...or Bolivia on it's more known name...
(I call it so because of the atitude of most of it's inhabitants towards tourists. I was allready used with a bit of condescendence, and feeling a bit silly when asking about directions, but in Bolivia you feel like you are disturbing, like people would rather give up the money you are willing to spend and be left alone. This, when they are not trying to scheeme you. But you won't even find the profit-oriented niceness of merchants... )
As I was saying, at the end of the Chile post, my crossing to Bolivia didn't go quite so smooth and turned out quite expensive... and you'd think this would be the cheapest country on my trip...
From the minibus that brought us from San Pedro we (me, Jose from Chile and a coreean girl who recomended herself as J - I suppose after many failed atempts to have her name pronounced correctly ) were transfered on a jeep that was making it's way back to Uyuni after compleeting a three days tour and discarding some of the travelers - the ones that crossed to Chile.
The ones that were going back: some brazilians and a mexican girl, Selene (who was to befriend us soon) had the best seats. So I suffered a bit due to lack of leg-room in the back of the vehicle. But the landscape was magnificent... and there were some lamaaas...
I also had to chew some coca leaves as my sinuses started turning inside out when we aproached 6000m altitude. Must say, I was a bit circumspect, but nothing extraordinary happened. Luckily, I didn't feel any other kind of sickness, nor did anybody else.
The ride was nice (more photos to come)and the driver pretty patient, and as he declared himself, quite a 'bandito', because he took a sidetrack in order to avoid us paying the reservation fee (about 20 USD). Me, Jose and Selene got into a big talk about what's wrong and so similar in our countries that kinda uncharmed the journey....
We made it early in Uyuni, so after booking the Salar tour for the next day and checking in at our hostels we had time for beer and seeing Selene at the bus-station to catch her night-bus to La Paz. The same bus that me and Jose were to take the next day
The one day trip to the Salar de Uyuni was great ! Even if I was in a very boring car, I kept meeting Jose at the different sights. like the Train Cementary:
we were not even sure were we were untill we actually reached the upper sides of La Paz
... in spite of all the half-done, ugly little houses, the view was impressive. And LaPaz is really fascinating. Ugly and poluted and crowded, but fascinating. It was the place I really felt like in a different world, I felt the sort of otherness, I expected to find in South America. I loved walking the narrow streets, even when beeing starred at. Most of the time, I felt like I was the only tourist (non south-american) in the capital of Bolivia who actually ventured outside the hostels.
I'll leave this post now and will continue when I recover my photos. There's more about LaPaz and then Copacabana and La isla del Sol ;)
(I call it so because of the atitude of most of it's inhabitants towards tourists. I was allready used with a bit of condescendence, and feeling a bit silly when asking about directions, but in Bolivia you feel like you are disturbing, like people would rather give up the money you are willing to spend and be left alone. This, when they are not trying to scheeme you. But you won't even find the profit-oriented niceness of merchants... )
As I was saying, at the end of the Chile post, my crossing to Bolivia didn't go quite so smooth and turned out quite expensive... and you'd think this would be the cheapest country on my trip...
From the minibus that brought us from San Pedro we (me, Jose from Chile and a coreean girl who recomended herself as J - I suppose after many failed atempts to have her name pronounced correctly ) were transfered on a jeep that was making it's way back to Uyuni after compleeting a three days tour and discarding some of the travelers - the ones that crossed to Chile.
The ones that were going back: some brazilians and a mexican girl, Selene (who was to befriend us soon) had the best seats. So I suffered a bit due to lack of leg-room in the back of the vehicle. But the landscape was magnificent... and there were some lamaaas...
I also had to chew some coca leaves as my sinuses started turning inside out when we aproached 6000m altitude. Must say, I was a bit circumspect, but nothing extraordinary happened. Luckily, I didn't feel any other kind of sickness, nor did anybody else.
The ride was nice (more photos to come)and the driver pretty patient, and as he declared himself, quite a 'bandito', because he took a sidetrack in order to avoid us paying the reservation fee (about 20 USD). Me, Jose and Selene got into a big talk about what's wrong and so similar in our countries that kinda uncharmed the journey....
We made it early in Uyuni, so after booking the Salar tour for the next day and checking in at our hostels we had time for beer and seeing Selene at the bus-station to catch her night-bus to La Paz. The same bus that me and Jose were to take the next day
 |
| Jose loves his fish-eye lens |
... many photos to follow...
The busride to LaPaz was painfull. The first part, up to Orouro is not even paved and, as we were seated at the back of the car, sometimes the bumps would lift us completely from the seats. And then there were parts in construction..., and then just before entering the city, there was a marketplace that took forever to pass
I'll leave this post now and will continue when I recover my photos. There's more about LaPaz and then Copacabana and La isla del Sol ;)
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