One Man’s Walk through life

La Paz

Wow…

What a whirlwind. Trying to do an entire country in a week makes for a crazy journey.
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The first thing they always tell you about La Paz is that as you approach it, there is nothing, only a vast plane, and then, all of a sudden, it opens up beneath you as you see a huge bowl carved into the plane and an enormous city crawling up the sides.

La Paz is like nowhere I’ve ever seen before. I didn’t do any of the touristy things there. I didn’t mountain bike down the most dangerous road in the world. And I didn’t go to the prison that is run like it’s own little city, where they have wealthy and poor, where you pay prisoners to give you tours. What I did do over the 3 days I was in La Paz was walk through the city.

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There are miles and miles and miles of markets. Stalls selling everything you could think of and many things you couldn’t. Prices are cheap unless you’re near the tourist centers, but even then, compared to the states, they’re lower than rock bottom.

The people in La Paz, Bolivians, are different again from Colombians are even Peruvians. They are harder, not quite as friendly, they live in really, really cold weather and they have a bitter side to them. Bolivia has gotten screwed by pretty much all of its neighbors at one time or another, and they don’t like any of them, especially Chile.

By chance, the last night I was there was Bolivia’s Independence Day, and the party raged all night, with tables set up just to serve alcohol and the streets, over 20 blocks of the streets clogged with Bolivians drunk and celebrating. I will say, Bolivians know how to party.
——=Trek from Uyuni

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Then took a bus down to Uyuni, for it was fair… The next stop along Bolivia’s “Gringo Trail” is Uyuni. From there you can do a 3 day trek starting with the Salares. The Salares were supposed to be amazing, and they didn’t disappoint.

At a stunning altitude of 4,000+ meters, in prehistoric times, there was a vast lake. All that remains now are the Salt Plains: freezing and vast. Bolivia harvests salt from them and of course sends truckloads of tourists through every day.

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We stopped for lunch at the Isla de Pescado, or the Island of Fish. It was amazing, though no one seemed to know where it got it’s name from. Climbing to the top of the island proved good exercise, but from the top we had stunning views of the surrounding Salar. There were also a couple pretty birds that we got to see.

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I forget the name of this lake, but we stopped here for Lunch our second day. Hundreds of hundreds of flamingos. And the lake itself was so weird lying on top of rich mineral deposits as it did. The flamingos didn’t seem to mind us, and we all got some pretty amazing pics.

And then the landscape changed, actually it had been changing, but I was struck by how much parts of it looked exactly like the desert surrounding my home city of El Paso, Texas. Granted it felt nothing like it, in the dead of winter in El Paso, there are a couple days, if that many, that come close to the biting cold of the Salares during Bolivia’s winter. But definitely the landscape with it’s small desert shrubs and sand looked like they belonged in Texas at places.

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What were out of place were the amazing rock formations. These looked more like Coral than anything else, and looked like they belonged underwater. Chances are they probably were underwater at some point. This is called the Arbol de Piedra or the Tree of Rock. You can’t tell by the pic but it’s pretty huge, easily 3 or 4 stories.

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The second night we stopped at a hostel on the side of the Laguna Colorado. A very strange lake, at this point mostly frozen over, but where there was water it was a red color, not unlike the surrounding sand. It was very strange to see birds here, but here they were. Sleeping here most definitely requires a sleeping bag in addition to all the blankets; we were at almost 5,000 meters.

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Ugh, it’s 7am and we’re supposed to be up and OUT. To see the geisers first. Wow, these are amazing, and HUGE. Easily hundreds of feet in the air. Be careful though, apparently there have been tourists that have fallen through the thin ground near the base of some of the geisers and sustained serious burns. But they are so beautiful, and only add to the feeling from yesterday of being on another planet. The landscape on all sides just seems so alien to us all.

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Finally, the last stop on our trip. The Laguna Verde. A strange lake that steams in the early morning cold. Parts of it are frozen over, parts of it are truly warm as some brave tourists strip and enter a pool at a corner of the lake that is heated naturally.

After taking some pics of the lake we are off to the frontera where we will take a minibus into San Pedro, Chile…and WARMTH
——=Wrapping it up

So San Pedro…doesn’t belong in Chile, it belongs in California, just north of Monterrey. It’s chill, laidback, and overpriced and full of tourists just like Monterrey. A backpacker coming out of Bolivia can not HOPE to afford anything at all there and I couldn’t wait to leave. Of course there are buses out of it only 2 days a week, and the next day’s were full, so it was going to be 3 days…

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Or…

…I could hitchhike.

I spent a good 17 hours in the 4×4 that’s just behind the cab. So hey, now I can say I’ve hitchhiked in my life. It was a lot less exciting than I had hoped, although, I suppose that’s a good thing. A lot of time to think, a lot of time to sleep. After a whirlwind 3 weeks getting to Buenos Aires, both of those were good things