Bolivia, April 2017

By the time we crossed to this country we were so ready! We have been in Argentina for what it seems like an eternity and we were looking forward to the change. It is funny because we were living in Argentina all these years ago we would never have considered Bolivia a top destination. And today, after hearing so many travellers rave about this country, we were extremely excited to finally been here.

It took us much longer than expected to arrive to Potosi. The road from Jujuy is beautiful, we see pieces of houses that definitely look like old ruins. The mountains are spectacular, but it is very dry and oh so high! We are chewing coca leaves all the time to avoid the altitude sickness but still catch up with us. We took refuge on the side of the road, only a few houses, some abandoned cars and some people who didn't even flinch when we stopped to sleep.


Potosi

Such a nice city! Colonial style, narrow and uphill roads. It is difficult for us to drive here. SalSolcito is also suffering the lack of oxygen! A big plaza, cute houses, the coin museum and a long line of butcher shops made the city. It is difficult to say but there is a mix of picturesque and bizarre when for example we saw a pig eating a dead dog just on the side of the road. The older women are all dressed as in a National Geographic episode. The faces are so marked, hard, dry. People barely talk and they take ages in answer. If I thought the pace in the north of Argentina was slow, well...this is almost still!

First day we just visited the city, coming back home and in the rain we stopped for a second under a bridge when a bunch of teenagers greeted us with a drink! It is Saturday night and before going dancing they get together for alcohol. No difference to any other country in the world!

The next day we attempted to go to "ojo del inca", thermal place nearby. No chance, it was closed :( but we like the driving outside the city. We got back and decided to do a trekking to Khari Khari lagoon. It is so hard to trek in this kind of altitude. We went from 4.000 to 4.300 and had to stopped every 20' or so. We were really proud when we reached our destination! But I paid a high price that night, feeling really sick.

Next it was time to visit the mines. It must be the only mine in the world where people still work "bare hands". No technology, fancy or otherwise, just their bodies and few tools. It was an eye opening. Working on such hard conditions, we learned about history and the life of the miners. They desire to give their children a different lives.


As we were driving to Sucre, we reflected on this country and what we saw. It amazed me that the poorest the country is, the more shops of "useless" things I see. And I had a good confirmation on this when in a sleepy little town we spent and a few days. Parked outside the school, in no time we were surrounded by lots and lots of surprising little eyes peaking into our home, asking questions, telling us their stories, They were so intrigued by our presence, even more so when we hang up all our wet clothes from the windows looking for some sunshine. They thought we were just selling stuff. And in this place, no paved streets, chickens running around, women cooking inside, all these kids have for "tea break" were ice creams, chips and coke!


Sucre

This is definitely a very different place, there is a sense of "real city" or how it was described by our Colombian fellow travellers "a white city". What does it mean is that there are all small and pretty white buildings surrounded the big plaza. There is the cathedral, the museum of Bolivian history (which we visited), the government building and so on. At night I got surprised by how many people live here, all rushing after work thought the big markets. We spent 2 days here and I can say that we got to know this place very well! First it was La Recoleta, the Jesuits place above the city. Very very pretty but so difficult to get there! All the streets are uphill and it takes a lot of commitment to want to know this place. All the way down we jumped in a taxi to go to the Dinosaur museum.

Really unexpected and so great! We learnt that there are 12.000 footprint of dinosaurs here, the biggest in the world. We walked next to a gigantic wall (that is used to be flat but is now a 75 degree wall because tectonic movements thought millions of years) and enjoyed the look alike species made at true scale. Next was the visit to the cemetery, an incredible place with beautiful monuments. What caught my attention here was the "children" niches. A look like window where people put flowers and plenty of toys inside. It was very moving

After 10 days here I still find difficult to articulate how I feel about Bolivia and its people. It is true that they are not necessary good host people, or even friendly. When we talked to them, they take ages in responding, looking at us almost in disdain; and then when they finally do, they hurried us to take action...for example if we want to buy bananas or not!