Our first encounter with a Bolivian night bus was not particularly positive - there was one bathroom stop in our 12 hour journey, and that was at midnight in the middle of the field. At least we got to see the Milky Way! Sucre, our next stop after La Paz, came as a pleasant surprise however. It´s a lovely city, with leafy streets and plazas and white-washed buildings. The weather was perfect while we were there and we actually managed to track down food which didn´t make us ill. Most of our time in Sucre was spent watching the World Cup, wandering round the plazas and churches of the town, and lounging in the park.
One of the best things about Sucre was the freshly squeezed orange juice available on every corner. The city teemed with people with little carts full of oranges, ready to hand you a fresh cup for forty pence. We also discovered lots of chocolate shops in the town, and learned that when it comes to buying chocolate, a little Espanol can get you a long way. Our most distinctive culinary experience in Sucre came when we sampled the Bolivian version of cheese fondue. This consisted, rather unusually, of a pot of hot oil in which one fried chicken, potatoes and cheese before slathering all in the ubiquitous salsa golf. This was actually quite probably our best meal in Bolivia.
Our next stop was Potosi, a little town at the shivery altitude of 4065m. The silver mines of Potosi once made the Spanish rich, and the nearby hills are still mined today, although most of the silver is depleted. Backpackers flock here for the obligatory tour of the mines, which starred in the award-winning 2005 film The Devil´s Miner. (So-called because the miners pray to their devil, Tio, to keep them safe...) Our first experience in Potosi was a slightly dodgy taxi ride - we thought we were being kidnapped, so we had to jump out in a hurry...The city centre boasted some interesting winding streets, but lacked much of Sucre´s charm. In order to save money and avoid illness we opted to cook for ourselves in the hostel, which necessitated a trip to the market and attempts to patch together a meal from the less than cosmopolitan selection of goods on offer. We still managed better than everyone else in our hostel though - instant cheese sauce with raw carrots on top of plain rice....Hmmm.
Unfortunately, after our time in Sucre I had declimatized to the altitude so found myself really struggling with headaches and shortness of breath in Potosi. When just standing up in the shower was too much exertion for my body to cope with, we decided I would have to stay behind from the mine tour. This according to Dave was a wise decision - the mines apparently are incredibly claustrophobic and hot, and the air is difficult to breathe. For most of the tour, Dave had to crawl, at times over perilous drops. There were children as young as 12 working there, and most of the miners were drunk. The miners chewed coca leaves constantly and the mountain has been worked for so long it is now riddled with holes, which could cave in at any time. The miners are paid the equivalent of forty pounds a week.
After Potosi, we travelled south to Tupiza. However, what should have been an eight hour journey spiralled into an eleven hour odyssey. To start with, our bus was an hour late arriving in the morning. Then, after it trundled along nearly the entire way to Tupiza, it was forced to stop below a digger which was on a cliff path above the road throwing boulders and mud down below. This continued for two hours, before the digger came down to clear the road. Of course, by that point a huge queue of (uncomplaining, completely accepting) traffic had developed, and when the road was clear everyone was held up again by the resulting traffic jam as cars from both sides tried to drive across one lane at the same time. By the time we arrived, we were tempted to hightail it for the Argentine border. But: the best of Bolivia was yet to come!
Sounds like things are getting better - slowly!
ReplyDeleteDad xx