The Last Few Weeks (Bolivia and Chile)

Hey everyone, it's been quite a while since I updated and this has been for three reasons

A) Lack of internet in Bolivia 

B) Too much social life 

C) Cruising through Chile...

So this will be a quick update with some pictures of the last 2-3 weeks and a little bit about the places I've seen and the stuff I have been doing. 

Sucre is the official capital of Bolivia but for the most part it is just a nice colonial city without a lot going on. I spent way too much time there because I was staying at a fun hostel with some folks I had met and just really enjoyed the company.

Travelers go to sucre for the beautiful architecture and the abundance of cheap Spanish schools. But it is kind of a quiet town that celebrates a lot of public holidays- for instance I went to a museum 4 times(or rather attempted), because the first three times it was closed.

I stayed at a really cool hostel that served the best breakfast buffet in South America, and had a lot of parties at night.  

It was called kulturberlin and just like the city had a bear as it's symbol. 

While in Sucre I played wallyball for the first time, learned about 3 new card games, watched a great documentary about Potosi Silver mines and generally had a lot of fun. 

This is some of the crew I hung out with, mostly just so that they would chill with me on the salt flats...

(New post about traveling alone vs traveling with company coming soon).

Potosi

I originally planned to spend a few days in this historic city at the top of the world, but because my friends were keen on getting to the salt flats we rushed through in just a day. 

I also didn't get to see some of the main sites because they were closed (sad). Instead a friend of mine and I just wandered around and took a few photos.

This is the mountain that made Potosi famous and the world rich. It's silver basically launched the Spanish Empire as well as hundreds of years of war in Europe. 

Uyuni

The small town of Uyuni is thejump off point to the salt flats of southeastern Bolivia. The area that tourists stay in is roughly a 2 block area with nothing but pizza places, hostels, souvenir shops and tour agencies. 

The Salar de Uyuni and more...

For most travelers to Bolivia the highlight of the trip is the natural wonder of the Bolivian salt flats. The salt flats provide salt for the whole country, but beyond that they provide a goat load of enjoyment for anyone with a camera. 

The three day tour usually includes geysers, hot springs, volcanic rocks, dried up coral islands, a train grave yard, lagoons of various colors and of course the salt.  The temperatures range from freezing cold to over hot, and the speedometers on the vehicles are purposely broken so you can freak out at how fast the drivers are going. 

With a handful of friends it's a great time.

Here are some pics in no particular order.

San Pedro de Atacama

After the rush of the dry dry Bolivian desert, we decided to spend a few days in the dry dry heat of the Chilean desert... You know to compare. 

This is the man made oasis in the desert. The town of San Pedro is basically a few thousand people catering to tourists and selling them cold drinks and delicious food.  The atmosphere of the town is very laid back and seems a lot like the southwest of the US complete with one story high adobe craft and art stores and scenic views of the mountains behind. 

Outside of town are a number of valleys you can bike to such as the valley of the dead and the valley of the moon. 

There are also ruins overlooking the valleys, left by a one powerful pre inca civilization that dominated the area.

Calama

We only had a few hours in Calama but got to meander through it's commercial downtown. 

La Serena

When we got to te beach in La Serena I realized I hadn't seen the ocean since Lima (way back in the middle of August). We strolled into town on a Sunday and nothing opened till around 11am so we hung out in a park and then went to the mall.  There we found a bowling alley... And being from the Midwest I had to get my game on. 

Other highlights of La Serena were the anthropology museum and the birds cracking crabs on the beach. 

Anywho....

Headed to Mendoza Argentina tomorrow hopefully. Posts soon on the rest of Chile (Valparaiso, Vina del Mar, Santiago) as well as about traveling alone vs with others.  

About two months left... With 4 countries to go (Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil).