Potosi, La Paz & the journey to Rurrenabaque - Manco Kapac, Bolivia
Manco Kapac, Bolivia
Sun 12 oct Woke up and had a hot shower-yey for hot showers! This hostel didn't provide breakfast:( We stored our bags and went for a wander in search of the bus terminal to buy our tickets to La Paz. It soon transpired that 1) it was Election Day so there was no public transport whatsoever and 2) we were walking up and down a road that was not on our map! After an hour of walking and asking locals for directions to both the bus station in one direction and the town centre in the other, we were consistently told (we think) "it's far away...to far to walk" (despite the fact that our map suggested both were within a mile or so of where we thought we were), we decided to stop and eat. Had some food from a 'hole in the wall' which nearly burnt down from a chip pan fire as we dined#bolivia. Having eaten we decided to go back to our hostel and ask the girl there to explain on the map where we were and how to get to the bus terminal. Again, we didn't fully understand her answer but gathered that "it is too far to walk and there are no buses or taxis because of the election so good luck."-basically! What we couldn't quite get our heads around was that she wasn't able to show us where we were on the map and didn't even seem to recognise the name of the main square in the town we were asking for directions to:/ She appeared so puzzled that we even began to question if we had gotten off the bus a town early and were not even in Potosí! We were a bit huffy by this point and decided to just take our big bags and walk (up hill at altitude) and wait for a taxi (we had seen some driving around and thought we MUST be able to flag one down). Sitting on a bench at the top of the hill, like a sign from heaven, jack spotted an Internet cafe! We were saved! We knew the name of the road we had been walking up and down all day (it was now 3pm) so we google-mapped it. To our disbelief it turned out that the road we were on ran parallel to the one we SHOULD have been on so all we had to do was cross the bus station square! VERY frustrating but slightly entertaining in hindsight! Once we were on the correct road (that WAS on our map) we were able to walk to one of the hostels suggested in the lonely planet (we had decided to give up on the bus station thing since it was closed). The hostel didn't look far on the map (about one mile) but boy was it a steep walk, at altitude, with our big bags! Having had to stop every 2minutes to catch our breath we realised why people had been saying "it's too far to walk!" We finally arrived at Koala Den:) It was a really nice place with a proper hostely feel. We chilled for a bit, played with the hostel kitten (so cute, if a bit smelly, but we can get over that) and, after a fair bit of deliberation, booked onto a mine tour for 1:30pm tomorrow then went in search of somewhere to eat. Most of the lonely planet recommended restaurants were closed because of elections so we settled on a lovely Italian. During dinner jack spotted a lonely planet recommended cake shop opposite so we went there for dessert. On entering we saw Katja and Kathryn (the German girls from our salt flat tour) so sat with them while eating our puddings:) Walked back past a local politician giving a concession speech (we think, the tone seemed a bit down and he only had a small crowd). Got back to Koala Den and found an array of games :) Played trivial pursuit - we reckon this version came out in the 80s at the latest as the questions suggested the Berlin Wall was still standing! Made the 'entertainment' questions based on 1950s TV and music personalities a bit tricky for us! Can I just say that I (rebecca) was in the lead when we had to call it a night! Mon 13th oct After a breakfast of stale bread and scrambled eggs, Becca had some playtime with the (now smellier) kitten. He wasn't too impressed when she tried to help him clean himself and his gunky eyes though! Also finished our game of trivial pursuits (I, jack, won in the end) before checking out, stashing our big bags and going out for a wander. Bought some water and had a big lunch in preparation for our big trip into the cooperative mines... we'd heard that it can be a fairly traumatic experience to see the hardship of life in the mines up close, as well as the warning that it is far from a safe, regulated tourist experience. We got a minibus from the office in the town square up into the hills behind the city. Got changed into our overalls, rubber boots and hard hat before being torched up. Divided ourselves into groups of five and were assigned a guide each - we got Rolando, who later explained how he had worked in the mines with his father, where he had taught himself English during the monotonous work, eventually allowing him to work with tourists. Definitely the biggest character among the guides, he quickly named our team the Sex Machines. Next stop was the miners' market where we were allowed to but dynamite, detonator and ammonium nitrate (called 'completo') for just 22Bs (£2) as its sale is totally unregulated in Potosí! Also grabbed some soft drinks and coca leaves to hand out as 'tips' to the miners we would see. Rolando chucked the giant wad of coca he'd been working on and showed us how to get one going, biting the leaves from the stem before adding a little catalytic ash to the mixture in his cheek. Chewing coca is vital to the guys in the mines as it both keeps them alert and suppresses hunger, vital as they can't eat for the entirety of their shift due to the toxic dust in the tunnels. Only one of our group, Ben, decided to have a go though - the rest of us didn't want anything extra to concentrate on while underground! Visited one of the processing factories, where they break the rocks down and separate the minerals from the worthless stuff. The chemicals involved in this included cyanide and the combined fumes were pretty toxic, yet the guys working there had no safety equipment at all. Got to walk through and see the whole process, including getting a smudge of silver on our hands at the end of the distillation line. Rolando explained that this is the last point of processing in Bolivia as the rest (e.g. smelting) is done in richer countries, where most of the value is added. We entered the mine at about 4,400m, almost 300m below the peak. They try not to mine too high for fear that the mountain will begin to collapse at the top (it used to be over 5,000m). The first few hundred yards were in a fairly wide tunnel (maybe five feet across) with train tracks for the wagons and pipes carrying electricity and compressed air for the pneumatic drills. Encountered a number of miners pushing their carts loaded with rocks, some weighing up to five tons and coming from two miles inside the mine. So far, very much the 'TV mine' we were used to the idea of. Then we turned left... This tunnel was already narrower but also had tiny little openings off to the sides every now and again. We crawled up into one of these, climbing up through a space just big enough to fit your body through before clambering up a teeny passage, loose rocks falling in your face from the person in front. One of the girls in our group was hyperventilating a little and decided she didn't want to go further but Rolando convinced her to carry on. The climbing was especially tough as the air in the tight tunnels was filled with dust; the altitude would have made it tricky even in the open air. Met a miner at the end of the tunnel who was just filling the holes he'd drilled with dynamite and ammonium nitrate. He explained he'd worked in the mines for 24 years and now worked with his son, who wasn't there because he was ill. Even though children are not legally allowed to work in the mine, the rule is not well policed and teenagers often work with their fathers to help feed the family. He said he continued to work because he could earn up to four times more in the mines than the average in town (up to around £600 per month if he had a good haul) and he had a big family to feed. As the mines are cooperatively run, the miners keep their own profits, paying just a small proportion to the mine authorities for their workspace and setting their own working hours. This compares favourably to pay as an employee of a privately owned mine. Left some coca leaves, returned to the main tunnel and then took an even narrower route up. The miners responsible for this tunnel were not around as they were transporting their bags of rocks outside. We tried to lift one of the bags left - it was incredibly heavy, at least 20kg. As there are no cart rails down the side tunnel, they have to carry them through their tiny crawl tunnel, then down the side tunnel before loading them onto a cart for the last leg. While in their empty workspace, our guide showed us how to spot the mineral seams the miners follow, running vertically through the rock. We area around the seam sparkled with worthless pyrite, or fool's gold. We then turned all our torches off for two minutes, to appreciate just how pitch black it would be (and how screwed you would be) if your light went out. Next, we saw a couple of miners working together in a deep hole. They must have been fantastic climbers to be able to scale the walls in time to escape the three minute dynamite fuse they were preparing to set! Like a lot of the miners, these guys worked too far from the electric lines to use drills and so had to painstakingly chisel the two metre deep dynamite holes by hand. All nine of them in this case. Apparently this had taken 18 hours of hard labour already. Our last tunnel was well off the beaten track and involved inching along a narrow path with a 100ft drop off the side, then abseiling down a wall - once you'd managed to grab the rope without falling! The trek from here to the tracks for the fully laden miners was at least a kilometre, even after they'd winched up the bags from the depths. Unbelievably hard, physical work. Visited a shrine to el Tio (the indigenous people couldn't pronounce the 'D' in el dio), where, on a Friday, the miners drink alcohol distiller to 96% to ensure that the mine will stay prosperous. The Spanish used the natives fear of el Tio to force them to continue to work the mines, even under terrible conditions and with so many deaths - up to 8million have died since the Spanish occupation. This year, 29 have apparently died in the mines (of up to 15,000 daily workers), mainly from cave ins. The number dying from related diseases is much higher, however. Needless to say, we were delighted when we got out into the open air again! The tour was a very memorable experience, but also both scary and upsetting. Certainly not something you would want to do twice. Got back to our hostel at 6pm. As usual, thought we had plenty of time to shower, eat etc before going to the bus station to get a 10hr night bus to La Paz. However, with his outstanding Spanish, Jack managed to glean from the hostel owner that, although the last bus to La Paz leaves at 10pm, the bus station stops selling tickets at 7pm! So, yet again, we leapt straight in a taxi to the bus station! We literally got the last two bus tickets on the 8:30pm bus! Talk about last minute.com! Had dinner in the bus station and got on our bus. The bus didn't have a toilet, however it did stop a few hours in so I (rebecca) followed the Bolivian women to the loos (baños) and had a mild fright on my return to see a bus very similar to ours pulling away! Fortunately it wasn't ours but could easily have been. LLSF4: Unlike in Brazil, Bolivian buses do not wait or do a head count. Tues 14th oct Arrived in La Paz (3100m asl in the centre, 4058m asl in El Alto-the outer suburb) at 6am. Rebecca stumbled out of the coach and was almost run over by another bus pulling in right next to us! Walked round the corner to our hostel (adventure brew hostel), quietly racing the group just ahead of us for fear that they would nick the last rooms. Overtook them and got the last private room available, a triple that we got for the same price as a double, score! Rebecca had a nap for three hours, fully kitted out in gloves for the cold (after having a cold shower because she turned the wrong tap on, she was not happy!) Awoke for breakfast (all you can eat pancakes) at 10.30am. After breakfast we gave our 5kg bag of laundry - that nearly broke the scales - to the hostel then set off to book our mountain bike ride down the old North Yungus Road aka Death Road (see * for more info on Death Road) and do the walking tour of La Paz, which started at 2pm. Booked Death Road with a company called Gravity via an English lady, Jill, who also happened to be our guide for the walking tour, her second job. Along with another Bolivian girl they showed us around the markets, the witches' market (including llama foetuses-gross), the presidential palace and cathedral in Murillo Square, San Francisco church and the infamous San Pedro prison. The tour was very informative but lasted over three and a half hours in the end! We were stopped at one point by a guide from another company, who pointed out that the badge our guides had did not allow them to officially run a tour round the city. Despite their protestations and attempts to wave him off, we could tell from their sheepishness he was on to something! We sort of worked out that they get round the rules by offering it as a 'free' tour to avoid paying tour operator charges/taxes, them make as much money through tips that they 'suggest' should be US$10-20 per person. Saw a 'British' curry house on our way around the city and went back there for dinner. Turned out it was in the lonely planet, which said people raved about the ex-pat owned place and it would be a match for any curry house back home. While we'd definitely question that (the 'pilau' rice was a sort of golden risotto, the tikka masala had no tikka and the naan bread was just a warm pitta with butter rubbed in), the food was ok and it was nice to finally have a curry of any sort! Back to hostel, packed our day bags for death road tomorrow, then bed. * Death Road: is the nickname for the old North Yungus Road. A 61-69km road that goes from La Paz to Coroico. In 1995 it was named 'the world's most dangerous road'. The road runs around the side of the mountains. It is largely a single-lane track, with no guard rails. The drop to the valley floor is 600m. Crosses mark many spots where vehicles have fallen. One of the local road rules states that the downhill driver never has right of way and must move to the outer edge of the road. This forces the faster downhill vehicle to stop so that passing can be negotiated safely. Unlike the rest of Bolivia vehicles are required to drive on the left hand side of the road to give the driver a better view of the vehicles outside wheel and making passing safer! In 2006 they finished building the 'new' north Yungus road. They widened the old road into 2 lanes, tarmacked it and put up guard rails. They also bypassed the MOST dangerous section of the old road-building a completely new section of road. The original road is now much less used by traffic and more by thrill seeking mountain bikers such as ourselves! Ha! Wed 15th oct Woke up at 6am, aiming to get to Oliver's pub (the meeting point) for 7.00am in order to get breakfast before leaving at 7.30am. However, we also had to skype-call STA in England as we weren't clear from reading our insurance details whether we would be covered for the ride. The travel agent was just as unsure as us, as it depended on how you interpret the document and how you classify the ride (essentially on- or off-road but a little more complicated). We couldn't upgrade our policy anyway because we had left the UK, so decided to ask about day cover through Gravity when we got there. Tried to jump in a taxi as we were now a little behind schedule but a random guy off the street got in with us! The driver tried to convince us this was fine but we were having none of it and opted to walk. Got there just in time to order a takeaway breakfast and marvel at some hardcore revellers that were still out from the night before! Definitely needed somebody to just tell them to go to bed. Our guide Mike told us the ride is generally considered an on-road tour by most insurance companies, making it more likely that our document was suggesting we would be covered. As the best insurance available from Gravity would only cover us to a maximum of $2000, we decided there wasn't much point and would 'risk it for a biscuit' :/ On the bus up to the start point, we all had to describe ourselves as a fruit/vegetable for a little ice breaker exercise. Deciding independently, Rebecca went for an orange as she loves the sun, while I went for a beetroot as that was the colour I go in the South American sun (like chalk and cheese!). At the top of the new North Yungas Road we were issued our bikes, helmets, gloves and jackets then given a safety briefing. The bikes were brilliant, although getting used to the position (very low and open relative to a road bike) and super-sensitive hydraulic brakes proved a bit of a challenge. Began our descent at 4,700m on the paved section of the road. Rebecca, lacking the biking experience of most of the others, was a bit uncertain during these first 20km or so, struggling with the steepness and speed of the hill. It was about to get much worse, however, as we turned onto the Old Road. This was steep and, particularly on the first section, full of ruts and big rocks. The best way to handle these is to carry some speed and stand on the peddles so that the bike just rolls over them but it isn't so easy to convince yourself that's the case when you've not done it before! A few people struggled down the first stretch, with lots of squealing brakes. No matter how many times the instructors say, with the best of intentions, 'you need to be more confident,' it doesn't tend to work that way. After three sections of steady improvement, but still finding it tough going, Rebecca's bike was back on the bus. This was the last chance to stop the ride, as the bus had to turn around (there was an impassable landslide just below) and came just before the most difficult part. After a lot of deliberation - during which one of the other riders crucially said they had no problem waiting for slower riders, easing the pressure Becca was feeling for holding people up - she hauled her bike back off the bus and went for it! Going at our own pace, she smashed through the narrowest part of the road, including the site of the biggest accident in the road's history: a bus had lost it's back wheel over the edge while backing up, killing over 100 people on board. The road got easier towards the bottom but this is where most accidents happen on the bikes. A Swedish girl in our group did exactly what Becca had been worried about - seeing a 'baby's head' rock too late, she slammed her front brake on and somersaulted over the handlebars. Fortunately, the two German doctors in our group were on hand to check nothing was broken and patch her up. Made it to the bottom, past a couple of kids asking for a high five (guide told us not to as we might fall but I couldn't resist), where we had a cold beer (and Death Road t-shirt) waiting for us. The alcohol must have gone to my head as I convinced rebecca, who was in a vulnerable enough state to agree to anything, to do the zip line across the valley. Everyone else headed for the animal sanctuary, leaving us to be driven back up Death Road to the start of the zip line. By now, Rebecca was emerging from her state of shock and asking why on earth we were now doing another high-adrenaline activity! The zip consisted of three lines: the first was the highest with the best views; the second was the fastest at 89kph; and the third was the longest at 550m. We went for the 'superman' harnesses, flying head first across the valley. Awesome. When we finally got to the animal sanctuary, the monkeys were climbing on the walkway cage and the macaws were squawking at us. Food was great, as was the home brew beer, a kind of chocolate and coffee stout. Had a wander amongst the animals, then back up the New North Yungas Road to La Paz. Got dropped off outside our hostels partner hostel/bar (just next door to our hostel) so popped in for our free beer (the hostels own brew). Bed at 11pm and fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows, long day! Thurs 16th oct Had a lie in until 9am after yesterday's exertions. Stuffed our faces on pancakes and left for the bus station, aiming to buy tickets for an overnight bus which we assumed would leave in the evening) to Rurrenabaque (you can access the rainforest from here). A lady at tourist information told us the 18hr bus left for Rurrenabaque at 12:30pm (it was 1:30pm) and that it left from a different bus station across town, so we headed across the city to see what time flights went. Flights (that take 40minutes) went the next day (fri) at 7am or 6pm, so we decided to just get the bus tomorrow at 12:30. Bit annoying because we had checked out of our hostel and by this point had wasted half a day:/ Since we were on the other side of the city (the cosmopolitan side) we had a little wander around. Went to find what we thought was a park on the map but turned out to be a big valley of nothingness under a big bridge, just too steep to build on. The view from the bridge was pretty cool though. We popped into the Ritz hotel to enquire about prices for one night to cheer ourselves up but they were fully booked. It didn't seem as plush as we'd expected anyway, quite dated (£100 a night by the way). Found somewhere to eat lunch at 4pm! Over lunch we decided it'd be best to fly at 6pm the following day after all (since then we'd arrive at the same time as if we'd got the 'overnight' bus as originally planned) but the flight company were fully booked on our return-grrrr. At least this made up our minds that we HAD to get the bus the following day! So, we went and booked the bus tickets from an agency at the central station. The woman spoke English (luckily) but seemed surprised when we asked for bus tickets rather than flights, and clearly wasn't that familiar with the details as she made a couple of calls. She told us the bus left from the other station at 2.30pm but that we should be there an hour before. Went back to Adventure Brew and booked in for another night. Went to the bar on the corner for our free beer (I had wine) and played table tennis and double pack rummy until 2am! (I was winning by 200-odd until the last few games when Jack managed to then beat me by 200-odd! It is such a game of luck!) Friday 17th oct Up at 10am. Breakfast. Packed. Went up the brand new cable car to El Alto, the town on the hill above the bowl of La Paz. The cable car opened in May, one of three lines designed as the solution to the mass transit problem between El Alto, where most people live, and La Paz, where they work. A Metro system is impossible in La Paz due to all the underground rivers. The views from the cable car were pretty spectacular, especially of the huge cemetery and the winding roads down the hill. We could understand why driving up and down them every day was a transport issue! In El Alto - which was noticeably poorer than La Paz - we witnessed a big rally taking place, took in some stunning views of La Paz and Mount Illumani, then went back down the cable car to the hostel. Checked out at 1pm and got a cab to the other side of town (to the rurrenabaque bus station). It was a longer drive than we expected. The traffic and driving in central La Paz is mental so our driver (quite rightly) went up into the hills and around the outskirts to avoid the traffic. It was quite interesting seeing a different side to the city by driving through the residential areas. We arrived at the station about 1:45. The station was just a large dusty parking lot, without even a sign to say that it was a station. We just presumed it was the correct place because there were several buses and ticket offices. However, no on spoke English LLSF5: learn Spanish when travelling to Bolivia! Used our best Spanish and the phrase book to ask where the Vicuña ticket office/bus was, as this was the company we had bought from and the name on our ticket, but everybody just said they didn't exist at this station. We were clearly looking lost and confused because finally a Bolivian man said "?donde?" to me and I responded "Rurrenabaque". He pointed to the correct type of bus, Trans Totai (the buses didn't have anything on them to suggest where in the heck there were going and the agent had not said we needed to be looking for a different company). We walked over and saw the 'office'/a small room in front of the bus and showed our ticket to a man-upon which he said "12:30" (in Spanish obviously) and looked at us a bit crossly, repeatedly saying 'tarde' - as if we were late and the bus had gone! We point at 2:30pm on our ticket, which prompted him to make a call (we presumed to the company that sold us the ticket?) On hanging up the phone, he started to run and signalled with his hand for us to follow. We sprinted and dodged people and buses to flag down our bus (we think) which was leaving the bus station! Under the curious eyes of the locals we managed to squeeze our big bags into the luggage compartment and climb the steps to our seats. We no longer had our ticket with our seat numbers on so just headed for the back of the bus. We the heard "gringo!" And spun round (as you do?) to be escorted to 2seats at the front of the bus with plenty of leg room and fantastic views so we were pretty happy. The bus had just one other pair of tourists, the rest of the passengers were locals with LOTS of luggage. Turns out people from rural areas do the trip to La Paz every six months or so to go shopping for all the things they can't get locally. The bus slowly trundled up to the top of the New North Yungas Road then eased down very slowly, brakes squealing but taking no risks. So far, so good. Had a toilet/food stop. We had been off the bus less than five minutes and the driver was already getting ready to leave:/ Fortunately, we took note of LLSF4 and made sure we kept a close eye on our bus and got back on it ASAP! Then we made 'The Switch'. We started driving on the left of the road (the cliff edge), which we knew from death road meant it was going to get narrow and we may have to back up. Narrow it got! Neither of us had realised that in order to get to rurrenabaque the bus would be driving along the whole of the new North Yungus Road! If we had we may have thought twice. I thought the idea of the 'new' road was that it was 2 lanes wide, tarmaced, with barriers but no. In many parts the road was 1 lane wide, not tarmaced with no barriers-nothing to separate us from the 600m drop into the valley below. As if this wasn't bad enough, if there was a vehicle in front us we (and so presumably the bus driver) literally couldn't see for dust! Please also bear in mind that the majority of this 18hr journey of death was in the dark. ANYWAY it always seemed to be on these hellish sections that we met an oncoming vehicle-usually a massive lorry! On these occasions the driver had to drive sooo close to the cliff edge to let the oncoming vehicle past. Fortunately, we didn't have to reverse at any point as we had been told during our death road cycle that this is how most vehicles tip over the edge. We both remember one particular time, when we met an oncoming lorry and had to teeter on the cliff edge to let it past. Because all the passengers on our bus were on the upper level and because we were at the front, all we could see was the valley below us. One Bolivian guy in the seat across the aisle stood up and stuck his head out of the window-crazy man. We were both terrified-there is no doubt about that. That journey was the scariest thing we have done. We agree that we are glad we did it but we will definitely get the plane back from rurrenabaque to la Paz! LLSF6: do not listen to Danish travellers when they say the bus from la Paz to rurrenabaque is 'fine' (either they were on a different bus or they must have been asleep!) Also, Lonely Planet, why oh why, do you not warn people of this lovely road of death?? Despite the traumatic journey, jack will tell you, I actually managed to sleep better on this bus than on the luxurious Brazilian/Argentinian coaches! Sat 18th oct Arrived rurrenabaque 8am. Sweltering hot (39 degrees celcius) and humid but at much lower altitude than we have been at for a while. So nice to be able to breathe heavily without getting a headache! We jumped in the back of a taxi (a scooter pulling a cart) to hostel oriental. Had a shower and breakfast (stale bread, as per, and fruit). Packed our swimwear (because one hostel in rurrenabaque had a pool) and went scouting for a rainforest and pampas tour. Jack had done some research on the internet in advance and had read of a good company (mashaquipe) on trip advisor. However, we popped into Fluvia first (as it was the first office we walked past and it was mentioned in the lonely planet). The salesman talked us through the itinerary, while showing us photos of jungle animals (apparently taken by tourists but more likely taken from google images). The tour sounded good and was a very good price. We then went to mashaquipe, where the salesman talked us through their itinerary, which also sounded good and was a bit more flexible but was 3 times the price! We went back to our hostel to check Fluvia on trip advisor and turns out they have a poor reputation with travellers. So...back to mashaquipe!!:) All booked and satisfied with our choice we went for lunch. Booked flight to La Paz for 12:05pm on 25th oct as well as our bus from La Paz to copacabana#organised'r'us However, the our flight is due to arrive in la Paz at 1pm and the last bus from la Paz to copacabana leaves at 2pm so we will be pushing it:/ we will let you know how that pans out! With the next week all nicely planned out we found the hostel with a pool and went for a swim:) we didn't stay for long because the wooden seats had no cushions and it was extremely hot and humid. Returned to our hostel for a chill before dinner. Jack fell asleep for a few hours in his hammock, while I tried to catch up with the blog nicknamed 'Bloggington'. Went for dinner in a restaurant on the riverside (the river beni runs through rurrenabaque) because we wanted to try out the local 'catch'. We both had catfish, which was absolutely delicious. We were both craving a dessert (and the riverside restaurant didn't do dessert) so we went to a Geordie-run eatery just up the road where we had fruit salad and banana split-delish. Picked up 6 big bottles of water (to last the night and first day in the rainforest) then went back to our hostel, packed for the rainforest (we were told to bring just 1 small bag each to last a week-eek) then bed.