our time in this city and actually decided
to extend our stay as we were enjoying it so much. It is actually a really
popular place to learn Spanish and if we had more time I think we would have
loved to do that as well. But unfortunately we didn’t quite have that much time
up our sleeves as there were still a few more things left we wanted to do with
our time in Bolivia. So we had to settle for just enjoying the sites of the
city of which there are many.
We stayed at a lovely guesthouse called La Dolce Vita, right
near the centre of town. It is run by a French/Swiss couple who moved to
Bolivia a few years ago and they provide some wonderful rooms with a great
guest kitchen and patio on the rooftop. To make the fact that we had such a
great kitchen even better is that Sucre has one of the best fresh food markets
we have seen on our travels. It was brilliant! We had fresh fruit with yoghurt
for breakfast each morning and could then go and buy fresh juices or fruit
salads during the day and fresh vegetables for cooking in the evening. It was a
nice healthy change for having to eat out all the time and trying to pick a
dish on the menu that at least gave you a small handful of greens on your
plate. Unfortunately South American food is not really known for its vegetables
and salads. It is mainly just a lot of meat, rice and potatoes.
Our time in Sucre was spent very relaxingly. After breakfast
we would go sightseeing and in the late afternoons a traditional South American
siesta before preparing for the evening meal. We visited numerous museums
including a free folklore museum with some amazing masks used for traditional
dances and ceremonies across the country, a beautiful old colonial building
which now houses a history of Bolivia’s wars within South America and our
favourite, a gorgeous textile museum. The textile museum held traditional
weavings done by the different indigenous people of Bolivia. It is an art form
which is sadly dying out but there is now a trust set up to help men and women
to continue their work. It is sold through fair trade shops throughout Bolivia
as well as the museum itself and they even had a woman working on a weaving in
the museum shop. It is such intricate work and each piece tells a traditional
story and takes the artist between 2-3 months to complete. Traditionally the
pieces were used as clothing but nowadays in order to sell the pieces they are
also made into beautiful wall hangings.
As well as some great museums Sucre offers a great social
scene. We found some great local bars which offered live music, drinks and also
local films. On our final evening we visited the Amsterdam bar where for a
small donation we watched a showing of a documentary on the Potosi silver mines
called ‘The Devils Miner’. It was an amazing documentary showing the life of
the miners, filmed just 7 years ago and we thought extremely worthwhile as our
next destination was Potosi.
Potosi is a silver mining town and also apparently is the
highest city in the world. Its main square sits at an altitude of over 4000 metres
above sea level. The main mountain they mine the silver from looms above the
town so you can imagine just how high that would be and additionally how
difficult it would be to work in there. Our main reason for visiting Potosi was
to experience the mines in action. I couldn’t bring myself to visit them, I
feel a little claustrophobic in mines at the best of times, let alone ones
where you have to crawl through on your belly and are in total darkness. I
decided to give this tour a miss and let Tegan go on his own.
The tour starts by taking you to get suited up; long sleeve
top, mining pants, Gum boots, Helmet and a battery pack with head torch. Once
you’re looking the part it’s off to the refinery to see how the local people produce
the Silver and Zinc that they mine. The operation looked really primitive and
we were always warned not to touch anything due to the high levels of arsenic in
the place (reassuring). Next it’s onto
the Miners Market – a market where one can buy anything a Miner could require (including
Dynamite). Here we bought ‘gifts’ for the miners; Juice, Gloves and yes, even
Dynamite. Then it was onto the mines. Driving up the mountain it is quite clear
that this hill has been heavily mined for centuries. The entire face, on all
sides, is scattered with roads, shacks and Dump trucks. Plus the amount of
mines on the mountain give a certain ‘honeycomb’ look about it. Our guide
explained that over the last 500 or so years the mountain has claimed up to 8
million lives. Hence why it is known to the locals as ‘the mountain that eats
people’. Before we knew it we were entering the mine, but no disused mine, this
was a fully functional and very live mine as we were to quickly discover. As we
walked along the mine cart tracks, after no more than 3mins it became increasingly
difficult to breath. The dust was already grating at my throat and I found myself
gasping for breath after every 20 steps. First stop in the mine is to pay homage
to the mine’s ‘Tio’. The Tio is an idol that is present in every mine on the
mountain. While most Potosians are Catholic on the Earths surface, underground however
they believe the Devil is in charge and therefore they must honour the Tio, a
demon idol. (The history of the Tio is
quite interesting. Back in the 1500’s when the Spanish discovered the existence
of silver in Potosi, they enslaved the indigenous people to work in the mines.
Twenty hour shifts and only four hours sleep most of the time. Eventually the
locals had had enough and they rose up against the Spanish. However, the Spanish
knew how superstitious the indigenous people were and so created a giant statue
of a demon and proclaimed that if the people did not work the Demon would kill
them. So they all went back to work. The name Tio was derived because the word
for demon was Dio but the local people had no ‘D’ in their language so it
became the Tio.) Anyway, after offering a few Coca leaves to the Tio for
safe passage, we continued into the belly of the mine. We continued around 600m
more into the mountain and descended down three levels before we arrived at the
working end of the mine. By this time the temperature was soaring at around 40
degrees and the air was so thin and dusty even sitting still was a chore. Then
it happened. We heard a loud crack and thud, then all of a sudden we felt the
air in the tunnel slam against our chests. Small rocks were starting to fall
from the ceiling as our guide explained that the miners had just let off some
dynamite. It was of the single most spine tingling moments of my life. Made
worse by the fact that our guide had just finished telling us a story of how a
miner and two tourists had been crushed after a dynamite explosion. When we met
the miners, they were all in surprisingly high spirits (perhaps they had just
found another Silver vein, who knows). But they spent some time with us,
explaining what they do, etc. It really struck a nerve with me realising how
humble these men were. Knowing full well that their life expectancy was not a
day over 42 or so, this was their life, this is what they have to do to feed
their families. It was quite moving. In all, we were in the mine for just over
2 hours, and it was tough, really tough. But these guys do it for up to 16
hours a day, 6 days a week until they either die or make enough cash so that
they do not need to work there anymore. It made me realise that I could never
again validly complain that my job sucks. The whole experience was one of my
most memorable from the last 9 months and a lesson I will never forget.
After our brief stay in Potosi it was time to travel to
Uyuni for a tour of the famous Bolivian salt flats. As we were leaving the
hostel we were paired up with Clare and Judy from Wales who also needed a taxi
to the bus station to Uyuni at the same time as us. We decided that we should
all go looking for a tour together when we arrived in Uyuni. We had heard that
it was better to form your own group before arrival in Uyuni if possible. That
bus ride from Uyuni was magnificent. Probably my favourite for scenery whilst
we have been in South America. The bus wound around the mountains on these tiny
roads which switched between dirt and asphalt constantly. We went through some
tiny villages with indigenous people working away on their land and the snow
capped mountains soaring above them. It was 6 hours of pure beauty.
Uyuni on the other hand, a complete and total wasteland!
What a contrast. As we wound around and came out of those mountains we spotted
the town immediately just sitting in the middle of nothing. Considering this
town is built purely on tourists arriving and leaving for tours they haven’t
put in a whole lot of effort. Buildings were falling down everywhere, rubbish
piled up and plenty of buildings just boarded up altogether. To make matters
worse there is a constant dust storm blowing through the streets which makes it
very unpleasant to walk around in as well. I felt really sorry for the locals
who had to live in such a desolate place. The one thing Uyuni had going for it
was that it has quite a nice main square with some greenery and a couple of
bars which were serving drinks in the centre of it.
After visiting five different travel agencies and speaking
with a few travellers who had just returned from Salt flats trips we made our
decision and paid for our trip to depart the following morning. That night we
took the opportunity to visit Minuteman pizza which is possibly the only thing
in Uyuni which is regularly raved about by visitors. The pizza restaurant is in
the back of a local hotel on the outskirts of town. In fact it looks like
nothing special when you first walk in. It’s also pretty pricey by Bolivian
standards but we were well rewarded when the pizzas we received were absolutely
delicious and well worth every cent.
It was time for some well needed rest before our departure
to the Salt Flats the next morning.
