A Quick Travel Update

Phew - we made it back to La Paz! The flight went off with out a hitch, and there don't appear to be blockades of any kind here. It all seems to be concentrated in the central highlands of Bolivia.

The blockades themselves have something to do with the truckers trade unions I think. I'm not entirely sure, because whenever I ask a local they simply reply: "Pah! Es politico." There's definitely something going on here though (potentially completely unrelated to the road blocks), because every time we see a television it's reporting on some kind of demonstraion or protest going on somewhere in Bolivia. Most of these protests seem to be held just outside the US Embassy in El Alto, so we'll be sure to stay away from there (though we did meet one Australian girl who wanted to experience a real life South American riot first hand. She was definitely insane).

I think most of this is pretty much par for the course in Bolivia. We were told by our guide on the mining tour in Potosi, that there are usually protests of some kind going on, and sometimes the blockades can go on for months effectively paralysing the country's tourism industry. He said when that happens he has to return to work in the mines since there are no tourists around to take any guided tours!

In any case we are now back in La Paz and soaking up the "market culture" (there are market stalls absolutely everywhere here). Our next stop is Coroico, which at the time of writing, has no blockades. Hurray!

Back in Sucre ...

Yes we are back in Sucre. How on earth did this happen I hear you ask? Well apparently there is something called a nationwide roadblock going on in Bolivia at the moment, making it impossible for us to get the overnight bus from Potosi to La Paz. We are desperately running out of time in Bolivia so this roadblock is a little bit annoying to say the least.

Originally we wanted to spend just 2 nights in Potosi and then travel to La Paz on the third night. We had heard of the blockade on day 1, so we went to the bus station to make sure that we could travel the following night. We were assured that the blockade would have finished by then and we were even sold a couple of tickets. We turned up at the bus station the next night naively assuming that since we had some tickets, it would be easy to get on a bus. We were then told the bus would be leaving two hours late. This turned into 3 hours, then 4. Finally we were told that there would be no bus that night and were given a refund. However, we were assured, the blockade would definitely be finished by the next night.

Like fools we returned the next day, only to be told that no busses were running whatsoever because of the protests.

Since we were short of time, and since there was no guarantee the blockade would finish anytime soon, and since we were in one of the coldest places on earth with no central heating anywhere, we decided to splash out and get a flight to La Paz. Only problem was, Potosi, despite having a commercial airport, didn't appear to have any flights (commercial or not) going to or from it. The nearest airport that did some flights (and mercifully one going to La Paz) was in ... yes, you guessed it ... Sucre.

We were then faced with another problem - how to get to Sucre when no busses were running. Fortunately we fell into conversation with another group of travellers who also wanted to get to Sucre. They had spoken to a a couple of taxi drivers who were prepared to try and drive round the blockades ... for a price. To be honest, the price was around 3.50 GBP per person - for a 4 hour taxi ride. In London, you'd be lucky to get to the next set of traffic lights. We hastily agreed and set off on our way.

The journey wasn't especially eventful ... unless you count all the off-roading to sneak round the blockades. Or having to get out of the car as our driver negotiated especially bumpy or steep areas of terrain. Or waiting for the driver to push burnt-out cars off the road. We are beginning to learn that this sort of thing is a pretty standard part of travel in Bolivia.

We eventually reached a half kilometer long blockade on the outskirts of Sucre that certainly wasn't circumnavigable. We got out of the taxi, walked through the blockade, and got a local bus to the centre of Sucre ... and here we are!

We have since booked a flight for tomorrow morning at 11.30. The problem is, relations seemed to have soured between the protestors and the government, and there are now plans to blockade every street in every major city - including Sucre - starting at 7.30 tomorrow morning. We will therefore have to get up very early tomorrow and attempt to get a taxi to the airport before the blockades begin. Even if we manage to get there and catch our flight, who knows what's going to happen when we get to La Paz. We may be forced into a very long walk from the airport to our hostel in the city - with all our luggage on our backs. More to come as and when it happens ...

PS. To date I have no idea what these blockades are all about! I will try and find out and post more details soon.
PPS. The picture at the beginning of this post is not of one of the blockades that we saw en route. It is in fact just a picture of a truck from Google images. We cannot take any more pictures at the moment as all our camera memory cards are full up, and the internet connection is so slow in Bolivia that we have not been able to transfer the photos to online storage. The blockades we saw were similar to the truck above however - just many more of them, in much worse condition, and all parked across the road next to each other ...

Potosi and the Silver Mountain.

We are currently in a city called Potosi, in the centre of Bolivia. The city sits at 4020m and boasts that it is the highest city in the world...it certainly feels it- it´s freezing! I miss Brazil and being hot!! I actually couldn´t sleep the first night we arrived I was too cold...this is NOT what I had in mind for the 8 month trip around South America. But enough complaining... Potosi is actually great and apart from the awful hour before I fall asleep of not being able to feel my feet beacuse I am so cold, we`ve actually loved it here.

It`s been another ´cultured´ few days visiting lovely old churches and cathedrals, and we had a great tour around an old convent where we learnt about the nun´s lives and the whole self flagellation thing- craziness if you ask me. Strangely there were a lot of skulls everywhere too- weird. It was on this tour that we bumped into some Canadian friends we first met in Brazil 4 months ago and haven´t seen since Argentina which was great! We`ve eaten lots of lovely ´saltena´s which are the local speciality, much like the meat filled pastry ´empanadas´ from Argentina but a bit spicier, we`ve sat with the locals in the markets eating several very cheap´unknown´dishes and loved it and we`ve drank lots of yummy fresh juices preapred by the local women-the ´cholitas´.


Potosi has quite an interesting history, which has been part of the highlight of the trip. Just behind the city is a Cerro Rico, a ´rich hill´ full of silver. The city was founded in 1545 and straight away became the largest and the wealthiest city in the Americas due to the silver being extracted from this mountain. The Spanairds learnt of the enormous wealth buried in the mountain of Postosi and immediatly sent thousands of indeginous slaves down to dig and extract so that the silver could be sent to Spain. The work was really dangerous and many many workers died of accidents and silicosis pneumonia. Despite this, in 1572 it was made law that all indiginous men over 8 had to work in shifts of 12 hours, they`d remain underground without seeing the daylight for months, they`d eat, sleep and work in the mines. It´s said that in about 300 years nearly 8 million Bolivianos died from the appalling conditions.

Today, the pure silver has more or less dried up and poverty in the city is quite apparent. However, the mines are still in operation and some 15,000 miners work down there every day extracting the silver ore which only contains 2-10% silver. A ton of ore will give the workers 300 bolivianos. This is about 20GBP. They`ll probably collect a ton twice a week. The conditions are still abismal- underground temperatures vary from below freezing as the altitude is so high, to nearly 46 degree celcius at the fourth and fifth levels of the mines. The hard working miners are exposed to noxious chemicals and gases and will die within 10-15 years of entering the mines. It´s quite a harsh reality to take in.

I was very apprehensive about taking a tour to the mines and actually going down into the mines as I had heard horror stories from other travellers about claustiphobia and not being able to breathe etc. I also wasn´t sure how we´d feel about seing all the harsh working conditions, and worried we were ´exploiting´ the hard workers. However we read up on the tours and found out they are taken by ex minors and the tours themsleves benefit the minors as gifts are brought to them. So we booked a recommended tour for this morning, we had an excellent guide- he is actually still a minor and an expert on the mines, the lives of the minors and the history. It was so interesting, and heart breaking, listening to him telling us about the poor minors, getting up every day walking up to the mountain and spending over 12 hours underground, working so hard to provide for the large familes they all have back in Potosi. We heard how every boy, usually at the age of just 14 will start working in the mines, with their fathers, uncles and cousins, and they will not stop working until their poor health permits them to about 10-15 years later, where they will have contracted silicoysis and will surely die. Our guide was saddened by the fact his sons will probably work there all their lives, although he`d love for them to go to university, sadly its just not reality for the men in Potosi.

The tour started with us all getting the protective gear on- hard hats with lights on, jackets, trousers and hankerchiefs for our mouths. We were first taken to something called an ingenio, which is a smelter used to extract the sliver from the ore. We saw all the machinery at work, and lots of chemicals used in the process of seperation, including open pools of cyanide! We then went to the miners market where all the miners stock up on dynamite, coca leaves (chewing the coca leaves helps with the altitude) and drinks etc. We bought gifts for the miners here- a couple of bags of coca leaves, a massive bottle of coke and some dynamite. It was then on up to the actual mines to meet the miners and see them at work.

It wasn´t the easiest morning I`ve ever had, infact it was pretty horrible being down the mines. We had a drama as soon as we entered the mines as Chris` light didn´t work on his hat so he couldnt see a thing..but they fixed that within 5 mins so he only bumped his head a few times! After walking for about 8 mins I could feel it getting really hot and it was getting harder to breathe, I seriously thought at this point I`d give myself another 5 mins and then get out (there was a support guy at the back who took people out whenever they wanted to leave). We stopped for about 5 mins and I got my breathe back and I felt alright to go on, he warned us we were going further into the mines, down to the 2nd and 3rd level, and that we`d have to crawl for a bit to get there- ahh!! At this point 2 people in our group decided to turn back.

The next half an hour involved a lot of crawling on my hands in mud with my head ducked as low as possible so as not to hit the low ceiling, sliding down steep passageways on my bum, feeling incrediably hot and trying to remember to breathe as much as possible! I made it down to the final level we were to visit and I was quite pleased with myself as I honestly thought I`d not be able to do it. It was such a strange experience, we met the miners working down there and we gave them all our gifts, they were so pleased with them and immediatly stuffed half a bag of coca leaves in their mouths- they love it! The miners work in a group, normally comprised of family members and as far as we could see they were not too unhappy, we heard them joking around and laughing- which was nice to see. I can´t believe they can do that job everyday and spend so long down there- it was a real eye opener.

The climb back up was really tough and I had to stop a few times mid passageway to catch my breath. It felt horrible breathing in the toxic air filled with chemicals, although we are assured being down in the mines for an hour will not do any harm to us. It was amazing to feel it getting colder and the air a bit cleaner as we got closer to the exit, and it felt even better to be out of the mines. Afterwards, our guide gave us a demonstration with the dynamite that miners use to break the volcanic rock, which was quite cool, if a bit terrifying!! He lit it while it was in Chris´ hands which was very scary, luckily he grabbed it in time and ran off a few meters away to place it down and then run away again. It was a huge explosion, bigger than I had expected! Scary stuff!

The whole experience was absolutely crazy, unforgettable and really interesting. I have so much respect for the miners, it´s certainly a job I will NOT be doing when I grow up

Sucre - Bolivia's Most Beautiful City

Looking at a relief map of Bolivia, Santa Cruz and Sucre seem to be pretty close - particularly in South American terms. As the crow flies they are about 300km apart, about the same distance as between La Paz and Oruro, a journey we knew from experience takes just 3-and-a-half hours. We were a little surprised therefore to find that the bus for Sucre was scheduled to leave Santa Cruz at 4.30pm arriving in Sucre at 7.30am the next morning.

A glance at the road map gave us some clues. The route between the two is nowhere near direct - it winds all over the place. We also learnt that Sucre was 2500m higher than Santa Cruz, so presumably these were mountain roads. And so it proved.

The journey began inauspiciously with a 30 minute delay as passenger luggage was loaded onto the bus. To be fair there was way more of this than normal, and a good deal of it had to be lashed to the roof of the bus (fortunately not our rucksacks). So, 30 minutes late, the driver started the engine. He then quickly turned it off, shouted something, and everyone started to get off the bus. Apparently this one didn't work and we had to get a new one.

An hour of waiting for a bus and transferring luggage (which I ended up having to help with!) later and we were on our way.

The roads were indeed mountainous, windy and in poor condition. We got 2 flat tyres on the way and ended up in Sucre 3 hours late. Still - hearing the problems other travellers have had on Bolivian busses I think we can count ourselves lucky - this time at least ...

We arrived in Sucre for another 30 hour blitz of trying to pack in as much sight seeing as possible. Unfortunately we'd arrived on a Sunday, and it became increasingly apparent that everything was closed on a Sunday. Sucre is another one of them colonial towns, so during our whistle-stop tour we managed to see the outside of a beautiful cathedral, the outside of a whole load of colonial churches, the outside of a couple of museums and the outside of a few nice looking restaurants.

We then retired to the market to sample the great fruit, supurb juice stands, and traditional market food stalls. At the stalls we ate a dish called milaneza de pollo - a thin slice of chicken covered in egg yolk then fried - delicious. This delicacy plus some rice, a few potatoes, some lettuce, some tomato, and a bowl of soup costs around 50p. Once again - I love Bolivia!

The next day we visited all the sites that were closed on a Sunday ... only to find they were all closed on a Monday as well. Back to the market! We did eventually however manage to find one very nice church called Iglesia De La Merced that mercifully was open. The entrance fee included a trip to the bell tower which afforded great views over the city.

We then spent the rest of the afternoon in the sunny plaza, taking in the wonderful architecture and the lovely weather ... knowing that soon we'd be going to the highest city in the world, which by all accounts wasn't the warmest of places ...

Back in Bolivia: Cheap But Freezing ...

Having survived the Death Train, we arrived in Santa Cruz surprisingly relaxed and well rested. But there was no time to lose! Originally we'd given ourselves three weeks in Bolivia which sounded like easily enough time to explore such a small country. We then read about it ... and decided to we had to spend longer here. To make room for this, we are now not going to Ecuador - that's another country off the list then. We now plan to spend just under a month in Bolivia total (1 week previously in April and 3 weeks now) but even that seems like a rush. So, we busily set about doing all the stuff we had planned for Santa Cruz, hoping to get a bus on to Sucre the following evening.

First port of call was Aqualand - Bolivia's only waterpark. Unfortunately, on the day we arrived, it was absolutely freezing. According to our guidebook, Santa Cruz is meant to have a "wonderful tropical climate". Tropical presumably by Bolivian standards, as the temperature and weather resembled England in November. Aqualand was quickly crossed off the list.

This gave us a lot more time to wander around the streets, go to the zoo, and eat a full on Japanese meal, complete with sushi, teryaki chicken, breaded pork, salad, steamed dumplings and two rounds of miso soup, for the same price as a meal from a burger van in Brazil. You know you're back in Bolivia when you can live very comfortably for 10 GBP a day. I love it!

As we had a lot of church visits and cultural stuff lined up for us in the next week, we then decided to hit the Santa Cruz mall to watch the new Indiana Jones Film and binge on frozen yogurt.

All that was left for us to do then, was to check out the local markets, buy some incredibly cheap and tasty mandarins (5 for less than 10p!), take pictures of the main square (main pic above), and buy an extremely tasteful "tiger" blanket to keep us warm on those chilly Bolivian nights. Picture to come soon.

Armed with our blanket we then caught the night bus to Sucre, which despite being just 300km away as the crow flies, was scheduled to take 15 hours. Hmmm ...

The Death Train!

Yep, you guessed it, the 21 hour train journey that I referred to in the previous post was indeed aboard something called "The Death Train".

I decided to wait until after we completed the journey before mentioning this, so as not to worry any parents who may well have questioned our choice of transportation. The fact is however that the Death Train is now very safe, and it is the only real overland option from Corumba in Brazil to Santa Cruz in Bolivia.

The Death Train is so called because in the past it was used to smuggle vast quantities of illegal (and on very rare occasions - legal) merchandise between Bolivia and Brazil. It was also a very popular transportation route, and so in days gone by, they used to cram as many people and contraband as possible onto the train for every journey. Those people who could not fit into the carriages used to ride on top.

Over the 21 hour journey many of these people would fall off, or fall asleep then fall off. Also, since the train was so overloaded, it would often derail. This used to cause a fair amount of death ... hence "Death Train".

Nowadays everyone gets a ticket and a seat number, so we weren't especially concerned. We did however, shamefully, go first class, as we'd heard 2nd class involved more of a bench than a seat, very few opportunities for sleep, and a much higher probability of farmyard animals.


The journey itself was fine, the only real difficulties being the intense cold (before they turned the heating on), the intense heat (after they turned the heating on) and the many food sellers who would get on and scream into your face just as you'd got to sleep.

Oh yes and then there was the TV. We were originally very happy to see there was a TV on board, but slightly less so when we saw the film choices ... "The Best of Steven Seagal Box Set". Mercifully we had some sleeping pills.