Kaboom Bolivia
- Timon van den Berg
- Sep 7, 2019
- 15 min read
A quick drive from Puno along lake Titicaca, brings us to the border crossing near Copacabana. We throw our last Peruvian money in the tank of the car. The border crossing is pretty smooth, except for the fact that we arrive during the lunch break of our Aduana friends on Bolivia side. Luckily for us the wait is only an hour and not much other traffic is showing up so when the doors open we are first in line.
We will be traveling to La Paz fairly fast, and only spent one night in Copacabana, which is basically a large hippie frontier if you would ask me. You can use this town to explore the lake area, but since we had already done that in Puno, we decided to skip that here. So the next morning we drove off in the direction of La Paz, which from here on forward I will call the city of minivans, in short CMV. We grab ourselves an amazing sandwich for the road. By the time we start to enjoy it, we feel sorry for ourselves that we didn't bought two each. Kilometers out of the city center you start to notice you are reaching a capital town. The highway is paved, but on the left and right little dirt roads access the road, making it a big mud pool. When we eventually reach the city, we can see the cable cars hanging above the capital. It’s special to know that we are here actually at 4000 meters above sea level. Soon we hit a traffic jam of minivans, and Timon starts to battle a little with Google maps finding a quicker route to our hostel. The drops and raises in the road going through CMV are impressive, and I’m no longer surprised that sometimes houses are sliding downhill here. In the evening we enjoy a good dinner at an Argentinian restaurant, not to far from our hostel.
Attracted by the cable cars we decided the next morning to visit downtown. It’s only a short walk to the station. The cable cars work like a metro, but these are very fancy and the average ski resort would be jealous with the quality of the network. For locals the carts ain’t cheap and it might actually make sense to travel with a mini van instead. First stop downtown are the agencies offering a cycle tour on the famous death road. Which these days isn't used by cars anymore, making it more a tourist cycle path but more about that later. We visit the witches market, which is basically a large tourist trap, but it's nice for an hour or so. In one of the parks we have a chat with a local businessman who is sitting on a bench. Within 2 minutes I destroy his complete business model, for which I later apologize. He has developed a languages module, that he actually carries around as a printed version in his bag. It isn't even a book. I decide to show him my Duolingo App and tell him that this is how I learn Spanish, and that the adds in the application pay for the development cost. Ok, so we made some friends in the park :-)! Recommended by the businessman in the park we decide to make a circle with the cable cars going through the city. We jump from the blue line to the purple, to the red and via the gray and yellow ones we go back to the hostel. Amazing views, very convenient way to travel through a town.
A slow day in La Paz isn't a punishment, they have plenty of modern coffee bars and the food is very decent as well. So we make a small tour in the neighborhood where we are staying. Hester is really keen on all the graffiti, funny detail here is that they use a lot of zebra’s. People who help school children cross the road are actually dressed as a Zebra to get more attention! We haven't seen it, but I really hope we do!
Early morning, since we are cycling down the Death Road, I wonder if it's really that scary or maybe it's hyped a little. A bus drives us through La Paz’s morning traffic, and we end up on a mountain somewhere just outside the city. The first 25 km are on pavement, which is supposed to be easy. But, there is also regular traffic, so that makes it a little dangerous. Anyway, we should not overtake the tour guide, take it easy and enjoy. Within 30 minutes we arrive at the end point of the down hill over the pavement road. The guide looks behind him and mentions Fuck, you guys are fast ;-), Hester and me smiling, arriving just a couple seconds behind him. I tell him “Overtaking wasn't allowed, right? ;-)”. It’s a lazy tour, since for the part that goes up the bikes are loaded back on the car, and they drop us off when the road descents again. Then we arrive at the actual death road. These days they have made a new road for cars, so there isn't any regular traffic anymore except for a local farmer and the ambulance (no joke). After a quick lunch we start our descent, it's pretty amazing going from close to 4000 meters to 1100 meters. Yes, here the route starts to become a little more dangerous especially maybe if you haven't been on a bike in your life before. Overall, I would consider it to be fairly easy, except for the final part where the road curves back to the main road, that part is a little tricky. Where you are very happy with your jacket on the top the further you decrease you are happy that the van is following you so you can lose some of your clothes. During the whole trip down we only saw one guy who seem to have broken some bones, that's also how I know the road is used by the ambulance :-). We finish the day, at a finca in the valley where we are served lunch and can enjoy a swim in the pool. Strange because when we started the day it was close to 0 but here it’s at least 30 degrees. Going back to La Paz via the new road takes us close to 4 hours, whereas the route via the death road took us only 2,5 hours. Amazing experience, brought us both a lot of fun, except for Hester making a small fall in the end, but that’s pretty standard when mountain biking with her.
Today we hit the cable carts again going south. It’s a more fancy neighborhood, and we are hitting a mall for some new shoes. When we arrive at the mall, we notice the only thing they sell here are cars and food. So that isn’t going work for new shoes. In the center of this neighborhood there is a small shopping street where we are more successful. We finish the day in a lovely Indian restaurant, has been a while that we settled for this type of food. Especially if you aren't visiting the larger capital cities in South America, you are not likely to find this food.
Time to leave La Paz. It’s again a hassle to leave the city. Some roads are simply to steep for buses to take them, so they drive so slow, but we manage to get out. Eventually we reach the highway which brings us quickly in the direction we want to go. We are going to Cochabamba, a city in the valley that reaches the Amazon. When we see palm trees alongside the road we settle for lunch. We are clearly the attraction of the restaurant and when we leave we are waved goodbye. Maybe it's because we paid double of what the locals pay here. The meals in Bolivia aren't really my thing. Big corn which you need to peel before you can eat it. It consumes a lot of time for only a little meal, and the taste and texture ain’t great either. We arrive in Cochabamba by the end of the day, we haven't seen any other city between here and La Paz. The host we stay at is half Dutch, and we learn somethings about the current situation in Bolivia. I guess the main problem here is the income level and the dependency of raw materials which are generally owned by corrupt corporations or sold to foreign companies, by corrupt politicians. Also this country has taken a serious hit by wars in the past, losing valuable land to almost all surrounding countries of which most importantly the sea connection and copper mines to Chile.
We only stay one night in Cochabamba. You can stay longer and visit the Amazon, but that's not on our list. We are heading to Sucre, the old capital of the country. The host told us that the route is off-road as we plan to drive it, but Google is telling a different story. Let’s see who is right. Pavement seems to be pretty new here, and the route is fast and easy to drive. Halfway we have planned for a stop at a local cheese farm. As Google indicates the owner has learned how to make cheese in the Netherlands, so let’s see. Unfortunately he is completely sold out, but he sells us his own cheese that he planned to use this week. It’s not the aged one we were planning for, but it ends up being a pretty good cheese. Before arriving at our hotel we need to get some gas, it’s something we have done 60 or 80 times this trip and usually I don't mention it, but in Bolivia it's like going to the market. Since the gas is subsidized by the government, foreigners pay a different price then the locals. If you read forums people heavily complain, but I can live with it. Usually I use our dirty rear view window to negotiate the price. The first price you set is a Credit Card payment price. Then you show you actually have local currency to pay with, and you renegotiate the price. It’s a funny process and typically you end up paying a rate half of what is initially asked. I wish everyone reading this good luck doing this at your local Shell station :-D!
Hester sleeps in this morning, so I decide to walk to the local tire store. In my crappy Spanish I manage to arrange everything for tomorrow 11 o’clock, for a rate that makes us both happy. On the way back I purchase some glue, so that I can try to fix my walking shoes. That afternoon Ajax is playing again, which surprisingly enough brings more Dutch people to the bar. Ajax wins so we leave happy and settle for a slice of Pizza before going back to sleep. Over the night we are surprised by a large storm with an amazing amount of thunder. It’s pretty uncommon to have rain during this time of the year in the region.
Alright, we started with a big fail this morning. I thought that I arranged everything for our new tires but as I find out it’s a national holiday, so the shop is closed. Well maybe she wasn't too happy with the rate I negotiated so she decided to keep the shop closed. We decide to bring the car back and enjoy the town a little. In the early evening we settle for a beer in one of the local pubs, which surprisingly enough is owned by a Dutch guy. There are actually 3 Dutch bars in this town. I really don't understand why there are so many Dutch people here, but I guess it has something to do with the nice living climate. Bolivians aren’t the friendliest people, but the food is decent, it’s fairly cheap and infrastructure seems ok. Although we learn in the bar that for most medical treatments it’s best to travel to La Paz, since the local hospital, and I quote, “Doesn’t know shit”.
We hit the road again, we are heading for Potosi, a decent size town which thrives on mining. But first let's see if the tire shop is open today. Yes, it is, and we both have a good laugh about the misunderstanding from the day before. Hester her Spanish is a lot better, so she is able to clear the misunderstanding. Eventually when we need to pay everything starts to become completely unclear again, but we pay less then negotiated, so who cares! Potosi lays at a high altitude again, so the road mainly goes up. The further away we get from La Paz the easier it starts to become to negotiate the petrol price. By the way the quality of the patrol is absolutely crap, you can feel it in the performance of the car. The hotel we are staying at has a lovely patio where we enjoy a bottle of wine. When the sunset starts, the temperature drops significantly, and it’s actually getting really cold. We visit a local supermarket where they seem to have a lot, except for the healthy stuff. No vegetables or fruit. On the way back we finally spot the crossing zebras! Until now, I still thought Hester was joking about that.
Ok, I think this day will stay with me for a while since we decided to do something which for sure I will never ever do again in my life. We are visiting an active mine. In the morning we are picked up by a tour guide. We have been told there are a lot of fake tours, where you eventually end up in a museum, but this one had good reviews so we assume it’s happening for real. First stop is a visit to his mother in law. The mine we are visiting is owned by a corporation, and the miners in the mine work for themselves. So they are basically self employed. I realize this is a common model in the EU and North America, but how can you manage safety matters on a large scale when you are self employed and work in a huge mine. Well, as we would learn fast; you cannot. The mother in law from the guide sells dynamite, coca leaves, pure alcohol, soda, and that's basically it. Everything a worker needs, the guide claims. Stunning as it is, Hester and I play a little with the dynamite we just bought. I eventually fake that I push it in the exhaust pipe of a car. Which makes the officer across the street laughing and wanting to take a picture with us. Right, this must have been a warning to us, but it actually started to become a little funny. A bus brings us to the mine. It looks pretty realistic and not like we are entering a museum. With our headlights on we enter the mine. I soon realize it’s not build for me, but more for people half my size. First stop is a visit to Tio. Tio is the devil of the mine, and you like him as your friend since he will take care of you while you are down in the shafts. We light some cigarettes and put these in his mouth. While the guide is telling the story about the mine and Tio, we hear a huge explosion. It feels like it’s very close to us. I think this is it the end, we are blocked in by falling rock or whatever. The guide doesn’t seem impressed and continues his story. I decide to interrupt and ask for some clarification on the recent explosion. His response “Oh that's ok, they just blew a new part of the shaft, but no worries, here is stable rock”. Ok, if you say so :-s. We continue deeper in to the mine, left and right deep scary holes and every couple minutes a mine cart pushed by miners for which we need to jump aside. In total we are in the mine for 1,5 hours, but I will never go again. Every year 50 people die in the mine. Workers usually only reach the age of 40, if they have worked in this mine. Stunning to hear that there is another mine not to far from this one where workers have no issues with health. That mine is operated by a Japanese company. They take good care of their workers. The main problem with this mine is, it’s owned by the corporation which is owned by 2000 individuals and the minerals in this mine aren't that valuable to make big investments. Well I can't say it often enough, I was happy we were out and gained a ton of respect for the job of a miner. At night we go to one of the more fancy restaurants in the area. Well, I admit that my Spanish ain’t amazing I would very well make sure never to order fish. Since I’m really not that keen on it. When the waiter brings my starter and I see it's a salmon, I mention that this isn't what I ordered, and he seems confused. He doesn’t want to take it back and leaves it on the table. Since we don't eat from it he comes back to the table and tells me that we do need to pay for it anyway. Well that's it, I tell him some words in Spanish which I don't know how to write down in this blog, and we leave the restaurant to settle for a place we have had dinner when we arrived in Potosi!
Something we have looked forward to visit is Uyuni. Still undecided whether we would enter the salt flat with our own car, we arrived in the town of Uyuni. There is literally nothing here, but it's the base town to enter the salt flat. In the afternoon we visit some tour agencies who are all asking steep prices for a day tour. Since the exhaust of our car came loose, we had to visit a local mechanic. We decide to ask him whether he thought it would be possible to enter with our own vehicle. His opinion was clear, absolutely no problem at the moment. So that’s settled, and with our exhaust reinstated we decide to go on the flat with our own car. I guess there are many tourists coming to this town, since it even has a Korean restaurant. We settle for it and have a good dinner. When we head back to the hotel we find it to be freezing. It's very cold, it's a clear sign that we’re heading south and the weather is changing.
First stop the next morning is a bakery, after that we head to a place where they can spray the bottom of the car with a mixture of oil. This will help it protect against salt sticking to the car. The guys do this all day, and by the end of the day they also spray the car clean again for you. Anyway, since its a Sunday we are a little unlucky. The place we had our eye on is actually closed, which is making the other locations so much more busy. But, eventually we find a spot. It’s not something that’s done quickly. First the car needs to be completely cleaned, and then they spray the mixture on. From Uyuni it’s a quick 30 minute drive to an easy enter point of the salt lake. The local government has done something smart by putting the tollbooth just before the entry so that everyone who comes here first need to pay toll. Driving on the salt lake isn’t that easy. It’s rocky and there is water on the outskirts of the lake. But, we manage and make our way to the first stop; the Dakar monument and the Salt Hotel. What’s funny, is that there is an obligated stop where you need to show your driving license just to proof that you can actually drive. Also funny is that there is actually a bus route going over the lake connecting towns on both ends. Until the monument there is a pretty clear route, afterwards it's no man's land, and you can basically drive where ever you want. Some stretches of the lake are pretty wet. It takes a little for us to understand how to deal with these spots, but avoiding them is the best option! We reach speeds up to 100 km per hour, it's like a highway! But, there is really nobody and you can decide your own route. We pull out our compass, because we soon find out that we cannot see our destination, and everything looks pretty white. Also our google maps application has some difficulty locating us on the lake. We end up at the island in the middle of the salt flat, but they ask a crazy fee to enter it so we skip. Just behind it we settle ourselves down and have lunch in the sun. There is an option to go south on the lake and visit a spot where there is actually still water on the lake. The closer we get to this spot the more difficult the route becomes, so we decide to return to the entry point and leave that for another day. It was an amazing experience and easy to do with your own car. Although not many people do it since we attracted a lot of viewers of our car while visiting the highlights on the lake. Driving off the lake, we visited the car wash to clean up and that was that. Definitely a highlight.
We are off to Argentina, there are a couple routes you can take from here, but we decide to settle for what looks the easy route, south over the new highway. Two hours in, driving 120 km an hour, we run into a roadblock. The Argentinian company that build the road has gone bankrupt, and the workers haven’t been paid. They decided to block the road for 3 days straight, and when we arrived they just settled in. Soon there is a group of cars who decide to find another route. We decide to stick around for a little to see what happens. We speak to the cops twice, but there isn't any movement and the road is seriously blocked with spikes as well, so it won't be easy to pass. After an hour the cops recommend us to go back via Uyuni and then Potosi, from where we can drive south to the border with Argentina. This would mean a detour of 1200 km. So we head back to Uyuni. Slightly annoyed, but there’s nothing we can do about it. On the way back we run into the group of cars that have left the blockade about an hour ago, unsuccessful in finding a detour. On the new road we are able to test the top speed of our car :-) 200 with all our stuff in it, haha but the fuel meter is dropping fast. 5 hours after we have left Uyuni we are back and ready to fill the tank. The pump operator tells us, don't go south this way the road is blocked! Well thanks buddy, but that's 5 hours too late. We make it back to Potosi before night falls. We stay in the same hostel we stayed in the first time, and the next morning we take off early. Just before the border we hit another roadblock, luckily for us this one is letting cars through.
Bolivia has been special. Despite the fact that we have travelled through it fairly fast, we have been enjoying ourselves. The country won’t make it to the list “want to go again”, but some things here are definitely worth a visit. We had absolutely zero problems crossing into our new adventure; Argentina! The collaboration between the border staff here is amazing. Let’s see what this country has to offer us!
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