Travel

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Don Quixote & Solón

Posted on by Tamsin Curle

Don Quixote & Solón
La Paz, Bolivia

La Paz, Bolivia


Rachael is back in La Paz today, and I have read about an Art Gallery in the Sopocachi area where she is staying. Ali and I walk the 20minutes down to the gallery and it is interesting to be in a more upmarket commercial area. It is great to see Rachael and she is looking well after her long weekend in Buenos Aires. The Art gallery we are visiting is based in the former studio of Walter Solón Romero (1923-1999) a great Bolivian muralist painter. He was inspired to sketch and paint the character of Don Quixote by stories his father had read to him. His son was imprisoned during the cruel and brutal dictatorship of Hugo Banzer Suarez in 1972 at the age of 22. Walter Solón mixed political messages into his art and his famous Don Quixote with dogs led to him being exiled to Lima. His son tragically disappeared from the prison never to be seen again. The gallery is very interesting and his art has a lot of movement & emotion in it, despite the cartoon like character of Don Quixote. We strolled through the plaza and a small park dedicated to Solón’s missing son and others that went missing during the dictatorship. It led to a mirador with good views of the modern city with mountains behind. We stopped for Vietnamese for lunch, I had a sensational Pho washed down with condensed milk coffee which was a real treat. The girls and I went to a strange Roofbar tonight for cocktails, the manager moved people off tables so we could sit down which we thought was rude. We collectively decided to move on after our first cocktail and enjoyed the Dutch run Sol y Luna restaurant instead.

Back at school

Posted on by Tamsin Curle

Sucre, Bolivia 🇧🇴

My friend Racheal arrives this morning at 6am, poor girl has been on a overnight bus from Uyuni. I go back to sleep for a bit but I have a early start for my first morning of Spanish class. MeGusta Spanish school is a 15minute walk away, and I arrive on time to take my level assessment test. I am not a beginner, which is good news but I am the only one at my level so will be in private lessons this week. My tutor Andrea is lovely and I enjoy the lesson reviewing previous knowledge. Lessons finish at 12.30 and as I walk back to the hostel the girls pass me in a taxi. They are heading back to the Mirador cafe so Rachael and I walk up to join them. It is not so easy walking up, I blame the altitude for my breathlessness but I think it might be lack of fitness. Lunch at mirador again, it is super cheap in Bolivia so we are all happy eating out.

The girls say it is now snowing in Uyuni, much colder but also it is hampering the tours so travellers are stuck in San Pedro. I feel lucky to have had such a great tour.

Mirador lazing

Posted on by Tamsin Curle

Sucre, Bolivia 🇧🇴

Today I wanted to do a city tour, just to get my bearings a bit. It is Sunday, so the streets are really quiet as I make my way to the Condor cafe. This cafe runs tours on a not for profit basis and they support local community projects so I feel the 70bolivianos they charge for a city tour is money well spent. We meet at 10 o’clock and we are a group of 5; two Aussies, two Americans and me. The first stop is the Catedral on the main plaza. It is Sunday so we are fortunate to find it open and we can look around. It is quite simple, no ornate angels adorning the ceiling but pretty in its own right. The janitor locks up behind us, bolting the huge door and fancy gate. The main plaza is still not busy, apart from a school group practicing for the city’s celebrations on the 26th May. The guide explains the Bolivian symbol or shield, with the Potosí hill in the background and Llama in front. The motto on the government building is ‘stronger together’ with the 9 stars representing the departments that make up the union of Bolivia. The current president created a new constitution in 2008, recognising more of the indigenous people’s rights but also said this created a new Bolivia and thus he was eligible to run an additional term!

The San Francisco church is famous in Bolivia, and it is very popular. The bell tower houses the bell that was rung on the 26th May and initiated the start of independence uprising across South America. The bell was rung that hard it cracked, and this is how it remains as a reminder. It is around the church that there are some nice vendor stalls selling a myriad of souvenirs. Behind the church is the central market and we walk through the centre. There are fruit & veg stalls, cheese sellers, a meat section and well to be honest there is everything here. We sample some chorizo from a stall that is famously run by seven sisters. The chorizo is spicy, which makes a change as the Argentinian and Chilean food was surprisingly bland.

We walk on to Bolivar park, this was created and donated by a eccentric childless couple who also adopted over 80 orphaned children. The park has a big children’s area with a dinosaur theme, but also a replica Effel tower. It was constructed by Gustov Effel himself as he was a friend of the couple. We then hop on a local bus, only 1.50Bols one way (anywhere). We are heading up the hill to Recoleta, the oldest part of the city. There are several streets that are named after cats where the freedom fighters first planned the uprising for independence. The cat streets lead us to a cobbled square that overlooks Sucre. This is where the tour ends but close by is the Mirador cafe where I have arranged to meet the girls. This spot is amazing, and we spend the whole afternoon sat in the deckchairs looking out over Sucre in the sunshine. The cafe is great for food but best is their cafe frappe which is deliciously cooling in this lovely weather.

Geyser Tatio

Posted on by Tamsin Curle

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile 🇨🇱

It is freezing this morning and is -8 when I am collected at 5am (as a side note, Nicky and Liam went with another company and they were forgotten, so waited in the cold for over 2 hours!). I am wearing everything I can, knowing full well that by 10am it will be roasting and around 25degrees. We drive for an hour, it’s dark so I don’t feel too bad that I sleep.

The sun is just starting to rise as we enter the geyser area. It is very cool, just looks like the floor is steaming. There is lots of steam, coming from masses of channels underground where water hits hot rock. A few larger Geysers and also conical Geysers. I learn that the colour on the surface surrounding the opening is created by bacteria and the different colours are different types. We move to another area where we can walk around but first get a surprisingly good breakfast of avocado and scrambled egg sandwich. After a stroll around the quieter area we walk through wetlands where we see large footed Coot birds and herds of Vicuña. Our final stop is a small village called Machana which was one of the first in the area. Here we see a cheerful character cooking llama kebabs to the rich throng of tourists. Time to head back and it is only lunchtime but a roasting temperature now.

There are three new girls in hostel who are really friendly so we stroll to town to get money changed and see more of the town centre. Tonight it is packing up again but this this time for a new country, Bolivia.

Sunshine and Stargazing

Posted on by Tamsin Curle

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile 🇨🇱

Today is a lazy day! It is Jeff’s birthday so we go to the French bakery for pastries, any excuse really! Shivani and I have decided to book the Uyuni tour for Tuesday, it gives me time to do the Geysers tomorrow. I am also looking forward to travelling with her as she is such a positive ball of sunshine and the 3 days are supposed to be tough going. We head into town and book the tour with Cruz Andina, we liked the fact they stay down lower in Ville mar on the first night so altitude should be easier and warmer. On the way out of town we stop for an ice cream. I choose a local flavour, Rica Rica which comes from a desert plant and tastes of malted milk. It is then back to the hostel to laze in the hammocks basking in glorious sunshine.

Tonight I am going stargazing, this was something that was recommend to me as the desert provides perfect conditions for viewing the night sky. I climb into the van and spy Nicky & Liam who I met in Salta, I had mentioned the tour to them and it is great to see them tonight. Jorge is our host for the night and you can tell how passionate he is about astronomy. He previously worked at ALMA, which is a station that houses lots of the worlds biggest telescopes for Germany, France and USA. We arrive at his house and I spy at least 15 telescopes waiting for us to use. Settling in to chairs he takes time to explain a bit of history, how the night sky is mapped and that it is divided into 88 constellations. I am sat there just mesmerised by the view of the Milky Way. Obviously it is a different view to what we see in the Northern Hemisphere but I don’t recall every seeing something like this that wasn’t in a book, just beautiful. We see the Southern cross and learn how to use it to find the South Pole. Jorge points out the scorpion, Sirius which is the brightest star and Omega century.

We have a short break where his adorable little daughter Antonio helps her mum give out Hot Chocolate (which is lovely and warming whilst stood next to a gas fire).

Now it is time for observations using the telescopes. First looking at coloured stars; red, blue and yellow. Planets are those that don’t twinkle! We see clusters of stars, a spider cluster and also Canopus, the second brightest star in the sky. We are using different telescopes for each observation and he then surprises us with Jupiter, which looks like a cookie with a fork imprint on it. We can see four of her planets, she is just beautiful. Jorge also shows us Saturn with her rings showing as one big one. Finally the moon comes up, and viewing it through the magnification is great as you can see all the craters and lakes. Jorge has taken a few photos for us but regardless this is one night I will remember for a while….

Lagunas altiplano

Posted on by Tamsin Curle

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile 🇨🇱

Today I have booked on a full day tour that goes out to Pedras Riojas via high altitude Lagunas. This is a 7am pick up and as the morning is really cold, I have wrapped up warm, pretty much wearing anything that looks warm that I own.

We head out and stop at a road marker for the Tropic of Capricorn, but more interestingly is a monument to the Inca Trail. This trail which I thought was just a walkway to Machu Picchu, is in fact a commercial trading route that goes through to Chile. Today’s towns were largely created from tocumbas, which were the old camel stopping points found every 33km (average distance the camel would travel per day).

Continuing on we get higher up to the volcano range to the town of Socaire where we stopped for tasty scrambled egg breakfast. Once finished, we continue our route to Miscanti Lake. This is about 100km from San Pedro and we realise that we have snow! This is quite strange in the desert but it bathes the landscape in a lovely white glow, even the small grasses look frozen.

The Miscanti lake sits in front of the Miscanti volcano. Miñique and Miscanti volcanos are said to be warrior brothers and the two lakes separated after a fight over thousands of years ago. Unfortunately we are not allowed to reach the Miñique Lake due to the snow which doesn’t bother me really as I am captivated by the snow on the volcano range and enjoy throwing a few snowballs.

We were told at this point that other tours could not make it through to Pedras Riojas due to snow but we would try. We didn’t get too far before the Police turned us around due to road conditions. We were not going to make it through, so our guide stops at a few other scenic spots showing us lava flow and native animals such as the Vicuña which looks similar to the Guanacos we saw in Patagonia. Vicuña provide the finest wool of the Llama family but are now a protected species.

The rest of the group seemed really angry about missing Pedras Riojas and were trying to get the guide to turn back to San Pedro to try and get some money back. I was more relaxed about the day and felt the snow scenery had enhanced the adventure. Luckily for me the guide insists that he is paid to finish the tour and we head to Laguna de Chaxa.

The group has calmed down and the sun is baking down on us as we survey this salt flat area. The flat exists because it sits between the Andes and the central mountain range. The water with high mineral content from the Andes cannot go anywhere and so evaporates into this slat flat. It looks a bit like a coral structure rather than a ‘flat’ and is a dirty colour, down to the fact water doesn’t pass to clean it. This Laguna is famous for flamingos but today there were only a few to find. We wandered around the crusty surface watching birds, and me trying to spot geckos.

I felt it was a awesome day with some surreal landscapes.

San Pedro de Atacama, Provincia de El Loa, Chile

Luna valley

Posted on by Tamsin Curle

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile 🇨🇱

Waking up this morning it is a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky. The hostel has a big open space with hammocks slung in a couple of places. Chatting to a Aussie, Shivani, she offers to show me the French bakery. I am slightly skeptical that this dusty little town has a decent bakery let alone a French one, but this is excellent. I really enjoy my raspberry croissant and the coffee is amazing, I know where breakfast is going to be every morning.

We continue strolling around town, it’s not very big but quite pretty little rows of adobe houses. There are hundreds of tour companies offering trips around the area, it is hard to see what is good let alone which the best companies are. I have already booked a tour of the Luna Valley this afternoon through a company the hostel owner recommended but I am keen to research tours to Uyuni for next week. It looks like a 3 day tour via the salt flats is one of the most common and easiest ways to get into Bolivia so I visit a couple of companies that have good reviews.

Valle de la Luna is a valley in Los Flamencos National Reserve. It’s known for its moonlike landscape of dunes, rugged mountains and distinctive rock formations. On arrival to the park they warn us that they might close it due to the wind. It is pretty fierce whipping up sand and pummelling my jacket. We head in regardless and the landscape is like you are on another planet. I visited Ischigualasto park in Argentina and can see similarities between the two. The formations are cool, we stop first at the three Marias that are two an a half now because a Russian tourist broke one whilst trying to climb. We also view what they call the Amfitheater which is a huge cliff structure, and there are lots of sand dunes. We learn a bit about the working mines that are long gone but get to go down a salt cave which has some interesting formations. The texture is made by small drops of water pulling salt down over thousands of years which is just incredible. Our final stop is a cliff top that overlooks the Luna Valley for sunset, quite a magical setting that I share with about 100 people!

I arrive back about 8pm and there are a few of us that have pitched in for a BBQ so we settle in around the warmth of the fire with food and rum.