Having wrapped up our tour of the Salt Flats it was a case of "Let's get the hell out of Uyuni ASAP", and the marvelous Gladys sorted out a bargain two part taxi journey to Sucre, the judicial capital of Bolivia. As per normal though, NOTHING is straightforward in South America...
The first taxi took the four of us (Laura and James stayed with us for this leg) to the mining city of Potosi which, it turns out, is actually the highest city in the world! In this stangest of places we jumped out of one taxi and straight into the next. Cabbie no.2 popped a film on his dashboard DVD player (not what you're thinking - it was literally stuck on with velcro). For the next 4-5 hours we were treated to 3 films from the 1960/70s classic Mexican series of La Linda Maria. So, so weird... With about 1 hour to go, the back left tyre burst having finally worn down to the wire!!! The driver made a tyre change any F1 team would be proud of and finally dropped us off at our hotel.
The scenery between Uyuni and Sucre was mind blowing, and we were sensing that this was going to be Bolivia's trump card. However, having entered the poorest nation of South America we were not expecting such a stunning sight when we woke up the next morning...
The first taxi took the four of us (Laura and James stayed with us for this leg) to the mining city of Potosi which, it turns out, is actually the highest city in the world! In this stangest of places we jumped out of one taxi and straight into the next. Cabbie no.2 popped a film on his dashboard DVD player (not what you're thinking - it was literally stuck on with velcro). For the next 4-5 hours we were treated to 3 films from the 1960/70s classic Mexican series of La Linda Maria. So, so weird... With about 1 hour to go, the back left tyre burst having finally worn down to the wire!!! The driver made a tyre change any F1 team would be proud of and finally dropped us off at our hotel.
The scenery between Uyuni and Sucre was mind blowing, and we were sensing that this was going to be Bolivia's trump card. However, having entered the poorest nation of South America we were not expecting such a stunning sight when we woke up the next morning...
Here, we just chilled out and enjoyed the sunshine with homemade fruit juices (and steak sandwiches) while recovering from the Salt Flats
We explored the city and it's markets...
Matt: Sucre is a stunning city with the most amazing well-preserved colonial architecture. You could easily be forgiven for thinking you were in the south of France or northern Spain, and none of the extreme poverty that exists in much of Bolivia was to be seen. The people are charming, and the food is excellent. We even had a damned good Bolivian red wine!
After a few days of rest and indulgence, we spent our last day mountain biking in the surrounding hills.
Sarah: Surprisingly I did pretty well and didn't need to get off my bike to get up most of the hills. Considering this was at over 2500 metres Matt has now upgraded me to second slowest cyclist in the world. I'm on the up!
Sarah: Taking a break as usual...
Naturally, it wouldn't have been normal for us to complete a journey without getting a flatty in the middle of nowhere.
Sarah: There are many things that Matt excels at, and driving or riding over the spikiest thorn or rock is definitely one of them!
Sarah: How many men does it take to find a puncture?
The girls got bored... or were pleased for the break maybe?!
Having fully recharged our batteries (and cleaned all of our clothes!) in Sucre, we got on the night bus to Bolivia's de-facto capital, La Paz (the highest CAPITAL city in the world).
Sarah: You would think in Bolivia the night buses would be very basic and we were in fact warned of this by fellow travelers. The seats on this particular night bus reclined fully into beds! However, the toilet was permanently closed for the 11 hour journey. This meant I had my first experience of peeing by the side of the road next to a rubbish bin during one of only 3 stops. When I got back on to the bus a local Bolivian said "This is Bolivia - Welcome!"
Sarah: You would think in Bolivia the night buses would be very basic and we were in fact warned of this by fellow travelers. The seats on this particular night bus reclined fully into beds! However, the toilet was permanently closed for the 11 hour journey. This meant I had my first experience of peeing by the side of the road next to a rubbish bin during one of only 3 stops. When I got back on to the bus a local Bolivian said "This is Bolivia - Welcome!"
Matt: I was fully expecting to hate La Paz. I just imagined a hive of villany and scum (I've heard that somewhere before...) and spending every waking minute fending off muggers and drug dealers... Not a bit of it! Sure, it's a crazy place, but so long as you use some common sense it's an awesome place!
By now we'd been above 2,000m for the best part of 3 weeks and needed some oxygen! So, after a day sightseeing, we booked a flight to the Amazon for some hot weather, exotic food and tarantulas...
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