Journeys in the Southern Hemisphere

So after spending a few days in Sucre, soaking up the atmosphere, eating too much chocolate going on some great trips, one to the seven waterfalls, a beautiful place outside of the town where there are, hence the name, 7 waterfalls to swim in, explore and generally just enjoy the wonderful scenery! Another to an indigenous market village about 3 hours outside of the town called Tarabucco, which is a really interesting historically as it held one of the largest battles in the war for independence, in which the Bolivians won by pulling out the hearts of the Spanish conquistadors, a lovely statue displays this in the middle of the plaza! But I enjoyed just wondering around and admiring the homemade artisania which is all so beautiful! I finally gave in to my inner gringo and bought an alpaca sweater as the following day I was headed to Potosi, the highest city on earth, at 4,090 meters! It was pretty high and therefore my alpaca jumper was much needed! The main event in Potosi is the mines, Potosi was once the richest city in the world due to all its silver and minerals found in the nearby mountains, but all this richness was robbed by the conquistadors which left the city with nothing. The tours of the mines are really interesting especially after watching the documentary The Devil´s Miner which I recommend watching even if you don’t plan to visit the mines. We got the chance to visit the mines which were really harsh and such a difficult condition to work in, it was Hard to believe miners still spend up to 24 hours underground digging, wheelbarrowing and caring tones of rocks everyday! After two hours my lungs were full with enough dust and I really admired these miners who day in day out go down to the mines, I was talking to our guide who said how proud he was to be a miner, in all the conditions they still are proud of what they do, I can only admire them!

As Potosí does not have much we quickly moved on to start out Salar de Uyuni tour, which is one of the must see highlights in Bolivia, the scenery was amazing, the pure while for miles and the dazerling blue sky, but spending 3 days in a jeep isn’t really my idea of fun, only getting out to take photos, with no camera. It was an amazing experience, made better by the group I was with and the delicious food. Another highlight was the Laguna Colorado, and seeing 10000 of flamingos just chilling in the red lake, an awesome sight, although flamingos are a funny creature, the way they stand on one leg! From the whites of the salar we entered the baron landscape of the Atacama Desert, supposedly the driest place on earth I was told, but what bout the Sahara! Crossing into Chile was easy and we found ourselves in the hippy town of San Pedro de Atacama, which was rather touristy, expensive and not much to do! Although I did organize a bike trip to the Luna Valley, which got its name for looking like the moon with the crazy rock formations which were cool, but as it was superhot in the desert it was also kinda difficult cycling on dirt roads for 20 miles! As Chile is famous for its long and extensive cost line, it was off to the beach, either north or south and as I have to go back to Bolivia, it made sense to go north! First stop was Iquique, a cool beach town which wasn’t full of tourist, although I found it difficult talking to the locals as there accent is very difficult to understand compared to the Bolivian accent which I was now used to! I spent my first day swimming in the pacific with Sea Lions and Pelicans, which was every exciting, something I am not used to at home, and eating delicious sea food, a change from the Bolivian mean, rice and potatoes! I then took a leep, as we decided to go Paragliding, which entailed running off a cliff and falling, an amazing experience of flying, I literally was like a bird! There was more cost to explore so we continued up the cost to Arica, the northern most point in Chile. We arrived yesterday morning, and I had another fun filled day of surfing, which I defiantly need more practice at but after 4 hours was able to stand on the board for a few seconds! So its back to the beach for me, I do intend to be spending my birthday on the beach, as it is something which will not happen every year! So I will next be writing as one year older, with all the amazing experiences and skills that South America has given me!