My Journey Round The World

So I spent the New Year Eve 2009 at the other end of the planet in a middle of nowhere only with strangers… Quite different than my last 5 years all around Europe (2004 – Paris, 2005 – Madrid, 2006 – Budapest, 2007 – Kracov, 2008 – Nurenberg) with my Rostock friends… It was different but great! Light was supposed to be switch off at 10pm but regarding the circumstamces, we could have it nearly up to 2am!
Start was a bit slow and our guide – Ramiro – told us that nothing was plan. They were more than 7 different groups with people coming from Argentina, Bolivia, Korea, England, Germany, Spain, France – only me I think! ;) - Canada and I guess I’m missing some! There was a Bolivian bout-en-train who entertain a long part of the evening with different games. We had lot of fun seeing the English singing and dancing while having a forfeit Then the Argentine – who had a guitare – start singing some of the Beatles songs helps by the English group. This was so much fun! At midnight we all huged & kissed and went outside as some people brought fireworks. Just in front of the Salar with a full moon it was just wonderful!

I also learned Bolivian tradition for the New Year with Juana who kindly share everything with us!
- Ariane & Isabelle you will love that! –
So, just before midnight, you settle the table with some food and drinks: apple, grapes, biscuits, sweets, coca leaf, beer… so that nothing misses next year. Everything as a signification:

• Fruits are for prosperity,
• Biscuits-cakes: wishing to have enough bread during the year
• Sweet: to have sweetness and happiness…

You also settle candles – here of different colors, I love that! – that you have to light at midnight and wait until it burn nearly up to the end where you can just blow them out and read the meaning:

• orange = money and work
• green = hope
• yellow = money
• red = love
• white = health / peace
• purple = protection

Here red and green expand themselve as we can spread love and hope all the time… Orange, yellow, white and purple keep pretty straight as we can be healthy or have enough money, work or protection for the time beeing but always need to pay attention to it as it goes and come back easily… Hope you follow everything!

You also prepare 12 pieces of grapes, 1 for each month, and at midnight you eat them 1 by 1 and make a wish for each month I went out under the full moon and did so…

After all that and while waiting for the candles to burn – you cannot go to sleep before! - you eat the food and drink but don’t forget to put 2 or 3 drops on the floor for the Pachamama – La Madre Tierra!

 

This was so great… I don’t know where to start! From the beginning might be the best I’m now in Tarija and just feel like doing this tour again! So… after a difficult start – more than 1 hour waiting on my own at the travel agency without explanation! The thing I hate the most!  - The jeep finaly arrived and I met our guide Ramiro and my group mates: a family of 3 Bolivians – Juana, Deyanira and Marcelo and 2 Brazilians: Rose and Nicolau. We first visited the Cementerio de trenes few km away from Uyuni and then head to the stunning Salar… So amasing! This huge flat white space - salt desert of 12 500 km2 at 3 650 metres high where water is running under… – all around you… Even with jeeps around, you feel the immensity. This is fantastic! I just love it! Maybe also because this white reminded me of the snow I missed this year in Europe People from Uyuni and from the Salar borders are the only one allowed to operate it, however this is only exported in Bolivia and not really profitable… Again a hard work which hardly help to survive!

We stopped for lunch in the former Hotel de Sal - supposed to be closed as hotel because of hygiene problems - not really sure about that… – But I wasn’t at the end of my surprise… After lunch we arrived at the Isla Inca Huasi - often sale as Isla del Pescado! –  Again, such a stunning place… This island in the middle of this white area with… Cactus on it! Extraordinary! Absolutely sublime… Few hours drive more – this is the worse part and even more after 3 days! - we arrived at our legal Hotel de Sal in San Juan on the border of the Salar to spend the night and currently the New Year Eve!

 

I wish you all the best for 2010! Coming back from the stunning Uyuni Salar – the most beautiful thing I’ve seen from the world so far… Maybe I need to travel a bit more!

After Potosí I head toward Uyuni, such a beautiful landscape all along the way!!! Chamging from mountains to plain at more than 3 000 metres high! Seeing plenty of lamas as well as flamingos! Unfortunately I didn’t had time to take pictures… Way was far too chaotic!!!
It seems that gringo’s tarif also apply for bus… I paid 35 bolivianos – 3.5 €, ok here it seems nothing but for a Bolivian budget it is! And this is just on principale – while my Bolivian neighbour paid 25 for the same service! However, what was good is that we had a Coke – ok I don’t like it but still  – included in the price! First time I see that here
Also, the trick of the fake policeman doesn’t only apply to tourist! It happened to my young neighbour in a taxi while she was coming to catch the bus from the main bus station… If I get everything right when she explained to people in the bus, she & her friend where robbed of 200 Bolivianos. 3 guys intered the taxi & they couldn’t do anything! For a student – or anyway for anybody else! – it’s hard to take!
I’m leaving today for a 3 days trip in the Salar…
So a bit in advance I wish you all the best for the New Year and be sure I’ll think of you overthere…

When you go early to the market, you can see the butcher cutting the meat… Pretty impressive, even if I guess that we do the same in our countries – Sandrine you have to confirm if you’re husband is doing the same way!  - I guess we just don’t see it!

For my last day in Potosí I went to visit the Convento-museo Santa Teresa, a couvent of the Carmelite order built between 1685 and 1692. I was so impressed by the Monasterio Santa Catalina in Arequipa Ok, this one wasn’t as beautiful as the Peruvian one but still it has nice architecture and interesting Sala de la Virgin Niña where you can see all type of dress for the little Virgin doll made by the nun and which use to be changed regularly! 

Potosí is a colonial city of 145 000 people at 4090 metres high, which mean that it’s the highest city of more than 100 000 inhabitants in the world! Since 1987 the city is labelled Unesco World Heritage List for its baroque architecture. Unless its pretty stiff streets, it reminds me quite a bit of Spain. I enjoyed walking up and down the streets, discovering the different markets or walking back down from the mine – I needed fresh air! – to the city centre, crossing the working-class suburb.

One of the main attraction is to visit the mine of the Cerro Rico, such an unforgetable and quite traumatic experience… I still don’t really understand how people can just kill themselve – life expectancy 45 years old! – with such a hard work that hardly make them able to survive… Visit is very much alive – don’t ever go there if you’re claustrophobic!!! I had to concentrate really hard for not going back, while walking completly hunched in a really narrow tunnel just at the beginning of the visit! Then I could feel the ache in my legs while going up and down the ladder or even just walking at 4 100 metres underground! Quite a challenge – again! - and it gives you a real idea about the miner life as you’re literally with them in the mine! You can easily see how dangerous it is - You’ll never be able to do that in Europe! Too slippery… Too dangerous! – and I felt really sorry to see a 12 years old boy already working there! I’m so glad not to have such a hard life!

After such an experience I walked back to the city, stopping to take a banana fresh juice and taste local food at the market: Pastela, kind of crepe with or without cheese – I tasted both – and Api drink, I still don’t know what it is but it was good

Tomorrow, visit of Convento-museo Santa Teresa planned before heading toward Uyuni.

So after such a shock I luckily had a really nice dinner with 2 french travellers: Aline & Alain - travelling for 5 months around South America – I met on my way back from Tarabuco. It was great to be able to exchange our travel impressions and tips !

This morning while having my breakfast in the garden of my nice hostel – Hostelling International Sucre Calle Guillermo Loayza 119 – 200 metres from the bus station, but still quiet on the garden side ; ok 15 min walk from the center… – I met again 2 americains – the one I met at the Jurassic Park. We had a really nice chat before I was getting ready to leave to Potosí.

On my way there I was sitting next to a friendly Bolivien: Adrían, with whom I chat in spanish – yes, yes! – most of the time – 3 hours drive! – and who kindly help me to get to the city centre by public transport ; the way I prefer – actually at 4060 metres high, I wouldn’t walk up there with my backpack!

All this positive encounter helps me to recover from my little cultural shock Now need to get ready for the visit of the mines which would certainly be quite hard too but I guess really interesting…

Back to Sucre after this colorful-rainy market, I went for a walk around the city. Something was missing… I went from the main square up to Parque Bolivar a bit further down. Really nice green place, full of people on this Sunday afternoon. Full of… clean, well dressed people… All Bolivians but properly dressed, the other world I’ve seen yesterday at Parque Cretácico… The western world of Bolivia as I can only call it…

Am I waking up now? How come I didn’t really notice them before?!… Ok, yes I did, but it wasn’t so obvious… Today on the main square – where we did the xmas distribution – I hardly notice any beggars… No more womens with kids all around… It said that people from the countryside are usually coming to the city around xmas to get free food or presents. Well, it seems to be true… I couldn’t really see any of them today – December 27…

I walked back to an internet cafe… To share that with you… I walk back with such a strange feeling… I just don’t understand how the difference can be so big! Ok, we do have poverty in our countries but I don’t think the difference is so huge between people… How come?! I just feel so bad about this revelation… I have no words to express clearly the way I feel. I guess I’m in shock to discover such an obvious reality… Just to see it in front of my eyes… Hard to take! Reality… I just have my eyes to cry. My friend Ariane told me that it’s best I didn’t start with India… I guess she is right!

Sunday: market day in Tarabuco, said to be one of the most colorful markets in South America, well… I have to say it’s not the best I’ve seen… Punata & Chichicastenengo were far more colorful and much more interesting – at least for me! However, what was great was the way to go there! Such an amasing landscape !!! On pictures it’s not the best but to see it was absolutly beautiful… Mountains everywhere you look… I loved it! This region also have another type of tipycal dress & hat with different colors than the one I could see up to now. Funny, it’s supposed to be the most colorful market but I found the clothes darker than anywhere else!

Plus it rain most of the time… So what to do when it’s raining… Taste the food I wanted to taste more than one dish but the one I took was so big: potatoes & corn – I didn’t get the name! – that I couldn’t try anything else… Ok just a small cake for dessert on the way back to Sucre…

Today something my little brother would have love – at least when he was a kid! –  I went to visit the Bolivian Jurassic Park… Discovered in 1994 in the cement factory, a rock face of 2 km long, 40 metres high, 68 millions years old with 150 species of which 40 from dinosaurs left their footprint – I’m not a big fan of dinosaurs but it was impressive! It’s the 2nd biggest site of this type in the world! Since 3 years, they open a kind of small amusement park showing real size dinosaurs – you feel like you’re at Disneyland! At least you have a great view on the surrounding from there!

Interesting to see the population visiting the centre… Of course some gringo tourists – with a really good guided visit in English and they also have french! Lucky us as we are paying more than double price than locals!!! - as well as lot of Bolivians. But not the one you’ve recently seen on my pictures. Just the other world of Bolivia, same as western world in this such Hollywood like museum… Crasy to see such a huge difference between the inside and outside of this place… Of course you can notice some in the street but still it was a little shock to see such a concentration… You nearly feel back home.

After my first Spanish visit I met Marco, Adam & Steve on my way down as well as 3 americains from my hostel, so I did the English visit – much more detailed than the Spanish one! And it’s not because I didn’t get everything in Spanish that I’m saying that! Even the guide said it!