uyuni tour, train graveyard

This is the first stop of the 3 day Salt Flat tour starting at Uyuni town. The first stop is at the train graveyard just at the rim of the town. Why is there a train graveyard? The Europeans built train track and brought trains over thinking that they can transport the goods out of Bolivia this way. They failed, but why? Because they didn't calculate in the nature factor. It's high altitude, the pressure is different, coal won't do the job. So, they left the machines and trains there. The train track is still used though, nowadays, they transport supplies between Chile and Bolivia, through the Salts Flats and the mountain ranges.

I like this place. At the graveyard, its easy to think about things. They are a proof of evolving science. They are there to remind us of the old footprints. They are there, for decades, for tourists to day dream, for locals to take a stroll at night, for philosophers to wander, for kids to play hide and seek, for lovers to rendezvous, for the drunks to sleep in, for the lost to sit silently, for the lost to scream loudly. They are abandoned and reborn again. 

Things you learn from Potosi

Potosi is one of the highest altitude cities in the world, at 4090 metre above sea level. Potosi is known for Cerro Rico, the rich mountain. It was once the silver supplier of the New World Spanish Empire. The mountain used to be a lot higher than it is now, but since the exploitation, the mountain's height reduced. Till now, there are still miners working in the mountains to earn a living. They work long shifts and in terrible conditions that cause them to become sick and die at a premature age. The people do not have a choice but to work at the mines to provide for their family, they know they will sacrifice their life but they have no choice. What I learn from briefly visiting this place: cherish everything, be grateful, be kind to others and never forget the heartache feelings I felt on the day at Potosi.

Bolivia is a land of richness.

Long bus rides to the next destination. 

Learning buddy Sean

He's one of the students in my spanish school. His classroom is next to my classroom. The classrooms are cold without heating so we all like to chill out under the sun on the balcony at recess. It's the only spot with sunshine. We can feel every pore and every inch of skin thanking us for the sunlight and warmth.

He just finished university and decided to live in Bolivia for couple months to learn Spanish and then travel around South America. His homestay parents are the spanish class owners. The apartment is beautiful. He has the whole 2nd floor for himself with private washroom, view tower and balcony with entire view of sucre. The entire complex has German school, salsa dance room, pub, and hostel. It also has private garden with tree house and hammocks. This dude probably had the best living condition in the entire sucre foreigner population, on just 60 bolivians a day.

At the pub's oktoberfest, there was a show of hot bolivian girls...

"this is awkward..."

"i don't know if it's them feeling more awkward with mini skirts or us feeling more awkward watching..."

"hahaha"

"but we (boys) all can't help ourselves but stare...."

At recess...

"where you heading?"

"empanadas"

"i'm so hungry, ill go with you"

At the empadana shop

"uno pollo empanada por favor."

"uno mas"

"mmmm mmmmmm mmmmmmm soooooo goooooooooood"

"this is damn yummy."

salsa class

"this is so awkward."

"yeah, way too intimate."

"i'm gonna rest, you take care, the girl over there has been starring at you since the beginning."

"you're not gonna protect me?"

when we all got tipsy...

"i'll let you in on a secret.."

"oooooo.... spill the beans!"

"the teacher who cornered youri last weekend? it's my teacher."

"WOWWWWWWWWWWW"

"i know."

we like to sun tan at mid morning

Youri and the godfather police

Youri youri youri. It's strange, we only hung out for a couple days but we got along like old friends.

"Hi, I'm Youri."
"Oh hey, I like your purple pants."
We met at a mutual friend's dinner gathering.

Then a couple days later, we met again at a cafe.
"Last night was scary, I got cornered by a girl"
"You what?"
"at the oktoberfest, thankfully my teacher protected me."
"how? what...WHAT?"
"it was so close..."

Youri is Dutch. He's easy going, funny and shares his personal gossip like it's someone else's. He always wears purple pants. The locals love his purple pants, it's so fashion forward, they find him crazy attractive. He is on a 6 month long virginity spell. A nun, pretty much.

"my friend got robbed and lost his camera yesterday. I'm accompanying him to the police office for the 4th time..."
"oh, that sucks"
"the tourist police speaks like the godfather."
"please take me with you, I'll be the entourage."

The camera, as we all know, will not be retrieved. The police didn't care for the car plate number or the style of the camera. It's how it works here. The only thing you can do is to get a police written report of the incident for the insurance company. We walked to the edge of central Sucre, entered the fenced police building with chilled out gunned guards. The place was so old and run down. We walked to the end of the hallway and turned into the last office. The window glasses are broken. There's weird drapes of textile hanging at one side which created a private space behind the drapes. The tables and chairs looks as if they were collected from a dump garage. I would not want to be here for any other reasons other than meeting this godfather police. We giggled and smiled when godfather came out. He's a short moustache man resembling nothing of don carleon but his low husky voice was, without any effort, the legendary godfather voice, but in Spanish.

meeting godfather this afternoon...

Bolivian baby girl's birthday party

It's Louisiana's birthday party the morning after Oktoberfest. Sleeping at 6:30am, failed to wake up to meet Sara at 9:30, waking up at 10:30 then making it to Breta's house by noon. Thank goodness the tradition is to be late by an hour or two. Red prepared mini sausages, grilled chicken and chips with avocado and salsa dips. There was a clown blasting out one particular song repeatedly, there was probably close to 20 kids and 10 adults. They all gathered under the tent in the centre courtyard watching the clown playing games with the kids. The kids were well behaved sat on the small chairs and the adults sat around the side over watching the craziness. The clown played numerous games and magic (repeating that single song on the player) then gathered the host family up for slicing the disney princess cakes and showering the kids with princess pinata full of colourful candies and toys.

This is by far the most local involved event I've participated in Sucre. How in the world would I know I'd be going to a 2 year old birthday party on Sunday morning hungover with a big bag of diaper present.

Louisiana with my glasses

house dog boss chilling under the chair

mom dad louisiana and grandpa with clown

massive disney princess pinata explosion at the end

Bolivian Lunch

Who says Bolivians don't have delicious meals? You just need to follow the locals...

Bolivian day goes like this, wake up around 8, go school/work, lunch from 12 to 2 ish, siesta, head out around 4 again then dinner around 8 to 9. Lunch is their biggest meal of the day. Many go home to eat or eat out with family. Restaurants offer menú del día, menu of the day, which is usually 15-25 bolivianos approximately 3 dollars. It usually consist of an appetizer and main with drink and/or dessert. It's mainly locals who fill the restaurants for lunch and less tourists as lunch is a light one in our culture. I actually started to eat like them and find it healthier. Lunching big follow by small dinner somehow feels better.

secret restaurant by fluven with awesome 3 course lunch. jammed
with locals. pasta potato chicken soup

main is beef  with potato, tomato, beans, onion and spices.

st germain vegetarian bean veggie soup

st germain main, veggie sprice sauce with rice and a wrap of
something  that taste like meat 

simple sugar coated cake

Celebrating Oktoberfest at Sucre

"you going saturday?"
"what?"
"oktoberfest! at fluven, starting at 8pm all you can drink beer for 49bolivians"
"for how long?"
"till 2am"
"affirmative"

Everyone kept talking about the oktoberfest throughout the week. the german spirit here surprised me, apparently the hostel owner is german, fluven is german, and the owner of my spanish school is also german, plus he got another cafe/school complex. fyi, 49 bolivianos is about 7 canadian.

Fluven's 2nd floor was were the event is, its a courtyard surrounded by wooden tables and chairs and attached to another small bar room. Will, Simon, Sebastian, Sean, Lota, Elana, Nathan, Simon, Red, Youri and everyone I knew and kind of knew were there. In this small town, everyone is a friend's friend. The night blasted away. We refilled our plastic cups again and again and again and again. The bar got so jammed and the staff so busy, they ran out of beer in light year speed. I guess they didn't expect the drinkability of travellers and the meaning of oktoberfest, because the plastic cups were not the oktober size.

half way through the beer marathon

I went to the washroom and surprisingly discovered a group of boys were chit chatting on the sofa. They gave me a secretive smile which I didn't understand until one of my friend came up to use the washroom as well...

"the boys said hi to me, then I said hi back."
"uh huh..."
"one of them reach his hand out which I thought was a friendly hand shake..."
"yeah?"
"but his hands grabbed lower..."
gasp.

"you got gay charm."

Learning español with Estephanie

"Did you study Jenny?"

"Why didn't you do your homework?"
"Oh my Jenny, why are you out everyday?"
Repeatedly was I butchered by Estephanie. She is a really great Spanish teacher. Knowledgeable, humorous and friendly with students. We had one on one 4 hours classes in the morning for ten days.

"Pan fried the rice in the pan before cooking in the pot. It's way better."
She provided cooking tips because the altitude is high so the ways to cook things are different.

"You should eat more papaya, it's good for health"
She listen to my health problems and give honest advices. :)

"Go to the restaurant down the road to the left, their 3 course lunch meal is delicious."
Estephanie knows I love food so she told me all the yummy food in town, while avoiding burning the wallet.

"You're going to the party tonight right? I'll see you there. Let's dance."
She's young and energetic. She party and enjoy socializing with students.

we like to study on the patio under the sun

the sentence making session 9am in the morning

smiling in the school

spanish school!

Gringo cooking in Sucre

When I got to Sucre, my mental health wasn't doing great. I miss my family. I miss cooking. I miss stability. I was tired of backpacking around and sick of making friends then bidding goodbye the next day. I started cooking. The ability to cook whatever I want and the joy in creating them provided a sense of comfort. It reminded me of my mom.

I ventured out to the public market after Spanish lessons. The trick is to visit the same seller every time. The same veggie lady, same egg lady, same fruit lady and same spice lady. Haggle, haggle and haggle more. They like to rip off of gringos but after a week or so, they will feel bad and give you a better offer.

I made fried rice, for 3 straight days. Fried rice with veggies and eggs. Simple but way better than anything the restaurants provide. I loved veggies. Eating it makes me feel good, like my body is fresh and regenerated. I started liking papayas. The stalls sell massive papayas. Apparently it's a super fruit with lots of good stuff for health. They were delicious and easy to eat. I chop them in half, eat one half then couldn't help myself but eat the other half too. The free food/spice cupboard is also a must visit everyday. I found rice, pastas, spices, cooking oil, instant soups, instant noodles and even cereals.

very first self cooked meal

and then the lazy versions days afterwards

papayas the size of my face, still consider small by
the local standards

Sucre, the white city

Sucre, aka Charcas aka La Plata aka Chuquisaca. This town with four names is situated at 2700m altitude giving it an average temperature of 20C by day and 8C by night. It's the constitutional capital of Bolivia, the centre of South America freedom movement.

Sucre was apparently the best place to learn Spanish. The quality of teachers are great, the tuition is affordable and living cost is as low as it could be. I stayed here for two weeks to learn Spanish.

I've come to love this place. The friendly town where you bump into friends walking around town. The central meeting place- plaza 25 de mayo- where everyone would hang around day and night and converse with strangers sitting at the next bench. The yummy lunch spots providing cheap three course menus. Siestas that would zombify the entire town. The public markets that require extensive amount of haggling. The fruit stall square producing mouth watering fruit cups. The freestyle Spanish teacher. The infamous universities, firsts of its kind in South America. The park with mini Eiffel tower and little ponds with boats. The two popular pubs where locals and travellers mingle. The board game nights. The two for one happy drinking hours. The hills we climb to watch the sunset. The yummy empanadas and saltanias. The white churches beaming on sunny days. The museum of Bolivian history. The hilarious third world police department. The pretty white washed Spanish buildings. The street by day. And the streets at night. The libraries, cathedrals, cinemas, bakeries, convenient shops, launderias, hostels and etc...

I love this place, I love this place.

The Santa Clara convent bells, the massive convent
with nuns making yummy emapanadas

lunch time sunshine

more cathedrals!

plaza 25 de mayo, everything evolves around here

fyi, Sucre's water system is German. this is the only bolivian town that i drink tap water.

Backpacker's card games

There are 5 kinds of card games backpackers all learn to play.

Bullshit. This is a game of deception, lying and cheating. The goal is to bullshit to get rid of all your cards. If you're bullshitting when a player challenges, then all the cards on the table are yours.

Asshole aka President. The asshole game rules see wiki rules. It's basically trying to get rid of all your cards with some cards or a combination of cards having special rules. Depending on how well you do, you become president, vice president, middle management, commoner, vice asshole and asshole. No one talks to the asshole unless they want to swap positions.

Shitface is something similar to asshole but you pick up cards while trying to get rid of all the cards. The loser of the last game will trade their best cards to the winner for their worst cards.

Fuck the dealer. The dealing party rotates throughout the game, the longer it goes, the more likely you will get screwed over by the players.The rules.

Poker, obvisouly. Needless to explain this one.


Card games get us through long haul buses. Card games entertain us at siesta times. Card games accompany us in deserted lands. Card games are the after dinner activity before the night starts rolling. Card games bring all nation of backpackers together. Doesn't matter where you're from and where you're going, find a chair and join the rounds of vulgar games.

Las pampas, sunrise and cute wildlifes

Tony woke us up at 5 am. In pitch black, we hopped on the boat again. The moon sets on one side while the sun rises on the other. From dark blue, dark purple, vine red to orange red then the glorious sun. We hear the birds chirping, the alligators moving to their hunting spots, the pampas coming to life again. The sky was wide and limitless. The pampas full of life and energy. Fresh breeze and cold air waking us up. We stood on a little hill and gawing at this absolutely beautiful scene with circle of life playing in the background. I'll wake up for this everyday.

wait for it... wait for it....

the cirrrrrrrrrrrcle of liiiiiiiiiiiife

After breakfast, we spotted a gang of yellow squirrel monkeys hanging around the lodge. They were curious. They took our apple and bananas. You cute little monkey. So, we didn't know this, but you're not suppose to feed the monkeys...

a bunch of cute monkeys hung around the lodge, adorable!!!

Tony took us further down the stream again, spotting for more animals. We spotted a SLOTH. It was Tony's first time seeing it this year thus we were extremely lucky. These cute furry bundles move really realllly realllllly slow. He was hanging on the tree branches eating leaves. They are only active for a few hours in a day and sleep for the rest. They don't have natural predators so they are able to live a lazy chilled out life.

a SLOTH! we spotted a sloth! 

This is a crappy photo, it's almost impossible to get a clear shot of these cute pink dolphins. During dry periods, they hang around a particular deep part of the river. A lot of people jumped in the water to swim with them. They would use their mouths to poke your feet. I never knew there were dolphins in the Amazon. Let alone, Pink dolphins. 

tip of the pink dolphin

Las Pampas, grassland anaconda hunting

Siesta time on the hammocks.

Afternoon is exploration time inland. We put on gum boots and head towards the vast unmarked high grass land behind the lodge. This walk is 3 hours, in 30 Celsius heat. Tony had long knife and wood stick to clear the path. He walks carefully, tracing for animal signs...

at this point, I didn't expect what was to happen...

Tony bullshit.

Walking for half an hour across the high grasses, we reached a wired fence. "Everybody spread out 1 meter between each other, we are walking straight across this swamp. Walk slow and don't worry about the water getting in your boots, it's okay." And so we did exactly what Tony said. Black stinky water rushed into my gum boots within five steps into the swamp. We walked slowly, taking firm steps and careful not to trip on plant roots beneath the pitch black water.

1/3 across the field Tony yells from distance, "Oh, guys, this is an anaconda habitat, they like to rest on the plants above water, careful not to step them!"

Fuck. Really Tony? Thanks.

"AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" one of us found an anaconda. A 4 meter long anaconda. So damn amazing. At this stage, all fears are sunk by excitement. Colourful and lively, with full aware of his exposure. It started twisting its body and showing its tongue. Who knows how many are swimming underneath the water, passing our gum boots....

4 meter long baby anaconda 

Safely passing the anaconda habitat, we venture further inland. Passing by wet lands and flower fields with resting capybaras. Swans, eagles, and all kinds of birds hanging out by the water, taking off into the sky majestically. We also found crabs on dry grounds, they are dummy crabs that didn't make it to deeper water before dry season. It's hot, it's humid, it's amazingly gorgeous. Such lively land, untainted by human. The walk was difficult but completely worth it.

we rescued a dying crab to the water streams

fields of flower on wet lands

Las Pampas, fishing for piranha

It was still raining on the second day. The rainstorm was unusual for the season but it provided a nice breeze and a more comfortable temperature. Tony decided to go paranha fishing in the rain. We made raincoats out of whatever we could find and hopped on the boat. (ps, duck tape is a magical problem solver).

We went further downstream to a turn where the river was wider and deeper. Tony took out a small container of raw meat and fishing tools.

"What kind of meat is that, Tony?"
"Monkey meat, piranhas love monkey meat."
For the longest time we believed him. Tony Bullshit.

Using simple string and hook, we hooked the raw meat and threw it in the water. It was surprisingly hard to catch them. Most of the time, they just eat up the meat without you noticing. Standing in the wobbly boat, throwing the hook again and again into the muddy water. The anticipation and excitement when we manage to catch one made us completely forget about the showering rain. Again, this is when we do not want the boat motor to fail us. These piranhas are definitely not nice fishies. Look at those sharp tooth... they'll eat us alive to the bones in couple seconds...

still pouring... hang in there boatie

kim and ariane with their procrastinated poncho

I shall eat you I SHALL EAT YOU!!!

little carnivorous devils

Las Pampas, adventures at night

After dinner, Tony took us back on the boat, sailing up stream for some thrillers.... We could still see a little bit of sun in the far distance. Tummy filled, we all lay back to enjoy the last sunlight, the sleepy animals, the sound of water and the forest's natural smells...

There was clouds forming in distance. Soon, we started seeing thunder lightnings then hearing roars of the thunders. The sky was painted with sparks of light. Magnificent lightnings forming strands of gold in the wine red sky. The thunder roared loudly with full power, announcing his arrival. It was nature I've never experienced. We were all speechless, grateful for the nature's beautiful opera show.

Lowering our heads to see our near surroundings. Tony told us to shine our torches towards the shores. Large and small sparkly red and yellow spots things shines back at us. "What are those?" We innocently asked. "The yellow pairs are alligators and the reds are black caimans." OH my dear lord. It's a ridiculous amount of sparkly eyes shining.... Alligators are scary predators but black caiman.... black caimans are MONSTERS. They got pitch black skin and large thick muscular body. They grow to extreme sizes probably strong enough to battle it out with dinosaurs back in the days. It's extremely exciting yet absolutely terrifying. We pray that this water leaking boat will not fail us at any point.

Safely returning to the lodge. Lighting the table with a couple candles, the Dutch couple taught us their card game "toot". The rainstorm reached us and so it started pouring hard. "I'm gonna toot you hard! Watch out!" The attention seeking cat likes to bother us, she loves people resting elbows on her head. The rainstorm stronger, shaking the roofs and smashing the doors. Sleepless, we watch the flies and insects crowd around the candle, suicidal sunbathing. The candles ran out, so we turn on torches and headed back to our beds for another adventurous day tomorrow.

Alligator swimming along

suicidal sunbathing insects by the candle

poison frog chilling out in rainstorm

Las Pampas, amazon sunset

Three hours of awesomeness and complete sun exposure, we arrived at Indigena tour group's own ecolodge. This place is luxurious considering the environment conditions. The ecolodge is situated right beside the river and slightly elevated for wet seasons. There's power generator for lights and black heat absorbing tank for hot water, which we still ended up showering in cold water anyway. The rooms are simple with regular beds, sheets, thick blankets, and also mosquito nets. 

Throwing our belongings down, spray some deet to protect from mosquito bites at night, we headed off to the only shop/soccer ground in this area for beer, sunset and soccer play. The Amazon dogs watched us silently, the travelling couples shared romantic moments, the youngsters and the guides got together for a soccer battle. Holding a beer in hand, I delightedly met up with another wild rover friend. We joined a bunch of strangers in a barefoot soccer play. We shouted, yelled, drank, and laughed while running on dry grass lit by Amazon sunset. Anything goes. "Indigena! Vamos!" I heard our tour guide calling out for us like rushing kids back home. All a little tipsy, we hopped on the wobbly boat and headed back to the lodge. Splendid dinner awaited us. I've haven't ate so well in a long time. Rice, veggie, meat, drinks, healthy diet. I love the soccer playing, what's better than soccer with beer, sunset, strangers?

I love this nature thing. 

Indigena ecolodge

Amazon sunset

chilled out wild dogs