Rain, Salt, and Oddly Coloured Water

La Paz

Alright, we were in La Paz a little while ago. La Paz is the political capital of Bolivia. It is situated in a bowl like valley almost 4 km in the air. Altitude sickness is a real factor. Both Melissa and I were feeling a little headachy the first day there. The city dosn't have 1 flat piece of land in it. Whenever you are walking you are either walking up or downhill. The weather is almost as un-predictable as the Canucks, with the day starting out colder than Edmonton, warming up to Miami, followed by a downpour all before lunch. La Paz like any other capital is full of all the cultural museums and information you need before embarquing on any excursions into the wild. The city iteself is beautiful though, and it's name literally means "the peace" because it was founded as a result of a treaty between 2 Spanish factions trying to claim rule over the country.

Bolivia as a whole is the poorest country in South America, and it's easy to see in the countryside. 1 Canadian dollar is about 7.5 of theres and a beer is 6 for a liter. The country has also suffered chronic territory loss in a miriade of wars with pretty much all the neighbouring countries. The hardest of these defeats being the loss of their ocean access to Chile. (Note: while Canadian soldiers were fighting in Europe in the 2nd World War pretty much all of South America were duking it out as well... Really a World War)

Bolivia is also a country of chronic political unrest. In the roughly 180 years it has existed it has suffered through nearly 220 changes of government!

Anyway while we were in La Paz we visited a good deal of cultural museums, gold and precious metal museums, a musical instruments museum, (amazing) and a coca museum, where we learned the importance of the coca leaf to the Indigenous culture, and the importance of Cocaine to the American culture (Coca Cola, Cocaine, and every single pain killer you can think of made between the 40´s and 70´s). 60% of Bolivians are Indigenous, and close to 85% chew coca regularily.

PICTURES OF LA PAZ

Uyuni and the Southwest

Where to begin? Uyuni is a smallish town in the Southwest of Bolivia. Its claim to fame is the worlds largest salt desert. The Salar de Uyuni. Sounds interesting I know, but the truth is that it is probably one of the most incredible sights I have ever seen. Vast and white! Between 25 and 40 thousand years ago the salt flats were an inland (salty) sea, and today there are reminders of this sea not only in the ridiculous amounts of salt but the fact that there is an island and visible waterline in the rocks surrounding the desert. That was only the beginning though.

For $85 each, Melissa and I signed up for a 3 day jeep excursion into the flats and more of Bolivias Andean sights. Day one was a brief stop at a cemetery for South America's first trains, and the afore mentioned salt flats which ended with spending a night in a building constructed entitrely of salt. (bricks and mortar???!!!) Day 2 was a drive above 4km in altitude through the Andean highlands. "No hay nada". This means "there is nothing" except a bunch of oddly coloured lagoons, Volcanos, Geisers, and about 76756225 flamingos, llamas, and other animals of interesting descriptions. Some of the scenery was completely out of this world. One of the lagoons (laguna verde) is surrounded by mountains and hills made up of rocks and minerals most similar to the ones found on Mars! It was really red... Day 3 was a 7 hour drive home to Uyuni after a brief stop at the Chilean border. Along the way we saw llamas and.... wild Ostriches? A little odd to see the giant birds grazing next to llamas but what the heck.

After our return to Uyuni we tried yet again to catch a train (Riobamba style) but it was cancelled so we bused through what can best be described as a river bed/road to Tupiza, but we'll get to that next time!

PICTURES OF THE SOUTHWEST

I`m sorry everyone. I know you usually look forward to my witty and insightful banter but I`m just not feeling it today...

So cheers from Chris and the spell checker!