Sucre and Potosi - Dinosaurs and Mining

The overnight bus from La Paz to Sucre was long, cold and someone (95% sure old mate sitting in front of me) stole Alex's iPod. In the bus station people were staring at us. After getting into town and securing a hostel we went out looking for breakfast at what we though was a reasonable time of 8am, hardly anywhere was open. We went to the non-profit company Condor Trekkers who offers walking tours but were told all their guides were busy that day so there were no tours. This was not the best start to Sucre. We didn't end up doing much that day. The one saviour was finding a Dutch restaurant that sold actual stroopwafles!

Day 2 was much better. After a nice breakfast that benefited local children (Condor Trekkers also has a cafe) we headed out to Parque Cretacico - the largest site of dinosaur footprints in the world.

We were greeted by this guy at the front gate

The Park itself is some dinosaur statues dotted around a garden with facts, some fossils and a restaurant. The footprints themselves are in a quarry next door. You can see them from a viewing platform in the park with telescopes, but twice a day during the workers lunch they lead tours down into the quarry so you can get up close to the footprints.

The different types of footprints that can be seen

 We didn't realise until we were there that the footprints are actually vertical. Due to tectonic plates and all that jazz the footprints ended up being pushed up from the ground and becoming a wall. They were buried inside a mountain and were accidentally found when excavation began for the cement factory that's located on the other side of the park.

Me for scale

The wall - you can see a few different sets of footprints heading in all different directions across the wall

The Cement Plant that made it all possible

With our one "big" activity out of the way we just bummed around the city for the rest of our time in Sucre, Bolivia's capital. It was a nice city with lots of historic buildings but we weren't really sure what all the fuss was about.

One of the "top" things to do in Sucre is visit the cemetery. It was actually a very nice quiet green space and it was interesting seeing the different way they have dealt with space. There are little apartment buildings for people's loved ones. 

I think the other "top" thing to do in Sucre is get a smoothie or fruit salad from the market. Although you can do this pretty much anywhere in Bolivia. I mean - look at that fruit salad!

The Juice Ladies

We moved on from Sucre to Potosi, 3 hours down the road the highest city in the world at 4 090 m. The main attraction of visiting Potosi is a trip down the local mine. When the Spanish invaded they discovered the near by hill was full of silver, aptly named Cerro Rico (Rich Hill). The pay load from this mine pretty much bank-rolled the Spanish invasion and much of Europe's development during the period. The town was one of harsh pain for the locals but also one of decadence as the monied (Spanish) men would splash their cash on ornate churches and other, less godly, activities. 

Conditions in the mine have always been terrible. A lot of travelers have moral issues with visiting the mine because they think they are just going to be gawking at people working in poor conditions. We went with Big Deal Tours, a company run by ex-miners and we never felt this way. Our guides were fun and it was a pretty full on way to learn first hand what it's like in the mine. After about 2 hours I was pretty ready to get out of there, I came away feeling pretty grateful for what I have.

The first stop of every mining tour is the miners market. Here you can stock up on all the essentials - soft drink, coca leaves, 96% alcohol and dynamite. It's now customary to buy gifts for the miners and give them on your tour. We got a bag of coca leaves, apple juice and a colouring-in-book for the miners children. (Part of me wonders how many of these books the children have.)

Coca Leaves and the Chalk you chew them with. You add a leaf at a time to your mouth, chewing only a little, until you have a big wad in the side of your cheek. This makes your mouth numb, suppresses your appetite and allows you to work longer. You repeat this process about every four hours. 

Dynamite!

Miners have big Friday nights on these. We all had a sip underground. Horrible horrible stuff. It keeps you warm though, very warm. 

For good measure you can also get your meat here - so fresh it's still fluffy

 After the market we got kitted up with safety gear and headed toward the hill to start our tour of the infamous mines.

They bless the mine with llama blood. Lots of llama blood 

Chilling with Tio Pachamama - the miner's god. This is who they sacrifice the llamas to 

To get from one level to another you had to crawl/slide through a pretty small tunnel. To get back up you had to crawl back the same way. 

I can't remember what these were but they were dangerous and we weren't supposed to touch it

Helping the miners out

The actual town of Potosi we didn't see much of. We arrived on a Sunday and Sundays in South America are dead. We headed off the day after our tour. Even if the town wasn't much it was still interesting to have been in a place that had such an affect on history.

La Paz

La Paz is not the capital of Bolivia, Sucre takes that title, but they still have a lot of official buildings and a lot of important stuff still goes down there. This means that La Paz is usually the site of many protests and other annoyances. 

The first thing we did in La Paz was the Red Cap walking tour (which we would later find to be quite popular with other travelers during the rest of our stint in Bolivia). This was one of the better walking tours that we've done. It used to be free and they would ask for a tip at the end (like in every other country) but this caused outrage amongst the other tour operators who started to attack the tour guides and their clients. This lead to them having to shut down for a period of time. The new tour now costs 20 BOB, which you are free to pay at the end along with a tip. So it's pretty much exactly the same. 

The walking tour started in San Pedro Square, just outside the infamous San Pedro Prison. I didn't know this prison existed before this tour but it is mental. The prison basically works like a little city, everyone has to pay their way. You have to pay for your cell and your food. If you don't have money you don't have anywhere to sleep, if you do have money you can own your own apartment with  wifi (from the hotel in the top right of the picture), TV, kitchen and private bathroom. Prisoners families are also allowed to come and go as they please and many actually live inside the prison. There used to be tours inside the prison and you could even spend a night, but the authorities have cracked down on that now. However some people still try to sell you tours inside which could end up in you being deported and black listed. If you want to learn more about the prison you could read Marching Powder (I met a few people in Bolivia who were also reading Marching Powder at the time), an account of a British Citizen's experiences in San Pedro after he was busted trafficking cocaine out of Bolivia.

The prison is in the background of this photo, la policia don't like you taking photos.

An escape attempt at the back of the prison 

We had a wander through the Witches Market - complete with llama fetuses. It's tradition to bury a llama fetus under any new construction. There are also rumours of using actual people when you want to build something big, like a mansion, and gringos are worth more. 

Just wow

Mother Earth giving birth to a flower - this is on one of the main churches in town

We visited many local markets on the tour and Alex got to try his Api - a sweet, warm, corn drink. It would be amazing in the mornings. 

After the tour we decided to have a go at the teleferico (cable cars). These are pretty new in town and there are currently only 3 lines (there are plans to add another 6). These are such a great way to get around the city. Alex asked someone how much time they have saved on their commute since the teleferico opened - the answer was about an hour!

Views from the teleferico - La Paz is such a funny city. It's a mass of brick buildings filling up a valley. 

Because it's public transport it's also really cheap - like $1 for one way.

You get to see some interesting things from the teleferico

Our second day in town we went back to the market for amazing giant fresh smoothies. Why does Australia not have these?

During our tour we also learnt about the zebras. It's a program where enthusiastic teenagers dress up as zebras and help people cross the road. They have a big influence on teaching kids road safety and have been very successful. We were excited when we finally ran into one and they were more than happy to pose for a photo.

The next challenge - Urban Rush. I'm not the most confident person on a bike (I fell off my bike in The Netherlands - it's flat!) so we thought we should probably skip The World's Most Dangerous Road. Instead, for our adrenaline kick we decided to repel down a building - face first!

The big green building is the monster we "walked" out of 

You got to pick a super hero to dress up as - obviously Alex chose hotdog

I was bricking it big time! It's right up there with the Tarzan Swing of scary shit I've done, it maybe ranks higher. 

To give you a better idea of what actually went down enjoy his video from Alex's perspective. Just watching the video makes me still feel a little queasy. Wait until the free fall at the end!

After our Urban Rush experience we went to an English pub to have a drink before dinner. Just to fill in the time. Turns out it was the Queen's Birthday and celebrations were under way. We had the pleasure of meeting the Deputy Ambassador for the British Embassy and many other interesting characters. This accidentally turned into quite a night and the next day served as a reminder of why I don't drink that much.

Alex and the Ambassador

One of the squares close by our hostel was steeped in history.

Notice anything about the clock? It's backwards to mark a new time in Bolivia. There is talk about making all other official clocks like this. It is a mark of respect to how ancient people read the time from sun dials.

Bolivian Coat of Arms - I just think it's really cool

This square also has a big pigeon problem. Why people insist on covering themselves in seeds and letting pigeons feed off them I'll never know. At least the children enjoy it though. 

In 2003 there was a shoot out between the army and the police/everyone. Taxes had been raised for everyone except the army, resulting in a bloody mess. This one building was left as it was to serve as a reminder of what happened. Yep, those are real bullet holes. 

There is also a monument of an ex president who was thrown out of the window of his home (also on this square). When that didn't kill the guy he was hung on the very lamp post that stands behind him now. 

"I am not an enemy of the rich but I am more a friend of the poor. I look for the liberation of proletariat. It is our flag, and for that flag I will fall, I am ready to die."

Lake Titicaca - Peru Vs Bolivia

Lake Titicaca - the facts

• Titicaca means grey puma in the local language Aymara
• It is considered the largest navigable lake in the world
• It is at an altitude of about 3 800 m
• It has an area of about 58 000 km2
• Is straddles both Peru and Bolivia

Lake Titicaca was a name I knew before starting out on this trip, I guess because it sounds funny, but I knew nothing about it. I didn't even know where it was. So it was a pretty awesome opportunity to not only learn about Lake Titicaca but to visit it as well. 

If you are visiting from the Peruvian side you'll probably end up in Puno. This is a pretty average town, you pretty much just want to get there, visit the lake and leave. But we did manage to find some good pizza there. There was sooo much pizza!

Our first view of the lake - to be honest we weren't blown away and were wondering what the big deal was

We booked a day tour to visit the Floating Islands of Uros and Taquile Island.

Floating Islands of Uros

These islands are made totally from reeds that grow in the lake. People have been building them for hundreds of years. Every two weeks they redo the surface of the islands because they start to rot. This involves picking up your house that's made from reeds, moving it out of the way, putting more reeds down and then putting your house back to its original spot. They even eat the reeds as a snack. There are many different islands, each with a handful of families living on them. Apparently they used to be bigger but the children would play and there would be accidents where they fell into the lake. The solution to this problem was to break up the islands, I guess to separate the children. 

Everyone talks about how touristy the islands are, which is true, but the people there seemed really friendly and I don't think you should miss the opportunity to see and walk on these crazy things. 

They were a colourful people 

The people catch/farm these fish and sell them to people on the main land to acquire other supplies

A diorama of how the islands are constructed

We got to dress up in traditional costumes on the insistence of one lady

They don't really use the reed boats to get around, those are just for tourists

The inside of a typical house

Taquile Island

After mucking around in the floating islands we visited this small island. It was pretty rural with shepherds and their sheep dotted all about the place. This island was home to some interesting customs. Knitting is a big part of the culture. You are not a man until you can knit and you are living with a woman. Before you achieve these two things no-one in the community will listen to you. The men spend months making beanies that are woven so tight they are supposed to be able to hold water for 5 seconds.

We didn't do much on this island, just went for a nice stroll, had a look around the main square and ate lunch (locally caught trout from the lake of course).

I ended up buying a belt from one of the knitting men

The main square

Lake Titicaca from Taquile 

The day after this tour we headed straight for Copacobana, the main jumping off point for Lake Titicaca on the Bolivian side. It's about a 3 hour journey from Puno. We had heard that the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca is much nicer but we weren't convinced there could be that much difference, but there really was.

Leaving Peru

Copacabana was surprisingly close to the border

Copacobana itself was slightly underwhelming. It's a very small town with one main street and not much to do. It was really hard to just find somewhere to hang out for the rest of the day. All we wanted was somewhere we could buy a hot drink and maybe use some wifi, but that turned out to be a challenge. We soon found out that good internet was pretty hard to come by in Bolivia but it made up for it by being stupidly cheap. Our first hotel room was $6 USD each, with a private bathroom. While it was by no means a nice room it was still our room, that we didn't have to share with anyone.

View of Copacobana

 The big attraction of Copacobana is that you can take boats to Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun). This is the biggest island in Lake Titicaca and probably the nicest. You can take a boat over in the morning to the north of the island, then spend the day leisurely walking to the south of the island, visiting some archaeological sites and soaking up the sun. You could probably catch a ferry in the afternoon back but we decided to spend a night on the island for a more relaxed day.

I love how every animal at altitude is so fuzzy

Hiking path

A sacrificial table from Inca times

We were blown away how much nicer it really was on this side of the lake

Our place for the night. A young girl, who was studying her English, stopped us on the path and asked if we wanted a hostel. We decided to check it out and couldn't argue with $4 each a night.

The Local Church

There is a restaurant in the south of Isla del Sol that everybody raves about - Las Velas. They make amazing fresh meals. You know it's fresh because it takes about 2 hours for your meal to come. Luckily we were warned so we came early, had a drink and watched the sunset. 

My first taste of Bolivian Wine

After an amazing meal and a good nights sleep we returned to Copacobana where we chilled out until the next day when we took a bus to La Paz.

Our bus (the yellow one) being transported across Lake Titicaca so we can get to La Paz