Most overlanders traveling in South America do visit Bolivia, but we have been asked by several times by overlanders if they should skip Bolivia. There are lot of reasons someone might skip this country. For one, Bolivia has a reputation for bad roads, corrupt police, issues getting fuel and just being a hard place to travel in. If you’re used to traveling in Argentina or Chile, Bolivia is definitely rough around the edges. Also, if you are low on time and want to rush into Chile or Peru it’s actually easier just to skip the country and drive from Peru directly to Chile, or the other way around. But you shouldn’t, it is absolutely worth seeing this amazing country. I guess one advantage to writing our blog posts so late is that we have some time to reflect on our experiences in each place. (See how I’ve justified our/my procrastination). We’ve both had a blast looking back and remembering our time in Bolivia. Now lets get back to the real content.
After leaving southern Bolivia and the Lagunas Ruta, in early July of 2017, we took a more practical route north than we had for the previous month. First we headed to Parque Nacional Sajama, about mid way up Bolivia right on the Chilean border. Sajama is a dormant volcano and Bolivia’s highest peak, and the park surrounding it has some interesting geothermal activity. There are a few private hot springs one can visit, but our favorite spot was at the geysers. Every road inside the park is rough, bumpy and slow going, but it’s was well worth paying a visit to this park.
After spending our first night in the park at a more traditional hot springs we headed up a small two track road to the geysers. Spread out over a large area are tons of these crystal clear, deep pools full of near boiling water. This being Bolivia there is nothing stopping you from walking right up to them, exploring the area thoroughly, or boiling an egg right in the water. These geysers are nothing like geysers in Yellowstone that shoot way out of the ground. These are more tranquilo and just constantly spewed water and steam, at most a couple feet into the air. From this area we took a really nice hike up the valley and got some great views of the mountain and the valley. For us the best part about the geysers is that they are located right along a stream. The boiling water mixes with the cold glacial runoff and cools off to a perfect soaking temperature. People have hollowed out pools downstream, each at a different temperature. We took a soak right after our hike and then went back for one more later that night. Camping does not get much better than this. We had the entire valley to ourselves and more stars in the sky than you could ever imagine. You can’t beat an experience like that.
We also really enjoyed the drive to and from Sajama. We took a few days to get there and away and had a really good time wandering through the rural areas of the Altiplano. It really gave us a good opportunity to see how people live. Lots of farming and people supporting themselves off the land. Bolivians are hard working people.
On these roads we also spotted several Chullpas, which are pre-Incan burial structures. These are large block shapes of varying heights, but usually around 20 feet high with an opening always facing east-towards the rising sun. Interestingly, these were not made of stone, they were made using clay and straw that was mixed and flattened into mats. The mats were then rolled, like you do when making cinnamon rolls. Each roll is laid like a brick to construct the wall and ceiling of the Chullpas. What is cool is that they are just scattered across the altiplano, and were a great chance to get out, stretch your legs and explore during the long drive.
From Sajama we headed to the big city, La Paz. La Paz is an interesting place. The original city was started at the bottom of a bowl shaped valley at an elevation of about 11,000 feet (3400 meters). At this latitude, with lots of sunlight at this elevation it is pretty reasonable for growing crops during some months. However, La Paz has long out grown what little flat valley bottom it had. The city now stretches up and over the sides of the bowl. The top of the bowl is at 13,000 feet (4000 meters). The upper area is called El Alto (the high) and is traditionally were the indigenous people have lived. Why not? It’s the coldest part of the city and not so great for growing crops. We stayed up in this area for our first few days in the city.
Staying up high gave us good access to the city, via La Paz’s new gondola system, the Teleferico. Unlike nearly other gondolas in the world, the Teleferico is not just for tourists. It was built as a way to move people around the city, like a metro system. The massive change in altitude across the city does not lend itself to trains, too steep. The traffic in this city is horrendous, there are tons of accidents, the pollution is painful, and it takes forever to get anywhere. Costing only about 50 cents, the teleferico provides much needed transportation peacefully right over the top of everything, and does it tons faster than you could ever hope to drive. There are currently 4 operating lines and they are actively building at least 4 more. I can’t imagine that the 50 cents for a ride is paying for this system, and can only imagine what kind of debt they have gone into to build these things. But that doesn’t change the fact that they are an awesome solution for the unique transportation needs of this city.
In all, we spent 4 days exploring the city. Enjoying the saltenas and seeing the sites. Each country in South America has a different way of making the empanada. Some are fried, some baked, some have lots of veggies, while others have more spice. The saltena is my favorite expression of the empanada so far. Go for the chicken ones: stewed chicken with peppers, onions and potatoes, all wrapped in a slightly sweetened corn dough. You have to be careful eating them, because they will get you. After taking that first bite, the juice will spill right down your front. Either way, even after the saltena gets you, you’ll still enjoy it.
Besides the saltenas, we had a lot of fun exploring this rough around the edges city.
After a while is was time for us to take our vacation from our vacation, and travel back home for two months, and enjoy the summer. Going home as a really nice break from our travels. Our regular readers will remember a past blog post that we talked about how much real work we ended up doing on our “vacation”.
While in La Paz we took several side trips. The first, before we traveled home, was to Tiwanaku, located on the eastern shores of Lago Titicaca. This is an impressive pre-Incan civilization that left behind some impressive ruins. Because Lago Titicaca is so connected with the people of Tiwanaku we’ll talk about our visit to these ruins in our next post all about Lago Titicaca.
We also went down to Coroico. Located to the east, about halfway down to the Amazon (whatever this really means), at an elevation of 5,000 feet (1,500 meters). This town is low enough that the climate and vegetation is totally different than the Altiplano. It’s called the Cloud Forest because of the heavy mist that drifts through the hills. It was our first exposure to something resembling a jungle (but it’s not jungle). It’s wet, hot and forested, but it’s nothing like the Amazon. One way to get here is by traveling the infamous Death Road, because of it’s dangerous reputation, steep drop offs and narrowness. The road was built in the 1930s by Paraguayan prisoners of war during the Chaco War, a very sad history. Coroico is an interesting village located at the end of this road. We stayed for a couples days, drank some good coffee and warmed up. We are in the tropics after all. My favorite part about his side trip was seeing the vegetation change as we traveled down. Starting out in the barren Altiplano, the environment slowly became more and more green and lush.
From La Paz we headed northwest across Lago Titicaca and into Peru. Stay tuned for our next post.
We traveled in Northern Bolivia from July 9th through July 20th, and then continued after our trip home from September 21st to October 9th, 2018.
What an incredible journey! Very interesting to learn about Bolivia. So glad you are having such a look at life in other environments.
Thanks for reading Marlèn! We really are having a good time exploring. I know the blog doesn’t reflect it but I t’s almost time to ship back to the States.