As we crossed the border into Bolivia we immediately noticed that our new bus was considerably worse than those in Peru. You could immediately tell that Bolivia was a poorer country. La paz is the highest city in the world at 3700 metres above sea level. To our surprise Bolivian tribes from the amazon had marched over 200 miles to protest in La Paz. In traditional Bolivian miners culture they protest by throwing dynamite around in the street. This was very weird to get used to since our interpretation of explosives is as a threat and not an everyday commodity which is as Bolivians see it. The next day we went and viewed the moon valley. The moon valley is named as such due to the strange rock formations which Neil Armstrong said looked like a moon valley. We also walked around the witches market where we saw many llama foetuses. The following day we departed on a flight to Sucre.
We arrived in Sucre also known as the White city because all the buildings are made from white stone. The next day we went to see the dinosaur footprints that had been uncovered by Bolivian miners. Unfortunately this whole experience had been over commercialised to beyond ridiculous. The foot print was still something which you do have to see, however. Sucre was the first time in a long time that we had descended low enough to feel normal and have a few drinks. We watched some football in a bar and later on found a cheap place to enjoy a couple of drinks. The next morning we departed on a 5 hour bus ride to Potosi.
Potosi was a huge increase in altitude to 4090 metres above sea level. This would be the highest altitude that we had ever slept at up until this point. Potosi is a mining town famous for its silver. It was cold and there wasn't much to do here if you didn't fancy entering the mines where arsenic, cyanide and heavy metals were rife. We did however get to see some Bolivianite during our time in Potosi. This was a pinkish crystal structure. The next morning we departed on another long bus journey to Uyuni.
Uyuni was our base from which we would visit the Bolivian Salt Flats "Salar de Uyuni". We had expected Uyuni to be cold having read that it can reach down to minus 20 celsius there, however nothing had really prepared us for an entire lack of heating in our hotel. When we woke in the morning the windows in our room were frozen solid on the inside. It was at this point that we thought we might of been under prepared for the salt flats due to the fact that we didn't have a ski jacket. That evening we went into Uyuni town and brought some supplies before finding a restaurant with a fire to enjoy a hot drink. The next day we departed in a 4x4 Lexus on route to the salt flats. Our first stop on the way to the salt flats was the train graveyard. This is where all of South America's old trains come to die. In the middle of nowhere and exposed to the elements. On reaching the salt flats we found a group of children being used as child labour to seal bags of salt for the Bolivian consumer market. The two young girls were aged 7 and 8. Our next stop was an island in the middle of the salt flats where we had lunch and enjoyed the views and the world's oldest cacti which were over 200 years old. Next we proceeded to the other side of the salt flats where we stayed in a salt hotel overnight. The hotel was entirely constructed from salt including the floor, the beds, the tables and the chairs. The next morning we got up early to climb the nearby hill in order to watch the sun rise over the salt flats. After this we had breakfast and then departed on route to the ancient burial grounds where the skeletons of tribes could be found in stone tombs. We then headed to a lake were we stopped for lunch. On this lake we found many Flamingos'. Next we headed onto the red lake stopping briefly before making our way to the nights' accommodation. The accommodation was interesting and most of us would've preferred to sleep in the 4x4's as they were warmer, more comfortable and had intact windows. The next morning was our last day on the salt flats and we rose at the crack of dawn to enjoy the Geysers and geothermal activity on the salt flats. After this we enjoyed breakfast followed shortly by the verde lake and the other side of the red lake. The red lake was really vibrant from this side and it was all the more pleasant since most people did not dare leave the vehicle in the extreme wild chill that existed here since we were at up to 5000 metres above sea level at times on the salt flats. On our way back to Uyuni we narrowly missed a car crash where a vehicle had overturned. If we had been a few minutes earlier we may have been hit. After a short stop for lunch we returned to Uyuni via the dinosaur rocks. After freezing our butts off until 2am in the hotel without heating's lobby we departed on the luxioriously warm (compared to the hotel) sleeper train. Arriving back in La Paz early the next day. We then finished our travels and caught a flight home.
