המסע המופלא

In La Paz there is one thing that I couldn't find in other Bolivian cities: traffic lights for pedestrians.
Today I went to the Coca museum. This museum shows the importance of the coca leaves to the Andean culture, and its main these is that everything was alright until the west came and began abusing the coca for its own needs (they claimed Coca-Cola buys every year thousands of tons of coca leaves for savoring the drink). They sold there "Coca sweets", which are coca leaves extracts blended with honey. Actually, the honey taste is quite dominating, but it gives the numb sensation in the mouth one gets when chewing coca leaves. Of course I bought some.
Tomorrow I am going to a tour up the Huayna Potosí­, which is a mountain of 6088 meters. They said the success rates are 65%, so I hope I'll make it...

// posted by Ariel @ 04:09 |

Today I rode the "death road" to Coroico on a bicycle. What an awesome experience!
The "death road" is probably called so due to the fact that it is very narrow, and has a very steep fall on one side, which leads to a high rate of cars falling of the edge, but for bikes it is actually quite safe, and it is a very popular tour from La Paz.
We (I and some other Israelis, two guides and a driver) started at a high point (around 4700 meters) and from there we started riding downhill. The view was really amazing, and the weather was perfect - not too hot or too cold. There was actually one uphill part, but we did it by car... (I was actually for riding it also, but most of the group didn´t want). After 5 hours approximately, we got to the lowest point, Yolosa, at around 1300 meters. Some stayed there (at Coroico, actually), while others, including me, went back to La Paz with the car. The way up on the road with the car was actually much more scarier...
Here are some photos.
In picture 12 you can see a truck which slipped off the road a week ago. The guide told us that it turned out that the driver was drunk. The usual conclusion: Don´t drink and drive, especially not on this road.
In picture 23 you can see the two guides: On the right, Juan the Argentinean, and on the left, Noel the Bolivian. And here is a joke Juan told (I modified it slightly):
A Japanese comes to a Bolivian who is fiddling with a motorcycle and asks him: "Suzuki?". The Bolivian answers: "Si, mi zuki!"

Anyway, now I am in La Paz, in an Israeli hotel, and there are really a lot of Israelis here.

// posted by Ariel @ 06:13 |

Here I am back from a four day trip to the Salar and the nearby region, waiting for the bus to La Paz this evening.
The first day of the trip was mainly a driving day. Its main attractions were the train cemetery, where old trains (with vapor engine) were rotting, and the "colonial style church of San Cristobal." The church and all the village were moved from their previous place nearby, because silver and gold where found there, and an American company paid Bolivia 500 miliard dollar to exploit it. Now they are just waiting to the construction of an asphalt road to begin work.
The second day was already more interesting. We (I, another Israeli, two Germans and an English couple) woke up very early in the morning (4 am), so we could see the geysers at sunrise. These were quite impressive, being pools of bubbling water and vaporing steam. As it was very cold outside we tried in vain to get warmer by the hot vapor, but we were warned not to fall into the boiling water. Later that day, however, we came to hot springs were we ate breakfast. Suprisingly, only the Israelis went into the water to enjoy their warmth. From there we continued to the Laguna Verda, a lake whose color is sometime green due to arsenic in the water. The main attraction of it, however, was due to the fact it was mostly frozen and we could walk upon it. The same day we also saw Laguna Colorada, a more impressive red lake (due to allgies), and in a hotel near by we slept (it is practically in the middle of nowhere).
The third day was saw a great deal of flamingos, which seemed to me quite funny, especially due to their very tall and thin legs. Other animals we observed were vecuñas (an uncultivated relative of the llama) and visquaches (small rodents with long tail, that somehow resemble small kangaroos). Another highlight of day was a semi-active volcano. This turned out to be a totally normal mountain with some smoke going of its top. In the night we slept in a town called San Jose de Rosario, which had a nearby Pre-Inca grave site. There, lying in the middle of open volcanic rocks, laid 800 years mummies or their remains (mostly the skull and some bones). A creepy experience...
As promised, the most impressive and beautiful day was the forth and final one (today). We woke up early and arrived at the Salar de Uyuni (which was once also called Salar de Thunupa, as the volcanic mountain nearby) to see the sunrise. The soil, as distant as the eye could see, was salt-white and shaped in polygons caused by the drying of the salt. In the horizon, however, red and brown mountains were apparent, and there was also a small rock island in the middle of the Salar, on which giant cactuses grow...
Well, enough with these descriptions. Hopefully I will be able to upload some pictures.
And, to all who were concerned, I became better.

// posted by Ariel @ 22:42 |

Now I am in Uyuni and again sick. This time the problem is in the stomach. I went to the local hospital to seek a doctor. The hospital looked more like a clinic but the doctors were very nice and professional. Tomorrow I will probably do the tour in Salar de Uyuni, the greatest and highest salt area in the world.

// posted by Ariel @ 21:52 |

In the weekend I went to a hike of two days on the Kari Kari (Quechua for man man) mountains near Potosí. These mountains are quite arid and rocky, and reminded me of the Negev in some senses. However, there are a lot of water streams up there (it is above 4000 meters), which suprisingly (for me) were quite icy all day long. Most of the there was only me and the guide (who turned out to be 13 years old child, though the agency promised a "trekking specialist"), but from time to time we could see llamas and locals. Another interesting feature was the artificial lakes that we passed, which supplies water to the city of Potosí and the town of Chaqui, where we ended the tour in a hot bath from hot springs water.
Here are some pictures from the hike as well as the mines.

// posted by Ariel @ 05:47 |

Yesterday I visited the mines of Potosí. It was an interesting experience but also terrible and quite hard. When the Spaniards found the mines in Cerro Rico, they extracted from them pure silver. Actually, they extracted so much silver they could have built a bridge from Potosí to Europe with it, but in the process some 8 million Indian and black slaves died (so told me an American in the Pantanal). Today, however, there is no much silver left. The miners there are arranged in small cooperatives and mine mostly led, zinc and some silver. As this is not so profitable, their working conditions are quite hard, though they arrange them themselves.
First we went to the miners' market and bought some presents to the miners (mostly dynamite, coca leaves and soft drinks). Then we went to a separation facility, and saw how it worked. It turned out that they export pulvarized zinc, led and silver but the melting itself is done in Europe or the United States (and then Bolivia buys back the metals in higher price, ironically). For the separation and analysis they use a chemical method called the "flotation method". (It seems there is no spectrometry involved...)
We entered one of the mines in what is called "the first level", 300 meters of rock above our heads. In that level trolleys full of minerals were running quite fast, so from time to time we had to go quickly to the side of the way to avoid colision with them. As we descended the air became more hot and dense, and we saw some workers filling baskets with broken rock. As we came down to the forth level (75 meters under the first one), it became really scary, as we had to climb ladders. When there was a change of ladder, there was quite a big gap between them... Unfortunately, I didn't photograph this, as I was concentrated not falling in a ten meter pit. When we came down, eventually, we saw this worker preparing a hole for dynamite with a hammer and a big spike. He works there 8 hours a day, alone, and normally he manages to do two holes, as the rock is quite hard.
In the way up (even more scary than the way down), I became really dizzy. Probably it was a combination of the dense air, the low concentration of oxygen due to the high altitude and the fact that I ate only two breads for breakfast (I hurried to the tour). So naturally I became really glad when we came out to the fresh air and blinding sun. And this was my feeling only after 3 hours in the mines... My conclusion: I am certainly not going to pursue a mining carreer.

Today I went to the Tarapaya hot bath. That was quite a different experience. The hot water of the springs is poured into swimming pools, and a lot of Bolivian families were playing water ball or just relaxing there. It was really warm and friendly, and in the background I could see a spectacular mountain scenery.

Tomorrow I intend to go for a day and a half hike in the mountains here. So I will update after that, hopefully.

// posted by Ariel @ 02:34 |

Today I came to Potosí, the highest city in world of its size (whatever that means). First impression: It´s really verrry cold!
Two nights ago I saw in Sucre a free concert of a group called "Desde El Alma" (from the spirit). They played two guitars, two charangas (like a small guitar) and one acordion. It kind of reminded me of "Bataverna"... When two dancers began preforming to the sound of the music, the audiance was really beside itself! To me it looked very Spanish, actually, as they were dancing (a man and a woman) while holding two nappkins, with which they tried to seduce each other.

// posted by Ariel @ 02:25 |

First of all, here are some photos from Samaipata.
You can see me in front of the hotel, in which I stayed together with the Swiss couple . You can see El Fuerte (the Pre-Inca cermonial site), and you can see Samaipata from a distance, seen on the way back from El Fuerte. The Tocan is not from Samaipata, but rather from the hotel in Santa Cruz.

I am still in Sucre, though I feel a bit better. Yesterday I went to the Tarabuco market one hour from Sucre. On the way there I met an Israeli guy and a Dutch and Australian girls, so we took a taxi there together. The market was quite touristy, though they did sell nice stuff (mainly Bolivian handmade textiles). The only irritating thing was that the locals there were all the time nagging you and trying to see you stuff, even when you were eating.

Here are some photos from Sucre, and their descriptions:
522 - view outside Sucre
524 - explanation about the dinosaur footprints
527 - dinosaur footprints
528 - I and the first footprints discovered
530 - more footprints
531 - view from the quarry with the footprints
532 - the Bolivian supreme high court in Sucre
534 - view of Sucre from Bolivar place
536 - a miniature model of the Eiffel tower in Sucre (Yeah, they really have that, and I went up on it, and it is quite scary, as it moves with the wind)
539 - view of Sucre from the Paris wheel (they have that too, but it´s not so big)
541 - view of Sucre from Rigoleta place
543 - Sucre by night, from Cafe Mirador (near Rigoleta place)
544 - the main square of Tarabuco
545-548 - in Tarabuco market
549 - a French guy from Evian in the Alpes (
550 - From left to Right: I, Kobi the Israeli, Jen the Australian and Dionna the Dutch
551 - View of the Andees on the way back from Tarabuco
554 - In Joy Ride Cafe in Sucre

// posted by Ariel @ 22:58 |

I really like Sucre. The amiance is good, the women are good-looking, the streets are pleasent to walk in, and sometimes there is a line of sight to the magnificant mountains around the city. In a pharaphrase: "In Sucre you don't know anybody, and nobody knows you, but still you feel at home."

// posted by Ariel @ 21:32 |

Santa Cruz was quite boring, so I continued with a Swiss couple to the small village of Samaipate. This is really a nice village (the tourist brochure said "picturesque") with great view, and very high prices for food (the prices were almost Israeli, and actually they also had there a falafel, though it didn't resemble our falafel).
The weather was quite awful, so we just went to see the nearby pre-Inca and Inca ruins called El Fuerte. It was very interesting: It is a ceremonial site, which dates back to 1500 BC (the Chana culture), but later was changed by the proceeding cultures (Guanari and Inca). As it is usually with archeology, you can't see too much, so imagination is necessary. This was especially the case with us, as the view was quite foggy.
The afternoon I went to the local chess club and was beaten twice by two Bolivian kids...
The evening I continued to Sucre (while waiting to the bus, I met an Israeli family), where I am now. Sucre is much more beautiful than Santa Cruz, and there is sometimes a great view of the Andes. I went today to see a wall in which there are hundredth of dinosaur footprints. This was really fascinating! Just thinking that the dinosaurs walked around there 150 millions years ago, and their footsteps were fosilized to this day...
Unfortunately, I am sick (probably cold). So I think I'll stay here and rest, but I hope it won't take too much time. Luckily, the owner of my hotel is also a doctor :=)

// posted by Ariel @ 03:50 |