going to Bolivia tomorrow :-)

Hola!

Its finally travel time for me again. Its been a while that I was away for more then 2 weeks and I was really craving it! I will travel to my beloved Latin America again, this time to Bolivia. My backpack is packed, my hiking shoes polished with waterproof wax and I am ready to go on a new adventure tomorrow evening.

Bolivia is a country in Latin America surrounded by 5 countrIes: Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile and Argentina. It is twice the size of France but has only 10 million inhabitants.

Its is also a poor country in which 1/4 of the population lives below the poverty line of less than 2USD a day. Most people are indigenious and speak Quecha (the language of the Inca, 30%) or Aymara (25%), although there are 36 different indigenous groups in total.

I will fly to Sucre via Madrid and Santa Cruz (Bolivia), the official capital of Bolivia. La Paz is where the governmental power is located.

After 2 days of acclimatzing (Sucre lies at 2750m) I will go to the mine town of San Luis Potosi. Once a very rich town (in the 17th century this was the largest and richest city in the world!) because of all its silver mines; nowadays one of te poorest towns in Bolivia. Potosi is situated very high at an altitude of more then 4000! meters.

And then I will join a tour on Salar de Uyuni, the biggest salt lakes of the world, at an altitude of 3653m.

Then I will travel via La Paz, from the cold highlands to the hot and humid Amazon low lands.

I will stay here for one week at a local community who runs an ecolodge. If there are other tourists I help them out running it and otherwise I assist them with the daily chores and learning about the traditional Tacana culture. One week without internet, telephone and elecricity. I even have to bring my own water or water purification tablets. This will be an interesting experience, close to nature and probably with lots of mosquitos! (so DEET, mosquito net and anti-malaria tablets are packed!).

After this week I will fly back to Sucre in the weekend and will move to an apartment with other volunteers. This week, I will assist at a daycare center which takes care off children aged between 1-6 years; These kids would otherwise be locked up at home, while their mother is at work (at the market, prostitution et cetera).

I have to admit that after an ECPAT/Defense for Children meeting about voluntourism, seeing the documentary "Last Minute Weeshuis" (orphanage) about the bad effects volunteers can have on childrens development and "fake" orphanages, I was a bit reluctant to volunteer with children for such a short period. But I am glad that the company I booked with, respects the ECPAT guidelines (see www.defenceforchildren.nl) and works with local organizations who do the same.

And then I have one week "free" time in which I want to see more of this diverse country and finally end up at the city of La Paz from where I will fly back from El Alto, the highest international airport of the world at 4050m.

Here, according the Lonely Planet, larger planes need 5km of runaway to lift off and must land at twice their sea-level velocity to compensate for the lower atmospheric density.

So it will be a trip in extremes in temperature, surroundings (Amazon jungle, colonial cities, salty altiplano and the Andes) and in altitude. And I probably need a lot of coca leaves and tea to prevent altitude sickness.

I will try to update regularly, 'cause I am sure I have lots of interesting things to write about, but for the first 2 weeks internet access might be scarce.

For the Dutchies who want to see more about Bolivia check '3 op reis' op Uitzending gemist (Chris Zegers!!!! :-) in Bolivia). I saw these old episodes yesterday at the Apple store in Amsterdam waiting for my battery to be replaced.

For all other adventurers amongst you check Top Gear in Bolivia! After seeing this episode I am sure I will not visit the Death Road. Too scary for me!

It will be nice to hear from you as well by mail, fb, whatsapp.

P.S. any travel advise (reistips) about Bolivia is always welcome!

Abrazo,
Chantal