This gallery contains 16 photos.
The last two days of this trip for me – and once again in La Paz. This time I did, what I missed last time: a guided city tour, including a trip to La Paz’s Moon Valley and a walk … Continue reading
The group had split now; some were heading back to Lima for their flights home, others did continue to La Paz – to fly out from there – or to continue the journey through Bolivia. My flight home was out of La Paz – so this morning I (along with the others continuing to La Paz) got ready for the last big bus ride on this trip – from Puno to La Paz.
First we got from Puno to the border between Peru and Bolivia, to get our exit stamp for Peru and the entry stamp for Bolivia. Then we traveled onwards (same bus) to the town of Copacabana. Here we had a short lunch break – before boarding another bus for the second part of the journey to La Paz.
After some time on the bus we had to leave again to cross a short strip of Lake Titicaca by ferry. The bus was loaded on one boat, while the passengers got on a separate passenger boat.
In the evening – the last official evening and the last dinner with Carla. We went to El Lobo restaurant for some good and cheap pasta – followed by an early night (as consequence from the night before).
We left Uyuni around midnight by train (with the crazy experience of boarding a train carriage without a train…) – and arrived in Oruro about 7.5 hours later; from here we continued to La Paz by bus, where we arrived at around 11:00 – and in time for a quick tour around the city center.
After our return to Uyuni, we made it over to the train cemetery. The cemetery consists of a collection of decaying steam trains and fitting rail cars. Obviously it is the cheapest option to leave the trains rotting on instead of getting their metal re-used or putting them in a museum – anyway an interesting playground for us (i.e. the male part of the group…).
After the train cemetery we returned to Uyuni and the hotel to get a shower, internet, some sleep and a slice of one of the best pizzas I ever had – thanks to Chris 🙂
This gallery contains 16 photos.
We had an early start today – to be in time in the Salar for sunrise. After sunrise and breakfast at the Isla de los Pescadores (once more) we drove through the Salar to Volcan Tunupa. Here we had a … Continue reading
This gallery contains 16 photos.
Today we started out two day excursion around the Salar de Uyuni. we were picked up at around 10:00 by our guides and their 4WDs – and went off for two amazing days into the Salar de Uyuni, the biggest … Continue reading
We left Potosi in the morning; quickly the road became a bumpy dirt road, no good outlook for this six hours bus ride.
However – as soon as we left town also the scenario opened, revealing amazing views and more amazing views, some reminding me of the Grand Canyon, others of the Black/White Desert in Egypt, others of the area around Lake ErHai near Dali, China (except for the lake, of course). To summarize – for me it was the most amazing bus ride so far, independent from the road condition.
This gallery contains 14 photos.
Today we were heading out to explore the mines of Cerro Rico. After having been picked up at the hotel, we were brought to a place to get our mining gear. The Miner’s Market was the next step to buy … Continue reading
This gallery contains 16 photos.
Potosi, located at 4090 meters above sea level – the highest city (of its size) in the world – and historically the silver city. Some time in the 16th century silver was discovered in nearby Cerro Rico, this led to … Continue reading
Originally my plan for this day was to do a hike (Joyride‘s hike 3) – but it could not take place, as they did not have a guide for this hike. Instead of following Kathleen and the others to Locots (where they have been able to book a similar hike), I signed up for a horseback ride.
The ride was scheduled to start at 10:00 in the morning, however was moved into the afternoon due to bad weather conditions. This gave us some more time to discover town and visit the market, the Casa de la Libertad, as well as the cathedral.
In the afternoon (around 13:30) our horseback ride started, after about 15 minutes on the back of mine (named Tobacco) I realized that I got the slow one (thank god) – and that David got the crazy (= unstoppable) one.
After another hour I promised myself that the next time I will see horse, it will be on a plate and either cooked, grilled or smoked.
