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Sucre
After being apart for two weeks, we reunited at the airport in Santa Cruz, Bolivia and boarded a flight to Sucre. Sucre, “the white city“, is set in the mountains and has beautiful white buildings with adobe roofs. It was our first city in Bolivia and it didn’t take us long to realize how much we would love this country. The city is centered around a large and crowded main square surrounded by government buildings and churches. We hiked to the top of a nearby hill which offered stunning views of Sucre. For the first time since we arrived in South America we were surrounded by buildings and people that fit the description we were expecting. Bolivia is less developed than the other countries we’ve been in and the traditional native dress contrasts against western apparel. The women wear pleated skirts, stockings, woven alpaca sweaters, and blankets holding goods strapped to their backs. They have two long braids running down their backs and a wide variety of hats top off the look. Sucre is a beautiful city to walk around and its main attraction is the largest collection of dinosaur footprints in the world. When the plates shifted and the Andean mountain range was formed, the limestone face housing the impressions was forced into a vertical angle. Over 250 types of dinosaur footprints are found on the 1.5 kilometer sheet of rock which we viewed from a distance. We enjoyed the few days we spent in Sucre but were anxious to explore more of the country.

Potosi
Potosi is the world’s highest city located at 13,420 feet above sea level. The colonial town has colorful buildings and incredibly narrow streets. Looming over the city is Mount Potosi which is home to more than 200 mines that have been in operation since the 1500’s. Boys can begin mining at the age of twelve and while they can continue working into their late sixties, many die prematurely due to the hazardous conditions inside the mines. Miners make between sixty to eighty bolivianos a day which is roughly $10 US. An average of 30-200 people die in the mines each year and after spending three hours inside, we were surprised the number wasn’t higher. We were outfitted in full miners gear including pants, jacket, boots, and a hard hat with a light. We crawled through tunnels, climbed up and down wobbly ladders, and watched the miners at work. Almost everything is done manually and we had to constantly jump out of the way as large carts full of minerals were pushed down the tracks/path. The miners work a full day collecting lead, zinc, silver, and fools gold. Inside each of the mines is a shrine of Tio (the god of the mines), where miners place offerings and either ask for good luck or thank him for recent good fortune. As we came upon each group of miners, we gave them juice, coca leaves, cigarettes, and dynamite that we purchased at the miners market. We experienced the full force of the homemade dynamite when five separate deafening blasts shook the mountain and forced a massive gust of wind down the corridor. We were relieved when we saw the light at the end of tunnel, which in this case meant the exit. It was a very memorable experience and opened our eyes to the rough work environment that the miners endure every day.

Salt Flats
Uyuni is the jumping off point for jeep tours to the magnificent landscape of the nearby Salt Flats. We joined a couple from Paris along with Steve and Naomi from Australia for a two night, three day tour. The six of us packed into a jeep along with Valerio, our Spanish speaking driver and tour guide, and our cook nicknamed Cookie. All the tours follow a similar route, meaning that every stop was packed with travelers and their accompanying jeeps. There was rarely a proper road to follow, instead the drivers chose their own paths and the desert was scattered with our cute little jeeps making their way to their next destinations. On our first day we set off and visited a train cemetery and the expansive Salar de Uyuni also known as the Salt Flats. It is the largest in the world, stretching over 4,000 square feet.We stopped at Fish Island, which pops out of nowhere in the middle of the vast ‘saltness.’ The island is covered with cacti and we hiked to the top for 360 degree views of the surrounding ‘whiteness.’ We followed the traveling theme of taking pictures with random toys creating an illusion of being much smaller than the props. After playing on the rough surface of the salt flats, we returned to the jeep with scraped hands and sore backs from attempting gymnastic skills that proved we are no longer seventeen. On the way to our salt hotel, we stopped at an area where the salt is cultivated into large blocks that were used to build our hotel. The walls, beds, chairs, and tables were made of these salt blocks and the ground was covered in large salt grains creating a unique atmosphere. The majority of the tour groups joined together and we spent the night eating, drinking, and playing games with fellow travelers in the common living room area. We met Rich and Chris from England, who are on a similar trip and we made plans to continue traveling together. The generator turned off at 10:00 pm, which was nice because we had a long day ahead of us.

Our second day of the tour was spent driving through the high altitude desert towards Chile. We stopped along the way to take panoramic pictures of the colorful landscape and snow covered mountains. For the first time in our lives we saw flamingos in the wild and were shocked to find them living in such dry surroundings. By following summer for eleven months, we were devastated to come across snow, but took advantage in an Australia vs. America snowball fight in the middle of the desert. We clearly won, although the opposing team may beg to differ! Valerio had an interesting assortment of music on his mp3 player and we spent most of the ride singing along to both English and Spanish 80’s love songs. There were amazing rock formations scattered throughout the desert and the strong winds cause them to erode into a number of interesting shapes. We paid an additional fee to enter the Madidi National Park where many lagoons, geysers, and volcanoes are located. Lago Colorada (the red lagoon) gets its color from an algae growing below the surface. Flamingos feed off this algae, but sadly the water is level has dropped significantly in recent years due to climate change. Scientists are concerned and have started tracking the migration of the flamingos, the same ones have been found in South Africa. We noticed three different types of flamingos and were surprised to learn that they are born brown and get their pinkish color later in life. Compared with our first night of accommodations, our second night was a hell hole and we nearly froze to death. It’s hot during the day, but at night it is very very cold! In order to stay warm we wore socks, tights, pants, multiple shirts, jackets, scarves, hats, and gloves inside our rented sleeping bags topped by three wool blankets inside a room with the rest of our tour group.

We set off before sunrise on our last morning to experience the changes in color as the desert came to life. The sun cast a warm glow upon the sand and steam coming off the sulfuric geysers. We hadn’t showered in a few days and took advantage of the natural hot springs as a way to freshen up. We drove through the park to Lago Verde (the green lagoon) and dropped our other four jeep-mates off at the Chilean border before we set off on a seven hour drive back to Uyuni. We stopped at a picturesque pueblo village for lunch. A crystal clear creek ran the length of the red rock canyon with llamas feeding on the green grass, while locals washed their clothes in the water. We grabbed a quick dinner back in Uyuni and boarded an overnight bus to La Paz to continue our Bolivian adventure.

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