Wednesday, 6 January 2010

Altitude, speed bumps and a llama whisperer...

Bolivia is amazing. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!

The past few weeks have included;

galloping through the same countryside where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid saw the end of their days planning to rob a train going through the salt mines

a breathtaking 4 day tour around the southwest of Bolivia. Largest salt flats, highest lakes in the world, several thousand llamas and a night in a hotel built of salt: included. Running water: not included

Christmas dinner with 100 people in La Paz

avoiding the old Quecha lady trying to persuade me to buy a dried llama fetus...also in La Paz!

Mountainbiking on a 40 mile downhill road - the world´s most dangerous, apparently!

Hogmanay at a bizarre beach party in colonial Sucre, one of South America´s prettiest cities

....and finally, another bumpy transfer to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, where I am now!!

In short, I loved Bolivia. It´s unlike any other South American countries I´ve ever been to, except perhaps Ecuador. This is down to the striking, intense landscape and altitude (I didn´t get much below 3,000 metres in the whole trip), and more importantly to the incredibly well preserved Incan culture which prevails here. The people tend to be a little more reserved than in the rest of South America, however they make up for it in genuine warmth when you get to know them a little better. I´m almost missing the sense of adventure now I´m in Chile, which is extremely European. However things are much easier for me here, particularly as people seem to assume automatically that I´m either Argentinian or Brazilian (In Argentina they think I´m Chilean or Brazilian, in Brazil they think...well, you get the point!!) but I´m loving the increase in temperature!!

Photos in the next post....

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