Bolivia adventures.

From San Pedro de Atacama in chile we headed up into the mountains to cross one of the highest border crossings in the world as we made our way to the small village of Villimar. Todays drive was done at altitudes between 4000m and 5100m with the border crossing around the 4800m mark. At least there was no trekking so altitude sickness wasnt really a factor. Not long after the border crossing we entered Bolivia´s national park which is famous for is colourful high altitude lakes. The first lake was Laguna Blanca (white lake), followed by Laguna Verde (Green Lake) and to finish off Laguna Colorado. Laguan Colorado was the red lake and was at the days highest altitude of 5100m. In all of the lakes flamingoes could be seen feeding in the waters. The water in the lakes was acutally toxic to humans so no lake swimming, that and the fact that it was rather chilly. Also on the drive the the lakes we saw a number of wild guanacas (like llamas) and some herds of llamas.
We arrived to the little village of Villimar as night was setting in. The night was reasonably cold as we were still at an altitude of over 4000m. While here we had kids from the local school come to play music which featured the bamboo pipes, drums and a string instrument similar to a banjo.
The next morning we had a quick tour of Villimar before leaving. Part of the tour featured a plane wreck and some mummified human remains. The remains were mostly of skulls with a few bones as well. One skull had been eaten by maggots, however the freezing cold temperatures had preserved the maggot encrusted skull (yes I have photos of this fabulous site). The remains have actually been moved to the little village as a kind of mobid tourist attraction. After a walk around the village with the very timid locals just letting out a small smile and a quiet ´Hola´. After a short drive we arrived at a rocky outcrop, which had been eroded away over time to reveal some interesting shapes, that required a good imagination. Amongst the shapes were a lions head, the donosaur Barney and a parrot. There was also a very odd slow growing mossing here which turn to a kind of wood underneath the surface and it can be tapped to remove liquid. From here it was off towards the very small town of St Cristobal, passing through moe beautiful high altitude scenery featuring majestic mountains, mud huts, herds of llamas and more flocks of flamingoes. While visiting St Cristobal we saw many locals wearing the very colourful traditional dress. The school had just finished a fancy dress party with the kids in all forms of fancy dress including many western superhero´s. The city was actually moved by a USA firm, including the cemetry, for mining reasons. Our drive finished with us arriving at Uyusi. The thing to do in Uyusi is to have pizza in the what is supposedly the worlds highest pizza restuarant. The restuarant was actually owned by an american guy, so the pizzas were sensational. The other thing to do is buy the shirt to say you had pizza with altitude, which I did. While wondering through the town earlier made the most of the local markets to buy some decorative small blankets/tablecoths.
The real reason for stopping at Uyusi is not to have high altitude pizza, but to visit the slat lakes and do some strange photos which kind interfer with the perspective of things. These involved the appearance of coming out of beer bottles, been stomped on, hovering in the air and been cooked in a saucepan. While out of the salf flats we also visited the salt manufacturing plant. A fancy name for taking salt from the plains, grinding it down and the bagging it. There is a machine for the grinding down but the rest is done by hand. We also visited the salt mines which were in actual fact where the man dug the salt of the flats into mounds which were then loaded into the truck. there is a thin layer of water just below the surface of the salt flats and they scrap away the surface salt to a depth of about 1 inch and from this they form their mounds. They actually go a bit slat crazy on the flats, as they have even built a wlt hotel that you can stay in. Insdie the salt hotel are actual sculptures made out of salt, as well as salt table and chairs. We actually had our lunch in the salt hotel. The second last stop was fish island. It is called an island as it is the only land mass which protudes above the salt flats and it is shaped like a fish, hence its name. In reality it is a mass of land that is covered in cactus that was in the middle of the slat flats. The last stop was the train cemetry, which is exactly what it sounds like. When the trains are of use no longer they are driven out to this location and just left.
Another day on the road as we tralled to Potosi. The countryside was similar to the previous days, and as we were still at altitide we encountered more mountain peaks, and lots of herds of llamas. On arriving in Potosi we had a quick explore of the city which featured many colonial buildings with wooden verandha´s which have earnt it is place on the UNESCO world heritage list. One of the activities to do in Potosi was a mine tour, which we booked on to do the following afternoon. The following morning we explored some of the colonial buildings of Potosi and saw a big march featuring many marching bands. It soon became evident that marching bands are big things in Potosi because that night we saw another two different lots of marching bands going around the streets. Before embarking on the mine tour we had to buy some presents for the miners. These presents were coca leaves, dynamite, detonators, ammonia sulphate (for a bigger BANG!!) and some 96% alchol (like methylated spirits). Part of our pre mine tour education involved a quick lesson on how to chew the coca leaves, and to use the activator to get the good stuff out of the leaves. We tried wads of around 20 leaves and noticed a slight diffreence. The miners use half a mouthful. The coca apparently surpresses apitite and helps to prevent fatigue. We all opted for the adventure tour of the mines over the soft tour. We were kitted up with hard hats, waterproof clothing and head lamps and then off we set. Before long we were crawling through small gaps to where the miners were. Here we watched them in action with hammer and chisel and saw the gods that they worshipped. One god was Pachimama, which is a very popular god throughout Bolivia and and Peru. She is like the god of mother earth. The second god was a mining god of sorts whose name I have forgotten. He was a rather scary looking creature whose features included a very large penis. To worship the male god you pour some of the alcohol onto his eyes so that you may find the silver, onto the arms and legs for strength and onto the penis for fertility. You also give both gods some coca leaves. Worship of Pachimama involved pouring the alcohol onto the ground and asking for some blessings. You did this in basically the four directions of the compass. After scrambling in and out of different tunnels and up and down some walls for about an hour and half we finally re-emerged into daylight with stunning views of the city of Potosi. The mountain in Potosi which is the base of the sliver mines has actually shrunk by around 500m over the past 500 years since the spanish arrived.
Our mine tour finished with drinving along in our mini van while our guides loaded the pre-purchased pumpkin and dead chicken with dynamite, ammonia sulphate and the nitro glycerine detonators. all this was done while we were driving along bumpy roads. It was then time to explode our pumpking and chicken. What a BANG!!! You actually felt the force of the explosion hit your body, and has we didnt know what to expect there was a number of explitives uttered by us. This was how our time in Potosi came to an end. The next day was just a long drive into the crazy city of La Paz.