Bolivia Round Up

Bolivia Round Up

We spent just over a month in Bolivia. Not our longest visit by a far cry, but given the fuel shortages and regular road blockades (government protests), we decided to not press our luck.

We entered Bolivia from Chile in the south on the Laguna Route and drove to Uyuni to visit the Salt Flats which we explored for several days. The mining town of Potosí was next where David visited a working mine. We both liked Potosí very much and we took time to explore its back streets and markets.

Sucre is an old town, with many colonial buildings. We stayed near the centre in somebody’s garden, taking 30 mins of careful reversing to get in. We visited the museum where Bolivia’s declaration of independence is on display.

We didn’t stay long as we wanted to get on to La Paz, the administrative capital. The journey there was not without problems. However, the road, winding over high passes and deep valleys, was truly spectacular.

First stop in La Paz was the MAN garage to have a few little issues dealt with. That took an afternoon and MAN was kind enough to let us camp in their premises for the next three nights whilst we visited the city. It was an excellent solution as there is a Teleférico cable-car station almost next door.

Downtown La Paz is interesting and we visited the “El Prado” (the main shopping road), the witches market (so called because they sell weird stuff such as llama foetuses), the bus terminal (designed by Gustav Eiffel), Luna Valley and the markets in El Alto.

We did stop for a bite to eat and picked up an unpleasant stomach bug (we both ate the same meal). So unfortunately, Francine did not make the wrestling. Dave took a biking tour of Death Road before we left, but not before spending a vey pleasant evening with Jon and Heather, fellow overlanders from the US.

Our next stop was Copacabana on Lake Titicaca. After leaving La Paz’s suburbs and crossing on the ‘ferry’ at San Pablo de Tiquina, the scenery became sublime with views over the lake and snow covered mountains as a back drop.

We spent four days at a wonderful campsite overlooking the lake just outside Copacabana. Here we caught up with our domestic tasks (laundry), fixing a few things on Big Bertha and visiting the town. Unfortunately, as we were still fragile in the stomach department, we decided not to take the boat trip to visit the Isla de Sol (shame). Before leaving, we took Big Bertha to be blessed at the Basilica of Our Lady of Copacabana in town.

From here we drove the few kilometres along the lake shore to the Peruvian border and our Bolivian adventure came to an end.