Day
2
We are landing in Viru Viru in
Santa Cruz
in the middle of the night with the retard of few hours. We had to wait
for reparation of front window of our plane of company Aero Sur in Buenos Aires. Bolivian
soldiers say the „bienvenido“ with the shot-guns
and whistles. Bureucratic ritual long enough not to be annoying and we
are rushing down the empty avenue crossing the sleeping suburbs to the
hotel in the centre – gesture of compensation for long
retard. There is a nigt rider on motorbike rolling along us –
in upstream, we have a night bath in basin on the roof of hotel
drinking beer and orangeade, we are witnesses of car accident just in
the front of our hotel at 4 o´clock in the morning
– that all is just begining and we hope it´s only
coincidence.
Day 3
The air is clean, fresh and thin, we
see the green hilly landscape to the distance, but the mountains are
hidden in the clouds. We are on the higest international airport in the
world - La Paz
– in the poor suburb of El Alto
. There are many dogs and taxi-drivers trying to communicate with us,
but we leave the air-port on foots. We don´t have a lot of
luggage – but too much for this low concentration of oxygen.
There are many policemen with sharp faces and high black boots on the
streets and plenty of vans ant buses heading Tiahuanaco, what
is our first destination. The reason is simple – the first
indian president Evo Morales has a first part of his inagural ceremony
– here in Tiahuanaco, the biggest archeological monument in
Bolivia from the age befor Incas. Insead of couple of tourists there
are many many people in beatiful colored dress. There are many music
bands playing typical Bolivian music. We are nearly deaf from the
strong voice of new president and his promises and we begin feel the
pain in head from
the elevation of four thousand meters. The sun above
our heads shines strongly after the
rain. Ruins of this archeological complex are large, but all
descriptions are 
just
in spanish. There are gates, stelas and the
foundations of big temples. We are getting tired and sick. We leave
Tiahuanaco in smallest crowded van with luggage on our knees. Feeling
dizzy we change the car. Jung journalist, which speaks quite good
english (seldom in Bolivia) gives us a lift by his pick-up. La Paz is
located on the edge of altiplano, where it falls into great crater-like
valley full of houses. Celebration of new president continues in the
city, plenty of food and music, smell of roasted meat – but
we can´t eat
, walk and enjoy this long time expected arrival to South Americe.
Having a shower and drinking mineral water we spend the evening in the
hotel - listening the sounds of celebrating city through the open
window.
Day 4
Headache and dizzy
don´t dissapear in the morning and just combination of
analgetics, prokinetics, vitamins and liters of mineral water brings at
least partial relief. The city is full of people – workers in
festal dress, miners in helmets, ladies and girls with characteristic
hat and policemen as well. Very very slowly we creep uphill to main bus
station. We are trying to be in good humor, but we are hardly
breathing. I am scared to climb Licancabur in 4 days. But now we would
like to see the meteoric crater Alexandro
Tejado, therefore we cross Oruro (more
horible than nice mining town south of La Paz) to village
Challapata.
The land is absolutly deferent from what we are acused for in
Central Europe,
we are very happy to sit in the 
bus
with no need of walk. In Challapata
we
found out that the further transport is difficult and slow, therefore
we change our minds and we go to visit next village of Huari,
where another fiesta takes place - but this time in blue colours. We
begin to speak spanish (I learned for this trip), but the reason of the
fiesta is still unknown for us. We are the only travelers here, aliens,
but people pay attention just a little. From Challapata we take night
bus to Potosí, where we get out tired at four
o´clock in the morning
, chilled to the bone and very pessimistic disposed. We fall asleep in
nearest pension immediately.
Day 5
I get up about eight o´clock. Our pension is still in the
process of building - bricks
, wood and iron is everywhere. I´m gazing from the window to
the streets below - hills covered by unfinished brick houses, narow
streets and cobble stone.. I do everything slowly, and it goes better,
I do some calls, shopping and I begin to be hungry. Morning walk atract
me into the atmoshpere of this highest town in the world. Mining town
lives its day as usual, but I begin to feel the magic of this
continent. Much of water and some pills, one little boliviano for micro
and we are in the centre - we take the lunch insead of breakfast. We
visit the mines of
Potosí privately with youg guy Carlos from one
agency (see LP for more
). Our guide speaks english perfectly and with grasping laugh explains
all Bolivian paradoxes. He tries to set the fire on dynamit with
pocket-fire, we drink 96% alkohol, we smoke extra heavy cigarets and we
buy the coca and presents or miners. With such equipment we enter the
hole in the hill. We are walking, creeping, talking with miners,
meeting other groups. Lost in the labirinth we buy the stone with
silver from engineer. In the corridors high as our chest are
running miners with carts, dust is everywhere, protecting equipment
none. There are about 360 working mines now, but the expoit of zinc is
better then 
silver. Time
of abundace in Potosí is lost. It is strange, that absolutly
major part of Bolivia´s silver wealth was hidden in this one
hill. Cerro Rico (wealty hill) is red, realy red from digging
– you can recognize it from the dictance of 150 km. In the
Potosí we have found only one juwelery and the goods are
simple, but you can buy the crude silver as well. We let Casa Moneda
for tomorrow and by taxi we move with two another locals to Sucre. It costs
only 5 US$, but it is less comfortable than we thought. We relax and
eat some food in glancing luxury pizzeria on Plaza de Armas (main
square), but there are not many locals. We sleep in the beautifull old
colonial building. The sleep in the elevation of 2700 m. is quite
better.
Day 6
I get up earlier than my companion aqain, and
after the shower I take my bedecker and I go to sit on the
hotel´s roof to enjoy the morning. I see the white towers of Sucre, walls of
churches, colonial buildings, universities - all with red roofs. I see
the hills all around and Cordilera Frailes beneath. Having seen
Potosí nad Oruro, there´s no wonder to call Sucre
the White Town. People are dressed more in fassion, there are many
young girls and boys, students and everything is more resemble to
Argentina. But we came here to see the tracks of dinosaurs,
which had been found in nearly quarry. By folding verticalised grey
wall of sediments of time of dinosaurs is covered by their foot
imprints. There are 6 species of them (Brontosaurus, Iguanodon and
Tyranosaurus-like reptile). They persisted due to the different
characteristic in the process of petrification. Soft ground with
imprints was covered with ash from explosion of the very close volcano
and then with another laeyrs of sand and rocks. We join the group of
young people from all parts of the world and comfortless on the back of
old red lorry we pass the city. The excavations are just behind the
last suburb and after short explanation we take helmets on. I just
wonder that Jose don´t want to borrow me his bulldoser
– biggest type in Bolivia – refusing not small
amount of money. Bolivians are honest people with sense of
responsibility, they don´t try to beat the money of you. The
charge is fixed, you can´t negiotiate the price and they
don´t overprice their goods. Right that time my friend began
to dream about the jungle after the short chat with one German girl.
She was very pleasant for sure, 
but
she destroyed in thirty minutes everythig what I had promoted for
weeks. After our return to Sucre the churches are closed, therefore we
burn the photos on CD, what makes me little crazy, although
internet-café there is everywhere in Bolivia . Then we
return to Potosí
the same way like yestarday, but this time during the day. The land is
green in the begining, but comming higher and closer to altiplano the
trees and plants slowly disapear. We found out in Potosí,
that all buses heading Tupiza or Uyuni are left, we have to wait for
tomorrow. We can´t help your selves, therefore we spend the
time in the restaurants and on the streets searching for silver. We are
not prepared for sauna yet.
Day 7
Next day we go to visit Casa Moneda
– the most famous mint house, where the silver mints of
Spanish imperium were incused. Museum consist of great complex of
colonial buildings – with yards, work rooms, chambers,
storages and exposition of contemporary tools
. I feel pretty tired after my first morning run in elevation of 4000 m
and I relax in the museum. Then we eat the meat of lama again
– it´s delicious like soft beef nad we jump into
the bus. Two days we had our lagguage stored in station´s
deposit
, but two young orderless boys haven´t lost anything. It has
no sense to describe the journey to Uyuni when you haven´t
seen it
. Small old-fellow in the corridor sits and patiently puts the small
leaves into his mouth like pouched marmot and the stems spits on the
floor. Fascinating scenery doesn´t attract him already. We
eat the bolivian soup in the motorest 
aside
the dusty road. Cheap, simple but excelent, like the meal of our
grand-mohers. Boiled in the big pot, fresh, hot and thick. We come to Uyuni in the
evening. Fortunately
all agencies start the three day Salar trip next day. There is too much
of water around the Isla de Pescado and after the short hasitation we
take the only trip crossing (not returning) the lake, although
it´s little more expensive (70 US$). It is too late to do
shoping and Thomas is tirred. I go for a walk alone. . . I enter the
train station through the backdoor with dark people wearing big bags.
Many gringos slumber beside the Indians on the ground of
station´s hall waiting for the stem-horse. The town is
silent, without the night-life .
Day 8
After the sun-rise I run again behind the little-town of Uyuni. I run
about one and half kilometer until Cementerio de Trenes
and back. There
is barren plain with small cacti covered with plastic bags waving in
the wind. But there´s no chance for them to get free of bags.
Then we buy plenty of water, some meal for more days, woolen cap, scarf
and buzzer. We get the Bolivian stamp in the office and then we put the
luggage into the jeep. Our companions are Catalans Maria and Ferran,
the girl and guy from England, then cooker, her sister and our driver
Carlos. Salar de
Uyuni - the ride over the world´s biggest salt
lake with ten inches of water is marvelous, the water mirrors the
clouds in the sky and symetrical line of mountains on horizon. We visit
small 
museum
of salt and in the front of salt hotel we get some meal prepared by
cooker. We walk upon the water like Jesu Christo, but there is no place
to do toilet. Time to time we stop the car to check the engine, because
the water is deeper and deeper, but then we land down on the other side
of lake. Small dry hills with high cacti and the dusty road. When the
day ends we come to another salt hotel to spend the night. Rooms
, tables, ground – everything is made of salt, we have great
supper, we talk with our friends. But then the critical moment comes
when I find out, that my camera doesn´t work any more.
It´s just buzzing, despite of the two hours of reperation and
celaning.
Day 9
Next day we cross the semi-desert land with
mountains, volcanos and lagoons with flamingo But the weather is not
very good, there are many clouds, rain in the morning and the view of
mountains with snow on the top is not ideal. We cross the railway from
Uyuni to Calama in Chile in the desert hamlet, I can´t
understand how the people can manage the life necessities in this land.
The are unused train wagons and water-cisterne like in the film about
wild-west. Lagoons are marvelous, although their colour is not so full
because of cloudy sky. Everyone knows the flamingos from the ZOO, but
to see them in their natural enviroment, to see them flying and walking
away from you. . . it´s great. We sleep in pension beside
fascinating (but not so red) Laguna
Colorada. I go to run, I feel it
goes better, but when I turn back, I see that I ran down the stream of
wind. The stars among the clouds are strange and fascinating.
Day 10
Last day of our jeep ride we begin with visit of plain in elevation of
Mont Blanc (4800 m.) with mud volcanos and the holes in the ground with
strong jets of vapour – noisy to deaf. Hell and Kamchatka
surely look like this. Then we do the short break to have a bath in
small natural lake with thermal water. There are many tourist there, we
meet the boy from Israel again, whom we met in Dinotrek, but
doesn´t remmember us. When you travel longer time you meet
the same people. Snowy volcanos all around and the vast land opened to
the east with next lagoon with flamingos. We go more to south and we go
higher. Then the land is utterly barren, it´s beautifull
desert with nothing more than sand
, rocks and mountains – red, yellon and orange in colour. We
pass the Rocks of Dali, small hills and mountains, but abruptly the
cymetrical cone of volcano Licancabur over the Laguna Verde
rise up
from behind the mountains. We are at the end of our ride, we are in the
elevation of 4500 m. Weather is good, it´s quite warm with
sun above te head. Colour of the lagoon is realy green.
There´s just litlle of snow on Licancabur´s slopes.
It´s our first challenge. We ask our friends to join us.
They´re quite surprised and they like this idea, but they
politely and firmly refuse. They all continue to San Pedro. Also all
visitors in old pension on Laguna Verde are leaving, therefore we try
to search any guide
in the new pension (about 700 m apart
). There we meet esteemed Eusebio Saires. This very sympathic guy is
about 50 years old and he offers us his 
service.
His skin is brown and full of wrinkles from the sun and wind, his small
eyes are luaghing all the time. He is chewing coca. His offer is 70 US
$, but he doesn´t
deal the price. First I am quite surprised, but later in San Pedro I
see the same charge for Licancabur for 150 US$. We want to climb it and
we don´t know the trail. But knowing the trail also, we would
need to get to the mountain. Therefore we don´t hasitate. We
spend the afternoon around the pension, lying on shores of Laguna
Blanca. There´s nobody to talk
. It´s raining, wind is blowing, but Eusebio is just smiling.
“The weather will be good, will be excelent in the
morning.“ And was right.
Day 11
We get up at hlaf past three. Me thermomether indicates -1°C
nad the stars in the cloudless sky take breath. We have the breakfast
without the hunger, but the meal is very important. We pack our clothes
and equipment and we sit into the car. Eusebio´s driver with
moustach rolls on dusty roads and passing the slopes of Juriques we get
closer to Licancabur
(5916 m). We see the siluets in the dark and then we stop in the
elevation about 4700 m. There is still a women in the car, that we
haven´t noticed. We go all together. It´s half past
four,
it ´t dark but not very cold. We begin to walk very slowly to
start up methabolism, we can´t get tired of anaerobic
combustion.
This is our first experience with such elevation. Our equipment, boots,
clothes in big backback are quite good. But Eusebio has only old jeans
and anorak, Russian cap covering the ears, small backpack eith 
water,
small bread, biscuitts, but big sack with coca. He oferes us with coca
and laughes all the time : „Vamos gringos, vamos“.
Slowly
we ascent, about six o´clock the dark fades. Laguna Verde is
in
beatiful colours, weather is nice, some clouds fly around us. We pass
Inca ruins, we are still not tired that time. I have to go some meters
down and then back and I begin to be indulgent. I begin to walk faster
and that´s the mistake. In one moment I see quite in distance
the
thought summit, but I can harly do a step. I do a break to have some
food. It goes little better, but I´m very tired. When Eusebio
promises me fifth time that the summit is roud the corner, I hardly
believe to be succesfull. I am tired and any break don´t
help.
But I´m going. Wife is just smiling. She wear three skirts
and
three sweeters, sandales and the small hut. There´s
fortunately
no climbing, just walking. Last meters I do step by step. About twelve
o´clock we are on the summit. Eusebio is chewing the green
leaves
and keeps smiling. We do photos of our team and green lake in the
crater, there´s snow on the craters´s slopes. Licancabur´s
crater lake in the elevation 5800 m is the highest in the world. On
other mountains there is just ice in this elevation. Volcano is not
extict yet and the temperature is little higher. I have intended to
bath in the holly lake, but beeing so tired it´s impossible.
It´s not cold – about 0°C and some clouds
around, but the wind begins to be stronger. We spend a half hour on the
summit, we walk on the crater´s margin. When I walk on flat,
it geos well, but little acsent
, only few steps uphill are very exhausting. Licanacabur –
landmark of Atacama from San Pedro, the very best of south-west circuit
in Bolivia – mounutain
venerated by Incas, with acient ruins on it´s summit. We walk
down satified. In the begining I don´t feel well, but the
lower we are, the better I feel. Most of the
descent we are going not on foot path but little to the right in the
rocky trough. It´s funny to slide down in the little rocks,
we
are very fast. Last kilometer to our car I can run. It was just by
elevation caused exhausting. We eat and relax in the pension, and we
meet here two Brasilian cyclers, they plan to go to Licancabur tomorow.
We meet one of them later in La Paz. Driver gives us a lift to the
border (7 km), but he is not allowed to enter Chile with his old car.
We are lazy to walk farther, but fortunately there are two trucks on
the border with the load of borax and the Bolivian officiers set us
separately into the trucks without asking the truck-drivers.
It´s
anoter 8 km to principal road from Passo de Jama on the
Argentina´s border. The truck of me has some trouble with
brakes, I have to hitch hike. Young neurotic Brasilian guy takes me and
we fluently talk together for about an hour, although he speaks only
„porteňol“ and I can hardly understand any word of
him. He
speaks a lot, but I would be more satisfied him to look the wet road.
Surprasingly alive I get out on 
Chilean
border. It´s hot evening. The hot is great. It´s
very fine evening, we feel the smell of baked meat behind the fences,
there are many gringos in narow streets of San Pedro de Atacama,
many restaurants, bars, beverages. We check the prices of trips to San
Pedro vn., Lascar, Llullaillaco. . . all are very very pricy.
Licancabur is for 150 US$ per head. . . Perfect guy our Eusebio. People
are walking with dogs, we sit on the main square in the front of the
white church, we look to the dark to the west, where the Licancabur is
and where we were twelve hours befor. We sleep in nice pension few
minutes from the centre.
Day
12
High-light of this day is Vale de la Luna
– five hours trip to more parts of great complex of by wind
and water formed desert canyons, valley, hills, which are beatiful and
colourfull mostly in sunset. In the morning we visit the famous museum
of Atacama´s first inhabitants with reconstruction of grave
with mummy. After the dinner we do a small walk behind the village. We
don´t need to hurry and we little relax. Then we take the
usual trip by agency (no problem to choose – see LP).
It´s quite better and longer than we thought, but crowds of
people. We visit some stone-monuments, valleys, outlook points, cave
and the big dune, but the sun-
set is more beautifull on postcards. There´s no more bus to
Calama
in the evening, but it´s not possible for us to spend
here the second night. We hitch-hike. Succesfully we are taken by man
going to Calama´s airport and then by another to the Calama
bus station. We catch the night bus to Iquique. Beeing hungry we search
for any food in hurry. We ask the pimp and his girl and then just
behind the station we eat some burgers in small snack-bar with other
two shortly skirted girls. Strange town, we want to get off.
It´s ten o´clock and we move to Tupiza through
Iquique and NP Lauca doing a big circle.
Day 13
We come to Iquique at four
o ´clock in
the morning. It´s dark. Taxi drivers tell us about the danger
of this city in morning hours, but where to go so early? We take the
taxi to get to gas station on the beach. It´s still dark. We
eat some sandwitches and go the the ocean.The splashing of waves of
Pacific sounds great - nothing but twelve thousand kilometers of water.
There are some poeple on the shore – drinking and fooling
from yesterday´s evening. It´s cold and it persists
because of big hills and then clouds in the east. About in midday we
sit into hirred Toyota Corola to check the town´s
surrounding. We begin on the sandy beach and we bath in ocean in the
waves 2-3 meters high. Sun is uppon our heads and it´s pretty
hot, but the water is cold acount on cold Antarctic streems. Scenery of
desert town is marvelous, there is a big sandy dune just behind the
town and then the big desert pleteau rising up 600 m from the ocean.
There are poor sheds with brass roofs and perfect houses made of steel
and glass. We look at the city from road cimbing to plateau. We go to
desert. There´s absolutely nothing more that sand, rocks and
sun. Our first stop is Humberstone
– once prosperous mining
town, now ghost-town. I´ve red about that in LP, and
it´s realy great – there´s everything one
needs in town – church, market, hospital, theater, saloon and
iron pool – except the people. Small houses and sandy small
yards where they keep the chickens, tenis courts and teaching-rooms
with small chairs. The second our stop is Gigante de Atacama
–the 
biggest
human figure in the world. On the slope of small hill there´s
86 m high man with thin extremities and rectangle head with antenas.
Thanks to the car we can feel the magic of the moment to be alone here,
giant looks into our eyes like from another galaxy. Then we go to south
to Pintados,
where greater amount of similar, but smaller geometric
pictures, humans, animals are made on slopes of small hills. Contrast
techinque is simply – dark rocks burned from sun are moved
away from not burned rocks under them. We spend the night there and we
have the time to admire the 350 pictures. We are gazing on hills lonely
in the silence, we just guess what they have been made for, but they
realy look like the wellcome table for the visitors from sky.
Day 14
We begin the day with glimpse on
Pintados´s figures, then we have a meal in sleepy town of
Pozo Almone and we are back on our Iquique´s
favourit beech. Then we cross the town tasting the fruits and bakery
mades. The journey continues and we jump into the bus to Arica in the
afternoon. We travel and watch the desert landscape. It´s
barren, but very strange. We cross big valleys cut into the plateau by
rivers coming from the mountains on border. Long switch-back down to
the valley´s bottom with green fields and another switch back
up to desert. We come with the evening in Arica, we take small pension
just oposite the station (see LP) and the go to enjoy the town. After
the long time of sitting in the bus we cross the hot town and we acsent
to big cliff-rock of El Moro. Except the iron Jesus there are many
young people, families with children and lovers. Arica
– most north city of Chile. I´m standing here. I
have red about this place many-many times. And the time has come. We
breath deeply the fresh air coming from ocean, the splashing waves are
beating the rocky shore and we look down at main square, palms,
streets, walking people and stars above. It´s very strange
feeling to be in such distance, to be on te other side of earth.
It´s winter evening, but so unique for us. . . I buy the
camera in good price (border trade zone) and I hope it will work, I
can´t imagine, where I will complain.
Day 15
At 8 o´clock in the morning we get on
the bus in
rural terminal full of annoying taxi-drivers shrieking like parrots:
„Tacna-Tacna-seňor-Tacna“.
We pass through valley El
Luta
with geoglyphs aiming to plateau in the elevation of 4000 m
with NP
Lauca.
There is absolut desert on the coastline except the green valeys. In
elevation about 1500 m grow strange cactus
candelabro, and the higher we ascend, the greener the land is - we see
grassy village Putre under the mountains covered with snow. We get out
on the turn-off to village Parinacota
under the volcano of the same name. We walk down to the village, but we
are lazy to climb the hill just behind. 
We
want to visit the church. I red about the paints on its walls with
Spaniards crossing the Jesus and pictures resembling the paints of
Hiernymus Bosch. We ask the children for a key and we admire the small
church with paints. This small village with narrow dusty streets and
low houses is amiable. People breed lamas on green bofedalos, which
have colored tapes in their ears to be recognised by family. We come
back to turn-off, but farther it goes badly. There are no buses in the
afternoon and we try to hitch-hike. Although many trucks and lorries
cross the border here, they refuse to take us. We pass the
Lake
Chungara,
we walk, it´s raining and at ten o´clock in the
night we come
to Bolivian border. There we have to wait for opening hours in the
morning.
