Bolivia - Uyuni to La Paz

The usual scenario ....where do we go now ??

Adoption was tempting in Sucre ...how cute is he !
















Superb coffee in Sucre















Salar de Uyuni .......

A few days ago as we were travelling through the salt plains of Bolivia and desert (literally the middle of nowhere) over the Andes at one of our photo stops - we spotted written in stones UP TIPP ! well Michelle ran down to where it was and changed it to Up Cork !! We have the before and after photos :0) We had some craic explaining to the other europeans why we felt the need to change it. I´m sure in a few days time a Dub will come through there and change it too. The Salar de Uyuni and the views we had for the two days before we reached it were certainly spectacular. Out of this world kinda stuff!!

Day 1 Flat tyre














Muchos Flamingos














Day 3 Waiting for sunrise














20 minutes later ........the sunrise group

The effects of altitude sickness at 5000 metres

Potosi is an interesting place historically - silver was discovered here (well by the spanish, the incas had been mining it for some time before then!) in 1545 and it became the biggest silver producing mine in the world. At one point, it was the richest city in the world and was bigger than London or Paris. The buildings are run down but beautiful. Silver was mined initially, followed by zinc and tin. Today there are 300 mines, 15,000 miners and nowhere near the money made as there once was. They pound most of what they extract to a "concentrate" and then export this to Europe, USA and Asia for smelting.

Sancha went on one of the tours to the mines - scarey, hot, cold, dusty, breathless from altitude of 4180m, down shafts, gave gifts to the miners who work in these crazy, totally unregulated conditions for on average 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. The average life expectancy is 45 yrs due to lung diseases. Met men of 52 yrs and boys of 16 yrs, incredible. Everyone in the group chewed the coca leaves, bought gifts of dynamite, fuses etc and drinks for the men. A real life lesson... silver should be more expensive people! While Sancha was climbing into the bowels of the earth, Michelle bantered with the local ladies in the market and practiced her pigeon Spanish.


We would upload some personal pics, BUT Sancha´s camera got nicked!! Guess it had to happen somewhere and EVERYONE has a story from south america, right? So now she has her police report with signatures from the local detective sergent and captain in Potosi - just hope it´s enough for the travel insurance.... Hoping to pick up another one here in La Paz (hopefully not her own one coming back to her mind!).
From Potosi, we made our way northwest for about 3 hours to a spot called Sucre, where we basically lounged in great cafes and restaurants; bought silver. We also visited an orphanage for an afternoon; there we helped with the changing of nappies, feeding at dinnertime and of course lots of playtime! We had bought pressies of food and some toys, all of which went down a treat. Sucre is a very pretty town and we landed in the middle of a huge fiesta weekend - still don’t know what it was all in aid of, but the locals knew how to party!
(Sucre)

And so we travelled on to La Paz, highest capital city in the world and where we are to be found at present. And one of the most higgeldy, piggeldy looking places from afar! It´s all hustle, bustle, colourful buses, andean ladies in those hats, witches´market, great ponchos, great textiles for sale, loud whistling policia, LOTS of those policia too (some of whom we think are following us for our own protection!).
(La Paz)