Ballheaded through Bolivia

09 Jan Left Topiza today by bus and drove along some more horrible roads. We came across a huge landslide and waited for over 30 mins as an earth mover made a channel through. Bolivain roads have to be amongst the worst in the world due to their terrible condition, tiny width, blind corners and the sheer unguarded drops down the side of mountains. We got to Potosi (the highest city in the world at 4060m above sea level) 7 hours later. We wrote down the address of the hostel (Hostel Koala) on a piece of paper and gave it to the taxi driver and asked him if he knew where it was, he said yes and we agreed the price and off we went. He hadnt a clue, asking loads of people along the way where the street was. I showed him the map of the town and where the hostel was but he still couldnt work it out. He kept driving around asking us if this was the street, and at that stage I reckoned he couldnt read. At one point in his frustration he stopped and said `here we are`. I said where? He pointed at a building and said `thats the hostel`. Well aware of their scams I told the others to stay put and I asked the driver to get out and show me, he refused. I then said `Hola amigo, No Koala....No dinero. Vamos!´ and off we went again. I pulled out the guidebook map again, found out where we were and directed him to the hostel. He wanted then to be paid for the extra time and mileage we caused him. I gave him an extra Boliviano (10c) and told him to go buy a map.

10 Jan We went on a tour to the local mines today. We were kitted out with overalls, boots, headlamp and helmet. We heard that in its 500 years of existence over 1 million people have died there mainly due to respiratory diseases. I had heard this sometime back in Chile and had marched the group into a pharmacy there to get surgical masks. Glad we did, all the others were dead jealous as the team from MASH paraded around with their brand new pale blue surgical wear. We were driven around to these shops to buy presents for the miners (Preferable to money) where we bought Coca leaves, Coca cola and best of all dynamite! Dead legal here and sold complete with fuses and Ammonium nitrate to make it more explosive. We then went to see the factory that processes the mined material and it was a noisy, smelly death trap. There were machines that went up and down, ones that went in and out, over and around and all the time hoping to catch an unsuspecting limb for dinner. Finally we got to go into the mines and walked down these tiny tunnels eventually crawling along in and out of different chambers. It was fascinating and horrifying to think that people had to work down here. There were kids as young as 8 years of age down there earning E2.50 per day. The average life span for a miner is just 45 years whilst wearing a breathing apparatus is considered weak and unmanly. The miners ignorance is so tragic especially as their young fathers are coughing to death and bed ridden at home in the 40´s and 50´s.

After the mine we were given a dynamite exhibition and were handed a stick of dynamite in a bag with the Ammonium nitrate wrapped around it topped off with a lighting fuse. 7 of us had 1 minute to take a photo each. It was like a game of pass the parcel and were done in jig time. When we were done we passed it to the guides assistant and he ran over to a hillside, threw it as far as he could and it blew up about 20 seconds later. Enough time for us to get our cameras out. Bizarre and hugely exciting stuff.

11 Jan Left Potosi today in the afternoon bound for a town called Sucre. Its the former capital of Bolivia so has some beautiful buildings and parks. We got a taxi there for E4 each and it was over 100 miles away. The taxi driver was a nutcase, so will probably go by bus in the future. Checked into our hostel and 8 of us went out to dinner. After that and a drink or two we decided it`d be a good laugh to got to the local Karaoke bar. After a bit of searching, located it, and went down the stairs and into the bar. It stank of vomit and was really wierd with people dancing to the karaoke music and nobody singing. We left and some wierdo started followng us so we went home.

12 Jan Up early this morning to go to this massage place. We were told it was only E2.50 per hour for this great massage but when 4 of us turned up, they could only take one at a time and was a physio clinic. It also turned out to be E12.50 per hour. Abandoning that plan, we went to this dinosaur place that had real dinosaur footprints etc. After that we went to see the `Quantum of Solice´ the new james Bond movie in the town centre. It was an ancient place with 1950`s cinema chairs. It was a good laugh as the cinematographer had to stop the movie to change the reel. The admission was 50cent each, I spent twice that on goodies.

13 Jan Booked our onward coach this morning to Cochacama for later on this evening. We booked `Full cama` ie a reclining chair/bed, but not all Bolivian buses are like the ones we were used to in Argentina. We boarded a banger. It had a bit of extra legroom and seat reclined way back. It was smelly and had no a/c. The lad in front of me put his chair so far back it looked like his head was lying on my lap. At 7pm, the driver turned out the lights and without reading lamps left us in the pitch dark. Lucky, I had my head torch. An hour later we joined a huge tail back on this mountain road. There had been a landslide and the road was blocked. Men with shovels cleared a track and after waiting 3 hours we made a difficult crossing through the debris, was well interesting too. As there is 5 in our group, someone has to sit on their own or beside a stranger. This time Frog got sitting beside this old woman dressed in typical Bolivian dress with a bowler hat, she smelled a bit and that night put on her big wooly hat before going to sleep on frogs shoulder. The wool was in his nose and irritated him all night. We were in convulsions of laughter.

14 Jan Still on the bus, we stopped in the middle of the night at this village for a toilet stop, but there were no toilets. Depending on gender and requirement everyone was standing or squatting pissing and shitting everywhere. After performing the former myself i watched a river of urine flowing down the hill toward the bus. The stench was awful and Im sure the villagers were none too impressed later that morning. At the bus, I observed the driver pissing on the front wheel and due to the heat of the wheels, plumes of pissy steam were rising above him. Classy.
We arrived in Cochacamba at 7am and hoped to do a tour of the local Toro Toro National Park, after consulting with an agency that did the tours we decided not to do it as the stuff on the tour was very similar to what we`ve done before. A group decision was made and we decided to get a bus out of there and onto the capital, La Paz later that morning. 7 hours later we arived into the outskirts, and introduced ourselves to the congested, horn honking, low rise city that appeared dirty and unkept. Hi ace vans, trucks and buses whizzed about. We saw an artic truck with an animal trailer in tow full of people and the sign on the side read `Max 400 personas`. I saw an old lady (easily 80) climbing down the side of a truck. I thought as we passed by in our new Mercedes bus, how lucky we are.

15 Jan had a good luck around the centre of La Paz today. Its a hussle and bussle place but with good energy. We booked our mountain Bike trip down the `Worlds most dangerous road` a 64km down hill bike ride on notorius Bolivian mountain roads. Its not however as dangerous as it used to be as the road has now been bypassed and is free of any heavy traffic. Tomorrow will tell the tale. We had a look around the markets and ate some great food.