Trials and Triumphs in Bolivia #spedgoestosouthamerica Blog Numero 3

Enough with the bitching, though.  I had a good time nonetheless, mostly due to the people I met and travelled with along the way.  La Paz is a pretty cool city, but don’t spend more than a few days there if you don’t have to.  After a couple of days of walking tours and museums, I joined a group of guys to bike the so called Death Road.  The road is beautiful and the biking is pretty fun.  You start at the top of a pass outside La Paz, and ride down a 11,800 foot descent to Coroico.  The elevation drop and change in scenery make the ride worth it.  I did, however, get a little jaded due to the amount of times we stopped, waited (not everyone is from Colorado), and took pictures.

After what felt like an eternity in La Paz, I took a flight to Rurrenabaque (not before a 6 hour delay for a 45 minute flight) for three days in the Pampas.  The Pampas consists of grasslands that boarder the jungle on rivers that are Amazon tributaries.  I found myself in a group with four other solo travelers from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Switzerland.  We had an amazing time touring the river by boat, piraña fishing, cayman scouting and swimming in the river with dolphins (the presence of the dolphins means the waters are free of piraña and cayman).  My time in the Pampas will be one that I will remember forever.

I returned to La Paz (another 6 hour delay) with plans to go south to Tupiza, the famed salt flats, and Potosi. This was thwarted, however, by bus strikes.  A couple days later, we got word that the bus strike was settled, and travel could resume.  But before we could leave the next day, road blockades had been put in place.  Apparently tourists who walked through the blockades were harassed and had rocks thrown at them.  Not wanting to put my Brazil plans in jeopardy, I took an overnight bus to Sucre. We too encountered a road block, but were fortunately able to pass through within an hour of being stopped.  Apparently this is so common that Bolivians on our bus began walking as soon as we stopped.  It is unfortunate that my Spanish is garbage, as it would have been cool to talk to people and understand the discontent.  However, it is not hard to imagine reasons.  Bolivia is a country that since it’s inception, has been poorly run and royally screwed by other countries.

Sucre is a beautiful city.   After too much time in crazy La Paz, it was nice to relax and enjoy the colonial charm that makes Sucre a Unesco Heritage Site. The city was pretty busy due to a rally car race that went on for the weekend.  I found a Dutch bar and enjoyed the Netherlands 5-1 trouncing of Spain, much to the delight of everyone.  The day before leaving Sucre, I joined a crew of volunteers building a small play area for a preschool on the outskirts of town.  I returned to the hostel to watch the U.S. squeak by Ghana in their first match of the World Cup. To get to Santa Cruz for my flight to Brazil, I elected to take the half hour flight instead of the overnight bus.

Overall, Bolivia was pretty cool, but not for the reasons I expected.  If you ever want to visit South America, spend very little money, and hang out with a bunch of gringos from the Commonwealth countries, go to Bolivia.  It’s a beautiful country, but it can be a real pain in the ass.  The food is very mediocre.  Travel can suck.  The notion of bussing is a popular and romantic idea, but don’t overlook flying, as that can be very cheap.

Perhaps I will return from the Chile side to visit the salt flats in September.  But judging from the abundant snowfall in the Andes so far, I will probably be having too much fun skiing to care.  I am currently in Rio, where I will spend a week a a newly made friend’s house in the Vidigal favela.  Time for some World Cup action!

By the way, watch this John Oliver piece on the problem with FIFA.  It is really good.  Hopefully Qatar 2022 gets reassigned (to the US!?!?).