Last Few Days!!!

First of all, we added images to the last post for you to view.

I just have to start by letting you know that if god had a home it would be here in the 

Salar... and as most of you know that I, Brandy, am not terribly religious.  These pictures do not even do this place justice.  We arrived in Uyuni, this dumpy little town that only exists to support the tourism of the Salar, at one in the morning and had to wake up early the next day to find a tour of the salt bed.  If yo

u ever want to feel ripped off, head to this town! We stayed in a 4 star hotel the first night, which in

 Bolivian terms means they have towels, hot water and has been cleaned in the past week :).  This place was probably the most expensive place we stayed (280 Bs or $40) and the bathroom had mould in it and the toilet was actually inside the shower!!!  The next day we packed it up to stay at the salt hotel.  This is a hotel built completely out of salt, I am talking about everything... the tables, the chairs, even the beds, with a mattress on top thankfully.  When you walk out the door you see nothing for miles but flat white salt.   The hotel is modest with no running water or electricity.  Dinner and breakfast are prepared for you since there is nothing around. For sunset we walked maybe a 1/2 mile out where we enjoyed the beautiful nothingness that exists here. Silence louder than you have e

ver known and visually we were surrounded the white purity of this untainted anomaly. It is truly amazing to think this used to be an ocean 12,000 feet above current sea level! Th

ere are no words to truly describe how this place impacted our souls. Dinner was with everyone staying in the hotel, Paul and I and 4 Japanese people. We ate dinner in candle light and exchanged stories of our travels and cultural differences between everything. How insightful to see the impressions of Bolivia through a Japanese person's eyes and for them to see it through o

ur eyes. We all laughed a lot!!! But mostly, we all learned a lot.

The next day we left on a bus to La Paz and then caught our plane back to the States. This was truly a trip of a life time!  This is Paul again... Just wanted to write a little synopsis of the trip. Brandy and I have visited 10 cities that spanned all corners of the country, having spent over 45 hours on buses, mostly traveling on extremely bumpy unpaved roads. We met people from every corner of the country and many others from abroad. We have learned a lot about the country and it's people. On many occasions Brandy and I have written about how shocked and appalled we have been regarding interactions and way of life... this is what you would expect from the poorest country in all the Americas. We hope you also gathered a remarkable sense of appreciation for its people and customs.  We have experiences so many situations in the past month that have left both Brandy and I saying, "you have got to be kidding!!!"  We have on a number of occasions been is serious disbelief as to how things are run in the country or what people try to get away with...  As funny as it sounds, these things bring character to the country and make it unique.  Yes, 85% of its roads are unpaved and riding on them leaves you knowing what it must be like to be a victim of shaken baby syndrome, only 20% of the people on the road have there drivers license (that was obvious), 

and the bathrooms uniformly around the country require entrance with a HAZMAT suit.  This countries backwards policies and traveling awkwardness make it a great place to visit because, it is still untouched!  Travelers rarely visit because its unfriendliness is such that you deserve a boy scout merit badge for enduring.  We wear that badge proudly and are no longer intimidated of visiting anywhere else in the world!!!  :)

As we take our last bumpy bus ride from Uyuni to La Paz I can't help but reminisce about all we have experienced.  Just then, I gaze across the isle and notice an elderly french couple (with quite an

 unfortunate odor, even more extreme then what is standard for the french).  A couple in their 50's experiencing the same adventures as Brandy and I!  Yes, Bolivia is rich in natural wonders that can fill the soul, but the country is unbiasedly difficult and unaccommodating to navigate.  This is not a country for the meek!  Why would they put themselves through this at their age?  

It was just then this couple made me aware of two inevitable truths:  first, life is fleeting and we must all fight to experience and live the grandest life we can imagine, because we only have this one chance.  Secondly, the use of deodorant is of the utmost social importance no matter what country one is from (especially if trapped on a bus for 12 hours).

We are now back in Denver, so this will be our last posting.  Brandy and I thank you all for joining us on our trip and for all the positive encouragement you have given us along the way.  Writing this blog was quite difficult at times with time and technological constraints facing us in a 3rd world country, but your comments and interest kept us going.  Thanks for tuning in and we hope to have you along with us on our next adventure, which is already being planned!

Salt hotel in the middle of salt flat.

Views of Salar de Uyuni

Me strutting my new shades I bought at the hotel.  It's so bright you can burn your

 retina without them!

Views of Salar De Uyuni.

Graffiti on a wall in La Paz of a chola (indiginous) lady.

  

Also, the best food in the entire world called Saltenas.

Day... I don´t know anymore!

Holly shit!!! I know this post will take us a bit out of chronological order, but I need to document what just happened to us!!! We are currently in Potosi... the mining capital of Bolivia. We were minding our own business, about to take a tour of a museum when we hear some HUGE explosions. Now, we had been hearing explosions for the past hour and yes, they had been gradually getting louder, but we figured that we are in the center plaza of the city... it´s the safest place to be with lots of police around. Dead wrong! The miners were marching. They made their way down the mountain and into the city, lighting sticks of dynamite along the way! We were no more than half a block away when a stick exploded right in the middle of the plaza! these bastards are crazy! Of course I could not let this go undocumented, so off I went, right in the middle of it... I was able to film a bit of it and take some shots when all of a sudden I see people running. I look down and no more than 4 feet from me are two lit sticks of dynamite. I think I could have given Carl Louis, in his prime, a run for his money! :) Brandy is currently very angry with me. :) Just goes to show how wild it is here, and how safe we are in the states. I´d love to see how fast a protest in central park new york gets shut down if an M-80 goes off... here the police were just standing around taking in the sights. :)

Ok... back to your regularly scheduled broadcast. Where were we... O´h yeah, Sucre... The evening following the last post Brandy and I had scheduled to check out this abandoned hacienda owned by a former Bolivian president. We randomly met up with our American friends and convinced them to tag along. Our taxi/tour guide/history professor Jorge arrived and off we went. For me who loves decrepid structures, probably one of the coolest things we´ve done so far! We parked the car about 1/2 mile away, walked over a bridge and through a really poor village to get to the gate. Jorge engaged the caretaker from outside the gate and tried to plead with him to let us in... even offered a bribe. I made a joke and I think the guy thought it funny because in we went. As Brandy commented, this place and our adventure to the hacienda would make an amazing horror movie! Young american tourists out for a little adventure approach a creepy mansion. They convince the caretaker (that looks like death incarnate) to let them in... the gate shuts behind them violently... you can infer the rest! The caretaker was really creepy looking but turned out to be a great guy! He gave us a tour and told us all about the history. He lives there alone to watch over the place and says at night he often hears loud crashes and screams from inside the house. In all, Sucre turned out to be the most relaxing time we have had in Bolivia. It´s a beautiful city and people are really easy going. This is definitely a place we recommend anyone to visit.

The next morning we set off to potosi... To get there we needed to catch a cab or bus that leave out of this particular area of town. Our cab pulled up at the place and we were instantly mobbed by people trying to get us to take their transport. I mean mobbed! We had about 20 hands all over us pulling us towards their car and trying to take our luggage from our hands... Brandy freaked out for a moment and yelled at them. :) We chose a car as quickly as possible and off we went. Nothing exciting the rest of that day, just finding a hotel and a little city exploration. This morning we decided to do a tour of a silver mine, quite the entertaining experience. Our partners on this tour were 4 Argentinian backpackers who were hillarious! We began the tour stopping to pick up some goods for the miners as prompted by our guide. We bought coke, coca leaves and dynamite ... go figure. We then stopped to get geared up. We got big rubber boots, pants and jackets that went over our clothes. We dressed and were off in a mini bus up to the mines, of course they aren't paved. We arrive at the top of a moutain to a bunch of mud buildings that surround the entrance to the mines. We entered in the mine through puddles of mud and dark rounded walls where we crouched, crawled, climbed for 2 hours, breathing dust, hitting our heads, and regularly moving asside for the mining cars to pass... yes, it is an active mine! We navigated our way to the statue of ¨Tio¨which is another name for Satan. They worship him as the ¨god¨of the mines. Tio is decorated and is given offerings to help prevent accidents and give the miners lots of wealth. We then circled our way out of the mine where our guide proceeded to set off dynamite, just to show us what it was like .... those crazy Bolivians!

And now here we are again at the miners march. Brandy and I are going to wait out the rest of the protest in this building. In a few hours we are off to Uyuni where we will see the huge salt flats. That´s all for now!

Us in the mines with actual miners working.

Their god of the underworld they call Tio.





This is an actual lit stick of dynamite.

My new girlfriend and her llama.

Day 16-25(ish)

We apologize for the lag in postings... I think the last we wrote we were recovering from New Years. What we didn´t mention is that on new years day we (especially me, Paul) fell ill... again! We spent the entire day in bed. The next day we attempted to sight see a bit. My uncle assigned his driver to drive us around... We had our own chofer... that´s a concept to which I don´t ever think we will become acustomed! My uncle Pablo has the biggest heart on earth and did this out of pure kindness so that we would not have to worry, however, worry is what we did! :) Antonio (the driver) waited in the car wherever we went! He did not know that we spent the majority of the time at these places deliberating on how he was doing, if he was bored, what else he could be doing with his day other than driving us silly gringos around town. :) Tio Pablo, if you are reading this... sorry!!! :) We went out to lunch and invited him out since he had been driving us around. He came in with us, I asked for a table for three and once we got to the table he was no where to be seen. I thought maybe he had gone to the bathroom. Finally, I went out to the car and there he was, just waiting. We offered to buy him lunch and he accepted but ate it in the car. Craziness I tell ya. We were happy to take cab the next day.

We stayed in Santa Cruz for 7 days and spent the vast majority of time with family. Spent a good deal of time with my grandfather and uncles who, as I mentioned before, are hilarious. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Brandy be cornered by my 94 year old grandfather who was just doing what grandfathers do when they meet a new member of the family... show them pictures of the family! And so he did! 10 albums later and as she began to fall asleep, I thought it time to rescue her. In between those times Tio Pablo and his wife Lucia cooked some amazing feasts and we had a great time with them. (Ganu, We had lunch with your parents as well! I think you should quit your job and move your family down there because they are living fat!!!)

After our long and scarry drive from La Paz to Santa Cruz, Brandy and I decided to splurge a bit and buy a plane ticket to Sucre instead of taking a 9 hour bus ride. Let this blog be a traveler´s guide to Bolivia, because we have learned many Bolivian customs in practice that we believe to have no equal anywhere else in the world. For example: If one purchases an airline ticket from an airline, one would rest at ease knowing the transaction to be complete... In Bolivia a ticket purchase is just a jumping off point for negotiations! The airlines expects (but does not mention at time of purchase) the customer to call the day before to confirm their reservation or they have the right to release the seats. Even if you purchase a ticket the day before the flight, if you neglect to reconfirm that evening you may be bumped! Luckily I have family who is aware of these practices and my uncle Pablo called for us. Here we are in Sucre, Bolivia... "the white city." This place is great!!! Sucre used to be the capital and lives up to what you expect a capital to be. The architecture is beautifully colonial and the town seems to be well put together. Tourism is a staple of Sucre economy and they definitely cater to us folk. We are staying at this beautiful hotel half a block away from the plaza (every city and town has a plaza which represents the center). We have a full bed, a private bath and the sheets don´t feel like sand paper... these are all luxuries.We even have hot water, and all for the price of 140 bolivianos (which adds up to about $20 and that´s expensive!). We have been here for 3 days now, having decided to extend our stay here. There´s this americanized cafe/bar/restaurant/tour agency/movie theater (kind of like the wallmart for travelers) place that Brandy and I have been strangely drawn to. I guess we are getting a bit home sick. Our first night we met another american couple and decided to have dinner. Brandy could not be more thrilled with this because it signified the first real time she could fully communicate with someone in the past 3 weeks. :) I think we are BFF´s now! Yesterday we walked around the city taking pictures and at 6pm Brandy left to attend her massage appointment with a Taiwanese guy that has some sort of eastern wellness office. We met a few hours later and I saw a battered woman! Text cannot do this story justice, but I can tell you she was in pain. This is our last day/night in Sucre and we leave tomorrow morning to Potosi. We have scheduled to tour this abandoned Hacienda that belonged to an old Bolvian president, (ernesto arce) back in the early 1900´s. It´s not really a tourist destination and I don´t know if we will be able to get in, but I saw it from the road and bribed a cab driver to help us find out. We´ll keep you posted on how it goes!!!

Night out with uncle Loro.... this is him dancing.

Our Hotel room in Sucre... Same place where Che Guavarra stayed when in town.