world reviewer
Holiday Idea #40: Bolivia, then a few days in PeruWritten by  This trip is quite an exhausting and fast moving jourmey, involving long bus journeys and a few sleepless nights , but if you are a keen and active traveller, this may be a good and ultimately rewarding itinery for you. Bolivia, being home to Potosi, the highest City in the World, offers a completely different experience. Its climates and temperatures are some of the most extreme and its landscapes too. The country, as a whole, has a sort of rustic, dry feel, but nearer the equator you also have the tropics, which are filled with thick greenery and fertility. It also has a vast indiginous population, which adds character and culture to the experience, and it has an extremely friendly and welcoming feel. Places to goFly to Santa Cruz- This City has little to offer, so a night is all you need, or even direct transportation to Samaipata (4-5 days), which is just a three hour shared taxi ride away- Swing in a hammock with a good book in the heart of the mountains in this beautiful, quiet village. This really is a place to sit back and take in the scenery. But if you like to keep busy and on your feet, it offers a range of hikes, which are not too expensive. If you have not been a keen walker in the past, you dont need to worry as there are morning, afternoon, full day and night options to suit everyone, even the most unfit like me. The hikes take you to nearby temples, or bird watching, whatever gets you going. Samaipata to Sucre- (4-5 days)This old colonial City is renound to be, and was to me, the, most beautiful in Bolivia. The tall, white buildings and cobbly stone streets are a delight, as well as the square where all the Bolivian locals meet for thier daily catch up. You can also go to see dinosaur prints just half an hour away from the City. There are two ways to get here from Samaipata. You can either embark on an over-night bus journey, (you wont get much sleep !) which is the cheaper option, and to me, the more exciting option, or you can go back to Santa Cruz and fly. Although a rough ride, due to roads like you’ve never experienced before, most probably an overcrowded bus, as well as children sleeping in the walk- way, its journeys like these which make you realise just how far away you are from home and enhance the travelling experience as a whole. On my trip I discovered that the distance covered on this bus ride, on roads in Western countries would only have taken about four hours. In Bolivia, it’s twelve !- to give yo an idea of the roads !If this doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, flying is probably the safer bet. Sucre to Uyuni (2 nights in Uyuni, one before and one after the tour and 2-3 nights on the tour)Uyuni is the neighbouring town to the largest salt flats in the world, which are to many, a spectacle. Once you get to Uyuni, which will be at about six thirty in the evening, you need to organise a tour to go to the flats the following morning. So you will stay a night in Uyuni and proceed on a tour the next day. Tours can be 3-4 days (2-3 nights) and food and accomodation are included. This is the only way you can see the flats ; going on your own is not an option. The tours are almost indistinguishable other than by price. I used the company Ocean Tours, which was reasonable. Be prepared, however, for problems along the way. Our car broke down twice, but this is normal ! Luckily, tour companies never travel alone, so help came our way quickly. To get to Uyuni from Sucre, you need to catch another bus, but hold your breath. This bus ride is a day journey and takes 7 as opposed to twelve hours. You also have a stop off in the highest City in the world, Potosi, so you can tick that off your list of places you have been to. The salt flats were different to what I had expected, and if you were to miss out on something, I would probably say it should be this. I found that most views had the potential to be terrific, even breath-taking, but they were spoiled by several tour cars. Although each place was fantastic, cactus Island, Flamingo Lake, the hot springs, and of course, the flats (each place being a stop off on the tour), you really had very little time at each, spent a huge amount of the day in the tour car and had a circus of other cars doing the exact same trail as you. For those reasons I would say I was dissapointed, but other people say its the thing they liked most about Bolivia, so as it does with so much of travelling, it really depends on personal preference. If you have time, definitely do it, but bearing in mind that it may not be all its cracked out to be. I found the nights a fun element of the tour. We were in the most basic of rooms, cement floors and walls, a bed, that’s all ! And there was no electricity so when the temperature dropped to minus ten-twenty at night, it was extremely cold ! The evening was spent huddled up playing cards with a few bottles of whisky, anything to keep warm ! Make sure you are well-equiped for the cold, as even in the day the temerature is low and it is very very windy . Uyuni to La Paz (5-6)La Paz, the capitol of Boliva, was a fantastic City, not so much for the look of it in my mind, but more for what it had to offer; fantastic markets and shopping, great restaurants, and the main attraction being the night life. You can also go on an intense bike ride on the most dangerous road in the World (most recorded deaths). It is extremely narrow with two cliff drops on either side. To get to La Paz, I got the train from Uyuni This was an overnight train and took about seven hours. La Paz - Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca in Peru (a week to ten days)If you have the time, make sure you pop over to Peru. You can take the bus from La Paz directly to Cusco, where tours to Machu Picchu can be arranged. This journey is approximately 10 hours, but you can also stop off at Lake Titicaca, which splits up the journey and is a beautiful place to put your feet up and really chill out. Cusco is a fantastic City, with a huge, grand square as well as buildings. And tours to Machu Picchu can be organised from here. They are fairly expensive but worth the expense, and to really get the full experince you should do the inca trail. This is a five day hiking tour, and you end up at Machu Picchu. It cant be denied that as many places have been ruined by the excessive number of tourists that go, Machu Picchu has to some extent, too, but it cant be denied that it is a marvel and the hiking in the mountains that come with it, is a fantastic experience and a lot of fun too. CommentsThere are no posts. Why not be the first to have your say? 
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