Bolivia

Day 2 of the trip was another jam packed and brilliantly beautiful day. Our first stop was the rock soldiers, Soldado de Rock, which are really interesting rock formations in the midst of surrounding volcanoes. Likely volcanic rock formations from a volcano eruption thousands of years ago but their true origin isn't 100% understood.

After crossing the train tracks that lead to Chilé..

We stopped to see Ollague, the smoking volcano that is half in Chilé (the smoking half) and half in Bolivia.

Now, onto the first laguna of the day, Laguna Cañapa, flanked by mountains and full of colourful flamingos, it's not a bad sight!

But not quite as many flamingos as the second lake... Laguna Hedionda...

(The many flamingos that I tried to blend in with)

Next was Laguna Honda...

After this we entered the Bolivian desert and Eduardo Avaroa national park. First stop there was Arbol de Piedra, the stone tree, shaped this way by the fierce desert winds..

The scenery in the national park definitely indicated that we'd reached the desert, Mars-esque areas...

After driving a bit further... Finally... The final lake of the day, the dazzlingly red Laguna Colorada. Bright red cherry on a beautiful day of lakes!

Our final destination of the day was the geysers, Fumorolas Sol de Mañana. (At about 5000m elevation, where, yes, finally, I experienced no altitude issues!!)

And then, after so many times piling in and out of our trusty Lexus (jeep), we reached Polques, our hotel for the night. A bit more basic than the night before and featuring shared rooms, no electricity or shower... Buuuuuut. Hot springs! The cold clothing change and walk into the hot springs was 100% worth it for the stargazing and wine drinking in a hot spring in the middle of the Bolivian salt flats!!! And the water warmed us up so much it actually wasn't cold at all getting out!
The nights sleep also wasn't as cold as I had expected, thumbs up for that.
Here is what the hot springs look like in the cool morning air...

The third day only had a few stops before reaching Chilé. First was the Salvador Dali desert, named for the interesting rocks in the sand.

And the Ladies of the Desert and other Mars-esque mountains...

Laguna Verde..

And a final ice covered lake...

And just like that, we reached the border and the tour concluded! Sammy and Mai continued with the jeep back to Uyuni, and John, Amelia and I to Chilé, on transport buses to San Pedro de Atacama. Hard to believe the three days were done, but after so many beautiful sights, you know what they say about all good things!

To end on a high note... My favourite things about Bolivia:

Street popcorn- this is absolutely my favourite salty snack on the planet and I don't think I've ever had better than what they make on the streets of Bolivia. Mmmmm just talking about it I want to go back to buy more.
Food pouches- empanadas/salteñas, papas rellenas, you name it, it's delicious.
Walmart markets- so this is the name of which I have christened the huge markets along the streets that sell basically everything, just like a spread out Walmart market on the street. They're so fun to walk through.
Fruit juice- in an extension of the amazing fruit I've been having everywhere, so many places I stayed in Bolivia had unreal, fresh, delicious fruit juices.
Natural wonders- from waterfalls, volcanoes, and mountains to salt flats, lakes, and deserts, Bolivia has it all! I enjoyed all the cities but the true draw of the country for me was all the natural beauty, places unlike any I've ever seen before.

"There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars" - Jack Kerouac

After 3 days in the salt flats and surrounding desert landscapes I'm positively bursting with stories and amazing photos. I've never had a harder time deciding what to Instagram. Which may sound ridiculous but is 120% true. It felt like every five minutes there was a new photo op so this is going to be a very photo-ful post. (Perfect for anyone who prefers to skim the words and just take in the photos, don't worry, I don't mind ). Since I've had so much trouble eliminating photos, we're just gonna split the tour into two posts, this one being the salt flats day.
After a quiet night in Uyuni and a morning spent buying any necessities for the tour, it was time to get the party started! I totally lucked out with a great group to spend the next three days with. John and Amelia from Australia and Sammy and Mai from Israel. After piling into our beautiful Lexus jeep, we headed to the first stop, the train cemetery. There are abandoned trains along the tracks outside Uyuni that are eerily beautiful.

We spent some time climbing in and around the trains..

The tracks leading back to Uyuni...

After this, things really started with a bang, driving right to the edge of the salt flats and stopping for a bike ride to our lunch spot.

Eating lunch next to piles of salt was some kind of amazing.

We drove to one of the original salt hotels in the flats, also along the route of the Dakar Rally in Bolivia.

And then the big stop of the day.. In the middle of the salt flats for some amazing and fun pictures.

I really enjoyed the perspective pictures.
Holding up my Canada flag..

And our trusty jeep..

Kissing my new llama mascot..

Balancing on a beautiful bottle of Bolivian wine..

It was so much more fun that I expected!

And the beauty of the day wasn't even finished! We headed to Isla Incahuasi next, which is a cactus island in the middle of the salt flats. Such a neat place.

The view from the top out over the flats is pretty amazing. I've never seen anything quite like it!

The next island, Pia Pia, also featured a few cacti, but was unique in the big cave in the side.

Finally, we enjoyed our last beautiful view of the day, sunset in the salt flats. Up there as one of the best I've seen. Pinks and blues on the one side..

And yellows, blues, reds on the other...

We spent the night at a pretty nice hotel in a village called Manica. Actually had showers (though they were freezing cold so yeah, I skipped that...) and electricity! After such a full day I had no trouble falling asleep immediately, especially when thinking back on how seriously, seriously amazing the first day had been!

After so many weeks of moving around so quickly and not feeling well with elevation, I decided to spend 4 solid days in Sucre, a beautiful, warm, lower elevation city. Best choice I could have made! I spent my first day on a walking tour that had me falling in love with this beautiful white city.

The tour included lots of information about the local cultures (Jaq'a and Yampara and their weaving/textiles), colonization of Bolivia and the founding of Sucre, the constitutional capital (La Paz, the de facto capital, or seat of two branches of government.. An interesting situation!), revolutionary times in Sucre, signing of the Declaration of Independence, and amazing views of the main square, Plaza 25 de Mayo, and the state government building, Prefectura de Chuquisaca....

We also hit up the central market, beautiful fruit galore...

And finished with a local bar for chicha (fermented corn beer) and a local coin toss type game, then a viewpoint of the city...

Unfortunately I spent the rest of the day feeling sick again. If it's not the altitude, it's the food. Which has now prompted Ellie is a vegetarian in Bolivia! When I was feeling better the next day, first stop was a vegetarian cafe for lunch with my hostel roommate and it was amazing. Fresh juice and veggies and soup. Finished off with chocolate cake for dessert. Sucre is known for good chocolate and after the cake (chocolate drizzled on chocolate cake with chocolate icing,,, heeeellllooooo) and three different chocolate bars in the last few days, I understand why it has this reputation! Mmmmm.
In the afternoon I reunited with Jeff (who I'd met in La Paz). We found a beautiful rooftop view from a church near the main square....

Then went to the viewpoint to enjoy sunset. Totally worth it!

Then had supper at the market and a few drinks with some other people we'd met, Frans, Martin, Odet and Herdis from the Netherlands.

Next day Martin, Jeff and I did a day trip. First stop was Cal Orck'o, the dinosaur theme park. The local mine has uncovered preserved dinosaur footprints in the rock face. In some series of geological events which I'm not entirely clear on, the ground has been pushed up and the discovered footprints of multiple dinosaurs are clearly visible on the slanted rock face...

It's pretty cool. They also have life-size dinosaur models in the park which are also pretty neat..

And the park had a great view of Sucre...

Our next stop was the 7 waterfalls just outside of the city, or Las Siete Cascades. A bit of a walk down into the valley and you get this view of the first beautiful waterfalls and pool for swimming....

This was where we stopped for lunch and enjoyed relaxing with a view...

After lunch we could climb/scramble up a bit to see a couple more waterfalls..

The rest of the 7 are too difficult to get to without actual climbing gear. So it was back to town for us after this. We had supper together and a few beers at the Oktoberfest celebration at Jeff and Martin's hostel.

Next morning we met again (Jeff, Martin, Odet and Herdis) to head to a market in a town called Tarabuco, about 65km outside of Sucre. Since Jeff and I joined the bus last minute, we got to enjoy the ride from up front with the driver!

We spent the day in Tarabuco checking out all the markets (that are only on Sunday's). Textiles and fruit and vegetable and meat markets...

Did a little bit of shopping of course and also enjoying walking around this traditional Bolivian town..

And the parade happening in the main square with very interesting traditional outfits (which remind me of Ewoks from Star Wars, yub yub.)

Then the bus ride back before one last supper with the Canadian and Dutch group (joined by Frans again). A good veggie meal and fun Dutch card game before yet another sad goodbye! To both the people and to Sucre the next morning. Heading to Uyuni for a salt flats tour!

After an awesome ride from Puno to Copacabana with Bolivia Hop for an easy border crossing, I found myself in the third country of the trip. Left my stuff at my hostel and took the boat to Isla del Sol. The short walk across the south end of the island was very pretty on the way up...

And a great view at the highest point....

Then another boat ride back to Copacabana. Which looks beautiful from the water...

And also looks fantastic at sunset...

I had a quiet night in a hostel room to myself! And a long sleep because yes, altitude still hates me. There wasn't much else to see in Copacabana, but I found some great food the next day and walked around the main streets and shops before catching the bus to La Paz.
I was sad that part of that bus ride was in the dark because it was so beautiful at first, even with the picture quality you get from a bus window you can tell!

I was dropped off right at my hostel in La Paz and fortunately on time, we didn't encounter any of the blockades that are frequently present around the city. I enjoyed a few drinks at the hostel bar, with fellow Canadian, Jeff from Calgary, a great opportunity to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving!
Next morning I joined two girls from England, Grace and Charlotte, to ride a couple of the city cable cars. While being great for giving tourists awesome views of the city, the cable cars are actually largely used by locals for transportation, like a metro in the air! And they really do give amazing views!

We did a round trip on 2/3 of the cities cars, the yellow and green lines. (The third being red, making up the three Bolivian colours!)

After returning to the hostel for some quick food, we joined the other people from the hostel heading to the football match. World Cup qualification game of Bolivia vs. Ecuador. With our faces appropriately painted, we enjoyed cheering for Bolivia, who lead 2-0 at half time, but ended up finishing with a 2-2 tie.

It was a really fun game! And very fitting that I attended my first professional football match in South America.

After the walk back to the hostel, Jeff, Charlotte, Grace and I had a delicious dinner at an adorable cafe that reminded me of something out of Alice in Wonderland, multiple floors that kept getting bigger as we went up. Then a few more drinks together at the hostel bar.

Next day in La Paz I joined a walking tour recommended highly by other people at the hostel. And recommended with good reason! It was really fun and really informative. We walked to San Pedro square and learned about San Pedro Prison (seriously guys, google it, it's crazy, like it's own society, with homes, jobs, rules, paid entry etc. A city within the city!). Then local Rodriguez market for a discussion of Aymaran traditions and onto the Witches market. Where they have llama fetuses, both with and without hair, used for rituals along with other items, coca, wine, liquor, sugar. Rituals for money, business, health, construction etc. They also have potions for love, for good relationships, and a Bolivian viagra potion. While tempting to try, I'll have to take the locals word on their effects as I didn't make any purchases of my own! Lastly, we heard about a supposed urban myth about human sacrifices for large construction projects, where a live person is buried in the concrete (usually an alcoholic or drug addict that's been found who has no family) as an offering to Pachamama (Mother Earth). Supposed urban myth because it doesn't happen anymore but skeletons have been found in torn down buildings. So there's that.
We also went to the beautiful San Francisco Square...

And then had delicious fruit juices, fruit salads, and papas rellenas,
(seriously delicious deep fried potato meat pouches) at an indoor market.
Last place was the main square, Plaza Murillo, location of the parliament and Presidential Palace...

With the 'Clock of the South' in reverse on the Congress building..

We were given a brief political history of Bolivia, stories of presidents in La Paz, times of constant coups and civil unrest leading up to the current president, Evo Morales, his interesting personality, recent slow economic improvement and movement towards socialism. It was an amazingly informative walking tour and has piqued my interest in the history of Bolivia.. I will definitely be doing some more reading!
A few more La Paz views before the tour concluded...

I had supper with a couple from New Zealand that I met on the tour and then I headed to the bus station for the night ride to Sucre. Doesn't feel like there's been enough days since my last night bus but I just can't deny the convenience of combined transportation and accommodation! And being able to go on a day where there's no strikes! I'd met multiple people at the hostel who had been stuck extra days unable to get to Sucre or Copacabana due to strikes, or had issues with blockades, so I will continue to take my event free transportation without complaint!