Coroico, Lake Titicaca (Bolivia)

             

After doing the world s most dangerous road we decided to take 2 days off in Coroico. We stayed in an Eco-Lodge called Hostal Sol y Luna recommended by an australian traveller. The hostel was located directly in the subtropical forest above the city offering some spectacular views. The surrounding nature is called Las Yungas, famous in Bolivia for its coca cultivation. After days of freezing it was a relief to stay in this subtropical area, especially for my ass who suffered a lot during the biking. But the whole thing had a big disadvantage: Sand flies. Above you can see my feet covered by their bites. They did not seem to itch that much in the beginning, but boy did we have fun after two weeks. Suddenly the bites came to live and were itching like crazy. We reckon to have raised the sells of relief creme in Bolivia by 100% for the last 2 weeks.

From Coroico we took a local bus back to La Paz from where we had a connection to lake Titicaca. In the bus we made friends with an Uruguayan guy. We spend two days together in Copacabana (lake Titicaca) trying to understand his fast, accent-swollen spanish. On the third day we went by boat to the Isla del Sol, where according to the myth the first Inka was born. We did a 10 km trekking from the north to the south of the island, at a height of 3800 meters under the burning sun. The spectacular views totally made up for the pain. Copacabana was our last stop in Bolivia. On the next day we took a bus to Arequipa, Peru, pics and stories follow….

World s most dangerous road

Monkey Jungle Restaurant Bird Love Spectacular view jungle road roadview Bike crowd World s most dangerous road Kamikaze Bjoern Exhausted View from the bike Offroad section Almost at the dirtroad Road Road to Hell Bike Explanations CrazyBjoern SuperBjoern

Welcome to the world s most dangerous road. It starts from La Paz and ends in Coroico. First we, the lucky 13, got on a bus in La Paz to get from 3300 meters to more than 4000 meters. Then the guide explained us the bikes, which were really good, mine was called Zorro. Then we biked for approximately 1 hour on concrete road to get used to the bike. It was only downhill, we reached a velocity of about 50 – 60 km/h. After 1 hour the world s most dangerous road began. It is dirtroad which falls off to one side for more than 100 meters, the other side is rock. The gravel makes it really slippy and the ground is sometimes wet, because small waterfalls rain down on it. In the past cars drove up the same road, but luckily the bolivians built a new road recently so it is actually not that dangerous any more. We came down from cold air, which contained little oxygen to a subtropical baisin with sandflies biting on every piece of skin they could find.The whole trip lasted 5 hours and Zorro really liked to whip my ass, i nearly could not sit afterwards. We got a nice dinner in a subtropical resort, which was home to formerly mistreated animals which seemed to enjoy their newly gained freedom a lot. They tried to steal our food ( and suceeded in some cases), it was a nice change after the somehow cold weather in La Paz.

Potosi, Sucre, La Paz

Jana in front of witch market La Paz 2 La Paz

We arrived in Uyuni, which is a small desert city right at the beginning of the salt desert. This meant only 5 minutes of hot water each day, but after three days in the desert even this was heaven. We spend one night in a low budget hostel, together with the guys we did the tour with. Sergio, the Italian is so funny. We went out with him and the two English to have dinner. The English girl called Rebecca is a vegetarian, which is not such a good choice in Bolivia. So we asked the waiter if there would be anything vegetarian on the menu. She replied no, so Sergio went into the kitchen of the restaurant to show them how to cook something vegetarian. Hilarious. 

On the next day we went from Uyuni to Potosi, which meant a 6 hour bus ride. It was the worst bus ride of our life. The entire trip was on dirtroad, with cliffs falling off at both sides. Our driver thought it would be the best idea to drive 100 km/h constantly and just honked his horn when we drove into a curve. There were almost constantly Llama or donkeys on the street, but that did not seem to bother our driver. He just kept his pace while honking his horn.  

However we arrived in Potosi, alive. At a height of 4060 meters Potosi is the highest city in the world. Potosi is famous for its mines. It was once Latin Americas richest cities, because silver was found here. It s still rich in other minerals, but the people living here seem to be very sad. One reason for this could be the mine work. People working in the mines are paid very good. But the price is high. Mine workers do not get older than 50 years, because they die of pulmonary diseases. When they enter the mines they drink 98 percent alcohol and chew on coca leaves all the time, because they can not stand the hard work otherwise. The temperature in the mines varies between -1 and + 40 degrees depending how deep they work. It must be hell and the workers worship the devil, who they call tio. You can do trips into the mines if you like to, but we did not, because Jana did not like to see the poor men working there.  We were constantly out of breath in Potosi, drank Mate de Coca all the time and had a good time with Sergio. Jana and I went to the aguas calientes to take a bath in almost 40 degree hot thermal water. We stayed for almost an hour and afterwards were kind of mentally degraded and soooo relaxed. 

Jana, Sergio and I then went on to Sucre, capital of Bolivia. What a difference. Sucre is a colonial city with white colonial buildings, young people all around, nice weather. We met a group of Canadians and English guys. After playing drinking games we went to the city s famous Holland owned Pub/Restaurant/Discotheque. After lots of laughs and dancing we decided to go to another discotheque after the first one closed. So we were standing on the street asking the taxi drivers if we could enter with 15 persons, bargaining the price and so on. Finally we entered a taxi with 5 persons. Through the whole way to the next club Christiano, a half Italian half Scottish guy, was going nuts about our driver s nice hair. He gave him a head massage and trying to kiss him all way long. Poor driver, but we could nearly breathe, because we had to laugh so hard.We spend two days in Sucre, enjoyed the sun and good food. 

Now we are in La Paz with 1.5 million inhabitants the biggest city of Bolivia. For the first time of our trip we stay in a hotel with three stars. Breakfast included we pay 10 euro for the night, so 5 euros each. Amazing, but true. Bolivia is so cheap, we had lunch today, including salad, soup, the main dish, a drink and dessert for 1 euro each. Even if you want to spend a lot of money you can t. Today we went to the coca museum. Tomorrow I will do a bicycle trip on the world s most dangerous road (for more information check out www.gravitybolivia.com) from La Paz to Coroico where we plan to spend two days. Jana will follow in a car, because she is so good in downhill mountain biking, that she would get bored on the way down. If I still live afterwards you ll see some nice pics. Then it s off to lake Titicaca and we are almost in Peru.    

Bolivia

Salt lake Salt use Inside the salt hotel Salt hotel It s magic Team Uyuni Cactuses salar in the back Jana and Bjoern cactus Cactus island Salar Our driver fixing the car Llama Paradise Mountain Flamingo lake Stone desert Flamingos Another Lagoon Stones in the middle of nowhere Arbol de Piedra Laguna colorada Stinking geysers Geysers Just your typical lagoon Little bath at 4000m Laguna verde Laguna blanca Bolivian Border Just before the bolivian border

From San Pedro de Atacama we went on a three day trip to Uyuni, Bolivia. If you have the opportunity to do the same we would strongly recommend it to do. We were a group of five persons: two english, one italian, Jana and me. After crossing the border of Bolivia we changed into a 4 x4 wheel jeep, which was necessary, because there are only dirtroads. Crossing the border we were already at a height of 4000 meters. So everything we did, we did really slow. Boy it s amazing how one s heart has to work at these heights. Your literary out of breath all the time. First stop was laguna blanca, a lagoon in the middle of the desert at more than 4000 meters. Afterwards we took a thermal bath. Then we went on to laguna verde, laguna colorada. It was the day of the lagoons. The last two lagoons inhabit flamingos, lots of them. I asked our driver if we could have flamingo soup for dinner, but he rejected to hunt one down. We spend the night in a very shady house at a height of 4900 meters.

I had a hard time arriving there, because i got the altitude sickness, which means the worst headache i ever had. There were other tourists staying in the same house as we. One of them even had an epileptic fit on the next morning. I think that speaks for itself.

The only medicine that helps against the altitude sickness is to chew on coca leafs or drink tea made out of it (no worries it s legal and not addictive). Almost all bolivians chew on coca leafs all the time. Maybe that s why most of them do not have any teeth.

The next morning we went to some geysers, other lagoons and some random spots, like a stone canyon in the middle of the desert. Look at the pictures it s not possible to describe.

The last day was entirely occupied by the salt desert (Salar de Uyuni). It s the biggest salt desert of the world. Everything is white and seems to be snow. It used to be a salt lake, but the water vaporized and a hard salt layer formed. But there are still layers of water underneath the hard salt. At the lowest point the desert is supposed to be 80 meters deep. Crazy, but the most amazing place is an island which is in the middle of th¡s salt desert. There grow cactuses, which reach a height of more or less 4 meters. The island inhabits different animals.

We went on to Uyuni, a little desert town, where our trip ended. We ll write more, when we have the chance to upload our pictures. Bolivia is the poorest country of south america, so internet is almost as lame as us walking above 4000 meters. You ll here from us soon….