Jason Harley's Corner of the Web

Bolivia has been the most interesting and cultural country we have visited so far. It seems like real South America with the traditions the other major cities seem to have lost

Women in tradiotional dress and bowler hats stand by market stalls and the countyside is worked in traditional ways, the buses are cramped, break down and you share seats with animals, singing children and sales people shouting to the passengers to buy their goods - we have found the real South America.

However, Bolivia is also the poorest of the South American countries and as a result of several wars with all it´s neighbours it is 50% less in size than it was 100 years ago. It´s main assets are Minerals and Coca leaves, the first being lost in the many wars and the second being made illegal by western super powers due to the production of cocaine. Yet strangely, America ´allows?Bolivia to export legal Coca leaves to Coca Cola - just for the taste of it! Even if the taste is bitter in the mouths of the Bolivian Farmers.

Thus with all this external pressure and poverty, Bolvian people are happy and pleased to see tourists and despite being the only South American country without access to the coast, it is well worth a visit.

La Paz 17th - 19th June 2004

La Paz is breathtaking. The international airport is the highest in the world at almost 4500m above sea level and the city is 500m lower giving us amazing views from the plane. However, the main reason for breathlessness is the altitude and lifting the luggage from the baggage claim to the taxi left us both exhausted. Travel comes in 3 forms, Taxi, bus and co-operative - a small people carrier that picks up on request and the conductor, usually a 5 year old kid, shouts the destinations out of the window at possible passengers.

We booked into our hotel, taking about 20 minutes to walk the 150m from our drop off point. The problem is that the altitude sickness causes the worst effects when you walk up hill and La Paz is a city built on hills. Like an optical illusion, it only ever appears that you walk up hill, never down so we spent the first day catching our breath and sleeping for 15 hours. The second day we explored the San Fransico area and the witches market, which was really luck as I´d been looking for a Lama Feotus all year and the witches market sells all of manner of them along with everything else you may need to cast your spells!

Spending a night at a tradtional Pena (Folk Music and Dance) allowed to confirm that everyone in Bolivia actually does play the pan pipes, but a glass of wine and a dance too many resulted in a bad nights sleep as the altitude continued to win its battle with our althetically toned bodies. The only option to see La Paz without walking was the tourist bus! - Not proud, but needs must and all that. It turned out to be OK actually and as we made our way up and down the hills of La Paz with other hardened travellers, we understood that the climate can change in a matter of meters, hence the poor people live at the highest points and the rich in the warmer oxygenated valleys.

La Paz combines city living and stunning geological formations and a visit to the moon valley showed how the climate and altitude can form some of the wierdest rock formations on earth. In the afternoon we caught the overnight, overcold, overlack of toilet bus to Oruro and then onto Uyuni for our visit to the world´s largest Salt Lake.

The Salt Lakes at Uyuni 20th - 21st June 2004

Arriving at 5am with no sleep and sub freezing temperatures, even the prospect of a freezing hostel bed for a few hours seems a bonus so we had a few hours sleep and joined Carl and Victoria on our 2 day, 1 night tour of a lake made of Salt. They say that travelling is about the people you meet and Carl and Victoria made for great company and a few laughs along the way. The Salt lake is 30,000 years old and 12,000 square kms so driving across its 140km width takes some time but with no roads or any other traffic it gives the strange impression of emptiness while being surrounded by distant volcanoes. Part of the deal was to stay at a Hotel made entirley of Salt, even the bed - not as good as it sounds as they didn´t serve chips - but the food, local exploring, a few games of cards and a beer all proved a worthwhile experience.

The evening entertainment, was in the shape of local children, who suprisingly could ALL play the pan pipes, and despite several attempts to get them to stop, our Bolivianos where welcome to their cold hands. The next morning we visited Fish Island - no fish, just shaped like one - in the middle of the Salt Lake giving a comprehension of the expanse and then onto see the 800 year old mummies on the slopes of the volcanoe. On returneing to Uyuni, the bitter cold helped us make the decision to spend the evening in a local bar with Carl and Victoria, eating pizza, drinking beer and adding copious amounts of wood and burnable resturant tissues to the fires.

Potosi (The highest city in the world) 22nd - 23rd June 2004

Potosi is a mining town and tours operate to see the miners at work. However, not wanting to follow the crowd we decided to tour the local hospital in the early hours of the morning as Zoe´s altitude sickness reached its height (see what I´ve done there - altitude / height of sickness - genius!). A couple of hours on the oxygen and some magic pills made her slightly better but the tour of the mines was for me alone as she rested up in bed for the day with CNN.

After getting kitted out in the latest mining fashion, we set off to the miner market to buy gifts of drinks, Coca leaves and dynamite - YES REAL DYNAMITE and anyone can buy it!!! And it costs 1.10pounds including the fuse and detinator... and they let me hold it!!! The tour of the mines was hard going as after seeing how the Silver is extracted we spent 3 hours in the cramped conditions meeting the miners and avoiding getting ran over by the Indiana Jones style trolleys. Passing on the gifts and helping with the labour shows how primative methods are used in one of the countries most important exports. Many of the miners start working at the age of 10 although its only legal from 18 and most die before the age of 50, however this work pays relatively well despite the dangers where 20 miners a year are killed by cave-ins.

The highlight of the mine tour was at the end when we mixed the dynamite with Ammonium Nitrate, lit the fuse, had our pictures taken with the fuse burning and then stood only 20m away from the blast - amazing power.

San Juan 23rd June 2004

While all of you at home were celebrating the mid summer longest day by standing out in the cold and drinking warm beer, the South Americans do exactly the same! It is called San Juan or the longest night festival and it is bitterly cold so most families set fire to the nearest piece of waste ground, give their 4 year olds fireworks and merrily get pissed while what seems the whole of the Bolivian country-side turns to ash. Our bus journey from Potosi to La Paz then onto Lake Titicaca took in this spectacle. How we survived the streets of fire will remain a mystery.

Lake Titicaca 24th - 25th June 2004

Copacabana (a different one to that of Rio) proved a place to forget. After watching England lose (predictable on penalties) in Euro 2004 we awoke in our hostel to find a peeping tom spying on Zoe through a gap in the door. Now while his taste in naked women is to be applauded, there followed a bit of a chase, a bit a cludo style detective work that deduced "it was the waiter in the corridor with a blue jacket over his head". A quick visit to the police station not only got our man locked up for 24 hours but also highlighted the justice system in Bolivia is corrupt when the Police suggested we should pay for their help. My explanation of the English justice system may not have been perfect but the local PC went away with a clear understanding that the victims of crime do not pay and any money was to be taken out of the waiters wages. Zoe suggested giving the police $10 to turn a blind eye while we beat him up but I think eveyone in the town was related and we didn{t have a gun!

Anyway time to move on to Peru to meet Greg and Julia again (friends from Aventis, UK) and try the local Guinea Pig which comes highly recommended.