Bolivia - Part 2

As previously mentioned, it would have taken many hours on rough roads to get back to La Paz by bus, and I needed to go much further beyond there as well, so I once again opted for taking two flights. I only had a short connection time in La Paz to catch my flight to Uyuni, and the plane landed late, making me nervous about missing the flight. I was the first person off the plane, and someone was waiting there to escort me back into the terminal. He escorted me, and then left me by the glass door, on the other side of what I later realized was the boarding area for my Uyuni flight. The lady standing on the other side did not pay much attention to me, so eventually I held up my flight info so that she would see that my plane was scheduled to leave at basically that exact moment. She did see it, and opened the door to let me know that I needed to go back out into the main building to pay the airport tax (again, since I had paid it upon leaving La Paz, and this time I was clearly only in transit!), which I then literally ran to do, thinking in my head that this stupid tax was going to cause me to miss my flight. Of course, after paying the tax, I then had to go through security again, which thankfully did not have a line, and then ended up back on the proper side of that glass door again, in the boarding area. Only then did I realize that the people waiting there were waiting for my same flight, and that they had not even begun boarding the plane yet. What is even more funny is that when I did board the plane, I realized that it was the same plane and the same pilots, and found out later that the airline only has that one plane! So, only because they wanted their airport tax, I had to go through that stress and running around, when I really could have just stayed on the plane!
After another short flight, I landed literally in the middle of nowhere - the small town of Uyuni, gateway to the world's largest salt flat, the Salar de Uyuni. The bus drove all of us to the center of town and dropped us off. I wandered around a bit, found a hostel, and took a much-needed nap and hot shower. It was strange going from the heat of the jungle to the cold and windy desert-like climate. When I woke up, my goal was to visit some of the many tour agencies offering trips to see the surrounding area. It happened to be a holiday (Dia de los Muertos - Day of the Dead) in Bolivia, and everything stayed closed until about 5 p.m.! What I found out after they opened again was that they all offered basically the same tour, and what I found out when I left the next day was that they all work together anyway, so in the end it didn't matter what agency I chose, but rather whether or not I got a good guide. I was promised an English-speaking guide, but the next morning while I was sitting in the office waiting for departure, things seemed a bit chaotic, and when the guy finally walked me out to my jeep to meet my group (they do no more than 6 people per jeep), he apologized to me, saying that my guide only spoke a few words of English (although I never heard even one!), and he refunded me the 100 Bolivianos (about $14.50) extra that I had paid for that. It ended up being fine because, as usual, there was at least one person who could translate in my group. My group consisted of a young Bolivian couple who had finally been able to get away to see the Salar for the first time in their lives, a couple that had been married for 17 years (they met while traveling in Peru - he is German and she is Australian, and I had actually met them on my flight from La Paz to Uyuni!), and another German guy. Our guide was very quiet but attentive, and I ended up appreciating him even more after I heard some of the horror stories from other people about their guides!
When I was finally introduced to my group, we got underway and headed for the train cemetery outside of town. After taking some pictures of the rusted trains, we headed out to the salt flat, which really is an amazing sight to behold! The white of the ground is blinding, and it goes as far as the eye can see! Due to the enormity of the Salar, Bolivia holds almost half of the world's lithium reserves. The Salar is composed of various layers of salt and water, and our guide reached down into the freezing cold water at one point to break off chunks of pink and sparkling salt crystals. We had lunch at a salt hotel, which was made entirely of blocks of salt - even the tables and chairs! We also went to Isla Incahuasi, an island in the middle of the Salar that was full of cacti. That night, we slept at another salt hotel, where once again, everything was made of salt - including the bed frames (yes, we did have real mattresses though)! The next day was a day of a lot of driving - we drove past some volcanoes, and stopped at the Laguna Colorada, which was a crazy red color caused by sediments and pigmentation of some algae. We also saw a lot of flamingos at the various lagoons that we stopped at. We ascended to 4,700 meters (15,400 feet), and saw the "Salvador Dali" Desert, which has several rocks that look like the artist's work. We also saw the "stone tree" which, as you probably guessed, is a stone that looks like a tree! The main thing I remember about that is that it was extremely windy and cold, so we got back into the jeep as quickly as we could! That night, thanks to the speedy driving of our guide, we were fortunate to be the first group to arrive to our hotel, so we got the only private rooms available. While we were waiting for dinner, we walked over to the only "store" in this tiny village in the middle of nowhere, and we had to wait in the cold wind for the lady to come and open it up for us, so that we could buy our bottles of beer. That night, our delicious dinner prepared lovingly by our guides consisted of spaghetti and a bottle of wine! We waited for a long time for our guide to come back so that we could ask him for sure whether that wine was included or not! When we found out that it was, you can imagine how excited I was! Many of the other tables of people had finished already and gone to bed (not much else to do out there in the freezing cold middle-of-nowhere nighttime!), and I noticed that at least one of them had left their bottle of wine unopened! Mysteriously, that bottle disappeared shortly thereafter;) That night was pretty miserable for me because the room was SO COLD - I could literally feel the draft from the blowing wind all night long! I slept with all my clothes on, socks, a hat, and several blankets, and still I shivered all night. We then had to get up really early the next morning, like before 5, and were rushed through breakfast by our guide, for no apparent reason - we had been told that we would get up for sunrise one morning, but by that time we had missed sunrise anyway. Our first stop was to see some geysers, which were shooting steam out of the ground and really high into the air, while making loud swishing sounds - they were really cool! Then we went to the Laguna Verde, which as the name suggests, was supposed to be green, but apparently you had to be there at a certain time of day for it to change colors, and we were not there at the right time. Then we dropped off three of the people in our group who were traveling on to Chile (we were right across the border at that time), and the rest of us commenced the LONG drive back to Uyuni - thank goodness I had a fully charged iPod!
The next morning at the hostel's free breakfast, I met Camile from Belgium and we traveled together to our next stop, the highest city in the world - Potosi. The two of us, along with her friend Michael from Germany, went to a recommended hostel called Koala Den and were able to get a 4-bed private room for the three of us, which was always a nice treat. The next day we toured the silver mine, Cerro Rico, which was a very eye-opening experience for all of us! First, we went to don our outfits, which were funny and consisted of full miner's gear - shirt, pants, boots, a headlamp and hard-hat, and a bandana so we wouldn't breathe in too much dust. Then we went to the miner's market, where we were taught about some of the practices and beliefs of the miners, and where we could buy them gifts. I bought them a bag of coca leaves and a big bottle of water. We learned about the dynamite that they use to blow up parts of the mine (yes, we could have also bought them dynamite!), and we got to try the 96% alcohol that they drink. We then went to the refining plant, where we saw how the silver was extracted from the rock. Then it was time to actually go down into the mine. Our guide, Ronald, was great, and he told us that if we wanted to come up at any time, to let him know and he would have his assistant take us up. He kept saying, both before we went down, and especially while we were in the mine, "Only positive thoughts! No negative ones!" I am sure that almost every group has someone that panics, but no one in our group did - we all made it the whole tour, which is especially impressive because we were inside the mine for over two hours, and we kept going deeper and into tighter spaces! We saw one of the many statues of the miner's god -El Tio (The Uncle), who they believe rules over the mines, simultaneously offering protection and destruction. They offer gifts of tobacco, liquor, and coca leaves to him in hopes that he will spare their lives - not surprising since the Cerro Rico and other Bolivian mines have taken an estimated 8 million lives in the last 500 years! After taking this tour, I definitely have a new appreciation for minerals that are mined, especially silver! Working in Bolivian mines must be one of the worst jobs in the world! The men (yes, it is only men who work down there - they believe women would bring bad luck) work 10-24 hours/day, so mostly they do not see the sun. They work in claustrophobic condidtions, on their knees sometimes, sweating (or freezing) constantly, breathing in toxic chemicals, not eating for their entire shifts! They believe that bringing food into the mines to eat will mix with the dust and cause diarrhea, so they only drink liquids the whole time they are down there! They also get paid based on the amount of silver that they actually extract each day! One of the miners we talked to was only 21 years old, but looked much older, and when asked whether his 1-year-old son would become a miner as well (which is what usually happens), he said he hoped not. He hopes for a much better life for his child. There is a documentary film that I want to watch about Potosi, called The Devil's Miner. I will always remember those miners and hope that I think before complaining about my life or job ever again in the future.
That afternoon, Camile and I took the bus to Sucre, which we had heard was a beautiful city, and it definitely did not disappoint! The weather was amazing while we were there, and the city was unlike any other city I had been to in Bolivia. We spent three nights there, and just were not in a hurry at all to leave! I introduced Camile to saltenas, and she also loved them. We went to a couple of free foreign films, and got pedicures, and just wandered around the city, enjoying the weather, culture, food, and drinks! Sadly, after our time in Sucre, we had to part ways - Camile flew to La Paz, and I took the bus to Tupiza, my last stop in Bolivia.
I was supposed to arrive into Tupiza at around 0600, but instead I was awakened at about 0330 by some people on the bus, just in time to realize that we were actually stopped in Tupiza! That bus ride was also interesting because it was freezing cold, and thankfully the lovely lady next to me shared her blanket with me - otherwise I am pretty sure I would have frozen to death! What to do when arriving to a strange town in the middle of the night? I was fairly disoriented and still half asleep, but sure enough, there was a taxi! I asked him to take me to one of the hostels listed in the Lonely Planet, and we agreed on a price. He drove for only a couple of blocks and pulled up in front of the hostel! Since I could have walked, I was a bit upset about the price, but sometimes it is worth it for the convenience of just getting to a nice warm bed! For the next couple of nights, I shared a dorm room with Johanna from Sweden, whom I would meet up with later in Argentina. The main activity in Tupiza is horseback riding, which I did for 5 hours one day with Andrea from Austria. Let me tell you - after not having ridden a horse in a long time, 5 hours is about 3 hours too long! I was sore for several days after! Also, another word of warning - it is not a good idea to bring your big camera without a bag or case. Every time we galloped, since it was just slung over my shoulder, it pounded on my elbow and/or hip - ouch! Eventually our guide came and took it from me, which was very nice of him. When we got back to town, we watched some of the day-long parade that was going on in celebration of entrance to the university, as far as we could tell. Different groups of very colorfully dressed people came by doing traditional dances to very off-key band music. The parade went on and on, and the spectators exhibited endless amounts of patience as there were really long gaps in between groups at times. That night, Andrea and I enjoyed a pasta dinner and went to bed early in preparation for our long journey to Argentina the next day!