I'Ve had a very exciting time in the last week or so. I'll start with Potosi. It's a city at 4000 m, and essentially founded due to it's proximity to the silver mine, a huge conical hulk of a mountain about 4800m high looming over the city and one which supplied the Spanish empire with its silver. Many travelers d'o tours of the mine, which is what I did. However the mine is not a tourist mine, but a working mine with horrendous conditions. The air is noxious and the tunnels so narrow that we had to crawl on all fours to get from one level to the next. We spent about 4 hours in there, which is of course nothing compared to what the miners have to d'o day in day out as part of their work in the now co-operatively managed mines. Their life expectancy due to the fumes is short. In the past when the Spanish forced the indigenous people to work there they had to stay down the mine for months at a time, and estimates put the deaths at 8 million. I think such tours form a worthwhile and balancing part of tourism in general, one can wander around admiring beautiful buildings but it certainly gives cause for one to reflect why the beautiful buildings are there.
One Spanish girl told me she didn't really feel sorry for the miners as they were there out of choice and they didn't really know any other life, but I think that given the lack of other opportunities this certainly stretches the meaning of choice.
The other attraction in Potosi is the old mint, where the silver was turned into coins, nearly 500 years ago. There I saw huge horse powered wooden machines which did the job. The animals died quickly as they were not used to the altitude.
I met a guy from Rio de Janeirio on the tour of the mint, and we travelled to Sucre together on the bus. Sucre is the legal capital of Bolivia and is about 150 km from Potosi. Here all the old colonial buildings are whitewashed, and hence it is quite a striking place. However on the day I was there all the museums were closed, and so I had a wander around the town and spent time in the square reading. I met up with my friend later in the afternoon and had a few drinks with him.
I saw a couple of museums the next morning before heading back to Potosi on the bus, where I'd left my bike. The next day I got up at dawn and started off for Uyuni, potentially a 2 day ride away. However various factors conspired to me deciding that I having much fun on the bike and flagging down a bus 60 kilometers later. The first included cycling in the wrong direction for 15km, all downhill! So I had to cycle up 15 hard kilometers again and then started off in the right direction, still cycling uphill and passing within sight of the town centre. Then a puncture, which was not just a normal puncture but one where the whole valve just came clean off as I was riding uphill. And my luggage kept falling off as somebody had decided to steal my bungees the night before. Couple this with some heavy luggage and some hard mountain passes and I'd had enough.
I've only done little bits of cycling in the last week, perhaps because long distance cycling on ones own is quite a lonely task, especially through such remote areas. Other people can cycle on their own for months, but perhaps not me! I'll probably continue this way and cycle some bits and avoid others. Cycling is a great way to see a country, but Ive realised intense cycling in a new country and culture where there is so much else to do and see as well is not a great idea.
The bus got me to Uyuni that night and I then decided to cycle the famous salt flats the next day. The town is 20 kilometers away from the salt flats, and I got up at dawn and did that and then cycled about 50 or 60 km on the salt flats themselves. Salar de Uyuni ( the salt flats) is a real phenomenon, an absolutely flat area of salt about 150 km by 100km. Cycling across it is like sailing across a sea. One can see the curvature of the earth on it like one can at sea; only the tops of distant mountains can be seen and their bases appear later. Parts of it have 10 cm of water covering it, I cycled for a few km through the water. It's almost like flying due to the reflection of the sky creating blue all around, above and below. The altiplano drains into it and in summer ( rainy season ) the salt flats are covered by 50 cm of water. Long ago a large part of the altiplano used to be a lake, and the salt flats are all that is left of that lake.
That evening I decided to take a three day tour from Uyuni into the remote southeastern regions of Bolivia and to the Chilean border. I wanted to see this beautiful region but it didn't seem much fun by bike given the remoteness of it, so I persuaded the woman at the agency to let me put my bike on top of the jeep. There were 6 of us in the group; a fantastic group of people. The group included 2 from Portugal, 1 from Cataluna, 1 from Ecuador and 1 from France.
The first day of the tour covered the salt flats again, which I didn't mind as the salt flats are extremely impressive. This time we went to an "island" in the middle of the flats. The island is notable for the cacti growing on it, and some are 1000 years old. The views from the top of the island are indescribable, one can see the salt flats stretching for miles in all directions. The air is so clear that it's possible to see over 100 miles, and a volcano the other side of the flats which one might guess to be only 30 km away was actually 100 km away. It's s very popular tourist attraction and there are a lot of tour groups there, but it's easy to see why.
The second day took us south into the remote wilderness of the southern altiplano. The area includes some stunning lakes, of different colours due to the different chemicals in them. The road was not paved and goes high. That day was very windy, and we didn't spend very long outside the jeep looking at some of the attractions. The wind whipped up a lot of the dust and grit in this semi- desert and it was hard to walk into. We spent the second night at a small hut on the shore of Lago Colorada, a lake coloured partly red due to the chemicals in it. The wind chill was extreme ( daytime temps were already below zero) and our friend from Ecuador started to suffer from the weather and the altitude. The huts had no heating and we spent a fun evening playing cards wrapped in several layers in our sleeping bags. We were given some excellent Bolivian vegetable soup though.
My birthday started at 5am and at -13 (inside). We all sat in the jeep shivering whilst the heating slowly took effect and we climbed even higher to 5000m. The scenery was stunning, as it had been for the last 2 days. At 9am we arrived at some volcanic springs, and I was the only one to go in! I'm not sure why the others didn't go in as they were fantastic after such a cold couple of days, I could have stayed there all day. It was a great start to my birthday! My presents that day included the morning in the front seat, a stick of toblerone, and a bearhug.
The border came shortly afterwards, and the rest of the tour group went back to Uyuni, leaving me to cross the border. I was sad not to spend the rest of my birthday with them. I had a ticket for a lift in a car the other side of the border, but since it was largely downhill to the town I wanted to go to I chose to cycle. I passed through Bolivian customs and then had to climb for 5 km or so over the pass into Chile. Although I didn't d'o the work to get up there it was certainly the highest I have ever been or cycled, at close to 5000m. The road was iced over and had quite a bit of snow on it, and I fell off a couple of times. I crested the peak and started to go down, although I had to walk bits as the ice made it unrideable. The road curved around a 6000m volcano. A few hundred metres lower and the ice finished, and I had a 40 or 50 km downhill run into the town of San Pedro de Atacama. It was stunning looking back and seeing the Andes stretching into the distance for probably 200 miles. It must count as one of the best downhills of my life!
I am in San Pedro de Atacama now, a touristy town ssurrounded by the Atacama Desert. I'll use my bike to explore the areas attractions and then when Im finished I'll probably cycle to Calama, about 100 km west. Ill prob take a bus and to Arica and then out of Chile. Chile is as expensive as Europe, so I think I'll limit my time here a little.
I finished my birthday by calling Young Sun on Skype, who was very sweet and made me a cake with candles and showed it to me on the web- cam. As I couldn't eat it I consoled myself by eating the toblerone later. I treated myself as well to a birthday dinner of a quinoa and mushroom risotto with cheese on top. Im going to try and find a cookbook of the vegetarian dishes around here as some of them are delicious.
Thursday 30 June 2011
Monday 20 June 2011
sore arse in Bolivia- got to Potosi
I´m in Potosi! I´m very happy about that- I got here about 2.30 this afternoon and have been eating pretty much all day. Except the time I phoned my lovely wife and took a look in the mirror for the first time in a while and shocked myself into having a SHOWER. One of the good things about doing some hard cycling is everything tastes better afterwards, and showers feel amazing too. Wish I´d bought my other pair of shoes with me though...
A short summary of three days:
Sat 18 Jun 125km
Got lost coming out of Oruro, Lonely Planet maps should never actually be followed. Thats my excuse anyway, added 3 km onto my total as a result.
Todays route was mainly flat, I followed the main road along Lake Uru Uru, but not exactly alongside it. I never actually saw the lake, only a few mirages. I was genuinly convinced I saw a lake ahead at one point, but it seems really easy up here to see mirages.
Stopped in a village for some breakfast, a lady called me over to her table on the side of the road and I went to see what she had, and the soup she had was great. I love Bolivian vegetable soups, and it was only 50p.
Discovered again how much dogs hate bikes, however many cars pass they just sit there, but if they see a bicycle they will come running at high speed like crazy from a distance of 500m. The only thing to do is to stop and look menacing and pretend to throw something; if you keep cycling they just bark at your heels for ages or possibly do worse.
Got into Caracol in the evening, it was very difficult to find somewhere to stay but eventually found a bed for 2.50 . The price included a bed and a light, but not the light after a while as there was a power cut.
All in all did a lot of km today, but not amazingly exciting cycling as it was very flat and at some points there were no corners for a few miles.
Sun 19th June
Truly cycled in the Andes today, Caracol is just on the altiplano but the road crosses into the Cordillerra de Frailes (part of the Andes). After breakfast of api (dont know what is in it but this hot drink is v nice) and bread at a roadside stall I got going, and started climbing and didn´t stop for at least 50k. The scenery was much more interesting and the road passed through lots of interesting villages and farms.
I must have ended up very high up, I think possibly 4600 or 4700m, as I was at the height of a lot of the peaks. This was certainly the highest I´d ever been on a bike and my lungs could certainly feel it. I´ll check this road on Google Maps, I´m very curious as to how high it was.
The road started to go up and down a lot towards the end of the day, which was quite tough. But it was a great days cycling and I really felt I was cycling in the Andes.
Decided to camp for the night as I got to the village where there might have been somewhere to stay too early. and I wanted to reduce the mileage for the next day. I must have camped high as it was a cold night even with most of my tops on, and there was ice on the mountains the next morning at the level I was at.
Had a crap pasta dinner with a Ragu sauce that advertised itself as having all the vegetables in it that one would need in a day, in my dinner I counted a very small mushroom.
Great view of the stars at night, I could see what I was sure was the Milky Way very clearly.
Mon 20th June
Early and freezing start today, with a nasty climb to start off. The road continued to be very scenic, and passed through an area of almost red rock, although I have no idea what it actually is. After the early morning climb the road went down for a long way, until I started to see trees, which worried me because Potosi is well above the tree line. My suspicions were confimed and I got a very sharp uphill. These hills are not too steep compared to the Alps if one doesnt have luggage and has a racing bike, but with a crap mountain bike and a trailer they are tough. I got another 10k long climb into Potosi, which got steeper and steeper as the town got nearer. Eventually I got into the centre of town, but not after having my trailer knocked by a car. The trailer was OK though.
I´m leaving my bike for five days or so now, I´m spending time in Potosi, then taking a bus 150k to Sucre and spending some time there, then coming back to Potosi to pick up my bike and cycle to Uyuni.
Going down inside the Cerro Rico tomorrow, the silver mine which fueled the Spanish empire and wars. Co-operative miners still work there in very poor conditions.
A short summary of three days:
Sat 18 Jun 125km
Got lost coming out of Oruro, Lonely Planet maps should never actually be followed. Thats my excuse anyway, added 3 km onto my total as a result.
Todays route was mainly flat, I followed the main road along Lake Uru Uru, but not exactly alongside it. I never actually saw the lake, only a few mirages. I was genuinly convinced I saw a lake ahead at one point, but it seems really easy up here to see mirages.
Stopped in a village for some breakfast, a lady called me over to her table on the side of the road and I went to see what she had, and the soup she had was great. I love Bolivian vegetable soups, and it was only 50p.
Discovered again how much dogs hate bikes, however many cars pass they just sit there, but if they see a bicycle they will come running at high speed like crazy from a distance of 500m. The only thing to do is to stop and look menacing and pretend to throw something; if you keep cycling they just bark at your heels for ages or possibly do worse.
Got into Caracol in the evening, it was very difficult to find somewhere to stay but eventually found a bed for 2.50 . The price included a bed and a light, but not the light after a while as there was a power cut.
All in all did a lot of km today, but not amazingly exciting cycling as it was very flat and at some points there were no corners for a few miles.
Sun 19th June
Truly cycled in the Andes today, Caracol is just on the altiplano but the road crosses into the Cordillerra de Frailes (part of the Andes). After breakfast of api (dont know what is in it but this hot drink is v nice) and bread at a roadside stall I got going, and started climbing and didn´t stop for at least 50k. The scenery was much more interesting and the road passed through lots of interesting villages and farms.
I must have ended up very high up, I think possibly 4600 or 4700m, as I was at the height of a lot of the peaks. This was certainly the highest I´d ever been on a bike and my lungs could certainly feel it. I´ll check this road on Google Maps, I´m very curious as to how high it was.
The road started to go up and down a lot towards the end of the day, which was quite tough. But it was a great days cycling and I really felt I was cycling in the Andes.
Decided to camp for the night as I got to the village where there might have been somewhere to stay too early. and I wanted to reduce the mileage for the next day. I must have camped high as it was a cold night even with most of my tops on, and there was ice on the mountains the next morning at the level I was at.
Had a crap pasta dinner with a Ragu sauce that advertised itself as having all the vegetables in it that one would need in a day, in my dinner I counted a very small mushroom.
Great view of the stars at night, I could see what I was sure was the Milky Way very clearly.
Mon 20th June
Early and freezing start today, with a nasty climb to start off. The road continued to be very scenic, and passed through an area of almost red rock, although I have no idea what it actually is. After the early morning climb the road went down for a long way, until I started to see trees, which worried me because Potosi is well above the tree line. My suspicions were confimed and I got a very sharp uphill. These hills are not too steep compared to the Alps if one doesnt have luggage and has a racing bike, but with a crap mountain bike and a trailer they are tough. I got another 10k long climb into Potosi, which got steeper and steeper as the town got nearer. Eventually I got into the centre of town, but not after having my trailer knocked by a car. The trailer was OK though.
I´m leaving my bike for five days or so now, I´m spending time in Potosi, then taking a bus 150k to Sucre and spending some time there, then coming back to Potosi to pick up my bike and cycle to Uyuni.
Going down inside the Cerro Rico tomorrow, the silver mine which fueled the Spanish empire and wars. Co-operative miners still work there in very poor conditions.
Friday 17 June 2011
In Oruro
I´m now relaxing in Oruro after 230 km in two and a bit days. Oruro is not a spectacular city but nice enough, and a good place to relax. Today I had a PROPER SHOWER, which was amazing.
I started off on Wednesday from La Paz, and the climb out was a bit of a challenge. La Paz is situated 400m below the "altiplano", the high flat region between two ranges of mountains which is for the most part around 4000m high. The combination of a trailer with tent etc, altitude, and ancient Dodge buses spewing out pollution made the climb a challenge. I did go up the hairpined "autopista", which made the gradient a bit less, rather than going straight up the side which would have been shorter, but at 20% gradient there was no way I was going to try that.
Eventually I got up to El Alto, a city in its own right, an Aymara city full of immigrants from the countryside. I passed La Paz Internarional Airport and continued into the countryside. It was FLAT! I did wonder why the sun was in the wrong position, I seemes to be going the wrong way out of La Paz, even though I was right according to the map and the 6500m high Mt Illimani was on the correct side. Then I realised that I was in the Southern Hemisphere where the sun spends the middle of the day to the north!
I heard what must have been Aymara for the first time when I stopped for lunch, I hadn´t heard it in La Paz.
I spent the night in a cheap hotel, and managed 95 km for the first day. Some of the uphills were long, not too steep but certainly difficult due to the luggage and the crap bike I have. For a new bike it quickly developed a collection of problems, maladjusted gears, handbars which don´t do up properly, wheel coming off (fortunately when I was just pulling off, not when I was actually cycling).
The second day I started off early in the morning, and the altiplano gave some very fine views this early. The sun made some very nice shadows on the hills. The morning´s cycling was tough and mainly uphill, but fortunately the afternoon was a bit easier. I gave up about 3.30 after about 95km, about 40km short of Oruro. One bloke rode next to me on his motorbike and had a chat for about 5 min, he told me that I should buy a motorbike instead. It did seem tempting.....
Stopped off at an "alojemento" a small B and B type place. It advertised a shower, but I asked if it was hot. He said, of course its hot, what do you expect? It was hot as promised but unfortunately only a dribble.
This morning I set off early and got to Oruro about 10am. The road was flat and had one small bend in about 40km. I realised too how far one can see up here, I looked back and saw the snow covered peaks surrounding La Paz, about 100 miles away at least.
Been relaxing here all day, I´m going to start my journey to Potosi tomorrow! Hopefully a three day ride, maybe four....
I started off on Wednesday from La Paz, and the climb out was a bit of a challenge. La Paz is situated 400m below the "altiplano", the high flat region between two ranges of mountains which is for the most part around 4000m high. The combination of a trailer with tent etc, altitude, and ancient Dodge buses spewing out pollution made the climb a challenge. I did go up the hairpined "autopista", which made the gradient a bit less, rather than going straight up the side which would have been shorter, but at 20% gradient there was no way I was going to try that.
Eventually I got up to El Alto, a city in its own right, an Aymara city full of immigrants from the countryside. I passed La Paz Internarional Airport and continued into the countryside. It was FLAT! I did wonder why the sun was in the wrong position, I seemes to be going the wrong way out of La Paz, even though I was right according to the map and the 6500m high Mt Illimani was on the correct side. Then I realised that I was in the Southern Hemisphere where the sun spends the middle of the day to the north!
I heard what must have been Aymara for the first time when I stopped for lunch, I hadn´t heard it in La Paz.
I spent the night in a cheap hotel, and managed 95 km for the first day. Some of the uphills were long, not too steep but certainly difficult due to the luggage and the crap bike I have. For a new bike it quickly developed a collection of problems, maladjusted gears, handbars which don´t do up properly, wheel coming off (fortunately when I was just pulling off, not when I was actually cycling).
The second day I started off early in the morning, and the altiplano gave some very fine views this early. The sun made some very nice shadows on the hills. The morning´s cycling was tough and mainly uphill, but fortunately the afternoon was a bit easier. I gave up about 3.30 after about 95km, about 40km short of Oruro. One bloke rode next to me on his motorbike and had a chat for about 5 min, he told me that I should buy a motorbike instead. It did seem tempting.....
Stopped off at an "alojemento" a small B and B type place. It advertised a shower, but I asked if it was hot. He said, of course its hot, what do you expect? It was hot as promised but unfortunately only a dribble.
This morning I set off early and got to Oruro about 10am. The road was flat and had one small bend in about 40km. I realised too how far one can see up here, I looked back and saw the snow covered peaks surrounding La Paz, about 100 miles away at least.
Been relaxing here all day, I´m going to start my journey to Potosi tomorrow! Hopefully a three day ride, maybe four....
Thursday 9 June 2011
La Paz, Bolivia after 1 week.
I have been in La Paz for over a week now, and the altitude sickness dissapeared after 2 days!
I´ve had a great time in all respects. I´ve spent the days in my Spanish classes with Roxanna, the teacher. The classes have been helpful, and very grammar heavy. I probably need that as I´ve tended to pick up Spanish through reading rather than formal learning.
I´ve spent time looking around various museums and seeing what La Paz has to offer. In the centre is the San Fransisco cathedral, which is impressive but certainly inspires sympathy for the poor people who were forced to build it. Amongst the interesting museums I´ve seen is the Coca museum, which details the history of coca and it´s use amongst Andean peoples (the leaf and not the white powder). Coca is universally used here in tea and chewed as well (I tried chewing it but it didn´t work for me- but it is nice in tea), and is lauded for all kinds of health benefits including for altitude sickness. The museum said that the Spanish thought about banning it as they thought it got in the way of ¨civilising the natives¨ in the name of Christianity, but they didn´t as they realised how much harder it made them work in the mines. It also displayed research saying that coca would be very helpful getting addicts of actual cocaine, which seems to make sense. Unfortunately I can´t bring any home, taking any across any borders would land me a long jail sentence.
On Sunday I saw a big festival in the centre of La Paz; the main street was closed down and all kinds of stalls were set up and Bolivian traditional music was played and various dances went on. Interestingly the majority of the large number of stalls were dedicated to environmental causes, reducing CO2 emissions, protecting the jungle, and various stalls were dedicated to vegetarianism too. I don´t really know enough to comment here, but it certainly seems appropriate since Bolivia is on the front line of climate change.
On the subject of vegetarianism I´ve managed to eat well in some of La Paz´s large number of vegetarian restaurants, all you can eat for 2 pounds! I´ve eaten various delicious dried bananas and other fruits which I can´t name at these places. And I have dined at La Paz´s Korean restaurant!
As I said, Im living with Gloria and Rene who are very helpful. It´s much better than living in a hostel as I can live with a family and ask lots of questions about Bolivia and my travels, and its a lot cheaper as well. Yesterday Rene took me to buy a bicycle for my trip and bargained the price down for me. Hopefully I have a bike that will survive Bolivia, Northern Chile and Peru. He showed me which roads were good and which were not good on the map last night.
I´m staying with a Japanese girl who is being paid by the Japanese government to teach Bolivian primary school kids for two years. She teaches all subjects in Spanish, which is quite impressive considering how different Japanese and Spanish are in terms of construction. There seems to be a lot of Japanese people living here, I saw an exhibition about the historical Japanese immigration into Bolivia and there are a few communities in Bolivia. There seem to be quite strong links and I´ve heard Japanese spoken on the street a few times.
All in all La Paz is a very pleasant city with steep gradients; nowhere is flat. Ancient vehicles transport people around, including some very ancient but colourful Dodge buses that visibly pollute the whole street as they struggle up what must be 20 percent gradients.
Poverty certainly is visible here, Bolivia is the poorest country in South America (although I think not central), and according to the GNI (an of index of inquality) it is one of the most unequal. Morales is popular and has done certain things to improve the lot of the poorest, but the evidence on the street is that he has a long way to go. There are a lot of people begging, and shoeshine boys who are working just to send themselves to school. One of the Dutch girls who studies where I do works for a charity that looks after small children whilst their mothers work in the market, otherwise the children would simply have to be on the street all day with their mothers.
However I´m sure Morales is not popular in all quarters, in my homestay there was a lot of tut tutting at the TV when Humala (leftish) won the election in Peru!
A lot of graffiti and murals around Bolivia (and statements by Morales on huge posters) on high rises express a desire to get back the sea that Chile stole 130 or so years ago. It´s still a sore point here.
Hope all are well and if you´re unlucky I´ll blog again soon. (although my brother probably inherits the family tradition for long- winded writing. To be fair to him he writes a lot better than me!)
I´ve had a great time in all respects. I´ve spent the days in my Spanish classes with Roxanna, the teacher. The classes have been helpful, and very grammar heavy. I probably need that as I´ve tended to pick up Spanish through reading rather than formal learning.
I´ve spent time looking around various museums and seeing what La Paz has to offer. In the centre is the San Fransisco cathedral, which is impressive but certainly inspires sympathy for the poor people who were forced to build it. Amongst the interesting museums I´ve seen is the Coca museum, which details the history of coca and it´s use amongst Andean peoples (the leaf and not the white powder). Coca is universally used here in tea and chewed as well (I tried chewing it but it didn´t work for me- but it is nice in tea), and is lauded for all kinds of health benefits including for altitude sickness. The museum said that the Spanish thought about banning it as they thought it got in the way of ¨civilising the natives¨ in the name of Christianity, but they didn´t as they realised how much harder it made them work in the mines. It also displayed research saying that coca would be very helpful getting addicts of actual cocaine, which seems to make sense. Unfortunately I can´t bring any home, taking any across any borders would land me a long jail sentence.
On Sunday I saw a big festival in the centre of La Paz; the main street was closed down and all kinds of stalls were set up and Bolivian traditional music was played and various dances went on. Interestingly the majority of the large number of stalls were dedicated to environmental causes, reducing CO2 emissions, protecting the jungle, and various stalls were dedicated to vegetarianism too. I don´t really know enough to comment here, but it certainly seems appropriate since Bolivia is on the front line of climate change.
On the subject of vegetarianism I´ve managed to eat well in some of La Paz´s large number of vegetarian restaurants, all you can eat for 2 pounds! I´ve eaten various delicious dried bananas and other fruits which I can´t name at these places. And I have dined at La Paz´s Korean restaurant!
As I said, Im living with Gloria and Rene who are very helpful. It´s much better than living in a hostel as I can live with a family and ask lots of questions about Bolivia and my travels, and its a lot cheaper as well. Yesterday Rene took me to buy a bicycle for my trip and bargained the price down for me. Hopefully I have a bike that will survive Bolivia, Northern Chile and Peru. He showed me which roads were good and which were not good on the map last night.
I´m staying with a Japanese girl who is being paid by the Japanese government to teach Bolivian primary school kids for two years. She teaches all subjects in Spanish, which is quite impressive considering how different Japanese and Spanish are in terms of construction. There seems to be a lot of Japanese people living here, I saw an exhibition about the historical Japanese immigration into Bolivia and there are a few communities in Bolivia. There seem to be quite strong links and I´ve heard Japanese spoken on the street a few times.
All in all La Paz is a very pleasant city with steep gradients; nowhere is flat. Ancient vehicles transport people around, including some very ancient but colourful Dodge buses that visibly pollute the whole street as they struggle up what must be 20 percent gradients.
Poverty certainly is visible here, Bolivia is the poorest country in South America (although I think not central), and according to the GNI (an of index of inquality) it is one of the most unequal. Morales is popular and has done certain things to improve the lot of the poorest, but the evidence on the street is that he has a long way to go. There are a lot of people begging, and shoeshine boys who are working just to send themselves to school. One of the Dutch girls who studies where I do works for a charity that looks after small children whilst their mothers work in the market, otherwise the children would simply have to be on the street all day with their mothers.
However I´m sure Morales is not popular in all quarters, in my homestay there was a lot of tut tutting at the TV when Humala (leftish) won the election in Peru!
A lot of graffiti and murals around Bolivia (and statements by Morales on huge posters) on high rises express a desire to get back the sea that Chile stole 130 or so years ago. It´s still a sore point here.
Hope all are well and if you´re unlucky I´ll blog again soon. (although my brother probably inherits the family tradition for long- winded writing. To be fair to him he writes a lot better than me!)
Thursday 2 June 2011
First two days
Arrived in Bolivia yesterday after a long flight, through Miami. The flight was long but not too bad, I had a window seat all the way on both flights. The flight path was just right so I could see the whole of the south coast of England all the way to Lands End and the Sciliy Is, so I could really see the last of the UK dissapearing from view.
Stopped off in Miami, and decided to take a bus from the airport to the centre of Miami and Miami beach, the beach was nice but it was a shame the rest of Miami was attached to it!
Arrived at the airport at 5.00 in the morning, and passed through immigration without any problems (those who know me know that I have a reputation for being rejected from various countries- completely unfounded of course). I was picked up and taken to my homestay, where Gloria and Rene give beds to travellers or those studying in La Paz. They are a couple in their 50s or 60s, and they have looked after me well.
I am in a district of La Paz called Sopacachi, it is above the centre and the views are very nice. La Paz is situated in the top part of the valley just where the altiplano ends, and spills down into the valley. It was originally supposed to be built on the altiplano, but apparently those in charge decided after 3 days that it would be better to move the planned city into the top part of the valley due to the high winds. The views are fantastic, from the roof of the house one can see over the town and also Mount Ilimani (6400 m +) and other mountains which frame the city.
Im taking four hours of Spanish clases a day, and started these clases today. The lady who gives the clases is very helpful, and there are no other people at my exact level so I´m paying group prices and getting one to one clases!
I was congratulating myself yesterday on not having altitude problems but as soon as I did the headaches hit me hard, they are better today but yesterday I went to bed at 7pm because they were so bad. I`ve never flown directly into 4070m before (although the town is a little lower than the airport). My roll on deodrant expoded yesterday, probably because of the air pressure difference.
Stopped off in Miami, and decided to take a bus from the airport to the centre of Miami and Miami beach, the beach was nice but it was a shame the rest of Miami was attached to it!
Arrived at the airport at 5.00 in the morning, and passed through immigration without any problems (those who know me know that I have a reputation for being rejected from various countries- completely unfounded of course). I was picked up and taken to my homestay, where Gloria and Rene give beds to travellers or those studying in La Paz. They are a couple in their 50s or 60s, and they have looked after me well.
I am in a district of La Paz called Sopacachi, it is above the centre and the views are very nice. La Paz is situated in the top part of the valley just where the altiplano ends, and spills down into the valley. It was originally supposed to be built on the altiplano, but apparently those in charge decided after 3 days that it would be better to move the planned city into the top part of the valley due to the high winds. The views are fantastic, from the roof of the house one can see over the town and also Mount Ilimani (6400 m +) and other mountains which frame the city.
Im taking four hours of Spanish clases a day, and started these clases today. The lady who gives the clases is very helpful, and there are no other people at my exact level so I´m paying group prices and getting one to one clases!
I was congratulating myself yesterday on not having altitude problems but as soon as I did the headaches hit me hard, they are better today but yesterday I went to bed at 7pm because they were so bad. I`ve never flown directly into 4070m before (although the town is a little lower than the airport). My roll on deodrant expoded yesterday, probably because of the air pressure difference.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)