As is custom with Rotary clubs around the world, my Rotary Club here in Bolivia hosted a tour-trip around the country for all the Rotary Youth Exchange students. The trip lasted 10 days and went to almost all the major cities and famous Bolivian wonders. About 17 rotary students went, including students living in Santa Cruz, Oruro, and Sucre.
PHOTOS AND INFO IN THIS SECTION ARE FROM:
SUCRE:
The first day we left out of the Santa Cruz airport and headed to Sucre. Thanks to the high elevation of the Andes Mountains, the majority of Bolivia is considerably colder than Santa Cruz, and I found myself in long-sleeved shirts with jackets for the majority of the trip. In Sucre, we visited a few different churches and Casa de la Libertad (Liberty House), which used to serve as Bolivia’s high court. Today, it is part of a museum. Sucre, like most of Bolivia, is also quite hilly compared to Santa Cruz. Being at high altitude, this made walking a pain.
After 100ft of walking, my breathing could be compared to that of an older, out-of-shape runner who had just barely finished a marathon.
The second day we took a bus to Tarabuco, a small village outside of Sucre renowned for it’s knitting. We ate lunch in a local restaurant there, and walked around admiring all the handmade quilts and fabrics. When we returned to Sucre that night, we had the chance to walk around the plaza (for what walking around we could manage), and I met with a huge surprise when I was pelted with water balloons by some of the local kids. Apparently they are already gearing up for the celebration of Carnaval in February.
PHOTOS AND INFO IN THIS SECTION ARE FROM:
POTOSÍ:
On day 3 we left Sucre by bus and went to Potosí. Potosí is a mining town founded in the Andes Mountains. It was founded for the workers of the nearby mine of Cerro Rico where workers mostly extract silver and zinc (though many other minerals have been found in the past, including a little bit of gold).
We had a tour guide take us, all in full mining attire, into Cerro Rico. Before leaving we stopped at a small shop where we purchased gifts of coca leaves, juice, cigarettes,
dynamite, and small bottles of 100% pure alcohol for the miners. Coca leaves are chewed as stimulants that help miners go for longer periods of time without eating. I, myself, also made use of these leaves because they help fight altitude sickness. Don't worry though-- although coca leaves can be used to make cocaine, the leaves themselves are not drugs. However, despite all the coca leaves, coca tea, and altitude pills, I still came down with a pretty bad case of altitude sickness, which involved more than several instances of vomiting out of bus windows.
Also, before heading to the mine, we shared a small bottle of the pure alcohol. The religious practices of the natives involve drinking a small amount of this alcohol and then offering some to Pachamama (who can be compared to mother earth) by pouring a bit on the ground and then stomping on it.
After purchasing gifts for the miners, we got in another bus and headed up the mountainside. Inside the mine, we toured around learning all about the mine's history and its workers. Average pay for a worker in the mines today is around 35 bolivianos (about US$5) for a full day’s work, which we were informed is actually quite good—enough to support a family. I
nside the mine I saw several veins of zinc, lots of sparkling pyrite, and tons of some beautiful, white, crystalline substance. When I asked what this gorgeous white mineral was, my urge to find a little to take home with me was completely overthrown; it was arsenic.
Deeper in the mine we came across a statue of Tio. Tio is essentially God, and it is said that all miners must pay him respect if they intend to find anything of value within the mines. Our tour guide, a native and speaker of Quechua, immediately did a small circular dance upon arrival at the statue of Tio. He then explained who Tio was, and gave a few offerings of coca leaves and pure alcohol (which he made a particular point of splashing on the statue’s prominent bright red member, saying that it represented fertility—Tio makes love to the Pachamama.)
Our guide also taught us a few Quechua words just for fun. The only one I really remember is “munacuyqui” (sounds like “moon-uh-quick-ie”) which means “te quiero” or “I love you” (but in the non-romantic way).
Outside of the mine, our guide gave us a demonstration on how the miners put together dynamite. Using a fuse that was particularly long for demonstration reasons, he lit a stick of dynamite and proceeded to pass it around for silly pictures until the fuse became short. Then he ran a ways down the mountainside, set it down, and came back just in time for the explosion. It was awesome! I have never been that close to exploding dynamite in my life… the whole ground shook from under me!
Later, we headed to the Convent Santa Teresa in Potosí. This is probably the most interesting museum I have ever visited in my life, and I am proud to say that my Spanish is good enough to enjoy museums to that extent. We learned all about how royal families from Europe (who came to Potosí to bask in the riches that the miners dug up for them) would often send their 2nd born (if a daughter) to this convent in order to forgive the sins of the rest of the family by offering their daughter's life to religion. The girls always came on their 15th birthdays, and there were never more than 21 girls in the convent at one time (because 7 x 3 = 21, and 7 and 3 are both holy numbers in the Catholic religion…
7 days of creation, and 3 for the trinity). The women lived inside the convent, and after entering they were never given a chance to leave or make any kind of connections with the outside world. The women even had to bury their own dead (with lime) within the church, only to dig them up 2 years later and move the now-preserved bodies to their final resting spots. The stories of these women who went from lives of royalty to lives of silence, prayer, and baking sweets absolutely fascinated me. In the beginning, they weren’t even allowed to see their families, though they could talk to them through a black veil. Today, of course, they are allowed to talk to and hug their families, and even leave the convent whenever they please.
PHOTOS AND INFO IN THIS SECTION ARE FROM:
UYUNI:
On day 4 we left Potosí by bus, and this time headed to Salar de Uyuni, or the salt flats of Uyuni. This is the largest salt desert in the entire world, measuring 12,000sq km and containing around 90% of the world’s salt (though I don’t believe that many other countries actually use salt mined from here-- it's a pretty much an untouched resource). As you come upon it, it seems like driving through dirty snow. However, the longer you drive, the whiter the snow (salt) becomes, until, eventually, looking around the desert becomes absolutely blinding without sunglasses because the ground is so perfectly brilliant in every direction. The only other colors to be seen are in the blue, cloudy sky.
The sun reflects off the ground and easily makes for
the worst sunburn of your life what with UV rays form both above and below. For me, it did exactly that. But—it was totally worth it. This desert was actually considered for a place in the 7 wonders of the world, and if you ask me, it definitely should have won. Salar de Uyuni is hands-down the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life.
Since everything is white as far as the eye can see, it also makes for great trick-photography.
We visited a salt refinery and learned about how they collect, dry, iodize, and bag the salt. The entire process is done by hand—bag by bag. Each bag is even sealed by hand using a hot flame.
We then drove across the salt desert for a few hours and stopped at a hotel made of salt as well as Isla del Pescado (Fish Island), a fish-shaped island within the “lake” of salt.
Since the perfect white salt had a resemblance of snow, it was spectacular to see right next to the giant 1000-year-old cacti on the island. We ate llama for lunch, and when we left the island, I sat on top of the 4-wheeler as we drove across the desert. It was SOOOO beautiful! The wind and watery salt blew in my face as we drove, coating my hair and entire body with a layer of salt. Little did I care at the time, but it would make my sunburn hurt just that much worse later on.
When we finally left Uyuni, we headed to a Train Cemetery where lay tons of rusted out old train parts in the middle of the desert. History plays a big role in the story of these trains, but as of yet there is no museum or guide to explain why these trains stopped their trip into Bolivia.
That night we headed back to Potosí for the night in what should have been a bearably long bus ride. However, thanks to mechanical problems, the bus had to stop twice so the driver could do emergency repairs. It turned into an 11-hour long painful bus adventure, complete with sore sunburns, a lack of aloe vera, and a completely filled bus—topped off with hitchhikers who slept in the aisles between the seats using our feet as pillows. I finally drifted off to sleep around 2am in the morning while we were on bus fix #2, and a few hours later we finally managed to reach our hotel for the night.
PHOTOS AND INFO IN THIS SECTION ARE FROM:
LA PAZ:Though I didn’t get much sleep that night, the next day, day 5, was delightfully low-key. We visited la Casa de la Moneda where they used to mint the country’s money (logical, right? since Potosí is the source of the country’s silver). After that, we took another bus to Sucre and then flew to La Paz for the night.
Day 6 we spent in La Paz. In the morning we saw several different museums in la Calle Jaen. However, if I tried to tell you something about these museums I would only be working off of what other people told me—the fact of the matter is I was absolutely wiped out with altitude sickness and sunburn pains to the point where I fell asleep on the stairs of one of the museums until some European tourists came along and found me and offered me coca leaves to chew on and revive me. While I realize now that “accepting coca from strangers” ought to fit into that little book of things your mother always tells you not to do, it certainly did do the trick. Within a few minutes I was feeling a lot better and managed to get the strength to follow the group, though groggily, through the rest of the museums.
Later that night when I was feeling better, we went to la Calle de las Brujas (Witch’s Street) which is a fairly famous street in La Paz known for selling all kinds of typical Bolivian items (lots of alpaca-wool clothing, jewelry, and llama fetuses). I had read about this street before visiting, and was particularly excited about buying a llama fetus, which Bolivians sell as offerings for Pachamama. However, it turns out that llama fetuses actually smell quite bad, and I couldn’t fathom carrying one around in my suitcase for the rest of the trip—let alone trying to keep it in one piece until my return to the states.
PHOTOS AND INFO IN THIS SECTION ARE FROM:
COPACABANA/ISLA DEL SOL:On day 7 we left La Paz and headed out to Copacabana. Copacabana is a city right on the edge of Lake Titicaca, the highest (elevation) navigable lake in the world. We ate lunch there, and then headed out in a small boat to la Isla del Sol (Sun Island). Isla del Sol is gorgeous.
The base of it is covered in the ruins of Incan structures, which the Incans built as one of their last stops on the way to Machu Picchu.
Isla del Sol was built for the men who searched for the “inner fire that does not burn” which, upon explanation, sounded to me to be a concept quite similar to that of enlightenment. The nearby Isla de la Luna (Moon Island), which I did not have the opportunity to visit, was meant to be a haven for the women.
We hiked to the top of the Isla del Sol were we found a village and a beautiful hotel where we stayed the night. One of the girls on the trip had her birthday that night, and as a gift we rented one of the local llamas for a few hours and took turns taking pictures and walking around with it. The view from the hotel was amazing—it is no wonder to me that the Incans decided to build on this island.
On day 8, our Isla del Sol tour guide showed us the Fountain of Youth (as built by the Incans) on the island. We all took turns drinking and splashing the fountain’s water on ourselves.
One boy in the group stripped down to his boxer’s and bathed in it. Then we went down to the water's edge and “swam” in Lake Titicaca. It could hardly be called much of a swim, however, because the water is so cold that I barely had enough strength to pull myself back out after I had jumped in. Needless to say, the locals looked at us as though we were absolutely crazy.
After that, we crossed the lake in a boat again and headed back to La Paz. We had a few hours of free time in La Paz, and two of my friends and I took the opportunity to go around with a list of questions and interview a few local merchants.
We wanted to ask them about who they are and their thoughts about the country’s political situation. On January 25th there will be a referendum vote that will take place to pass (or revoke) president Evo Morales’ new constitution. Although the majority of the country is expected to vote it in, the city where I live is very much against Morales and all his moves. Thus, it was an interesting change to have the opportunity to chat with people of differing viewpoints in La Paz. However, we soon learned that it was not easy to talk to people on the streets. We met several people who didn’t speak Spanish (only Quechua), and several more that were simply too shy to respond to us.
We initially set out with a US mentality, which is to say, if you want to ask people questions, you have to have a cause.
But after several of my friends’ failed attempts of presenting ourselves as university students with a few inquiries, I realized something that probably should have been obvious from the beginning: Bolivian street merchants in La Paz are not formally educated people, and our presentation did not make ourselves seem credible (as it would in the States) so much as intimidating.
On this thought, I went up to a flower saleswoman in the plaza and, addressing her with respect, told her I was a just high school kid in Bolivia for the first time and trying to learn a little Spanish. I told her I was interested in her city, and asked if I could ask her a bit more about it. Just like that, we got our first interview.
I can’t say that I learned a ton by talking with these people, but it was definitely interesting to do. I only met one merchant who had had the opportunity to enter college, and I met several who had never even been to high school. Most were working shops as a continuation of their parents work. To me, these kinds of people are just as fascinating to meet as people with multiple college degrees. In some respects, they are more fascinating—partly because I haven’t met many people with these kinds of backgrounds in my life.
When I asked what the people wanted in their government, almost everyone told me they seek a leader who will listen to the voice of the people and help with the poverty of the country. It is for this very reason that Evo Morales was elected—Morales is known for going from town to town to talk with individuals, and though he is not well-educated (and in fact dropped out of high school), he represents the one-on-one attention that Bolivian citizens crave.
As an ambassador, I will neither say that I approve or disapprove of the current president. I honestly don’t think I know enough about the situation to say one way or the other anyways. However, I will say that Bolivia's political situation is an interesting one to think about and meditate on.
On day 9 we went to the airport in La Paz around 1pm in the afternoon. Our plane was initially supposed to leave at 2pm to take us to Cochabamba from where we would later fly to Tarija for the night. However, a series of delays pushed back our flight until 4:30, 5:30, 8:30… and before we knew it we found ourselves sadly scratching Cochabamba out of the itinerary. When nighttime came we began wondering about the possibility of having to spend another night in La Paz, and were curious if the airline would give us hotel vouchers. But, the airline (which unlike US airlines has no reason to give out vouchers in order to keep a good name, since it already has a monopoly on in-country flights around Bolivia) refused to cancel our flight, saying that the airplane would surely come in just 10 more minutes, 20 more minutes, one more hour…. After midnight, a small riot began. People began shouting at airport security and personnel and insisting monetary compensation for their wait. The airline had shuttled us through to the pre-boarding section to raise our hopes that the planes were coming. When we learned this wasn’t at all true, the people banded together and pushed back through the security checkpoints, which is really quite illegal, and headed to the employee-only area where they insisted on “talking” with someone.
It was fairly dramatic, and it only added to the drama to know that the head and loudest voice amongst the screaming Bolivians was our Rotary tour guide.
In the end, the plane finally came. We had waited for 13-hours in the airport, but the airline gave out no vouchers, and we spent the night in Tarija as originally planned.
One interesting thing that we did see during our stay in the airport was a couple who had just been married. Apparently it is a kind of custom to walk around the entire “village” right after a wedding, and the bride and groom had even made it to the airport.
PHOTOS AND INFO IN THIS SECTION ARE FROM:
TARIJA:The 10th and final day we spent in Tarija. Tarija is famous for its vineyards, and we visited a small one called Casa Vieja. There, we had the opportunity to taste all the different wines that they make there—all of which were quite sweet.
We ate lunch in the local Mercado—a local dish called Saice.
Then we drove out into the Tarija countryside and walked along a pathway through the woods to arrive at several giant waterfalls. We spent a little time swimming there before packing up, driving to the airport, and, with only a one-hour airline delay, returning to Santa Cruz.
Overall it was an interesting and fun trip. Hope you all enjoy the stories and photos… I know I wrote a lot, but… there was a lot to be said!
Maija
