Destination Bolivia

La Paz, Bolivia. Or, the 'bowl city', as I like to call it. They have people dressed as zebras to help you at the pedestrian crossings, people dressed as donkeys to jump on the windscreen´s of bad drivers, a jail where the inmates rule themselves, Cholita wrestling and the best sticky date pudding with banana custard you'll find in South America. What more could you ask for?!

La Paz, Bolivia. The ¨bowl city¨

Llama Fetus´ in the witches´ market of La Paz

Guards at the Presidential House in La Paz. Much easier to distract than those at Buckingham Palace!

Zebra crossing in La Paz

From there we visited the beautiful town of Sucre, which was a lovely surprise with its plethora of white washed colonial buildings. It was labour day when we were there and the streets were lined with beautifully dressed cholitas with a beer in their hand. We were more than happy to join in the celebrations; it seemed only appropriate to grab a beer ourselves while we watched the festivities take place.

Labour Day celebrations. Sucre, Bolivia

Cholitas with beer in hand.

From Sucre, we took the 'bus train' to Potosi. Aptly named (by myself of course), this train is made up of the body of an old bus and the base of a train carriage. It cost us AU$4 each and sure, it took twice as long as a normal bus, but the views were more than worth it. I was lucky enough to sit right next to the driver for most of the way and had the best views of the lot. The most entertaining part was probably watching the driver lean on the useless steering wheel from the old bus outfit.

The bus/train from Sucre to Potosi

Donkeys, Goats and People on the tracks!

Potosi is another colonial town in central Bolivia. Most of its city centre was built by the Spanish using the wealth obtained from the nearby silver mine, Cerro Rico. It's estimated that 9 million Bolivian people died back in the day, while mining in this area of Bolivia. Nowadays, Cerro Rico silver mine in Potosi has no regulatory body overlooking its operation. It's basically every man for himself and there are men setting bits of dynamite off all over the place in search of silver. 

What could be better than to go for a tour in this Swiss cheese mine, you ask?! Well, for me personally, a lady's morning of leisure was a much better option. Meanwhile, Brad partook in what will probably be the most dangerous activity either of us have done on this trip, a tour into the bowels of the Cerro Rico silver mine. He literally had to sign a waiver before he went in there.

Luckily, he came back to me safe and sound and with a new appreciation for the safety regulations in Australian mines.

The dynamite Brad bought at the miner´s market as a gift to the miners.

Cerro Rico, Potosi

Miners pushing the ore out of the mine manually...

Mining tour selfie!

Tarija and the wine region of Bolivia was a welcome escape from the altitude in the nearby Andes. Although you can only visit the artesenal wineries in the area, whose wine tasted not unlike a good bottle of balsamic vinegar, the area was beautiful and the town itself was really well set up.


One winery tour included wine tasting and a walk through the 'tunel de amor' for the bargain price of AU$1.50 each. The tunnel of love consisted of a dark dug out trench behind a vineyard covered in corrugated iron which screamed, "I AM FULL OF SNAKES". But for that price, you'd be crazy not to go through it.

Tarija, Bolivia. The giant wine glass.

Vinegar wine.... delicious.

Grafiti in Valle De Concepcion, Tarija, Bolivia

We found a locally produced wine that we really enjoyed, Kohlberg Cabernet Sauvignon. Unfortunately, the winery itself was purely commercial so we were unable to have any tastings on the property.

However, being the resourceful people that we are, we found a restaurant in Tarija selling bottles for around AU$5. So we sat in the main square and enjoyed a bottle or three in the sunshine, which was absolute bliss.

Argentinian Steak Restaurant, Tarija

5 dollar bottle of vino, Tarija

Bike tour or Tarija

When the driver of your bus does the sign of the cross and the locals on the bus follow suit, you know you're in for a fun ride. We took the bus from Tarija to Tupiza at night, so memories of this journey are blurred between what could easily have been a horrible nightmare and what was reality. I can only compare this stretch of road to a good block of extra crumbly tasty cheese... Exciting to look at, with the potential to be extremely messy.

We made is safely of course, and now we are on our way to see the biggest salt flats in the world.