Tornado of Tours

I have been keeping very busy over the past week and doing a lot of tours, which were reasonably priced in Bolivia. I´ve bared amazing altitudes and cold but I was worth it. First I went to Potosi, the highest city in the world. It was a pretty neat mining town with a lot of character, set up in the mountains. There I did a tour of the mines. I felt that I learned more about the miners´ situations from seeing the documentary, but actually being inside was pretty neat. We were given a whole mining jump suit, boots, and head lamp.

Then I went to Uyuni and signed up for a three day tour, with 6 other people in a jeep. I really enjoyed my time on the tour. It provided a stress free few days where everything was more or less planned out for me. I also had a cool group of people to get to know and some quality card playing time. I have learned two really good new games, which I am determined to remember and play again when I return.
There was a lot of time in a jeep on the wide open desert type landscape. My little Ipod speakers came in handy. The first day we spent on the actual salt flats of Uyuni, the largest in the world. Its a truly bizarre landscape an there is no sense of depth in photographs because there is so much flat nothingness. The next days we saw beautifully colored lakes and mountains, boulder fields, natural gysers, and flamingos. The tour ended by crossing the border into Chile. ´Now I head to the beach!

Feeling Strong in Sucre

Following a successful night bus ride, I have had an amazingly productive first day in Sucre. I always get a little nervous before taking a night bus. You just never know what those 12 hours trapped on a bus might be like. Other than being freezing for most of the night, while my neighbor was snug under like 5 layers of blankets and various other warm looking belongings, the ride went smoothly. I was able to sleep and we got in right on schedule at 7:30AM.

I had luck and found a nice hostel on my first try with a pleasant courtyard, a giant kitchen, hot shower, and a friendly british couple who were on my bus. Then I went to the large nearby market and finally bought a small, cheap bath towel which I have been making do without thus far. I also got all the makings for speghetti and a homemade somewhat spicy tomato, garlic, spinach sauce.

This afternoon I checked out some Spanish classes and signed up to take two hours of one on one lesson for the next three days. It will cost me about $11 a day, but hopefully will motivate me to do some extra studying. After 2 months travelling I feel my conversational skills slipping. I can keep up on my listening comprehension but my speaking skills are getting a little weak.

This city is absolutely beautiful and I feel much more comfortable here than in La Paz. It seems like a good place to sit around at cafes and study, draw, and think. Today´s weather was sunny and fairly warm. Hopefully it will keep it up before I head to Potosi and the salt flats which are spose to be freezing!

Bolivia

I now have a Bolivian visa in my name and am able to enter Bolivia for up to 90 days a year for the next 7 years. I was a little nervous about the process because there was a laundry list of documents they claimed to require included things like a letter of invitation. It turned out all the border guards really cared about was the $100 fee.

I am currently in La Paz, a large city with both modern looking areas and less westernized parts where you can buy about anything from the multitude of small booths and carts on the streets. The entire city is set in a kind of natural bowl and you sometimes catch glimpses of the snow capped peaks surrounding you. Logan and I spent a while trying to find the perfect hostel here but it was somewhat of a lost cause. In the end we settled in a quieter one with a nice owner, a pretty courtyard, a sunny roof hangout, a double room, and shared kitchen and bath, for $35 bolivianos. The exchange rate is about 7 bol to the dollar, this being the cheapest country I have travelled in so far. Meals are usually about 15 to 25 bol. Being in a city you have a little more option in the type of food you are eating. We had Arab food the first night and Italian last night. The Bolivian standard is quinua and veggie soup, rice, pan fried trout and chicken.

Before coming here we spent about 3 days around Lake Titicaca. It was vast and beautiful, reminding me a little of the Mediterranean Sea. We had two days of hiking with a day pack, which tested my lung capacity and endurance due to the amazingly high altitute, around 3,600 meters above sea level. We made our way along the coast to a point on the mainland and then took a rowboat ride from a hunched 70 year old local over to the Isla Del Sol. We spent one night in a hostel on the southern part and the next day hiked on the mountain crest line to some ruins in the northern part. A two or three hour boat ride took us back to Copacobana, the main Bolivian town set on the lake. Copacobana was very chill with lots of wandering South American hippies playing live music in cafes and selling hand made jewelry on the streets.

Moving On...

After 3 full weeks here in Cusco, I have decided to cut my planned volunteering time a little short and continue travelling. I have heard wonderful things about Bolivia and I am going to use this extra week or so to explore a new country or two. Unfortunately I need to go through some paper work and spend $100 to get a Bolivian visa but will be worth it and the country is so cheap I´ll prolly make that money back on all my food and lodging savings. I am leaving Sunday night with a friend I met in Huanchaco and ran into again here in Cusco this week. Her name is Logan and she is a history teacher in the Bronx. We are going to start by exploring Lake Titicaca and then I will head on to La Paz. I hear Copacabana, the city on the Bolivian side of the lake is the nicest place to stay and then we will probably do one night on the Isla del Sol. It will be cold but I´m still excited to be near the water. After La Paz, I plan to head to the South of Bolivia and do a tour of the giant salt flats. Then in order to make my journey more of a loop I will cut into the north of Chile and travel along the coast up into Peru. Mmmm, beach.