Border crossing
21/7 Leave Argentina, enter Bolivia, and persist with my new Mexican travel buddy, Ivette. She's a bit of a diva, so sometimes I'd call her Divette (Diva-Ivette). Later this helped me let her know when I'd like to pull her head off , without the bloodshed. I couldn't decide if I liked or loathed this girl, but I think she satisfied some need I had for a surrogate mother.
We crossed the border at La Quiaca, on foot, dragging our bags along the dusty road hoping then to catch the afternoon train to Tupiza up north. No luck, we were told the service was not running today, so we forced our way onto a chicken bus instead.
Bolivia is a poor but beautiful country, further sweetened by the cute little grannies and even cuter toddlers. Cute but grumpy. Much of the population is indigenous, and still speaks Quechua, the language of the incas.
Tupiza
22/7 Horse riding, lots of fun. We were lucky our horses were well behaved but keen gallopers.
Got told off for galloping along the train tracks on the way back into town, someone was worried I might run over some old ladies dotted about town. No-one seemed to worry if they got run over by a train though.
Ivette becomes my spanish teacher, this pays for her travels, which is cheap in Bolivia, and the arrangement suits me too.
Back in town Ivette speeds off to check out transport and returns to persuade me that we leave on the evening train. There are 3 classes on the train, 1st, 2nd, and "popular"... which we take - clearly I'm not paying Ivette enough to teach me Spanish. But it turns out to be quite a fun experience. There are no tourists on popular class (even "shoe-string" backpackers can afford to travel first class in Bolivia), so we pile in with the locals, whole families with their pets and a years harvest, exchanging produce regularly through the windows whenever we stopped at villages - coca leaves, fruit, rice you name it.
I ponder how the energy exchanges work that enable someone in Europe to earn enough money in just a few minutes to travel by train for several hours in Bolivia.
Uyuni
23/7 We arrive at uyuni in the middle of night, well wrapped in woollies - we were warned it drops to minus 20 degrees here. Ivette stays with the bags and I roam the deathly quiet and cold streets on the town looking for somewhere to stay. I feel like i'm in the wild west, the place is pretty ghostly. But we're in luck, as is a Korean chap who was going to spend the night in the station, thinking the town too dangerous to venture into at night. Maybe it is, but we all arrived safe and in one piece with all our stuff.
We spend the day preparing for a trip to the salt plains, checking out tours and shopping for woollies.
We opt for a family-run agency that felt right, seemed pretty organised, and had detailed menus laid out. There are dozens of agencies and you really see this each morning when the tours head out.... a convoy of Toyota 4x4s hits the desert.
Salar Uyuni
24 July. Early start, a few french join us on the tour but otherwise it's a pleasant morning. The scenery all day is beautiful, and the sunset is spectacular.
We pass a couple of breakdowns on the way. Someone looks more depressed than me.
At night we settle into our salt-brick home on an island.
I would definitely come back to Bolivia, buy a 4x4 in La Paz, and just roll.
Some desert, southern Bolivia
25/7 Next day heading south we are treated to more spectacular scenery and a flamingo dance-show, quite a sight. I'd show you but i cant find the video my internet is too slow.
Further south is less spectacular, the lakes have all but dried up, the national park entry is a rip-off, and its a long bumpy drive. Worth it if you're using a tour to cross the border with Chile or Argentina, but otherwise i'd recommend one night is enough - the salt flats and flamingoes did it for me, the rest was more punishment than passion.
That said, the geysers are impressive, if smelly. The accomodation however was cold and basic, so I was glad to have an arctic sleeping bag (well, a cheap supermarket one, extended with a fleece at a local tailors)
Chilly, near Chile
26/7 Chilly and early start. We're on a tight schedule to get back. But first some relief from the cold at a hot spring.
Its a long trip back. Ivette and I try to study for a bit but there's tension. I can't remember the details but she had said some things that I found condescending, and I felt treated as if a child. I told her so, and learnt about her being a bit of a diva as a child. We cleared the air. I think these little challenges were part of the reason for my travelling with her. Did I say I wanted a surrogate mother?
Back in town to shower and change and head straight onto the overnight train to Oruno.
Oruno
27/7 Dawn as the train appoaches Oruno. The carriage windows are thickly iced up. As they thaw we see it's a beautiful ride through the salt lakes. Flamingoes and other flocks of birds fill the sky and waters.
We spend the day at Oruno before catching a bus onto La Paz.
Spot the cute granny...
In La Paz, we do exactly what the guidebooks say not to do, get a cabbie to show us somewhere to stay. But this works out just fine, we get a decent private room for half the price of a hostel dorm bed, and best of all there are no backpackers.
Ok that's enough my head hurts. Coming up next.. Ivette locks me out of our hotel room.
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