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A Very Big Bolivian Adventure

April 7, 2023

Location: Bolivia, South America

When I was in grade school, one of my favorite subjects was Social Studies. I loved learning about cultures from faraway lands, the history, costumes, traditions, and way of life. Although I didn’t know it at the time, this interest at a young impressionable age would become a lifelong obsession – to learn and understand the meaning of life for peoples of the world. And this is how it came about for A Very Big Bolivian Adventure.

Llama – for wool, for food, for transport

In fifth grade, one of my favorite teachers, Mrs. Guerske, introduced our class to a Social Studies unit on Bolivia. I was beyond fascinated as I spent hours reading and looking at the photos of the hard-scrabble life of the Andean people. For decades after, Bolivia was filed away in my mind as a destination I needed to see.

A Very Big Bolivian Adventure

And so it was in year seven of The Grand Adventure we made our way to Bolivia and A Very Big Bolivian Adventure. You might be surprised to learn that Bolivia is one of the world’s fastest emerging tourism destinations. However, the Covid period took a toll on tourism in the fragile country. As tourism rebuilds, Bolivia is currently experiencing serious economic problems and political unrest due to low pay and political dissension. During our visit we witnessed countless protests and strikes and a lack of access to US dollars available in the banks. For the most part these things did not affect our visit, except in one serious case which I will elaborate on below.

Vicuna are like llama and alpaca, but are the only ones of the three that have not been domesticated, making their wool very valuable.

Intrepid Travel

We wanted to cover a lot of territory in Bolivia, and didn’t feel confident to handle those logistics as independent travelers in this country. So we took a recommendation from a fellow full-time traveler and booked our tour with the highly regarded Intrepid Travel. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about Intrepid, and particularly our guide Wendy, who made this tour the once in a life time experience it was. She is amazing.

The Group Day One

Our ten day tour began in La Paz (see our post Living in the Sky – La Paz Bolivia), where we met the 10 other guests who would be traveling with us. The weirdest coincidence though, eight of the twelve guests are from the greater Seattle area. What are the chances?

It’s rare we travel in a group, or even with a guide, but as I said before, this country warrants it. In the past we have had some group tours where there is always that one difficult person…the complainer or the whiner. Not this group. These people were outstanding, adventurous, educated, fun and well-traveled. I now consider each and every one a friend.

Variety is one of the main attractions for visitors to Bolivia

Highlighting the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

We covered 1800 km (1100 miles) during our ten day tour. It was a lot of driving. And we saw some incredible things. I can’t possibly talk about it all, so I am choosing to give you the highlights – the good, the bad and the ugly. So here we go;

Day Two La Paz to Uyuni

We took a private and comfortable bus for what should have been an eight hour drive to Uyuni. Our guide Wendy had told us there was a possible teacher strike that may block the road, but we were proceeding anyway. After a pleasant and uneventful six and a half hours we came to a roadblock. Not teachers however. It was a protest regarding the lithium miners demands for more of the profit from lithium extraction in the salt flats. Learn more about it here.

While we waited at the road block, we saw how quinoa is grown. I was fascinated by this. Quinoa is an important crop for Bolivia.

The road block was actually two – one where we came to a stop and another 20 mile ahead. There was no getting through. We waited for two hours and when it became clear the protestors had no intention of opening the road, Wonder Woman Wendy went to work. She contacted the 4-wheel drive operators in Uyuni on the other side of the two road blocks. Using their vehicles they came to us off-road through the desert. It took them two and half hours to reach us. When they were close we unloaded our bags from the bus, walked solemnly and quietly through the strikers per instructions from Wendy. There was some concern they might harass us but they did not.

Once we got through the strikers, suddenly the 4-wheel drive vehicles appeared, the drivers threw our bags on top, we jumped in and were off, no headlights into the bush. It was another two hours through the desert to reach Uyuni. I was never so grateful to see a bed. Wendy ordered pizza for everyone but it was midnight and I was beat. No pizza for me.

I snapped a quick photo as we crossed the strikers after dark

A side note – this road block continued through the next day. Anyone traveling on their own or in the larger regular express busses that make their way between La Paz and Uyuni had to sit there for two days.

Day Three Happy to be Here

As a result of most people still being stuck on the road, on this day we saw few tourists. Today was the Bolivian Salt Flat day, the raisin de ‘etra of our tour. And after last night, we were looking forward to some fun.

This day was warmer than I expected, in fact hot, so all of our cold weather clothes we have been hauling around the world just for this experience went back into the suitcase.

The massive Bolivian Salt Flats are the largest salt flats in the world. I had to keep reminding myself it was not snow. Everything about it confuses your brain. It’s bright and white and stretches as far as you can see. Google says ;

Salt for as far as the eye can see; this pedestal is made of salt blocks

Salar de Uyuni, amid the Andes in southwest Bolivia, is the world’s largest salt flat. It’s the legacy of a prehistoric lake that went dry, leaving behind a desert like, nearly 11,000-sq.-km. landscape of bright-white salt, rock formations and cacti-studded islands. Its otherworldly expanse can be observed from central Incahuasi Island. Though wildlife is rare in this unique ecosystem, it harbors many pink flamingos. ― Google

All the local guides have learned to have fun with the photo opportunities the flat and endless salt plain provides and we had a fascinating day.

Incahuasi Island

Despite how incredible the endless salt flats were, the unexpected outcrop known as Incahuasi Island was beyond anything I could have imagined. Absolutely stunning to find this cactus-covered rock protruding from the miles and miles of white.

Salt Hotel

We ended this remarkable day at one of several salt hotels. These structures are made from salt blocks cut from the flats. People have been known to lick the walls just to be sure…I declined but it was a fascinating and also very rustic place to sleep for one night.

Day Four Pretty in Pink

We traveled away from the salt flats and into the Altiplano and enjoyed views of volcanoes in every direction we looked. The road was long as we rose higher and higher but we stopped often for photos and potty breaks. But the most scenic part of this day were several stops we made to see the flamingoes. Bolivia is home to several kinds of flamingoes who do not migrate but live permanently in this region feasting on the red-hued algae abundant in the volcanic lakes. Who doesn’t love seeing a pink flamingo in the wild?

As we finished this day we reached our highest altitude for the trip, and also the highest altitude I have ever been at on earth… 16,100 feet above sea level. And we felt it with every step we took.

Our accommodations on this night were rustic dorm style but the view from the dining area was other-worldly.

Day Five – The Ugly

Was it something I ate or the altitude? I doubt I will ever know. But the ugly reared its head in the middle of the night and I was very sick; diarrhea, bloating, chills, headache and unable to breath. Unfortunately this was a ten-hour-drive day in the 4×4. My car mates and my husband and of course Wonder Woman Wendy did everything possible to see to my comfort as I slept and moaned through the day. Arne did manage to take a few photos of some of this day’s scenery. I was so relieved to arrive back to our hotel in Uyuni. Please note – Wendy was monitoring my oxegen level and if necesary, would have evacuated me if I was in danger.

Day Six – Potosi

We took a bus to Potosi, a silver mining town in the hills of Bolivia. Although I still felt sick I was at least upright. I attempted to go on the silver mine tour with group but bailed at the last minute and went back to the hotel. The next day however I did enjoy the really well done National Mint, a museum of mining and silver known as the Casa Nacional de Moneda.

Day Seven to Nine – Sucre

Another bus; this day to Sucre. Both Sucre and La Paz are considered capitals of Bolivia, it’s a strange system. Wikipedia says;

“La Paz was established as the seat of government for the legislative and executive branches, while Sucre retained the seat of the judicial branch of the Bolivian government. To this day, Sucre remains the only official capital of Bolivia, but La Paz is considered by many as the de facto capital.“

Hiking

Sucre is a more modern, colonial city compared to La Paz. It is flatter and very beautiful. We enjoyed a fantastic hike outside the city on a portion of the Inca Trail. I was so glad I was up to doing that, even though I still wasn’t 100% myself. One of my favorite things we did.

Mercado

Sucre has a large and colorful mercado which we toured and learned from Wendy a lot about the products of Bolivia and the way of life for the people of the mercado.

Bread and other carbs is a big part of the diet

History

The Textile Museum Museo de Arte Indigena, was a fascinating story of the indigenous textiles of Bolivia. I am always interested in textiles and I am so glad we took time to do that on our own. I also was able to purchase a small and beautiful item made by a local women to take home as a souvenir.

Local women creating another masterpiece

We visited the dinosaur footprint park, Parque Cretacico, which was honestly far more interesting than I expected. A cement manufacturing company scouring the mountain for raw material stumbled upon the dinosaur footprints estimated to be 68 million years old. This is the largest collection of dinosaur footprints in South America with over 5000 prints of at least ten different species. The tectonic uplift of the former lake bed creates this strange and eerie phenomenon, so it appears as if the dinosaurs walked up the side of the mountain like a gecko might today. The limestone face of the wall secures the footprints for eternity. Fascinating.

On our final night in Sucre – our Very Big Bolivian Adventure was coming to an end. We celebrated together as one of our group was leaving in the morning, while the rest of us boarded a flight in the morning back to La Paz.

The best travel partners…and Wonder Woman too

Farewell

Over the ten days we have grown close with our new friends as we all endured the joys and hardships of a ten-day overland tour of Bolivia. Back in La Paz we said our farewells, enjoyed one final dinner together, and thanked our amazing guide Wendy for her incredible guidance during A Very Big Bolivian Adventure. Then it was time to reorganize our bags once again for our next destination.

Bolivia is truly a remarkable, beautiful and culturally rich place, despite some issues it is dealing with. I want the best for the wonderful people we met, and all those we didn’t. I hope for better relations between the USA and Bolivia, and I hope more visitors will come to experience the color, culture and geology of this extraordinary country.

I wish I could tell Mrs. Guerske how I have fulfilled this lifelong dream. Viva Bollivia! Gracias.

Please see last week’s post Living in the Sky – La Paz Bolivia.

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Living in the Sky – La Paz Bolivia

March 31, 2023

Laureen

Altitude Sickness

The last time we spent time at this kind of altitude was 13 years ago when we arrived in Cusco Peru (elevation 11,152 feet/3399 meters) to do the 5 day Inca Trail Hike. Before leaving home our doctor had given us some prescription meds to help with altitude sickness. In hindsight, the extreme nausea, diarrhea, and dizziness I experienced in Cusco (enough to bring a doctor to our hotel room) I believe was due to those meds.

San Fransisco Cathedral – main gathering place for people and pigeons alike

So this time we decided to not take any medicine. Instead we planned a long acclimation period, drank a ton of water, gatorade, tea and coffee, and did not drink any alcohol. We ate very light meals and allowed ourselves plenty of sleep. After just two days, we felt rested and no adverse symptoms, other than just a light headache and a bit of breathlessness.

Huyuani Potosi one of several peaks in the distance

We also think spending a week in Mexico City (7349 feet/ 2240 meters) probably helped as a stepping stone to Living in the Sky – La Paz Bolivia.

But still a bit muddled…

I will say however, our brains were a bit muddled the whole time. My husband Arne who serves as our CFO on the grand adventure could never quite get the exchange rate correct in his head. And me, the COO, could not get the dates straight…which resulted in us thinking our tour was beginning a day earlier than it actually was. Or maybe we are just getting old…

Living in the Sky – La Paz Bolivia

La Paz is the highest major city in the world. It was founded by the Spanish in 1548, but long before that time the indigenous Aymara and Quechua people and before them Inca people inhabited the region. Throughout what is now La Paz, El Alto, and surrounding area, archeologists have found sites of the aboriginal tribe Tiwanaku that had existed for at least 1500 years (there is a lot of intense debate of these dates see below).

When the Spanish arrived, they created “a commercial city, lying on the main gold and silver route to the coast. The Spaniards came for the Bolivian gold found in the Choqueapu River that runs through present-day La Paz. The Spaniards took the gold mines away from Aymara people and made them work as slaves. The primarily male Spanish population soon mixed with the indigenous people, creating a largely mestizo, or mixed, population.” Source Wikipedia.

Climate and Geology

The climate here is odd. It is tropical at 16 degrees south, the same as Tahiti French Polynesia. However the altitude in La Paz at 12,000 feet has both a rainy and a dry season but the high temperature throughout the year only varies between about 54F and 58F. It’s quit distinctive, and unlike any climate we have been in before.

The area around La Paz is made up of a sandy, loamy, glacial like soil…very unstable. The city is built on unconsolidated glacial deposits from the past ice age through which Choqueyapa River has cut to form the steep sided canyon. Because of high rainfall, unconsolidated sediment, and steep slopes landslides are a common occurrence in La Paz.

Beautiful, Surprising, Huge, Cultural and Delicious

We planned a week, thinking most of that I would be sick, but since we acclimated easily we had lots of time to enjoy this fascinating city. I’m embarrassed to say I had no idea what a beautiful place it is. So once we realized we had a lot of extra time, we planned an itinerary to see the most that we could. We had warmer weather than we expected too, so everyday we got outside and explored. The area known as La Paz is actually two cities. La Paz sits in the valley and snakes out and up in all directions from the original site on the river. Population of La Paz is 900,000. The city of El Alto sits on the mountain plateau above La Paz and stretches as far as the eye can see. This is the location of the international airport, Manuel Márquez de León International Airport, the highest international airport in the world. El Alto has a population of 1,100,000.

Here are our suggestions for how to enjoy Living in the Sky – La Paz Bolivia.

The Gondolas

One of the most surprising things we found on arrival in La Paz was the outstanding gondola transit system. Mi Teleferico is the largest gondola system in the world. This rare, well planned, people-mover is designed not for tourists, but as a way of moving the more than 2 million residents around this mountain region. Wikipedia says – “Mi Teleférico, also known as Teleférico La Paz–El Alto, is an aerial cable car urban transit system serving the La Paz–El Alto metropolitan area in Bolivia. As of October 2019, the system consists of 26 stations along ten lines: Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Orange, White, Sky Blue, Purple, Brown, and Silver.”

It is clean, efficient, fun and cheap costing only about 40 cents (USD) per ride. It is not designed to make money, rather to eliminate street traffic, connect areas of the region and provide the people an efficient and inexpensive way to navigate the two cities. About 150,000 people use the system everyday.

We took the time to ride all the lines during our visit, just for fun and for the views. Seeing this wonderful city from above really gives you an appreciation for the ingenuity and population. I highly recommend it when visiting La Paz and El Alto. The views are spectacular.

Guided Walking Tour

Using Get Your Guide we connected with the local tour company of Hanaqpacha Travel to spend three hours with a local guide walking and learning about the city. Our guide Fernando and Jenny, a guide in training, were excellent. Great English, very knowledgeable and fun to be with.

We explored many of the historic areas, learned about local historic figures and past violence and troubles. We learned to navigate the cable car, got insight into the two cities, the markets, and Cholita women.

The Witches Market

One of the most intriguing things we did was explore the Witches Market. This area of shops is where dozens of local women sell curious, obscure and strange items from llama fetuses to dried herbs and talismans that are a part of the Aymara rituals and spirits world. After hundreds of years of the Catholic Church suppressing the Aymara way of life, in recent decades these ancient customs have been allowed to come out of hiding. They never stopped these rituals; they just had to keep them tucked away. Today in La Paz you find a curious mix of ancient mystical beliefs and the Catholic religion.

One disturbing thing we learned though I need to mention. Our guide explained to us that the llama fetuses are used as a good luck talisman, buried under buildings and homes to appease Pachamama – Mother Earth. The larger the building the larger the animal. But deep in this belief is rumored human sacrifices that continue to this day. Our guide says it’s a common rumor that this may or may not happen…but why? He said that the larger the building, the larger the sacrifice must be to Pachamama. And there is rumor that some construction sites actually take homeless or drunks off the street and sacrifice them. Of course we found this horribly disturbing. Our guide was also sufficiently disturbed, but claims this ancient practice and the rumor has persisted throughout his lifetime. I found this article if you want to read more. Not a pleasant thing to think about.

We met this lovely lady in the Witches Market on our tour

Shopping

On a lighter note, the Aymara & Quechua people and the Cholita women (I found this amazing article about the Cholita) are fantastic artisans and surrounding the Witches Market (where you can also take home your own good luck talismans) are dozens of shops selling beautiful hand made items. Popular weavings of bright colors are made into bags, headbands, wallets and even shoes. Alpaca sweaters, shawls, hats and scarves are gorgeous and inexpensive. You can see the women knitting on the street or in the stalls. We purchased gifts to take home and were amazed at the quality of work and cheap prices. The market also has handmade leather items, silver jewelry and ceramics.

The Lovely Cholita Women

Throughout the city the Cholita women sell flowers, produce, snacks and traditional foods on the street. You can also find outfitter stores for tourists in need of down jackets, hiking shoes and just about anything else you might need for your time in Bolivia.

This Cholita women sells 15 different kinds of potatoes. The potato was first domesticated in the Andes Mountains of this region

Food Tour

We booked a food walking tour with Red Cap Tours. Our guide Amara was great and we were joined by another couple from Singapore. It’s always so fun to taste a city through a local guide. We had a great time. We tasted several Bolivian specialties including Anchipacha which is a popular grilled beef heart and potato kabob, and Cholita a very popular sandwich snack of pork and pickled veg and named after the Cholita women. Next we had Api, a warm creamy drink made from purple corn and popular for breakfast. With the Api we enjoyed a favorite morning street food called Pastel de Queso. Loved both of these.

Delicious warm and sweet Api made from purple corn

Next we went into a restaurant to try two different kinds of pork – Chichorone is a popular crispy fried pork dish and Fritanga is a braised pork. Both were delicious. With the pork we had steamed potatoes and “dried” potatoes, a favorite of locals. The potatoes are dried in the sun for weeks then reconstituted.

Fritanga was fall off the bone tender and delicious

We ended our tour enjoy Pique Macho, a dish of potatoes, beef and sausage in a rich and spicy broth and the national alcohol called Singani which is usually mixed with citrus and sours much like a pisco sour.

It was a great tour. We rolled home after so much food.

Museums

We visited four different museums during the week we were Living in the Sky – La Paz Bolivia. There are several more as well. I’ve listed the four here, in order based on the quality of what we saw;

National Museum of Ethnography and Folklore

National Museum of Ethnography and Folklore – If you only do one thing in La Paz it should be this. One of the best museums we have ever been in, even though it was presented only in Spanish. We still thought it was outstanding. Well funded by the Central Bank of Bolivia, and it shows, the exhibits are beautiful and professionally presented. We particularly enjoyed the textile and clothing section, the ceremonial mask section and the section on indigenous use of bird feathers in costumes and head dresses. A fantastic museum.

Museo Nacional de Arte

Museo Nacional de Arte – through art this beautiful museum tells a wonderful story of the people of the Andes, Bolivia and La Paz. I highly recommend taking the guided tour. Our guide Robert was incredible. For an hour and a half he gave a personal tour of the entire museum, helping us understand through the beautiful collection the culture, history, trials and tribulations of this amazing place.

Outstanding art collection and a private tour too

Museo costumbrista Juan de Vargas

Museo costumbrista Juan de Vargas this museum is a bit of an mis-mash of things, but is worth a visit for the unique gold display of ancient Andean breastplates, jewelry and head pieces. It is also housed in a beautiful Spanish colonial building on multiple levels.

Gold was used as ancient dress and symbolism

Museo Tambo Quirquincho

Museo Tambo Quirquincho – this museum was pretty disappointing, although it is housed in a lovely old Spanish building that once housed a market. But the art collection was unimpressive. Skip it.

Tihuanku

One of the most important archeology sites in South America, Tihuanku sits about a two hour drive from La Paz. We signed up for an all day tour to visit the site with a guide through local company HanaqPacha Travel. It was a long drive in heavy traffic but I am still really glad we did it.

How Old is it Really?

There is much debate about the actual age of this UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our guide Teodoro, like many Bolivians, believe the site dates back as much as 10,000 years and was also visited by Aliens. UNESCO however, says the following;

“The city of Tiwanaku, capital of a powerful pre-Hispanic empire that dominated a large area of the southern Andes and beyond, reached its apogee between 500 and 900 AD. Its monumental remains testify to the cultural and political significance of this civilisation, which is distinct from any of the other pre-Hispanic empires of the Americas.”

Thinking has changed over time…

One of the reasons for the debate of the age of the site is the earliest archeologists incorrectly compared it to archaeoastronomy. To explain this better here is Wikipedia’s assessment;

“The dating of the site has been significantly refined over the last century. From 1910 to 1945, Arthur Posnansky maintained that the site was 11,000–17,000 years old^[8][9] based on comparisons to geological eras and archaeoastronomy. Beginning in the 1970s, Carlos Ponce Sanginés proposed the site was first occupied around 1580 BC,^[10] the site’s oldest radiocarbon date. This date is still seen in some publications and museums in Bolivia. Since the 1980s, researchers have recognized this date as unreliable, leading to the consensus that the site is no older than 200 or 300 BC.^[11][12][13] More recently, a statistical assessment of reliable radiocarbon dates estimates that the site was founded around AD 110 (50–170, 68% probability),^[1] a date supported by the lack of ceramic styles from earlier periods.^[14]“

It is believed that the Inca culture took some inspiration from this earlier Tihuanku culture. The Tihuanku also likely had some contact with the Wari culture during this pre-columbian period in the Andean basin.

The first recorded knowledge of the site was by the Spanish in 1549.

If you visit La Paz, this is a must see. Learn more here.

Accommodations and Food

Since we were booked to go on an overland trip that included the first night in a hotel in La Paz, we decided to spend our week in the same hotel to make things easy. The Qantu Hotel ended up being in a perfect location with easy access to everything. Our room was small but clean and comfortable. Breakfast every morning was hearty and the staff very kind.

Centrally Located

During our stay, La Paz celebrated the Gran Poder pre-event (the actual Gran Poder is a giant festival in late May) and from the balcony of Qantu we had a spectacular view of the four hour long parade.

Throughout the week we explored different dining options around the central part of La Paz. Because of the backpacker set that visits here, there are many hostels, brewpubs, and simple and inexpensive eateries. There is also a wide variety of international cuisines available from Mexican, Italian or Cuban to Indian and Chinese. Of the places we ate we can recommend the following;

Authentic

Tia Gladys is a tiny little hole in the wall that we walked by a few times before noticing it. Very popular for inexpensive, local Bolivian dishes as well as soup, salad, pizza and more. We tried the popular Bolivian dish Pique Macho here.

International

Cafe del Mundo is a lovely spot, frequented by the international backpacker crowd. Great service and international menu. Also a popular for afternoon pastry and coffee. I had a delicious soup here called Sopa Abuelo. Delicious.

Nice View

La Groseria is another lovely spot overlooking the popular Sagarnaga street with a wide variety of coffees, beers, Bolivian favorites and international options. While I tried the local version of Chicken Milanese, Arne tried a quinoa bowl. Quinoa is a staple food here, an ancient grain harvested from Lake Titicaca.

Quirky

La Boliviana this unlikely brightly colored place looks like an ice cream shop but has a quirky menu and daily special with a twist on local cuisines. We had a three course lunch that included wontons and falafel, meatballs and curry. We enjoyed it all.

Gracias La Paz

I am so grateful we had the time to explore deeply this amazing place…full of mystery, ancient customs, interesting food, and a culturally rich and diverse people. If you can, I highly recommend you visit La Paz. I’m sure you will be as intrigued as I was. Living in the Sky – La Paz Bolivia. Muchos Gracias Mi Amigos.