A Bolivian Birthday

Our final blog entry on our travels in Bolivia begins with the white city of Sucre and Caroline's 28th Birthday. A night bus arrival into Sucre saw us find ourselves (again) in less than classy accommodations, something Caroline was a little un-impressed with given the significant event approaching. Never fear - Mat had used an hour of time on his own in Sucre to lay plans for a few birthday treats.

Caroline awoke to a birthday breakfast in bed of fresh fruit and yoghurt, accompanied by the smallest birthday candle available from the local market. A small gift of chocolates (Sucre is the chocolate capital of Bolivia - not a big undertaking, just need two chocolate shops to take that title) was un-wrapped, followed by news that a three and a half hour spa session (massage, facial, manicure and pedicure) had been booked.

While being pampered, Mat was able to pack up and vacate the dodgy accommodations from the night previous, and move into the best hotel room in Sucre at the Capital Plaza. The bathroom in the suite alone was bigger than all accommodations used in the previous 4 months, and came with a massive spa bath, real hot water (not heated by a dodgy element plugged into the wall) and a toilet with heated seat.


The walk in wardrobe off the bedroom would have housed a small Chinese family, while the super king bed and bigscreen TV were imported from nearby Argentina. The drawing room got little use, though the fridge was handy for keeping the banana splits chilled while the spa bath filled. A great treat after shared bathrooms and rooms that get no warmer than 3 degrees.


Birthday dinner consisted of a sunset, bottle of reisling (apparently - tasted more like chardonnay) and antipasto platters from the mirador above Sucre. A relaxing and semi-normal day was had before returning to the adventures of travelling.

Now anyone that has lived with Mat will know well his feelings on the financial cost of attending the movies in Aotearoa. Increases in the price of tickets and the cost of 'Tangy Fruits' at Hoyts which well outpace the rate of inflation raise Mat's temper to fever pitch. Thus, a chance to attend the movies within the third world economy of Bolivia was not to be missed.

For 25 Bolivianos, or NZ$4.00, we were able to both attend the new Fantastic Four movie - in english - with a drink each, a massive serving of microwave popcorn and chips (a far cry from the NZ$42.00 we would have been stung in New Zealand). The movie was not proceeded by advertisements for 'Mico Wakefield' or 'Martin Roberts Mitsubishi Motors', but a substantial series of previews, and while the movie was decidedly average, the resident cat in the movie theatre and low cost more than made up for it.

While our time in Sucre was pretty low key, we did manage a visit to the famed cemetary. An amazing place covering a city block, the cemetary begins with a series of impressive mausoleums, housing the remains of Bolivia's most influential families. These make way to a series of concrete coffin shelves - concrete walls which shelve coffins in rows. Coffins are shelved end first, stacked 7 high in rows of up to 100. Families take pride in ormenting the visible end of the coffin.

After about 50 of these structures (spots still available if interested), the cemetary concludes in a chaotic mess of headstones where the poorer are remembered. We'd like to say they're buried, but if this is the case, they'd have to be folded like origami to fit between plots or buried on top of each other.

During our final day in Sucre, we found ourselve amongst demonstrations to return Sucre as the full capital of Bolivia (it is currently only the judicial capital). With tens of thousands of people gathering to deliver their message, we found ourselves amongst an opportunity to rack up another appearance on foreign television. Caroline stepped up and followed the Bolivian reporting live from the rally like a bad smell, being rewarded with at least two waving and smiling appearances in the background of important interviews.

From Sucre, we flew through the mining town of Potosi, stopping for the cheapest meal of our travels thus far (NZ$1.00 for 2 hamburgers and 2 scoops of chips) and a tour of one of the local silver mines. The tour was very interesting, beginning with a visit to the market to pick up gifts for the miners. On offer was a litre of booze (96% alcohol - probably ethanol or left over fuel from the spaceship), a pack of ciggies, coca leaves (from which cocaine is derived - used to supress the appetitie and fatigue), dynamite or 2 litre bottles of soda.

After expressing to our guide that we didn't want to purchase gifts that would further contribute to the early death of more miners, we left with soda and coca leaves in hand and commenced the tour. The tour took us 2kms into the mountain to see operations first hand. Fair to say that the working conditions are tough and labour laws are relaxed at best - best exemplified by the two miners taking shots of ethanol in between wiring 12 sticks of dynamite together!

Our final act in Bolivia was to head to Uyuni and join four other travellers for a three day tour of the Uyuni salt flats and desert. Our fellow travellers - Sarah (art teacher) and Andy (chippy), a British couple cycling around Bolivia, and Jo (Kiwi travel agent) and John (British diver and professional photographer), a couple who've been travelling for a year to date - were a fantastic group and heaps of fun to be with for three days in a Toyota Landcruiser (interestingly, 24 out of 25 tour operators in Uyuni prefer Toyota).

The tour sets out from the Bolivian train cemetary, where a few dozen relics of the Bolivian rail system have been layed to rest in the desert. Of note was one engine with 'se necesita un mecanico con experienca' written on it. Loosely translated, 'In urgent need of a mechanic with experience'.

From here, it is on to the Uyuni salt flats, a massive lake of dried salt punctured by the odd isolated island covered in cactus. This amazing setting lends itself to trick photography, something we'd prepared for before leaving Uyuni - the results demonstrated below.

After a night in a salt hotel (everything - walls, beds, chairs - made of salt) our second day consisted of desert, volcanoes, lakes and flamingos which provided for some truly spectacular scenery. The only intrusion on these great sights were a dutch couple in another truck who we named 'Farty Dutchman' & 'Axeface'. He seemed to relish in farting continously while she, with the face only a mother could love, chain smoked her way through the trip.

After a chilly night at 4,600 metres, our final day began with an impressive visit to geysers and hot pools. Things turned awkward though at the hot pools when Farty Dutchman nuded up for a dip, farted some more before everyone in the thermal pool vacated - Axeface watching on with a lung-dart in each hand.

The final sight was the beautiful frozen green lake in the shadow of the impressive Volcan Licanabur. From here, we crossed into Chile, learning en route of another tour group that had driven the tour themselves after throwing their very drunken guide and driver from their Toyota Landcruiser on the second morning.

We're now in Chile, which has been a financial shock to the system after Bolivia. US$8 per night was the norm in Bolivia for a private room with queen bed - cheapest we've found here is US$24 for a set of bunks! And the local price for that is 12,000 pesos! Random...

We've therefore re-shuffled the itinerary to free up more time in Argentina where we've planned a rather hectic three weeks which will take us to Patagonia in the south. Just the 24 hour bus ride this afternoon to Santiago then...