Potosi and Uyuni, Bolivia

After Lake Titicaca I headed to the bustling city of La Paz, Bolivia. For the first time in South America, I really felt like I stood out and wasn't sure how comfortable I felt in this... seeing this kind of poverty was a first for me, and at times really disturbing. By chance, we happened to arrive on the day of their 198 anniversay of freedom from the Spaniards. I've never imagined a parade quite like this- from 8 in the morning to 2am the next morning, people dancing in fancy flashy costumes, musicians to follow all around the city. It was quite entertaining. And, to make up for feeling sligtly out of place, markets of $3 scarfs make me a very happy lady, an d that entertained me for quite a long time.

After 3 days here we headed for Potosi, about 10 hours south of Laz Paz, known for its mines, which is where a lot of the worlds silver came from until the silver economy crashed, along with the once very prosperous city of Potosi. Some English travels we met back in Cusco told us how cool going into the mines of Bolivia were and how we had to do it. To say the least, I now have a demise for these boys for even recommending it, but also know this was a very important, and humbling, and terrifying-all-at-once-experience. We started the tour in a group of 5 gringos and a guide who had previously worked for 3 years in the mine. We went to the miners market, where we bought dynamite and coco leaves as gifts, got dressed in the appropriate gear and went into the mines. Basically, for the lack of a better word, it was horrifying. Being in the complete dark other than the head lamp, we were
crawling through rabbit holes within the mountain, laying on our stomachs crawling through as the dirt and rocks scaped our backs, with noxious fumes surrounding us making it impossible to breath. As we went down to the third layer of the mine, it became even harder and harder to breath. Over a thousand minors work down in those mines for 12 hrs a day, 7 days a week. And I could barelly handle the 2 hours. At one point we heard a little explosion go off, and my heard skipped a good 5 beats as I realized the slight possibility of the mountain crashing in on us. These minors work there for lack of a better job, and the average life span for a minor is 40 years. Experiencing that for a mere almost 2 hours, I can't even tell you how much compassion I have for those minors, and I am left sadened by the injustice of the whole system.



From there we went another 6 hours south to the town of Uyuni, close to the border of Chile. Here, there are salt flats... basically miles and miles and miles of salt. It looks like a desert of snow, but its all salt. With a German tourist we met, we took some funny pictures on the flats, and went in a restuarant and hotel made of salt. In the middle of the flats was the "Island of Fish," which is basically this random island-shaped land area covered in cactus. Very random, very cool.