Bloody Bolivia

We made two stops in Bolvia; Copacabana (not to be confused with the famous Copacabana in Rio, we’ll save that for a later blog), and Uyuni. Two stops were enough for us to see what this country has to offer, which we can tell you is not a lot. We’ve met quite a few travellers, all of which seem to share the opinion that Bolvia is not what’s is cracked up to be. Most people visit here for the Salt flats, they are worth visiting but the journey to and from was the worst we’ve encountered so far, we pray that it won’t be topped.

Stop one; Copacabana. This is one of two popular destinations travellers visit to experience Lake Titikaka, the first being Puno on the other side of the lake in Peru. We opted to skip Puno and head straight to Copacabana. Our first impression was that we were in the wrong place. Our overnight bus dropped us off on a dusty street, no shops, no people, all we saw on the walk to our Airbnb was a dog trying to pick a fight with two pigs. I’m not sure who won.

One of the best things about our stay here was the view from our room in Sauta Suite Airbnb. A very basic accommodation, but so worth it for the view. We could see the whole bay from the window, the boats bobbing in the harbour and Cerro el Cavario, the mountain which overlooks the bay. The sunset from the bedroom was an absolute dream. After a brief walk around this tiny town we quickly realised there was very little to do. Two nights is enough. Our second day was more eventful as we hopped on the 8:30am boat to Isla del Sol - Island of Sun - about a 90 minute boat ride from Copacabana. The island is beautiful, its requires some hiking and with Lake Titikaka being the highest lake in the world, once again the altitude strikes! We meandered through the small streets looking at local stalls, we hiked up a hill and were greeted with the best view. We found a small restaurant on the way back and ordered trout, somewhat of a basic here as its the easiest catch but it was the best meal we’ve had in a while. This little old Bolvian woman rushing around the kitchen and serving customers all by herself, she can cook some good trout. After the day on the island we caught the boat back and were ready for our next journey to Uyuni, the famous Salt flats!

Our first bus was from Copacabana to La Paz, the bus was basic, took about 4 hours but the roads weren’t good. Mid way through the journey we had to get off the bus, hop on to a tiny boat and cross Lake Titikaka, after being fogged by the boats fumes we continued with our journey. The second leg was yet another overnight bus from La Paz to Uyuni. Just before leaving, two girls ran on the bus and sat themselves on the floor blocking the toilet and the exit. They had a loud argument with the staff and shed some tears. They’d been booked on to the wrong bus but this was the last one of the night so demanded they were taken to Uyuni, after a couple of hours of stopping, starting, opening the doors and talking to other buses eventually they were transferred to another bus and we could sleep… but not for long as concern for other people doesn’t exist in Bolivia. 5am and the women behind us decided it was morning. At 7am, after about 4 hours of sleep we arrived in Uyuni, another deserted town, but without a beach or a lake to cover up the dust and rubbish piling on the streets. The only reason people come here is for the Salt flats, we made the mistake of staying the night, totally unnecessary.

We headed to Andes Salt Expeditions after reading good reviews, and booked for a 10:30 day tour of the flats. The day started a bit rough as I (Jo) realised i’d left Stefan’s debit card back in an ATM machine in Copacabana, whoops! Card cancelled and crisis averted, we started our tour. Ideally we would have done a 3 day tour but we needed to catch a flight in a couple days so didn’t have time. The one day tour was great however, and we saw the best bits of the flats. We had 6 people in our jeep plus the tour guide. The first stop is a train cemetery, the old mining trains were abandoned here, it’s a bit of a strange place but it bulks out the day, from here we drove on to the flats. These are the biggest salt flats in the world, roughly covering 10,500 square km, other than the occasional island and a salt hotel, there is nothing but pure white in every direction. It’s actually really cold here, but sunglasses and suncream are essential as the reflection from the salt is blinding. We saw a tourist who brought his cat with him, and even the cat was wearing sunglasses. Our tour guide /photographer is who captured the cool perspective shots by utilising the flatness of the ground. He also took a great video of our group, check out Stefan's instagram to see this @stefanjorlando.

Throughout the day we stopped at various locations on the flats, had lunch in a salt restaurant, explored a cactus island but for us, the best part had to be the sunset. When it rains here the flats become a mirror, at the end of the day we stopped on the wet area and had a chance to take the double trouble photos. When the sun started to set the place was dead quiet apart from the small splash of water on the surface of the flats, every footstep created a ripple effect which changed the landscape, a blank canvas on every step. Complete serenity and an experience like nothing we’ve seen before. Bolivia is stressful, but that made it better.

The next day we had to wait till 9:30pm to get a bus to Sucre, did I mention the buses are a nightmare? We were lucky that we didn’t break down, most travellers don’t have that luxury. No sleep, noisy passengers and bumpy roads meant that our 5am arrival in Sucre was basically two zombies trailing through the bus station trying to find the next bus to Santa Cruz, unfortunately it didn’t leave for another 12 hours… bloody Bolivia. The day dragged, eventually 5pm came and another overnighter to Santa Cruz, we arrived at 7am, luckily we’d checked in to an airbnb so managed to get some sleep during the day until midnight came and we flew to São Paulo. In our opinion the horrific buses and painful travel was all worth it for those few hours of bliss on one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. Bloody Bolivia to booming Brazil, finally!

S&J