Simon and Kate Travel

We arrived in La Paz after an overnight bus from Peru. Kate was feeling unwell and so we quickly headed for the hostel. We spent three nights in La Paz recovering fully from Machu Picchu and letting Kate get better. La Paz is a big city and we explored as much as we could from the witches market to the more modern (in Bolivian terms) business district.

We then left La Paz on an overnight bus to Sucre. As we had researched which bus to take we ended up on a really nice luxury bus which didn’t cost a lot as nothing does in Bolivia. We arrived very early in Sucre and spent the day wandering around the pretty university town. We only stayed one night in Sucre before getting the bus to Potosi.

We arrived in the Sucre bus station to find that all buses to Potosi were canceled due to roadblocks setup by striking miners just outside of Potosi. We met a Belgium couple and a French guy trying to also get to Potosi. After speaking to lots of the bus companies we found one that was still running a bus but only as far as the roadblocks. After that we would have to walk. As the roadblock was just outside Potosi we decided to go for it. After three hours on the bus sure enough we hit the roadblock and everyone got out. This was the strikers main road block and so it took us a good 15-20 mins to walk through all the parked lorries and rocks on the road. Once we got to the other side thankfully there were taxis taking people into Potosi. The only issue we encountered was when we tried to get into the taxi one of the strikers was threatening to burst the taxi tyre with a large nail. We quickly got out of the taxi and he eventually met us around the corner out of sight from the strikers.

Read the rest of this entry »

We arrived in La Paz early in the morning and had amazing views of the city and surrounding mountains as we drove down into the valley. We only stayed the one day in La Paz as we plan to come back and we spent most of that day recovering from the horrible bus. As Bolivia is so cheap we did have a really nice hostel with an ensuite, pure luxury after all the dormitories.

The following day we caught a bus to Copacabana, not the famous beach in Brazil, but a small town by Lake Titicaca. We got there around lunch and spent most of the afternoon sitting in the sun drinking beers by the lakeside. In the evening we met up with the Canadian girls for a joint birthday dinner.

Read the rest of this entry »

We set off early in the morning by minibus to the Chilean border. There were a total of 18 of us in the tour group. After being stamped out of Chile we drove on to the Bolivian border and immigration office. This is the most remote border crossing we have ever seen, just a tiny individual building in the middle of nowhere. Once stamped into Bolivia we transferred to Jeeps in groups of 6. We were in a group with two Canadian girls and an Australian couple. Our first stop was Laguna Blanca, a clear lagoon with great reflections of the surrounding mountains. We then drove to Laguna Verde, another stunning high altitude lake this time coloured pale blue. Next stop was the natural thermal springs where we all soaked for a while. After drying off we headed to the Sol de Manana Geyser Basin and hot mud pools. These were at 5000m and we were starting to feel the altitude. After leaving the geysers the jeep broke down due to the dust and altitude and it took all 3 jeep drivers a while to get it running again. We then drove to Laguna Colorada, which is like nothing we have seen before as the lake is coloured bright red from all the plankton in the water. As we drove closer to it all you could see was a streak of red across the horizon. The laguna is full of pink flamingoes feeding off of the plankton. After leaving the laguna we then drove to our shelter for the night, (breaking down another 4 times on the way).

The next day we headed to see the Valles de Rocas, various rocks that have been weathered into strange shapes over the years. Then we visited a further 4 laguna´s the most spectacular being a sulphurus lake with even more flamingoes. We then broke down again this time a bit more serious but the jeep was soon running again as we crossed the railway line and waited for the incoming train to pass us as it crossed the altiplano landscape. We then had a long drive to the edge of the salt flat and our hotel which was completely made from salt, even the seats and tables.

Read the rest of this entry »