Bolivia and Queensday!

After some nice days in San pedro I decided to take a tour in a 4x4 jeep to Bolivia. Initially I was afraid that the scenery would become a bit boring (after the tours) but this turned out not to be the case at all. Every piece of dessert, rock, mountain, geyser, lake, flamingo is different and I think I could have stayed in that area for ever simply enjoying the beautiful landscapes.

After 3 days we arrived in Uyuni in Bolivia. Directly you can see  and feel the differences between the richest (chile) and the poorest (Bolivia) South Amercian countries. The differences are obviously reflected in prices but also in regards to  the state of the roads, garbage on the streets, the number of people trying to earn a living by selling things on the streets, numer of indigenous people wearing traditional clothes etc. And I have to say I like it here. Finally I really got the feeling that I´m experiencing a truly different culture.

After one night in Uyuni, I decided to directly continue my journey to Potosi. After a few hours watching the green mile in a bus where tourists were puking and a window was broken, we arrived in the city that was one day (around 1670) one of the biggest cities of the  world. This was mainly driven by the huge silver source. Although most of it has been shipped to Spain many years ago in the form of the silver coins, the mines are still open and many Bolivians hope to be lucky and discover a new vain of silver. The mines are also the main tourist attraction, so obviously I needed to witness with my own eyes how it is in a mine.  Although many tourists are doing it, it is not a walk in the park. At an altitude of more than 4000 meters we had to crawl, bend, and climb through sometimes very narrow corridors. So now and then miners are pushing little cars with rocks through the tunnels and you need to jump aside in order now to be hit.  It was a very impressive and interesting experience but I will not do it again, it is simply not fun. I will probably think a lot about it when I´m back at work one day staring at my pc screen, sitting in a meeting room or having lunch for the same price that the miners earn per day….lots of respect for all of them!

After the mining experienced I visited a bit the rest of the city. Potosi and  Sucre (where I am now)  are the most beautiful cities I have visited in entire Latin America. Many beautiful colonial buildings in a suprisinly good state and always a clear blue sky makes it very nice to just sit on the main plaza and read or just watch the people walking by...or selling stuff.

Yesterday I celebtrated Queensday here in Sucre. Without even planning it, Sucre was the perfect place to celebrate it. There are quite  a few Dutch Cafe owners and obviously they turned their place into orange....we even had bitterballen.....perfect. 

Today a relaxing day to make the plans for the coming weeks. Tomorrow I will take the night bus to La Paz and then continue to lake titicaca.  It would make sense to then continue to Peru but I think I will stay in Bolivia for a 5 day cycle/boat/hike tour into the rainforest. After that I might decide to completely skip Peru and fly straight to Ecuador. At that time I will have 6 weeks before I go to Costa Rica (with Ela!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), and I think I prefer to do Colombia (everybody is very enthusiastic about it)  and Ecuador (galapagos ) in a proper way instead of rushing throught it. Anyway, you will see what I decided. In case you think NOOOOOOO don´t skip Peru, please tell me.