around Bolivia

as soon you get to Bolivia you can see the traditional dressed market-women with the long braided hair, the melon-hat and the multi-layered, colorful skirts.

from Villazon we wanted to go by train to Tupiza. according to the timetable there should be a train, but as it is in Bolivia, if not today then maybe tomorrow... so we went by bus. i expected the worst but the busride was actually not to bad. not the newest bus and not all to clean and a bit smelly but ok. after 3 hours we arrived in Tupiza. in daytime the temperatur is pretty nice but at night it gets very cold. so as in the hostal! they don't know what a heating system is...

the next day i went on a 5 hour horseride. it was fantastic! me and the guide for only about US 12! i thought after the trip i can not walk anymore but it wasn't to bad.

after a day of rest and taking care of my chill i went up north towards Uyuni. at the busstop the said that it would be much faster and more comfortable by Jeep. well, in Bolivia they tell you alot!! we were 11 passenger plus the chauffeur. well, i tought as they told me trip will only last 3 hours, i can take that. but, the trip didn't last only 3 hours. no, after 7 hours i arrived finally in Uyuni.

i looked for a hotel and for a agency to book the "Salar de Uyuni"-tour. then i went for dinner and met two english girls which i keep on bumping in since Ushuaia. afterwards i went back to the hotel and went to sleep with a cap, scarf, 2 longsleeved t-shirts, thick pants, socks and gloves. at 3am Paul, the australien, finally arrived.

at 10.30 our 3-day trip startd. in our group were 3 english girls, 1 italien and an other swiss girl. i good mix... our first stop was at the "Cementerio de Trenes". here rest disused trains and oxidize. afterwards we went on to the incredible "Salar de Uyuni". the salt gets exportet to Brasil. the sight is amazing, don't forget to bring your sunglasses! in the middle of the "lake" you'll find a island with hundrets of cactuses, some of them are over a 1200 years old as they say... we continued to our 1st lodging. it was located in small village called San Juan (3650 a.s.l.). wraped with a lot of clothes we went already at 9pm to bed, then light we only had fron 6.30 to 9pm!

the next day we drove over rough and smooth, passed volcanos and lagunas where i also for the first time saw some Lamas. there were also some Flamingos which attracted one of the english girls. well, that was a fatality. she thought she could stand on the water, but it was a swamp and she was in it till her hips. it was not that easy to get her out... but she dident loose her smile... we also passed the "arbol del piedra". a stone which is formed like a tree from wind and rain. the 2nd night we spend in a very simple housing (4300 a.s.l.). by candle light we ate dinner and went again "thick wraped" to bed.

at 5am the alarm clock rang and we drove in the dark towards the geysiren. i was surprised that our driver found the way without any signs... the geysiren are located on 5000 a.s.l. and blow hot air out of holes. because of the cold outside temperature, mist is build around it. in the inside hot mud is bubbeling. from there we went on to the hot springs were you can take a hot bath. slowly our trip endet. we drove towards Uyuni were we arrived around 7pm.

i was surprised that our jeep made it over this 3 days. we had to stop a couple of times because someting was broken. but our driver was trained in fixing cars... it was always exciting also when we ran out of gas...

during the night we took the train from Uyuni to Oruro and drove by bus further to La Paz. La Paz is amazing...

La Paz - the peace

i'm not sure, how they came up with this name for this city. with name "the peace - city" you imagine a quiet, small town, or not? well, the city neither quiet nor small. but unique! the city is bedded in a valley on 3620 a.s.l. at this level it's not that easy to breathe. my hotel was in the middle of the witches market where hundrets of tourists their bags with souvenirs fill.

of course i couln't miss the famous "world most dangerous road". well, it definitely sounds more dangerous then it really is. from La Paz you drive by bus to La Cumbre on 4700 meter a.s.l. from there it goes by MTB (Mountainbike) over a paved road for about 30 min. then the actual "death road" starts. the sights are amazing! over rough and smooth you pass steep faces with up to 1500 meters incline. you rather brake once to much! after 5 hours of downhill you get to Yolosa on 1300 a.s.l. fortunately we didn't have drive up the road to Coroica, then we were all pretty tired. after a warm shower and dinner we went back to La Paz. because the "death road" is only single-lane it takes some time to cross with the vehicles. in the night there is actually more traffic on the road as by day, apparently you can see the oncoming traffic better. but that it is more difficult to backup a truck at night... well for the waiting time we had some cool beers. after 5 hours we finally got back to La Paz.

Copacabana - Isla del Sol

on the 1st of July i continued to Copacabana on the Lago Titicaca. the lake is immense, over 230km long, 97km wide and is located on 3820 a.s.l.! it's among the world's highest navigable lakes. in the bus i met Gorden from Scottland and Chris from the US. both wanted to to the same thing as me, one night in Copacabana and then to the Isa del Sol. In Copacabana we hiked up the Cerro Calvario (3966 a.s.l.) and watched the sun set. afterwards we had a good dinner with a nice group of people (chris US, chris BG, gorden, melissa USA and me).

the next day we all took the boot over to Isla del Sol. apparently the sun was born there and the 1st Inca rose from the "titicaca" rock (stone of the puma). on the south end we climed the inka-steps to the village Yumani. not that easy with a backpack over 20kg at almost 4000 a.s.l.! after we deposited our luggage in the hostel we took an other boot around the island to the north side. there we visited the rock of Titicaca. a local guy showed us with a mirror (and the sun) diverse animals in rocks. well, with alot of fantasy you could imagine something. i had a little rest on the "mesa de sacrificio". afterwards we hiked across the island towards the south end. after 4 hours we arrived in Yumani. the guys bought a bottle of schnaps and we watched an other sun set. the next morning we took the boot back to Copacabana with intent to drive to Peru. i met Carlo (mi amigo de suiza) again per coincidence. he told me that there is a roadblock after the border and there are no buses leaving. in fact i thought that going out of Bolivia, there will be no more roadblocks to worry about. well, wrong thoughts... finally we all got on a minibus to the boarder, crossing on foot, further with a minibus till the roadblock, again on food and then with an other bus till Puno. we had luck with the roadblock. till we were there, it cleared up a bit and we only had to walk for about an hour. people before us had to walk over 3 hours! over night we reached finally Cuzco.