Getting to La Paz and Uyani
The next day I board a bus to La Paz. The trip is long but uneventful. The Bolivian country side is very barren, but the hundreds of mountains you pass are beautiful.
A funny thing about Bolivia is that no house appears to be complete. There is almost always a second floor missing windows or pillars with re-bar sticking out of the top. After asking around I found that it is a form of tax evasion. Uncompleted buildings are taxed differently than completed construction. I´m not exaggerating when I say 90% of the buildings are in this condition.
We reach La Paz and contact our next tour planner. He is a fast talking German man named Ralph. He sets up my next trip to Uyani, Bolivia, frequently shouting at his Bolivian wife, "Draw up the necessary papers Isabella."
Uyani is on the edge of the giant Bolivian salt flats. I would never have thought to visit this area but is highly recommended by everyone I meet. I decide to take the night bus rather than spend the night in La Paz.
Buses tend to be very uncomfortable, especially if they are packed and you are in them for more than 10 hours with no bathroom. But they are equally horrible in the daytime. At least in the night you can attempt to sleep and you don´t waste a day traveling.
This bus is without a doubt the worst experience yet. It is a double decker and I am seated in the very top in front of a huge window. It is a bit like being in an IMAX theater. The Bolivian deserts get extremely cold an windy at night. The road is so bumpy that it continually knocks open the windows across the aisle from me. I ask an older man next to me to shut the window, but he eventually ignores me. He seems utterly immune to the cold. The front of the bus gets so cold that the windows ice over from the inside.
At one point I rub the ice off the window so I can see where we are headed. The bus appears to be hurtling through nothingness. There is no road to speak of, just unmarked, unlit desert. Only 5% of the roads are paved in Bolivia. We have obviously entered the other 95%.
We arrive at the very small desolate town of Uyani early in the morning. I got a room in one of the luxurious local hotels, so I could clean off before the Salt Flat tour leaves. Unfortunately $2 does not buy you a shower with hot water or much of a roof.
The next day I board a bus to La Paz. The trip is long but uneventful. The Bolivian country side is very barren, but the hundreds of mountains you pass are beautiful.
A funny thing about Bolivia is that no house appears to be complete. There is almost always a second floor missing windows or pillars with re-bar sticking out of the top. After asking around I found that it is a form of tax evasion. Uncompleted buildings are taxed differently than completed construction. I´m not exaggerating when I say 90% of the buildings are in this condition.
We reach La Paz and contact our next tour planner. He is a fast talking German man named Ralph. He sets up my next trip to Uyani, Bolivia, frequently shouting at his Bolivian wife, "Draw up the necessary papers Isabella."
Uyani is on the edge of the giant Bolivian salt flats. I would never have thought to visit this area but is highly recommended by everyone I meet. I decide to take the night bus rather than spend the night in La Paz.
Buses tend to be very uncomfortable, especially if they are packed and you are in them for more than 10 hours with no bathroom. But they are equally horrible in the daytime. At least in the night you can attempt to sleep and you don´t waste a day traveling.
This bus is without a doubt the worst experience yet. It is a double decker and I am seated in the very top in front of a huge window. It is a bit like being in an IMAX theater. The Bolivian deserts get extremely cold an windy at night. The road is so bumpy that it continually knocks open the windows across the aisle from me. I ask an older man next to me to shut the window, but he eventually ignores me. He seems utterly immune to the cold. The front of the bus gets so cold that the windows ice over from the inside.
At one point I rub the ice off the window so I can see where we are headed. The bus appears to be hurtling through nothingness. There is no road to speak of, just unmarked, unlit desert. Only 5% of the roads are paved in Bolivia. We have obviously entered the other 95%.
We arrive at the very small desolate town of Uyani early in the morning. I got a room in one of the luxurious local hotels, so I could clean off before the Salt Flat tour leaves. Unfortunately $2 does not buy you a shower with hot water or much of a roof.
posted by Terrell at 6:57 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home