A Solo Travellers Mind

The bus to Bolivia was long but incredibly stress free, we jumped on at 5am, and jumped off 7hrs later in La Quicia, the town to cross the border. We walked across the border super easily, exchanged some money, got a sim card and headed to the bus terminal to continue our journey. Unfortunately the 2pm was full so we booked the 8pm, meaning we had a few hours to kill. I called my Australian friend, and then we headed to a cafe where we had our first Bolivian meal was a grand total of £1.18p… incredible. The night bus to Potosi was kinda bad, with our seats not reclining all that much, this being said I didn’t sleep too awfully all things considered. We did nearly die, due to the bus driver being a crazy c*nt and trying to take over cars with on coming traffic, but we made it in one piece. We checked into our hostel at the ripe time of 6am and went for a power nap before starting the day. We headed out for breaky, having a wholesome meal of omelettes before going to explore and try and organise the next few days of our lives. We walked the Plaza and the oblisk, exchanged currency and booked a tour of the Uyuni salt flats for the coming days! We also went on a tour of the Cerro Rico Silver Mine in Potosi, and this was kinda crazy. It’s an active mine, so we saw and spoke to the workers, we also heard the explosions of dinomite while we were inside and heard about the harsh life of being a minor! Very eye opening. For dinner we headed to a restaurant reccomended to us, I had a very nice chicken dish, carley opted for fish and unfortunately wasn’t too pleased with the flavour, luckily a choccy milkshake filled the void in her belly.
The next day in Potosi was pretty chilled, we walked around the town, saw all the cool building, chilled in the hostel under the sun (while it lasted) and I even got carley doing a work out with me! Crazy! Dinner was a mild disaster, heading to a restaurant that turned out to be closed… so we went to a cafe and had a rather disappointing empanadas and sausage dish, I also had a very flavourless almond biscuit as a pudding can’t win them all! An early night was in order for us, as we were to be up at 5am the next day for a very busy few days.

A very rushed journey to the station due to the taxi running late, followed by a very over booked bus ride to uyuni, before we at last arrived and joined our 3 day tour of the uyuni salt flats and lagoons. Our group consisted of us, a French older couple, and 2 friends, one German and one chilian. A mixed bag! The first day was mainly spent at the salt flats, taking in the veiws, taking cool pictures, and learning about the 2000km stretch of land. On arrivalbto our hostel for the night, we were pleasantly surprised by a very nice place to stay in the middle of nowhere, and hot water for showers! We then had a dinner of quinoa soup and Picanaja (meat, veg, and chips combo), a meal similar to what I had in San Pedro De Attacama. We then rested our heads on our semi comfy beds.

The next day started at 7am, with a breaky of eggs and ham. We then headed to a local shop selling a selection of weird beers, including Quiona and Cactus beer. I opted not to try, but some of the others in the group made some purchases. We then headed to Mirador volcan ollague, a look out of a 4026 meter volcano. It was a cool little spot to take in the veiws, and there were some cool places you could walk around, too. Next were some lagunas, starting with Laguna Colarada and then a Laguna with flamingos. They were very pretty. On the way, we got to see a lot of Biscatchas on some huge rocks (Biscatchas are a chinchilla and rabbit mix), they are very cute! The day ended with another good meal before an early night ready to begin the next day at 4 am!

A 4am start is kinda rough, i forced some breaky down me, and then we headed to the Gaciers. These are volcanic holes in the ground that erupt hot water, creating steam (El tatio is the ones I saw in Chile). They were very cool, but as per the Chilien ones, it was also freezing cold, lol. We then headed to the hot springs where we said good bye to our group or were heading across the border, and we stayed for 2 glorious hours before our guide come back to collect us on the way back to Uyuni. The hot springs were super nice and super warm! What followed was a very long ride back to uyuni, but luckily, we made it back in one piece. Unfortunately, my woolly hat did not, after I discovered it had been lost on the journey home some how :(. We then very nearly missed the bus due to not knowing where the bus station was, however a quick taxi got us to the station meaning we made the bus and managed to get good seats on the bottom deck! We will be doing this from now on.

On arrival to Sucre, we checked in to hostel early, had some breaky, and a very nice post bus trip shower. We headed out to explore and tried some tacamama (bolivian empanadas but deep fried) from a small food stall in the street. They were absolutely amazing! We saw the plaza and monuments, some of the famous churches, headed to the markets and got a smoothie, went to a gaint park with a fake ifel tower. We went to the black cat alleyway and found a cool spot that looked over the whole city. Surce is a really cool place, some really funky art shops and some amazing architecture. That night we tested a theory, attempting to see if its cheaper to cook or eat out here, so we made a dinner of tuna pasta and also brought a cake off the top of someone’s car (the cake was cracking!). We discovered that eating out is the same price as cooking for yourselves here, which is kinda crazy but I did suspect this!

The next day and our last day in Sucre, we returned to the palace, as it was now open. On arrival, we were told there was no English guide, but they still wanted up to pay, so we left, lol. Instead, we went to the cool veiw again and had a wee drink at a cafe. Spotted a humming bird, really tiny and sweet but unfortunately too quick for me to get a piccy of 😦 Then had a post walk nap, before walking 2.5km with our rucksacks to the bus station (a good work out). Carley did take a wee tumble but survived! We had a semi over night bus to Samaipata, which was comfy but unfortunately not pleasant as it was the hottest bus I’ve ever been in, and I honestly felt like I was sweating the whole time…

Our first day in Samipata was a rainy one. We had a lay in post late arrival, enjoyed one of the best free breakfasts we’ve had yet in a hostel, and then headed out to explore the town, even in the rain. We saw the aeroplane park, which has a cool old aeroplane in it, and wondered around the town centre. After a dinner of Bolivian food as a lovely wee restaurant, we headed home to shelter from the rain.

Day 2 was another rainy one, but we needed to seize the day still! In some what of a rush, we had breaky and headed to a tour company in hope a tour to the Ambora National park would still be going ahead! Luckily, it was, and after a rather interesting drive up to the park, we enjoyed a 4 hour hike around the national parks mountains and to the gaint ferns. The veiws in the national park were pretty spectacular, even if it was super cloudy, so you couldn’t see out beyond the mountain range. The last half of the trek was a super rainy one, but nothing a shower couldn’t fix. We had another bolivan meal for dinner, this time a soup and main set meal, which was pretty spectacular!

Our final day in Samipatia included a motor bike taxi up to El Fuerte. The local Inca Ruins in the area. These ruins mark the centre point commecting the Inca to other cultures years ago, including the Amazonians. Within the ruins includes a gaint rock, which was the centre point of culture in the area, and then the living/trading areas, including markets, weapons, and clothes making rooms and houses. Some of the buildings are also newer, used when Bolivia was connalised. The place was super cool, absolutely gaint, and a nice walk round with lots of english sign posting (good for us, lol). We then walked the 10km back to samipatia, going via the local pools. The pools were kinda dirty, but the location was really nice, surrounded by greenery and butterflies, and a super relaxing midway point for our walk home! That evening, we headed out for dinner, again to the restaurant from the night before. Unfortunately, the set meal wasn’t on offer that eve, so we opted for a burger and steak, which simply wasn’t as good! Many people slate the bolivan cuisine, but I really rate it, and it shall be missed.

Then it was time to say goodbye to Samipatia, and hello to Cochabamba. In order to get to Cochabamba though, in a very cheap way, it meant to taxi to a small villiage down the road (at 7:30am) and then a bus to Cochabamba for 8 hours. This was our first day bus, and we were umming and arring about if its better to travel in the day or night, so it was a test point, as the hostel and bus total worked out the same as the night bus for us. Overall opinions, the bus felt very long but it was nice to have a bed at the end of it all. We will probably continue to opt for night buses if the opinion is there, but the odd day bus won’t be too bad! 

A big day of exploring the city of Cochabamaba. Starting with Christo de la concorda, the largest christ in South america! Bigger than rio, yes! With 1399 steep steps up! I took it as a wee challenge to see what PB I could set (25 minutes). We then headed west to the Botanical Gardens, which were unfortunately closed, but we could walk the parameter and see through the gates. Then to the Palace, the monument flags, September 14th square, and March 25th Market. A whole lot of steps, with a break in the middle for a cinnamon bun! A successful day of sight, seeing in my opinion. And we managed to get carleys meds in the meantime, craziness.

The next day, we headed to Tunari National parque for a hike. We got the public transport there, which in Cochabamba is just mini vans that wizz round with numbers on the roof and sometimes a sign saying where they are going. Our driver was super nice, and even though the language barrier remains an issue, we had a nice wee chat about life. On arrival to the national started getting attacked my mozzies and unfortunately had no repellent, and I had just run out, so she made the choice to return home. I was still keen to hike, so I continued up. The national park was very nice, the track semi clear, and at the 10km base, it opened up to a really cool flat grass/forest area. Unfortunately, it when continued with 3 very spooky abandoned buildings, which, when alone, in the woods, in a foreign country, does feel a little more spooky than it should. My original plan was to head to Lake waca waca, but with the trail map saying it would b another 3.5 hrs, I decided to change route and head to the cascades. This was a good plan until I had to start climbing through broken / fallen trees, which subsequently caused me to turn around. I decided 10km was enough for one day, given i had a night bus to catch that evening and headed back down the trail again before returning to the hostel to meet carley. The national park in my opinion is still super nice, however because it is free, some parts (the abandoned buildings/fallen trees) does spoil it, and it suppose this high lights to me the importance of paid entry to parks.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing before we headed to the bus station. We couldn’t pre book this time, but luckily, on arrival, we still managed to get a bottom bus seat, which, if you’re not aware, are the better ones! The bus station expereince however was highly anxiety evoking, with thousands of people in, and 0 organisations (which is saying a lot in Latin american terms!). We had to hand our bags in to the office, and then wait separately, which as a traveller is kinda wild as you’re always told not to leave your bags, lol. The place was so chaotic, with buses stacked behind other buses and even the locals looked clueless! We eventually got on the bus, but not before I felt like I would physically be sick, lol. The journey was a lot more simply, but we were tired bunnies on arrival to La paz, so we spent a few hours napping and relaxing before going to explore.
Our explorations took up to the oblisk, the plaza, and the witches markets. The markets were really cool and quirky but also very strange in one, with dead and embarmed llama and pig baby corpes.. our final stop was to a very, very nice curry house where we had a delightful dinner before a very early night ready for a bus day the next day!

We were up at the ripe time of 5:45 to head to the meeting point of today’s activity.  Me, carley and our other rooms mates were mountain biking death road! Death Road got its nickname because, you’ve guessed it, lots of people died on it. The road is in very poor condition, with land slides often, and it was at one point the main road between two big cities! Mountain Biking down, it was crazy fun! We got to go through waterfalls and land slides and go super fast over jumps! I also got told by my guide that i was the fastest girl he’d had, hehe! I had a blast all the way through, carley did unfortunately take a tumble, but she got back on the horse for the last bit, completing Death Road!

The next day was semi chilled, we headed on the cable car (built by the Swiss to assist with the huge assents in the area), to Al Tato, and went to the markets there, they were crazy busy but u could legit by anything you could ever need (including a tattoo..) ! I purchased some things ready for a hike in the coming days, and then we headed back into town. I purchased a fake patagonia hoodie (the common theme of the town), and we also headed to a veiw point north of the town where we could get a 360 veiw of has big the place was! We did get caught in a wee storm once up there, but it soon passed!
The next day was my hiking day! I was going to attempt to climb Hauyna Potosi a 6088 meter mountain! With it being higher than everest Base Camp and kilamountjaro, i was pretty nervous. i shall not lie, and I am also very apprehensive if i would make it to the summit. It was a 3 day trek. Day one included a base camp trek with glacier climbing practice! This was also a semi acclimatisation trek as we climbed above and then came back down to camp! The ice climbing was crazy, but really fun, but defo highlighted how difficult the future 2 days could be! The trekking itself was actually easier than expected, but as you climb, the treking does become more difficult. We also met another group also summiting on the same schedule as us, which was nice as it was just me and one boy in my group, haha! We had a super nice dinner (they fed us ALOT of food), and we all played a few card games before heading to bed. We slept at base camp for night one with the camp at 4500m.
Day 2 was a semi early start, with breaky at 8am, followed by packing our bags and starting the hike to higher camp, located at 5200 meters above sea level. The hike was pretty challenging in parts, with some vertical rock climbing followed by some steep accents. But me, Joey, and our guide made it in one piece. It was then time to rest, as the summit hike would be starting at midnight! For me, the main difficulty was breathing, having to remind myself to breathe slowly and not hyperventilate at parts lol. We then had dinner and headed to bed, ready for the ascent at midnight. I couldn’t sleep a wink, as they told me to leave my sleeping bag and use it there already at the camp. BIG mistake: their sleeping bag was really shit and I was freezing, of course.
We began our ascent at midnight, in total darkness. The first part was a rock climb, and then we put on our snow spikes and started the ascent. I was doing okay, going slow and steady ish till approx 5500m where the headache began… from here, it actually went downhill for me. At 5600m elevation, I started having the wobbles, and then I was sick. We made it approx to 5700m, but it was too unsafe for me to continue with another 300m elevation gain to go. The way down was not good for me. My limbs and brain actually felt like they weren’t attached to me, and it was very strange! I was pretty disheartened that I didn’t reach the top, but with this being my first climb at altitude and in snow, I’m actually pretty impressed with myself on reflection. Back at high base, I had a wonderful sunrise at 6 am. (while also vomiting, hahaha), and it was really cool seeing it rise above the clouds! When the others returned from the hike i was less disheartened by my feat, as they had no veiws due to cloud coverage at the peak, and 4/6 said they hated the climb, so silver linings of my altitudes sickness is that i got a good sunrise on the mountain anyway haha. On my return to La paz it’s fair to say I was feeling pretty rough, we managed to order a take away from the curry restaurant we had earlier on in the week, but unfortunately I could not stomach it, with the altitude sickness still wrecking me.
The next day I felt a lot better initially. So much so that we actually we for an explore, heading to the plaza and also to the phone shop to get my sim fixed. Unfortunately, this didn’t last long as my belly started to kill soon enough, and I was back in my bed re couping. I did manage to eat the leftovers of my curry tho and it was very nice!
The next day was a random one, we headed to the museums, but unfortunately, they were closed in the afternoon, so we just strolled around, had a cake, and also purchased some very cute new rings! Before a chaotic start to the journey to the amazon began. Going to the amazon was a bit of a last-minute choice, but we figured as Bolivia is so cheap, we should cease the opportunity! At first we went to the wrong bus station, then we attempted to go to another second but the taxi driver luckily knew better and took us to the bus company instead (the gem!). Then we did manage to get on the bus, but unfortunately, this was no luxury bus, and we would be spending the next 14 hours on a very standard, normal bus with no toilet lol…
The bus actually was not too bad! Once we arrived, we headed to a hostel, asked if they had room in the inn, and put down our things.
We chilled in the morning, had some breaky, and then headed out to explore. We booked a trip for the next few and then headed back to the hostel to have a chill and a swim. It was a super warm day, and the first time we’d seen sun in a while, so a wee tan was needed. For dinner, we had a very nice steak and chips meal, and then we headed to our beds (covered with a mosquito net in the hope we didn’t get eaten alive).
The next day began for me at 6:30, with another business meeting scheduled with a man back in aus ;). And then, after breaky, we headed for our tour. We’d be spending the next 4 days in the amazon. 2 on what is called a pampas tour (a sightseeing tour of animals) and then 2 in the amazon jungle, spotting cool animals and going trekking!

Day one was very chilled. We drove to the boat and then took a 2-hour drive to camp, spotting LOTS of animals on the way (list below).
Yellow spotted tortoise lots
Green King fisher
Paridise bird
Black Monkey
Tiger heron
Great black hawk
Cardinal – red head small bird
Yellow monkey
Squirrel monkey
Camen
We then arrived at camp, and saw even more camens, where we saw the reality of what they are, when our guide got abit too close (too cocky aswell) and actually ended up getting bitten by one! CRAZY. Luckily, he was okay, but it is mad…
We then went to watch the sunset before heading home for dinner. After a quick shower, it was time for bed, ready for another day!

Our second day on the Pampas started with breaky and then a hunt for snakes! We looked for rattle snakes and anacondas. Unfortunately, we didn’t locate any, which is not uncommon for this time of year (the rainy season). We then went searching for the pink dolphin. They are a very rare dolphin that lives in the bolivan amazon. We were lucky enough to spot 1, maybe 2, but today they were feeling shy, so it was only a little show for us! But i won’t complain. We then headed back into town to head towards the jungle. I was still semi sick (my stomach has been playing riot with me for the past week, unsure why), so once at our lodge in the jungle, every herbal remedy they had was thrown at me, it unfortunately didn’t seem to work, but God loves a tirer… After a tasty dinner, we headed to bed, with the luxury of having a room all to myself for the first time in a long time!

The next day, we had some breaky and then headed into the Amazonian Jungle. The boat ride was crazy long, as we were battling the current the whole way, and the river became shallow in parts, requiring the boat to be pushed! On the way, we went to a community to make sugar cane. We used a very old but steady piece of equipment which is made by hand, with machetes. It was a lot of fun, and quite tasty to drink, enjoying it with some lime and ice. The boat ride then continued until we arrived at camp. We walked a little from the shore to the jungle to the eco camp. We had little shelters with mosquito nets to sleep under and one shelter to cook and eat. Before dinner, we attempted to go finishing, and although we did not catch any fish, we did dig for worms and practice fishing with just a line and a stick. After dinner, we went on a night trek, which led us to find many insects and many mushrooms! Unfortunately, no jaguar 😦
Over night was a little chaotic for me. If you’ve read this far, you’ll know my belly has been somewhat questionably recently, and unfortunately, I required the eco bathroom multiple times! My final visit to the bathroom was also accompanied by a big spider on the “toilet” seat, meaning while pooping, I needed to just squat to avoid the animal. Maybe worse than a nature poo I won’t lie… other than this, i slept very well, given that we had no walls protecting us from the elements.

Our second day in the jungle started rain, as i awoke to the sound of the rain on my hut tarpaulin. It was kinda relaxing. We then got up and start with cooking breaky, the same as dinner last night (living in the jungle means living on basic meals, however they are super tasty and very healthy with many veggies so I’m haps.. it’s maybe the most veg we’ve had since being here!). We then headed on a jungle trek, learning some survival tricks of the wild. We crossed rivers in order to spot monkeys. There were 2 approaches to the river crossing – mine, which was to take off my trousers and wellies and everyone else’s who just got wet… we also chopped down a form of palm tree to get to the palmito inside to eat. We also learnt that there is fresh water in some trees, specifically the nail of the cat tree. So we chopped this and drank from the trunk! We then headed back to the jungle hostel from the first second night, on our way back to town, to make our own chocolate! It was very tasty! On arrival back to town, we showered n organised ourselves ready for a 24-hour travel day ahead! First up was the night bus to La paz, which took a shocking 16 hours and was pretty uncomfortable (yet in still slept a wee bit), then from here it was straight to the 2nd bus station in La Paz to jump on another bus to Copacabana. Our original plan we to head to Isla Del Sol this day however we missed the last ferry, so after locating a hostel (a private room and double bed each, the luxury!) We had some lunch and headed out for a mini hike to a look out spot over the town and Lake Titicaca. We also booked our bus to Peru, deciding to skip Puno (the other side of the lake, and head directly to Arequipa, mainly because another 1 night stop was not appealing to me lol). And then some planning was in gear, 2 flights were booked for our journey through Peru and machu pichu tickets purchased. We were late on the ball here, so we had to get afternoon tickets, but I have faith it’ll be fine!

Our final day on the Isla Del Sol was a biggie, waking up, having breaky, and then heading out on the hike around the island. The hike is around 19km, but we ended up hiking a total of 23.7km (minus a few for carley as she skipped  a few extra parts, lol). We headed south along the edge path first, arrival in the south part of the island 2 hours later. In the south, we had a snack and a drink and then explored the surroundings. We headed to the inca wall, which involved and big decent down to the wall, this is where carley decided she’d sit it out and wait for me, questioning if it would be worth the hike back up lol. We then went all the way back up to the town, which I’ll be honest was a big one, and then I headed to a veiw point (which i never ended up finding). And then it was time for the return hike home. This was maybe 3 hours, and we actually took a small shortcut skipping the north section of the loop as we’d already done this part. The shortcut was a bit interesting, straight through the mountains and down a very steep decent. However, we made it alive! Then it was time for dinner, which for me started off as a disaster after I mistakenly ate a chillie, thinking it was a pepper… it’s the hottest thing I’ve ever eaten, and I actually cried…

The final day of Bolivia was a relaxed one. We got the morning boat back to the main land and then spent the afternoon on a wee coastal walk to kill time (where I burnt my nose sad times). We skimmed rocks, met lots of dogs, and had some dinner before our night bus to Peru!

Bolivia was a very cool country to explore and is super affordable. The people are  unbelievably nice. Never once were we unsafe or apprehensive about our location. It’s all round a really sound place to travel!