Wow wow.
After we visited the silver mines of Potosi we visited the Casa Real de la Moneda, where they pressed coins for 200-250 years ago, which made the city the most wealthiest and biggest city in the world. Potosi was by far the most interesting city by now due to its cultural history - Inkas lived by the mountain to use the silver for jewelry - the spaniards came and made them to slaves and use the silver to money (The Inkas first thought that the spaniards were Gods coming to save them.....) - it became the biggest city in the world untill the silver more or less was gone, but then they found led and zink, which is what they still are working for in the mountain today. All this in the worlds highest city. We also got time to celebrate Jakob and Ulriks birthday, which wasnt far from eachother!
After Potosi we went to Sucre. In Potosi we had noticed that children were throwing water ballons at each other. When we came to Sucre we found out why - carneval! For 2-3 weeks there is water attacks all over Bolivia, and we oooh did we feel it!! The first days it was fun. But when the carneval got closer and it wasnt only the kids that was throwing waterballons or spraying with their waterguns, it was the locals vs. gringos (foreigners). We couldnt go out of our hostel without getting SOAKED. Sometimes we were lucky and didnt get hit, sometimes it was the complete opposite. Usually we played along, but the last days we just got bored of it. One of the last days Oliver got so upset with it, he just went " &$&·/%·/@/(% " and bought alot of ballons and went on a one-man-mission. A sight of a life time!
When we were finished with carneval in Sucre (which is a beautiful city) we went out to a little mountain village called Samaipata - write outside the jungles of where Che Guevara got killed. Here we rented some bikes and went out to see some Inka ruins. We asked if it was hilly and the agency who leant us the bikes said "well yeah, a little bit" I dont know if they dont have any clue of what a hill is or if they tried to trick us, but we ended biking the last 6 km up a pretty steep mountain untill we got to the top. It was a great experience but it was very hard! And of course Ulrik and Oliver were smart enough to rent a scooter insted.... The Inka ruins was not much of a site, but at least we got to see something, as our Macchu Picchu trip is now officially cancelled. Its crap.
When er were done with Samaipata we went to the richest city in Bolivia, Santa Cruz. And really, there is nothing good about this city - it was boooooring.
The biggest difference in all these cities is the altitude. We´ve gone from 4200m in Potosi to 400m in Santa Cruz (Sucre and Samaipata somwhere between) so we finally got down to more normal conditions in Santa Cruz - easier to breathe, not that dizzy all the time. But Bolivia is a rollercoaster - we are now in the worlds highest capital, La Paz 3700m. Back to altitude sickness, lack of breathe... but it still has its charm.
We have said goodbye to our dear friend Johanna during these last couple of weeks as she went back to Argentina. On the contrary we are now travelling with a friend of Mads´ called Martin, who lives in Helsingor in Denmark. The two norwegians are two days behind us, dont ask me how that happened..
I guess that was all for now, Take care out there!
Forza Lazio!
tirsdag den 23. februar 2010
mandag den 8. februar 2010
Scandinavian invasion in Bolivia
Bolivia: poor on money, rich on nature!
The whole gang of 9 arrived in Bolivia 1. of february. Our group, the norwegians (Bjornar and Kristian) and the swede (Johana) decided to travel together, and we have done that since. James from England was also with us for some time, but leaved us in Tupiza, Bolivia. So we are the Scandinavian gang now.
Shortly after we arrived in Bolivia we took to the city of Tupiza. The trip from the border to this city was unbelievable... We drove in a bus, but we werent on a road. It was all dirt, no cement or anything. We were 200 km away from Salta, Argentina, and now we were in a country where the buildings were falling apart, no real infrastructure and the nature was much different. Another big impact is the altitude. The border city was 2500 m above sea level, so the altitude hit you. You lost your breathe walking down hill!!
When we were in tupiza we took a 4 day jeep trip through the southwest of Bolivia. This was the most beautiful nature I have ever seen in such a small area. We saw Lagunas, flamingos, llamas (we even ate llama meat), vulcanos, drove through deserts, slept in small villages of a population of 200 natives, bathed in hot springs, where the water was 35 celsius, saw geysers and we were at 5000m altitude. Simply amazing. We ended the jeep trip with the biggest attraction: Salar de Uyuni, the worlds biggest salt desert. There was just on problem: the desert was flodded, so we couldnt get out of the car.... So suddenly when we were out in the middle of this flodded desert our driver went out of the window and sat outside the door, while the car was driving. Soon afterwards we all joined, so we ll were leaning out of our windows. At last we sat on top of the car while tyhe car still was driving. All the other jeeps now didnt take pictures of the desert, but of us!
I am very sure Ive forgotten alot of things. I hope I soon can upload pictures, but the internet here is very slow...
Now we are in the world highest city: Potosi, which is 4200m above sea level. Today we were in the mines of the sacred mountain in this city, where there was silver for centuries, but now is very little left (google is your friend).
Soon we are going to Sucre, to see what adventures are hidden there!!!
Take care
Forza LAZIO!
The whole gang of 9 arrived in Bolivia 1. of february. Our group, the norwegians (Bjornar and Kristian) and the swede (Johana) decided to travel together, and we have done that since. James from England was also with us for some time, but leaved us in Tupiza, Bolivia. So we are the Scandinavian gang now.
Shortly after we arrived in Bolivia we took to the city of Tupiza. The trip from the border to this city was unbelievable... We drove in a bus, but we werent on a road. It was all dirt, no cement or anything. We were 200 km away from Salta, Argentina, and now we were in a country where the buildings were falling apart, no real infrastructure and the nature was much different. Another big impact is the altitude. The border city was 2500 m above sea level, so the altitude hit you. You lost your breathe walking down hill!!
When we were in tupiza we took a 4 day jeep trip through the southwest of Bolivia. This was the most beautiful nature I have ever seen in such a small area. We saw Lagunas, flamingos, llamas (we even ate llama meat), vulcanos, drove through deserts, slept in small villages of a population of 200 natives, bathed in hot springs, where the water was 35 celsius, saw geysers and we were at 5000m altitude. Simply amazing. We ended the jeep trip with the biggest attraction: Salar de Uyuni, the worlds biggest salt desert. There was just on problem: the desert was flodded, so we couldnt get out of the car.... So suddenly when we were out in the middle of this flodded desert our driver went out of the window and sat outside the door, while the car was driving. Soon afterwards we all joined, so we ll were leaning out of our windows. At last we sat on top of the car while tyhe car still was driving. All the other jeeps now didnt take pictures of the desert, but of us!
I am very sure Ive forgotten alot of things. I hope I soon can upload pictures, but the internet here is very slow...
Now we are in the world highest city: Potosi, which is 4200m above sea level. Today we were in the mines of the sacred mountain in this city, where there was silver for centuries, but now is very little left (google is your friend).
Soon we are going to Sucre, to see what adventures are hidden there!!!
Take care
Forza LAZIO!
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