Subscribe to this blog08 March 2009
Dangerous roads in La Paz
La Paz is Bolivia's administrative capital city. Don't overlook the word "administrative", as this country is one of the few one's being able to finance two capitals (the other being Sucre). There is one major road leading into the center of town, which is located at the bottom of a crater-shaped canyon. Winding steadily down from the suburb of El Alto (at 4150 meters altitude) to the heart of the city (at 3660 meters altitude), the bus ride features an almost 360 degree panoramic view during a half hour descent.Whether people love or hate La Paz, they all agree that this town features one of the wackiest city layouts worldwide. From tiny little brick houses to big business towers, everything seems to be "glued" to the crater walls. Staring too much at the hundreds of thousands of squares at the horizon probably can create hallucinations. Some travelers even argue that the interlocked squares of residential houses look very familiar - like a full "Tetris" game screen.
Another particular feature in this town are the shoe-shine boys. They usually wear full-face ski masks to hide their faces. This looks pretty scary and probably would be a perfect setup to prepare some people for a bank robbery. But these boys do shine the shoes only. They do mask their identity, because some of them are students who try - by this - to earn money for their studies. The other part of the shoe-shine boys - the elder ones - are drug addicts and alcoholics, who hide this way their state of intoxication.Traffic in La Paz is intense. Subjectively, I found this to be the most polluted city I visited on my entire trip. The buses and trucks seem to be exhausting extra-fumes which really made me cough. And I watched other people, including locals, who struggled sometimes for the same reasons, when crossing the streets. Nevertheless, since the city is located at a high altitude, the prevailing thin air might alter my overall perception in this matter. My hostel was located smack down in the tourist center, at the Calle Linares. There, the various markets are abundant and it is fun to watch how people and cars manage to squeeze through the steep, narrow and cobble-stoned streets. It's a constant mix of people hurrying by, while others stop to shop or to chat, while taxis and lorries are in a honking concert.
Rarely, I have actually seen such a segregated market organisation, where stalls in one road sell light bulbs only - while in another road toilet seats are on sale in a dozen shops or so. The most famous part of these markets is the "witches market" (Mercado de Hechiceria), where dried lama fetuses and other odd things on display are supposed to help people to recover from illnesses. One of the "witches" explained to me in Spanish the usefulness of a particular magical potion she eagerly wanted to sell to me. Since my Spanish language skills don't yet include various body parts, she resulted to the term "Viagra". Obviously, then I understood and I might come back one day - when I'm older.
Although I didn't feel too dizzy anymore because of the high altitude, I struggled after having walked to get to most attractions in town. In fact, going anywhere in La Paz involves going either up or down. There seems to be absolutely not the tiniest little bit of flat stretch of street in this city. During the second day, the weather was perfect. But I wasn't keen anymore in walking uphill to a panoramic lookout, since I still felt exhausted from the walks of the day before. Luckily, there was a one and a half hour city tour bus waiting for lazy people like me - which included a stop at the lookout as part of its itinerary.Therefore, I bought the relatively cheap ticket for this double-decker bus. The second floor actually had no roof - perfect for picture taking. But once on the tour bus, I spotted plenty of warning signs that mandated tourists to remain seated. The reason for this became quickly obvious to me: Since the bus was four meters high, the wires for telephones, electricity and other random stuff were criss-crossing streets at a little over that same altitude. At several instances, I had cables dangling down and touching my head. Scary tour.
Already in the mood for couch potato travelling, I did book another tour to the town of Tiahuanaco on the third day. I didn't fancy sitting crammed with twenty other people in a Toyota minibus for one hour. Since the tourist tour did cost one US dollar more than the public transport, my decision was quickly made to go the comfy way. Visiting Tiahuanaco means visiting Bolivia´s most significant archaeological place. The civilization of the Tiwanaku left a number of monoliths and temples in the area.
Being my first visit to a truly archaeological site on South American soil (the Nazca lines don't count, since they are of alien origin - remember?), I was disappointingly underwhelmed. The Spanish used stones from one of the ancient temples to build the nearby church in the 17th century. Obviously, what's left on the historical sites, is often really not much. One small open-air temple looked pretty neat, but the only original part was a four-step staircase. All of the rest was a - not too authentic - reconstruction, in an effort to please and draw in tourists. To be blunt: After Central and Southeast Asia, I am not impressed at all by the South American archaeological sites. Hopefully, Peru will alter a bit my disappointment in that respect.
On the last day of my stay, I went by mountain bike to drive down the "World's Most Dangerous Road" (aka: "Death Road", or "North Yungas Road"). Descending from the suburban town of La Cumbre - at around 4700 meters - down to the village of Coroico - at a mere 1500 meters - this 60 kilometer long road descends for 85% of its distance. Including some parts of ascending road, the total downhill altitude adds up to more than 3700 meters. Obviously, this is a physically effortless trip. But I found the challenge to be more on a technical and mental side: There are steep drop-offs, most more than 600 meters. Also, most of the road is not wider than three meters, without any guard rails or other safety installations. The surface is sometimes muddy, sometimes loose gravel - assorted with fallen rocks from the hillsides above. It is estimated that around 200 - 300 people were killed every year along this road. On one particular tragic incident, a fully loaded local bus went downhill in a curve, killing all of its over 100 passengers.Although the weather started very bad early in the morning, featuring wet snow and rain, the skies cleared quickly. At around nine o'clock, we (me and five other travelers) rode the deadly track in beautiful sunshine. And the further we did descend, the hotter and more tropical the weather became. All in all, this was an absolutely fabulous and fun day. The company, which provided us with great guides and good equipment is called "B-Side". Highly recommended. It's one of the very few companies doing rides with small groups only. The big ones (mentioned in the Lonely Planet guidebook and the Wikipedia) run the tours with over 15, 20 people. Due to their advertising exposure, these "big guys" tend to be more expensive as well, although I saw them using the same quality of equipment as we had.
Since 2006, there is a replacement road in use, which absorbs most of the local traffic. These days, mountain bikers are the most common sight on the "old death road". Nevertheless, more than a dozen adventure bikers have lost their lives here in the past ten years alone.
But then again, riding through La Paz in the official open-air double-decker bus is much more dangerous: Because it's easy to get strangled by the omnipresent overhead cable chaos in the streets.
Labels: Bolivia
posted by Reto at
23:03
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05 March 2009
It's the altitude, dude - on the road to Sucre
The constitutional and judicial capital of Bolivia, Sucre, is a small town of 200'000 people which boasts beautiful colonial buildings everywhere. The city's name doesn't refer to the sweet ingredient, but to the revolutionary leader Antonio Jose Sucre. He was one of Simón Bolívar's closest friend, who was back the most important leader of Spanish America's successful struggle for independence. Unsurprisingly, the city is full of history and consequently is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.Bolivia has endured many political changes over time: Almost 200 governments changed hands in its 183 years as a republic. No wonder, the nation has the lowest GDP per capita in South America, although it has enormous natural resources.
Currently, the country's first indigenous president, Evo Morales, rules Bolivia in a controversial way - at least this is what I keep hearing as an outsider. Some Bolivians praise his background as a simple coca farmer and left-wing activist to be the good solution for sustainable economic growth. Others are jokingly telling that the country is going to develop backwards with his antiprivatization laws and confrontational foreign policy.Particularly, the relations with the United States of America have politically suffered, since Evo Morales decided to suspend the US induced coca plant eradication program. Although this plant is being used abroad as a derivative (cocaine), it's part of the Bolivian lifestyle and culture. Chewing coca leaves does reduce pain and increases alertness. It is therefore fairly common to see hard working people chewing coca anywhere in Bolivia. The raw leaves aren't harmful nor addictive. They even contain a lot of calcium, iron and vitamins. Coca being a key farming product, Bolivia gets a lot of pressure from abroad, to ban coca plantations. All this keeps me quite curious about this nation's future.
Coming from the towns of Uyuni and then Potosi, the road was mostly a bumpy dirt track. About 80 kilometers from Sucre, the road became a solid track, but very winding. The bus I traveled with, would climb steep passes, only to drive down the same level of altitude to cross the next valley. This constant up and down over high mountains takes toll on the total travel time. The trip between Potosi and Sucre (roughly 150 kilometers) takes more than three hours. In general, distances in Bolivia are nowhere near the big numbers encountered in Chile or Argentina. But because any travel within the country involves crossing numerous high-altitude mountains on desolate roads, the trip times are enormous. Buses would be comfortable, but they mostly lack the on-board toilet (which are common in the neighbouring countries). Therefore, "pipi-stops" - such as I did encounter back in Laos - are common in Bolivia. And although the bus would sometimes stop at three o'clock in the morning on a remote farm land, I would want to wake up and go for a leak. Because I never knew, when the bus would stop next.
Doing such important stuff in the middle of the night under a very starry sky, in an altitude-sickness induced grogginess, made me think about weird things. For example, I wondered about how many countries I theoretically still would need to visit, to be able to say that I visited 'em all. Wikipedia on my mobile phone came to my rescue and I frantically tried to absorb most research about this subject while there was GSM coverage (which is surprisingly good and cheap in Bolivia). But there is no easy answer to the task of defining the countries making up my potential list - because it is all about terminology: "Sovereign States" (the proper term) must meet a couple of conditions, such as having a permanent population, a defined territory, government and the capacity to enter into relations with other states.To complicate things, a number of sovereign states that meet the conditions are disputed, such as Northern Cyprus, South Ossetia or Taiwan. And then, there are the so-called "Micronations", some of them that I have already visited (namely the Hutt River Province). These aren't recognised states, but to me they are worthy enough to make it on my list, since they feautre mostly interesting background stories. Among the more famous ones are "Sealand", "Minerva" and the "Principality of Trinidad". Writing down a list of all these countries to be visited (does the "European Union" actually count as such?) will be always an achievement of personal interpretation. Because such a list will always include or exclude certain nations for whatever reason.
Here I am with my important thoughts and decisions on an altitude of 4000 meters, freezing the appendix off while peeing in the dark into a pothole on the main highway connecting Sucre with Potosi. Am I going mental in Bolivia? Or is it just what the American gringo on the bus used to say: "It's the altitude, dude". We'll only know, once I return to lower grounds.
Labels: Bolivia
posted by Reto at
00:13
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02 March 2009
Being in high spirits in the Uyuni Salt Flats
So you have been seeing this super cool picture of your friends jumping around in a desert. And you have been amazed at the photographic genius of your best mate, who is - by using a false perspective shot - holding two of his friends in his palm while he's sitting in a desert like a Yoda. Let me solve the mystery as there is nothing really creative about it. Because anyone can do these kinds of shots in the "Salar de Uyuni" (Salt Flat of Uyuni). Try a picture search on Google, Picasa or Flickr and you will be amazed how uncreative most people are - including me - when it comes to orchestrating a truly unique picture scene.Nevertheless, what sounds like the usual bold, grumpy statement from me, turned out to be actually much fun in reality. Being planned since a few months back as the big highlight in South America - among others places like Torres del Paine and Macchu Picchu - I was a bit bewildered that friends back home would urge me to visit the Salar de Uyuni. Seems that some years back, this probably was a travelers secret. Nowadays, visiting the largest salt flat in the world is simply a "must" for any visitor to central South America. Being a standard destination for most travelers, the salt flat is very well connected by tours starting from San Pedro de Atacama (Chile), Salta (Argentina) or even as far as La Paz (Bolivia). Being so well hyped, no wonder I was annoyingly chuckling, when I got this "hot tip" not to miss Uyuni.
After a bit of investigation, it seemed to me that the route from San Pedro de Atacama (Chile) to the town of Uyuni (Bolivia) would present most of the scenic views. In fact, the three day trip I booked was super-charged with numerous sights, such as the Laguna Blanca, Laguna Verde, Decierto Rocas del Salvador Dali, Geyser sol de Mañana, Laguna Colorada, Arbol de Piedra, Lagunas Altiplanicas (ie Laguna Honda, Laguna Chearcota, Laguna Hedionda, Laguna Cañapa), Volcan Ollague, Salar de Chiguna, Villa Martin, Salar de Uyuni (incl. Isla de los Pescadores, Museo de Sal, Minas de Sal) and finally the Cemeterio del Tren in Uyuni.Right on the first day, we took the "uphill" road to Bolivian border - after having stamped out at the customs check point on the Chilean side. Noting the road sign announcing an 7% incline, plus calculating the distance from the roadside markers (25 kilometers) - I arrived at the conclusion that we were gaining at least 1800 meters altitude (on top of the 2400 meters altitude from San Pedro de Atacama). Except for the very last part, which was winding, the road is more or less a straight track pointing all the way up to the Bolivean plateau. After one hour, we arrived at the Bolivian border post, at a measured altitude of 4'300 meters. This alone did set my height record of places visited. However, after clearing customs, we were bound to go even higher. Thanks to Will, member of our tour group - who was monitoring the altitude using his high-tech wristwatch - we could establish the absolute record height at 4'950 meters that same day.
Coping with such a high altitude is definitely not easy. Some of the people in our tour group did take altitude sickness pills, others not - me included. Arriving at the "Geyser Sol de Mañana" (Morning Sun Geyser Basin) - probably still at around 4'800 meters of altitude - I seriously struggled. These scenic and colourful geysers are bubbling very hot and evaporate a cloud of gassy smog. Breathing in this mix of thin air and sulfur gas was the biggest challenge for me on that particular trip. Thinking and talking at this height becomes a nightmare and I felt like being drunk, including the next morning's hangover headache - all at the same time. Some people of our group struggled a bit more, but eventually we all got better on the second day, when our itinerary would descend to roughly 3'800 meters.So, what's the big fuzz about this Salar de Uyuni? Well, it is definitely scenic, beautiful and breathtaking. It is one of these strange Nature places on earth, which are hard to explain. The sheer surface size of 12'000 square kilometers (a fourth of the size of my home country, Switzerland) and the elevated location on 3'700 meters above sea level make this salt plain stand out from anything else I have visited so far throughout my entire life (which is not much - the cynical reader thinks). The Salar de Uyuni truly do live up to the hype and somehow the salt flat seems to induce happiness. Everyone I met there was smiling, having a fun day and enjoyed being in this very special place. But visiting this area also meant the end of a great three day trip, by arriving in the town of Uyuni.
This town sprawls of four-wheel drives (4WD), that have large outdoor gear fixed to their roofs. In the mornings at around 10 o'clock, a common sight is the gathering of small groups standing next to these vehicles. Handshakes and a few polite words introduce the obvious members of the impending desert trip. It seems as if the towns' only business consists in selling excursions to the salt flat. In the afternoons, the situation reverses. Arriving outdoor vehicles arrive, spitting out happy people who bid farewell to each other. Some of them are hopping on the next bus to La Paz - some of them are staying in town to relax and wind down from a marathon trip.The type of travelers I did encounter in Uyuni, definitely had changed in comparison the the other countries further south on this continent. Suddenly, there are a lot of "hardcore"-type backpackers roaming the streets and camping with their tents in the city park. They look mostly like hippies arriving straight out of a time-warp from the 60's Woodstock Festival. The dress code among them consists of a woolen Bolivian or Peruvian cap, a colourful poncho and "Jesus"-pants with sandals. The more hardcore of them would even walk barefoot. For men, a sizable unwashed beard is a must, while many women wear similarly clean looking dreadlocks. Sure, you get these backpackers in many other cities. But I have never seen so much of them in one place (even the "hippie"-place in Don Det, Laos had less of them). This makes me truly wonder how all these guys and girls will look once they get "cattled" back to their real life in their nine to five jobs. It's as if they wanted to wear a carnival dress making sure not to be recognised.
But then again, the locals don't bother at all wearing special clothes or masks for their carnival festivities. How do I know? Well, it was carnival time in Uyuni during the week-end I stayed there. Lots of music, dance and street parades were keeping the town well alive in the evenings. Which did put a nice, albeit unplanned, final touch on a very scenic and special trip to one of Earth's most out of this World's places.
Labels: Bolivia
posted by Reto at
00:11
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