Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

Salar de Uyuni slideshow

There was some pain during the three days, two nights stay at Salar Uyuni, mostly because of the dust and the freezing cold on the second night. We slept in a basic hospedaje, at 13,000 feet high, zero degree Fahrenheit with no heating, except during dinner, when yareta, the hard part of paja brava, wild straw was burned in a homemade type fireplace.

However, what I saw during the three days along with my two Spanish, and three Irish companions (we were all women) was beyond my expectations. Roberto, our guide, talked a little too much at times, but he was a really good planner and knows a lot about the area. We traveled in a caravan. The red Toyata Land Cruiser traveling along us, was composed of five guys, one woman, the cook and of course the driver.

The Salar Uyuni, over 4,000 square miles, the biggest salt dessert in the world, was formed 40,000 years ago, when Lake Minchin, a giant prehistoric lake dried. It holds half of the world's reserve of lithium.

We saw a train cemetery, massive trains used to transport minerals out of Bolivia, but now are rusting in the middle of now where.The island full of cactus in the middle of a salt desert was also an impressive sight. It is known as fish island, or Incalhuas island. The incas planted the cactus, probably for food supply.

The next day we saw Tunupa mummies. It was a community of very small people, an eight of a yard, who lived on quinoa and llamas, not yet domesticated (the Incas domesticated them.) According to legend, the chullpas, or mummies, lived before the sun was created, another version says they lived 5,000 years ago and left lots of artifacts, skulls and other bones in their homes, which are holes made on coral rocks. The truth is, when the Tunupa mummies lived or appeared is still a mystery.

We also saw Ollaque volcano, erupted 2,300 years ago and still active. In a mountain nearby, a meteor fell 250 years, making a large round impression on it, and killing lots of animals when it elimination deadly gases.Then there were the pink flamingos at Lake Hedionda and Lake Colorada. How beautiful they are. I never imagined to see flamingos in Bolivia! They were always busy trying to get food in the mineral, algae rich water, so it was hard to photograph them just standing up, but I got a couple of good photos.

To top it off, on the last day, we saw geysers, fumaroles, in a valley called Sol de Manana, at 15,000 feet above sea level. It was before the sun had even risen, after a hellish night of freezing cold and waking up at 5am, but it was worth it. It was so magic to walk around the smoke from the geysers and feel the warmth, still in the dark. The air outside the geysers was zero Farenheit - we were all wrapped in blankets, shawls, hats and whatever else we had. After visiting the Laguna Verde that morning, which was not very verde-green, because the winds were not right, we headed out for our prize: Termas de Polgues, hot springs, to warm up the bones at last! It didn't matter we were at 12,900 feet at about five Fahrenheit. The sun was already out by 9:30pm when we got into the hot water which was just perfect!

We also visited the Arbol de Piedra, a bunch of rocks placed together in an unique way, salt pyramids, Siloli desert with its uniquely shaped stone, llamas, viscachas, vicunas, mineral rich, colored shaped mountains to no end and water coming out of the ground. Nothing much grows in the area, though, except for the paja brava that feeds animals serves for heating and even construction, when mixed with mud.

The food was good, which we enjoyed with wine most of the times because of the cold. We ate pica brava, a traditional Bolivian dish of chips, sausage and tomatoes; chicken, llama, even pizza and pancakes for breakfast one day. The drivers were awesome, navigating roads I would never imagine were passable. What a great trip! It will be hard to top this one off. Words can not do any justice to this place. You have to see the slide show for this one. Enjoy!

From Potosi to Uyuni, Bolivia

From Potosi to Uyuni slideshow

I almost took the bus from Potosi to Uyuni but I am glad I didn't. The 160 miles is mostly dirt road and some parts just rocks. We did it in five hours on a 4X4 Toyota Land Cruiser, but the bus takes at least seven hours. The car shook us at lot on some parts of the road and I couldn't imagine that much shaking in a bus with a bunch of people with the windows closed. There was a lot of dust and diesel coming out of other vehicles.

The views were magnificent! Mineral rich mountains of all different colors, vicuñas, llamas, horses and cows grazing on paja brava, wild straw, very prevalent in the region. A landscape that changed from very dry to very high. At one point we were at 14,100 feet. We passed mining towns and mines. Our guide was very good at explaining the history, geography and topography of the region. However, I found strange to see a small vanilla scented US flag hanging from the front mirror of the car. The driver and guide drank coca cola the whole trip, and after the first couple of hours of Andean type music, only American music was played. There was a certain mismatch for me, specially in the land of Evo Morales.

Vicuñas are a more feminine type of llama, a wild animal, in extinction, so they cannot be killed only their fur can be harvest. A vicuña sweater is a lot more expensive and warmer than a llama one, or even an alpaca one. This is how it goes: the most expensive is vicuna, then alpaca, then llama. I also learned from our guide, that a male vicuña wonders on his own and has six female vicuñas to himself, like lions. Weather the llamas live in a community. I am not sure they are monogamist but for sure it is not six to one.

I was told that the 15,000 people community of Uyuni is one not to hang out for more than a night to go on the Salar de Uyuni tour. But it is actually not so bad. I arrived on Sunday, July 26th, and there was a market, so the town looked alive. Then I had two coca mojito drinks with a medallion llama steak, so huge, I could only eat half of it and I am sure that is what kept me awake half the night digesting. Llama meat is low in colesterol – it is not very red, the color is a cross between chicken and beef. The Kactus restaurant is very cool, with heating and good music. There was a group of six young Brazilians there coming back from the Salar and we chatted until close to 7pm when they left for Potosi.

Chaqui and Los Banos, Bolivia

Chaqui and Los Banos slideshow

The taxi driver who charged me an extra Boliviano for the ride to the bus station in Sucre deserved every penny of it for his tip on Chaqui. “It is only an hour from Potosi and yes, there is plenty of accommodations, plus, the water is the best in the world.” He said in Spanish. As an addict to hot springs, I had to check this out. Not that Los Banos, four miles from the pueblo of Chaqui, is a great resort town. In fact, the place, looks very strange, with rundown, unfinished buildings, a mountain right in front of it, colored with washed clothes to dry, and campesinas cleaning chicken and everything else in thermal water, running all over the place. Too bad I could only take a couple of pictures. I did not feel right intruding. There were so many million dollar type shots though, that will be for my eyes only.

But there was a really nice resort type place (although the rooms were closed) with baths and a natural sauna. Yes, a natural steam sauna I have only seen twice in my life: once in Tassara, California, and the other at Ko Samui, Thailand. This was very nice and different, with eucalyptus and mint leaves spread all over the ground where steaming water came out from. It worked great for my lungs and the whole respiratory system. In fact, the 24 hours that I spent at the baths did a world of good for me. My body is more relaxed and my difficulty breathing due to the high altitude is gone.

The trip back was interesting. There was a huge festival going on in Chaqui and buses were not getting all the way to the banos because of obscene traffic jams. Then I got into a truck with other people and I rode “a convertible” with great views on the way. There are beautiful mountains everywhere you look at here and there is always something interesting going on. Usually it is related to animals – the way they are kept and handled or just the way they look, specially the llamas, .

Speaking of animals, the bus from Chaqui to Potosi stopped on the road and picked up a couple of campensinos traveling with their “cordero”, yes, sheep. I smiled my whole way from Chaqui to Potosi as Spanish music was playing, I was the only non-Indian, non-Bolivian person on the bus, a sheep traveled with us and all around, there were beautiful mountains to look at.

Potosi, Bolivia

Potosi slideshow

I had to stop and brace myself against the walls as I walked up the steep streets of Potosi to catch my breath. My lungs reacted to receiving the thin air at exactly 13,420 feet, and my heart was beating at a scaring fast rate. I think I know how it must feel to have a heart condition after this experience. The air entering the lungs seem unsatisfactory, the head is light with lack of oxygen and the body gets tired very easy. At least that is how I am still feeling, despite the coca leaves I stuff into the right side of my mouth every couple of hours. I actually did not think it was possible to get coca leaves easily, but I asked around at the Mercado Central in Sucre and found a campesina on a quiet corner with a large basket covered with a cloth. She also had herbs for the prostate, liver, to reduce the level of blood sugar, among other illnesses. The $4 bolivianos bag (US60c) I got should last through my travels in the Altiplano in Bolivia and Peru.

It also didn't help that my bus was six hours delayed because of two road blockages. There was a demonstration by the transportation union members against a city ordinance not allowing diesel vehicles to come into the city because it is causing pollution. The workers wanted to negotiate better terms and to show that they were serious, they protested by starting a blockade at midnight. When I finally got into town, found a hostal and ate my dinner, I was exhausted.

Potosi is even more photogenic than Sucre. It is also a Unesco World Heritage Site and it has a rich history. The tour at the Casa Real de la Moneda, one of Bolivia's best museums, built between 1753 and 1773, was very informative. The city of Potosi was founded in 1546 as a mining town. According to official records, 45,000 tons of pure silver were mined from 1556 to 1783 by indigenous people at first and then by African slaves. Workers died around 40 years of age due to poor working conditions. It is estimated that approximately 8 million of Indians died during the last years of indigenous labor.

In the meantime, in 1572, a mint was established to coin silver and at that time more than eighty six churches were built and the city's population increased to nearly 200,000, making it one of the largest and wealthiest cities in Latin America and in the world. The shortage of Indigenous labor led to the importation of a total of 30,000 African slaves to work in the mint from 1608 until 1767 when it was closed. But things have changed little. Like most everywhere else in the world, with some few exceptions, exploited work bring wealth to a few people while there is no shortage of money to build churches in great numbers.

The mines are still operating to this day in Potosi, under cooperatives, although most of the silver is gone. Work is done by hand with basic tools and underground temperatures that varies from below freezing to 113F. Workers are exposed to silica and often die of silicosis pneumonia after 10 years of entering the mines.

The interesting thing I learned at the mint house, though, is that the coins minted there were used all over the world. This required the transportation of the coins by ships, and the creation of a myriad of security systems that included false locks and bronze made craters. A ship even sunk with the equivalent of $400 million dollars worth of silver. It was found much later by an American, and remnants of the ship is in a museum on the east coast. America never gave back the silver coins either. But this is nothing considering to the modern days pirating of ships on the Somalian coast.

I am off for a night to Chaqui, a resort town with hot springs. I am hoping to get an infusion of healing boiling water into my skin. The cold I feel in the highest town of the world without amenities such as heaters is a little hard to take. I also still need to get used to the altitude before heading out to the Salar de Uyuni, also the highest salt dessert in the world. So much for superlatives...

Sucre, Bolivia

Sucre, Bolivia

El Chaqueno, my bus from Santa Cruz to Sucre was comfortable and it did “only” take fourteen hours, although the slight headache I felt when I arrived was probably due to the elevation. Sucre stands at over 6,000 feet above sea level.

A town of 215,000 people founded in 1538 and declared a cultural Heritage site in 1991 by Unesco, Sucre was the capital of Bolivia until La Paz took its status, but the supreme court still convenes here. It was also in Sucre that the independence of the country was declared in 1825, thus an important and beautiful historical town. The large University and indigenous population gives the place a jovial colorful feeling.

The small downtown area with cafes serving hot chocolate and locals gathering at the Salon de Te Las Delicias for hamitas, corn treats,and other delicacies,sweets, coffee, tea and hot chocolate in the afternoon, adds to the town's cozy mountain feeling. It somehow gives me a feeling of belonging as I mingled with locals in their Salon de Te. It is also nice to see the hoards of campesinos everywhere with their colorful garments, although not always very good teeth. The Museo of Arte Indigena displays beautiful ponchos along with other garments and artifacts. Over 6,000 artisans are part of a project to maintain the indigenous culture and weaving heritage. The nice thing about it is that although most of them are still women, the men are also joining the program – there are over 400 of them and growing.

I am leaving tomorrow for Potosi, three hours away, another World Heritage Site and the world's highest city, sitting at over 12,000 feet above sea level. I already got a local sweater, hat and scarf, now I better get a stash of coca leaves for the road.

Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Santa Cruz, Bolivia - slideshow

The Super Pullman, a step up from the death train from Corumba to Santa Cruz got stuck behind a derailed freight train for eight hours, so instead of a 16 hours trip it took 24 hours. But it was actually not so bad. The train was fairly comfortable and I got a lot of reading time on the train. It also helped to have Marcos and Karina sitting right behind me and knowing that the two Danes we met when we left the Pantanal and the Canadian and Irish girls in our horseback ride group were in the same train.

Santa Cruz is a nice mid-size city of 1.1 million people, with modern cafes and restaurants around Plaza 24 de Septiembre and of course, with plenty of smelly markets a little farther away from the 8X8 block square that comprises the first anilo, first ring, where things look plush, around the Plaza. The city has a total of five rings and it is very easy to get around on micros, which are fairly comfortable, uncrowded small buses.

But as I leave the city, I am very disappointed about the crafts here. My Lonely Planet Guide informed me that Parque Arenal, north of the center had a handicraft market but it was the usual junkie manufactured stuff with English written on shirts and tennis shoes trying to imitate Nikes. The huge market at Barrio Lindo was equally disappointing. It does not help that I arrived Friday evening and the stores around the nice area of town closed at noon on Saturday and all day today. I considered staying until Monday but I don't think the city deserves another day, so I am moving on late this afternoon to Sucre, 370 miles south of here, 14 hours by bus if I am lucky. I bought a sleeper ticket but I was informed that there is no toilet and only one stop. This reminds me that I need to stop drinking water just about now. I already gulped down two liters today to cover it.

But I haven't told you this story in sequence. I still need to tell you about my first five minutes experience in Bolivia before I close down my computer and look for a cab to the Terminal Bimodal. |Here it is: as I entered the Bolivian immigration office at Puerto Quijaro on the border of Corumba (Brazil), the officer looked at my passport, and after examining my yellow fever card, he didn't accept it because it was not officially an “international” document. Apparently I had to go a Brazilian agency where they gave out such document. “So, do you want me to take another vaccine after taking one only two weeks ago?” I asked. "The paper I have indicate I am current, it is just not on the proper paper,”I continued. Another officer then came to meet me in a less public place and said he could give me the stamp, but mentioned something in Spanish that I figured it had to do with money. I had never had to bribe anyone and felt stupid and helpless as he confirmed money would do and opened my passport for me to insert a few bills into it. I decided to give very little, like $10 Reais (US$5) and I envisioned him asking for more, but he didn't. Later I laughed at the idea of negotiating the amount for a bribe.

I was not very happy about this strange welcome to Bolivia and I am still affected by this. Did I undermine the system? Did they? And regardless of the amount of money, I felt violated. I also found out later that they didn't even ask for any vaccine document to half the people I knew on the train, which is even more infuriating.But my experience in Santa Cruz has been positive and I hope it continues this way. I am curious to see what will happen when I cross the border again in Peru.

Pantanal, Brazil

Pantanal, Brazil - slideshow

The Pantanal is the largest wetland in the world of any kind. It is an area estimated at 54,000 to 75,000 square miles. It is hard to imagine how large that is, but for sure, it encompasses a few small European countries. Most of it is located in Brazil, but Bolivia and Paraguay also share portions of it.

The area is so rich of wild life, that we started our safari when Elton, the farm driver, picked us up from the road where the van from Bonito left us. It was forty minutes of dirty road brimming with uncommon birds, reptile, and bigger animals on the trees, road and mashes. We saw tuiuius (the Pantanal traditional bird) on purple Ipe (traditional Brazilian tree), a green Iguana crossing the road, yacare caiman galore, capyvara, local deer, and birds I cannot name. Elton stopped every time he saw something, at times having no choice but to wait until a reptile crossed the road before we could. Karina, Marcos, and I were delighted. The couple is from Sao Paulo. We hooked up in Bonito and did everything together at Fazenda Santa Clara, in the heart of the Pantanal.

Johnny was our fearless guide, a little bossy too, but the promises written on the brochure of the three days, two night package I bought while in Bonito, exceeded my expectations. We fished piranhas, walked among yacare caiman, went boat riding on one of the Rio Paraquay tributaries and horseback riding. Fazenda Santa Clara, where we stayed, also offered delicious meals and the pet birds, like the tucano who showed up every morning for his papaya or banana, wild pigs that tried to get into our rooms and the beautiful araras that flew up to our tables, were always a delightful attraction. Not to mention the constant yakking of the maritacas. And we actually did fish the piranhas and ate them. The meat bait worked great and the river is so full of them that all we had to do is practically throw the line in and pull it out with a prize. We released the small ones and kept the medium size ones. I was a little scared to release a piranha but Johnny was firm in not helping me. He just told me to hold them in the middle, stick my indicator and thumb under their head and yank the hook out of their indecently big mouse with equally indecently sharp set of teeth. But they were perfect after cooked, slightly rolled into cornmeal for crunchiness. They quickly vanished as appetizers just before lunch, with little cups of “cachaca” and beer.

The Pantanal is a huge basin that receives water from the Planalto highlands and slowly releases it through the Paraguay river and tributaries. During the rainy season, the water rises from two to five yards. This makes it very fertile, like the Nile, but unfortunately, 99% of it is privately owned and used for agriculture and ranching. It is about 2,500 “fazendas”, ranches, with 8 million cattle, certainly more than Mato Grosso do Sul's population. Although the meat is superb, this creates erosion and sedimentation, endangering the flood plains and the ecosystem of the region.

One day, during our already delicious dinner, the manager brought us a plate full of yacare meat. Another excuse to have a shot of “cachaca” with local herbs, cinnamon and honey, the most delicious spirit I've tasted, followed by a beer. Yacare meat is a cross between chicken and fish and it goes really well with beer. Johnny told us there are over 20 million yacare caiman at the Pantanal. However, the meat we ate is farmed.

The Pantanal is home of over 1000 bird species, 400 fish, 300 mammalian, 480 reptiles and 9000 different subspecies of invertebrates. My body can testify to the existence of at least a dozen of the latter. But a few itchy bites were worth all that I saw and experienced at the Pantanal. I need to say that not all photos posted are mine. Three days is just not enough to catch all birds and other animals of the Pantanal in their perfect poses. Johnny contributed with quite a few of them, maybe the best ones. I loved being at the Pantanal and I hope I can return some day. Thanks for the great experience, Johnny.

Campo Grande and Bonito, Brazil

Campo Grande and Bonito, Brazil - slideshow

I flew into Campo Grande July 7th, Tuesday, and Mariana, a charming CS member was my hostess there for three days. Campo Grande has 800,000 people and it is the capital of Mato Grosso do Sul. The broad asphalted streets, big park in the middle of the city, and relatively small downtown, created an expansive and at the same time cozy feeling for me. Mariana immediately introduced me to terere, a mate tea that is shared from the same bowl and sipped with a metal straw by several people, usually friends, chimarrao style, except that it is ice cold. I got so addicted to it that I bought my own bowl and some tea for the road.

On Friday morning Mariana drove me to the bus station, where I embarked to Bonito, at the edge of Pantanal Matogrossense. There are several farms around here offering activities such as snorkeling down Rio da Prata, which I did yesterday. The water is warm because there are several hot springs coming out from the riverbed, but the fish seem to like it. We visited with them as we floated down the river for an afternoon, enjoying the warm crystalline water and the fish swimming with us. The Gruta do Lago Azul – Blue Lake Cave I visited today – a 450 million year old rock formation with a blue lake at the end. The Pantanal, was covered by salty water 450 million years ago, and today it offers us an incredible site of rock formations, savanna, rivers and flooded plains . The maritacas, small parrots are all over the place and never shut up. I can hear them right now as I type. Now I understand the Portuguese saying; when someone doesn't stop talking, we call them maritaca.

This is also cattle land and needless to say, the meat and fish is out of this world. Tomorrow I will go to the Pantanal “proper.” It is about five hours from Bonito. I will stay in a farm for three days horseback riding, fishing piranhas, boat riding and doing day and night safaris. I will give you the report later.

Brazil

Wow! Time went by so quickly, since I arrived in Brazil. I have been here almost three months, and all this time I have left my home state, Minas Gerais, only once, to go to my mother's 80th birthday in Petropolis, a mountainous quaint city a couple of hours from Rio de Janeiro. It has been a blessing to be around my mother and my family in Belo Horizonte, Brazil's third biggest city, with 3 million people and over 5 million in the metropolitan area. The city has grown a lot since I left, and although it is great to recognize places of my childhood everywhere I go, it is a little odd and irritating to realize I no longer know how to navigate the city.

There is always something going on around my family and friends: weddings, graduation, birthdays... I have been away from Belo Horizonte only a few times to places close by, within Minas Gerais state. We went to Pocos de Caldas, where my mother, Bya and I enjoyed thermal baths and drank mineral water from public fountains. Then I visited a friend at her father's farm in Uberaba, where I fished with her son, enjoyed the slow pace of the country and lounged at the great mineral baths only ten minutes away from the farm! What a blessing... This is a state not only of cattle, cheese, coffee, precious stones, amazingly delicious fruit, steel and industries, but also of lots of thermal baths and mineral water - I love it!

Lastly, I accompanied Bya to her friend's house in Tiradentes, 20 minutes from Sao Joao de Rey, beautiful colonial towns that boomed in the 17th century. Besides strolling on cobblestones and admiring the unique architecture of these two towns, we managed to find public mineral water fountains and more mineral/thermal pools where we lounged for a day.

Now I am on my way to a two-month trip in northern Brazil, Bolivia, Peru and Chile. Peter will join me in September and the plan is for us to return to Canada together, March next year. Attached are some photos and a film of me being made-up for my cousin's wedding - an experience in itself. I hope all is well with all of you.

Brazil poupourri