* Bolivia and Peru again 2003
From Brasil I took the death train into Bolivia and some smaller buses totalling almost 2 days of non-stop travel. Spent a few days in Santa Cruz and Sucre. Nothing really unique except the amount of wealthy bolivians who live in Santa Cruz. Many of them are involved in the drug trade.
Potosi is the worlds highest city (4000+m). It´s Known for it´s silver mines. They financed the Spanish monarch for over 2 centuries. The condition in the mines are appauling.
It´s like they havn't changed since the 1500´s. Although now there are no longer black and Indian slaves but local miners working them. They are full of dust, posionous arsenic fumes and small narrow tunnels .Infact the deeper you go in the hotter it gets and the harder it is to breath due to lack of air. They are still pulling steel wagons full of minerals that weigh a ton with 2 or 3 men and rope. 8 hrs day of mining will make any job look good (what a terrible job ).
When we left the mine we learned how to light sticks of dynamite- very cool. I even held it in my hands for a few seconds after lighing the detenator . Wow its a real rush to have your life in your hands! After about 5-10s I quickly took some distance before it exploded.
Went north to Sorata to relax for a few days. Sorata is a small village in a deep valley above a river bank beneath towering mountain peaks over 6000m high. One of the most beautiful settings in Bolivia.
From LaPaz I took the most dangerous road in the Americas to Corioco. It drops 3000m in several hours. It its the most frightning road I have ever taken. It´s narrow enough for one car, muddy (slippery) with endless vertical drops and a collection of buses that have gone over the edge, but some amazing scenery. It even has rivers and waterfalls going through the road to keep things interesting.
After we got through the most dangerous part we ran into a rockslide, which cut off the road, leaving us and 50 other buses and cars stranded in the middle of the jungle. After spending the night on the road, which is nothing but a dirt path on the edge of the mountain, buldozers eventually came to clear the the boulders so we could pass. In the end a 15 hous bus ride turned into a 40hr nightmare.
Finally we arrived at 1am of the following day in Rurrenbaque. I took a tour into the Amazon rainforest and the pampas for about a week. In the jungle I ate my first tree, palmito- The heart. After cutting the tree we drank water from it . In the pampas we saw a lot more wild life- birds, monkeys, boars, dolphins,...We also for hunted anacondas and alligators and fished for piranas.
I Flew back to Lapaz with a military plane (in the cockpit because they ran out of seats) and stopped in la Isla de sol (an island on lake titicaca).Its the highest navagable lake in the world. The ancient Incas believed it to be the sacred birthplace of the sun God and is still inhabited by the ancesters of the uros indians. Bolivian buses and roads (paths of dirt) are horrible, bumpy, muddy, smelly, overcrowded, late, continuously breaking down with no toilets.
The food is ok but I can´t say I have had one great meal yet. Altough they are the cheapest meals I have had ( at 60 cents for a 3 course meal and coffee). I had some interesting meals such as alligator, cow heart, llama meat, stomach and trees .But I mostly ate chicken and rice.
Peru:
After eating only chicken with plain white rice, salad (with tomatoes and onions only) and chips drenched in oil for the past month I decided to stay on Peru"s coastline to avoid chicken. Several weeks of only fish and cebiche was refreshing and just what I needed.
I went back to Cuzco and Lima for some nightlife, also somthing there wasn't much of in Bolivia.
I relaxed for a few days in an Oasis in the dessert near Ica, before heading north to Huanchaco and Mancora for some surf and nice sunsets. I skiped almost all the ruins in the north, but am a little ruined out, at least until I get to Mexico where I will catch up.
Potosi is the worlds highest city (4000+m). It´s Known for it´s silver mines. They financed the Spanish monarch for over 2 centuries. The condition in the mines are appauling.
It´s like they havn't changed since the 1500´s. Although now there are no longer black and Indian slaves but local miners working them. They are full of dust, posionous arsenic fumes and small narrow tunnels .Infact the deeper you go in the hotter it gets and the harder it is to breath due to lack of air. They are still pulling steel wagons full of minerals that weigh a ton with 2 or 3 men and rope. 8 hrs day of mining will make any job look good (what a terrible job ).
When we left the mine we learned how to light sticks of dynamite- very cool. I even held it in my hands for a few seconds after lighing the detenator . Wow its a real rush to have your life in your hands! After about 5-10s I quickly took some distance before it exploded.
Went north to Sorata to relax for a few days. Sorata is a small village in a deep valley above a river bank beneath towering mountain peaks over 6000m high. One of the most beautiful settings in Bolivia.
From LaPaz I took the most dangerous road in the Americas to Corioco. It drops 3000m in several hours. It its the most frightning road I have ever taken. It´s narrow enough for one car, muddy (slippery) with endless vertical drops and a collection of buses that have gone over the edge, but some amazing scenery. It even has rivers and waterfalls going through the road to keep things interesting.
After we got through the most dangerous part we ran into a rockslide, which cut off the road, leaving us and 50 other buses and cars stranded in the middle of the jungle. After spending the night on the road, which is nothing but a dirt path on the edge of the mountain, buldozers eventually came to clear the the boulders so we could pass. In the end a 15 hous bus ride turned into a 40hr nightmare.
Finally we arrived at 1am of the following day in Rurrenbaque. I took a tour into the Amazon rainforest and the pampas for about a week. In the jungle I ate my first tree, palmito- The heart. After cutting the tree we drank water from it . In the pampas we saw a lot more wild life- birds, monkeys, boars, dolphins,...We also for hunted anacondas and alligators and fished for piranas.
I Flew back to Lapaz with a military plane (in the cockpit because they ran out of seats) and stopped in la Isla de sol (an island on lake titicaca).Its the highest navagable lake in the world. The ancient Incas believed it to be the sacred birthplace of the sun God and is still inhabited by the ancesters of the uros indians. Bolivian buses and roads (paths of dirt) are horrible, bumpy, muddy, smelly, overcrowded, late, continuously breaking down with no toilets.
The food is ok but I can´t say I have had one great meal yet. Altough they are the cheapest meals I have had ( at 60 cents for a 3 course meal and coffee). I had some interesting meals such as alligator, cow heart, llama meat, stomach and trees .But I mostly ate chicken and rice.
Peru:
After eating only chicken with plain white rice, salad (with tomatoes and onions only) and chips drenched in oil for the past month I decided to stay on Peru"s coastline to avoid chicken. Several weeks of only fish and cebiche was refreshing and just what I needed.
I went back to Cuzco and Lima for some nightlife, also somthing there wasn't much of in Bolivia.
I relaxed for a few days in an Oasis in the dessert near Ica, before heading north to Huanchaco and Mancora for some surf and nice sunsets. I skiped almost all the ruins in the north, but am a little ruined out, at least until I get to Mexico where I will catch up.
posted by Marco at
11:05 am
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