Sitting in Santa Cruz, Bolivia right now, fairly bored. This city is the main hub for Brazil and the largest city in Bolivia. That said, there isn’t a ton of touristy stuff to do around here, so I’m spending today and tomorrow relaxing.

Some random thoughts-

-Make sure you have $ when you go to the airport when flying out- all travel areas (bus stations/airports/etc) have some sort of tax. Along the same notion, having change in your pocket is also very useful (in many of these countries, $1 is in a coin…and also the cost for bathrooms or other facilities).

-Bringing a day pack around with you with lonelyplanet (or enter guide here) is useful. This should be obvious in most cases…but it’s also very easy to just forget and go out into the city without a map/plan/idea of what and where you want to go. It’s also good to bring a pack to hold any printed handouts/copies you make or other shit (books, sweater, etc).

-Etiquette wise, things are different here…pedestrians don’t have the right of way like in the states. Hurry your ass up when crossing the street because these people stop for noone. Tipping is not really standard either and servers don’t expect it (I still leave some obviously). When in restaurants you need to ask for the bill…servers won’t just bring it out to you.

-Be observant of your surroundings…make note of buildings and shops around your hostel or other important areas. Bring a pen with you and make sure you are able to write shit down on maps or make a note.

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I bought a $300 ticket today to Rio…I was planning on doing the Pantanal, a region in western central Brazil…but I decided against it. It just sounded way too much of what I just did in Rurrenabaque- swimming with Cayman, piranhas, etc…meh. I think I made the right decision.

Here is a map of Brazil for reference-

My plan is to go to fly into Rio and then head south. I would have liked to go up north a bit, but that will have to wait. I will probably travel primarily by bus, heading south to Sao Paulo, Florianapolis, and probably Porto Alegre. I have about 1.5 months left to travel, so I’m trying to think about how much time I want to spend in Brazil and Argentina (between the two). After Porto Alegre, I plan on going up to Iguazu Falls, shared by both Argentina and Brazil. I’ll then head into Argentina by bus and go from there.

I still haven’t decided where I’ll be going in Argentina yet. To be frank, I haven’t read much at all about it. I’m fairly sure that I won’t have enough time to do Patagonia, which is disappointing. Maybe I’ll do it next time.

I have decided that I’ll be doing Vegas this year…can’t recall if I wrote that here yet or not. I’ll be going June 30th-July 11th (with a short camping trip in Zion after). I wasn’t planning on doing it initially but changed my mind…I want to see some friends as well as eat some good food.

After that? Not sure. I know I want to stay in the states during cfb season. I also haven’t decided which UF game I’ll be going to, just that I know I want to go to at least one.

Next stop: Rio!

I left Sucre for La Paz and decided to head up to rurrenabaque, which was north. It is a small isolated region, accessible by bus (20 rough hours) or plane (one hour). I decided to go by plane from La Paz. The planes were pretty ghetto and looked like:

Rurrenabaque is very hot…great weather, even in the colder seasons. The plane was fairly ghetto but whatever, I survived.

The town itself is quaint…it doesn’t have much and is really just a hub for the major tours in the Amazon basin.

I already booked my trip ($50ish) for 3 days/2-nights in La Paz…Indigena Tours was the name (it was very good, highly recommended). Short pic of Rurre-

So I stayed a night in Rurrenabaque, got up the next morning at 8ish. We were to travel a few hours by car and then a few hours by boat, slowly. There is a vast amount of wildlife around the Amazon and we were able to see many birds, caymans, fish, and others.

Our starting point:

There were these massive rodent things called Coppaberras (I know I butchered that spelling since I can’t google it..but something like it).

There were a ton of various types of monkeys as well, such as howler monkeys and these tiny ones-

So that was mainly day 1. We got into our hostel around 5 p.m….the place was pretty cool- we were surrounded by forest and monkeys. The food was also the best I’ve had in Bolivia, so that was great.

We watched the sunset from our hostel tower (which had every fucking flag aside from the English (and more importantly) the U.S)…wtf is up with that? (insert America, fuck yeah! here)-

We went for a night ride in the boat for about 20 minutes, looking for cayman and fireflies…was pretty awesome. The eyes of the cayman light up red when shined upon-

(also a bat here)-

Got to bed pretty early, ready to wake up the next morning around 7 a.m. ish.

DAY 2-

Our plan for this day was to first go Anaconda searching (along a hike) and then some fishing. We also were able to swim with Dolphins and the other wildlife (more on this later).

So we went searching for Anacondas…we boated to an area and did a 3 hour hike (total), searching for various types of snakes. Anacondas were our first target, followed by Cobras. The Anacondas don’t get terribly large in our area, only a few meters tops…the guide said they can grow huge inland though.

We ended up finding one snake…it was just a baby, but still pretty cool. Anaconda wasn’t very large-

We were unable to find any more after that though…we saw some other interesting wildlife, such as weird looking frogs…but that was it.

After that we went dolphin searching…the dolphins are quite odd, taking on a pinkish color (and looking ugly as hell). still, they are dolphins, and much smarter than the other wildlife. Our guide told us that when we went into the water, the dolphins would protect us from the Cayman…I’m not sure how truthful this is, but meh, I believed him. We all decided to jump in and swim with the dolphins, piranhas, and cayman.

(I was unable to get a good photo of the dolphins, but they came up every few minutes)-

Here is one more dolphin pic and a picture of a cayman who got its tail bitten off in a fight (we later witnessed a cayman fight but I was unable to get any good picture/video of it…still pretty cool though).

We did some practice piranha fishing afterwords. Our fishing poles were kindve ghetto, comprised of a small piece of wood and a line, but it worked. I didn’t catch anything but some group mates caught different stuff.

We went to this area to play some volleyball/soccer and watch the sunset after. I’m awful at volleyball but still ran around like a lunatic…people were saying stuff like “I thought you said you were shit at volleyball, you were running around like mad”. I also had a few spaz attacks at the net, making me seem better than I actually was.

So yeah…went back, ate good food, I got my ass kicked in card games, etc.

DAY 3-

Last day, short day here. We got up pretty early (5:45 a.m.) to see the sunrise. Our plan was to go piranha fishing and then head back.

Piranha fishing was really fun…It was exactly like the day before. Here are two pictures of a piranha caught by my friend-

I started off the day by catching a sardine…that’s right. A fucking sardine. I was so elated after catching a fish, especially after seeing my fellow group members catch them like crazy…but it turns out it was a fucking sardine. I was so pissed off.

We cut it up and used it for bait. We fished for a few more hours…I ended up catching another sardine and that was it. I was fucking pissed off…other group members were having a race (who would win in numbers, UK or Australia)…and here I was, just trying to catch a fucking piranha. FAIL ALL AROUND. The piranha fishing shed some light to how crazy us going into the water really was- the areas in which we were swimming were really no different than those where we fished for piranhas. Same deal with the caymans/other critters in there, nutso.

We went back and got lucky…we saw some macaws in the tree above. We took photos, drove back, and now I’m here, in La Paz. I fly out to Santa Cruz tomorrow and get ready for my trip into Brazil. I crave American food so bad, aint even funny. I think that BK is God’s gift to the world these days.

Fuck off, sardines.

So we decided to drive to Potosi right after we got done in Uyuni with our Salt Flats tour. It was a six hour drive and it was a bit difficult given we had driven 12 hours already that day. We got in at like 1 a.m. and didn’t get to sleep for a few hours after.

We woke up at 7:30, ready to do the mine tour. The Silver Mines are the biggest draw in Potosi, which is a fairly small town not too far from Sucre.

Here is a map of Bolivia for reference (I should have done this before) -

Anyways, our plan was to do the Silver Mine and then leave for Sucre later that night.

The Silver Mines were pretty cool. The tour cost like $10 or something and lasted for a few hours. Our suits and the entrance to the mines-

Some dynamite that we bought for our own explosion-

Big picture of the outside of the mine-

The God of the Mine, where the workers give offerings for their safety and luck (in finding plentiful silver)-

Overall, it was hard to get pictures of the Mine, due to the dark. I have a long video that I’ll post later (when I get back home). We ignited a dynamite stick off inside but weren’t able to really hear it. We also blew a dynamite stick outside, where I jumped like a girl (also caught on tape). Here is me holding one stick while it’s ignited (still had a few minutes left obviously)-

The mines are a brutal place to work…Because it was Saturday when we went, there were few workers at the time of arrival. We had one guy (Don Pablo) tell us a little bit about his job. He has worked in the mines since he was 10 years old, and has seen all but two of his close friends die (the two left mining). The air is awful, due to the pollution of the machines and the acid within the mines…smoking cigarettes is actually a healthier aroma (and they do it frequently down there) than the actual air.

There were many levels within the mines. We only went to level four, and even there it was difficult to breathe. The miners there are all fairly freelance- this is not a government project. Workers come and go, buying their own materials (dynamite included) and work at their own risk. They get paid fairly shitty (they give x amount of materials in weight to the processor, they get paid only for the silver portions. The U.S. and other countries get rich by using the other materials within the rock, such as zinc and copper).

Here is a last group shot, including big Don Pablo-

(despite his size, he can probably move like a cat within the mine).

We hung out in Potosi for a bit, where I met a dude from Omaha (small world). I thought I was the only guy from the state of Nebraska down here (but I guess I was wrong).

We traveled to Sucre and spent the night there. We walked around the next day and did the touristy stuff (their cemetery, which I have no pictures, and the recolleta). The Recolleta is a place where you can view the entire city…pretty cool, though, the day was a bit cloudy.

We stayed one more night and then I traveled back to La Paz the next evening. I’m here now, hoping to book a trip to Rurrenabaque for tomorrow or the next day. I want to do an Amazon tour here in Bolivia because a) it will be cheaper and b) it will be more convenient (than Brazil). After I get done with Rurrenabaque, I’m hoping to go back to La Paz, fly to Santa Cruz (the main hub for Brazil) and then into Brazil. I think I’ll probably end up spending something like 3 weeks in Brazil and 3 weeks in Argentina…though, I might like Brazil too much and just spend a month or something there. We’ll see.

Going to go find a travel agency now…hopefully I can leave tomorrow. I also think that I have giardia, which means lots of pooping. FML

So day two, we woke up fairly early (7 a.m.). Our plan was to pretty much just keep heading south, seeing various lakes and other rock formations. Like the first day, our second was filled with fantastic landscape, nasty roads, and cold temperatures.

We reached fairly high altitudes (up to 5,000 m or higher) throughout the day. Some of the areas even had snow, which was odd (given how the temperatures during the day still seemed semi reasonable, albeit a tad cold).

Anyways, not really much to say. We saw some cool rock formations and we saw a ton of lakes. The only real wildlife to speak of were flamingos, llama, and other birds. We had a guy in our group who does parque (or freerunning) recreationally and he did some cool stuff on top of the rocks-

We walked around and took a few more pictures-

And then we got to the hostel near Lago Colorada. What was described to us as a ‘hostel’ was far from it…more like a shack in the middle of nowhere. The temperatures dropped to below freezing at night and we had zero insulation or heat within the hostel. My friend and I were poorly equipped (in that we had pathetic fleece pullovers) and froze our asses off. That night was one of the most miserable moments on this trip, as I couldn’t sleep and had a wooden slab to sleep on (no mattress). The food was starting to be overwhelmingly shitty due to 3 vegetarians in our group (3/6). JAVIER, our guide, assumed all of us wanted just vegetarian shit, which got old really fast…

Anyways, I woke up the last morning (day 3 of our trip) tired as hell. I got maybe 3 hours and was coming down with a slight cold due to my poor clothes. We drove 12 hours back to Uyuni, seeing a few nice lakes and rock stuff. By this time I was messed up due to no sleep, poor clothing, malnutrition, and a small cold…so I really didn’t give a shit. I just wanted to go back to Uyuni.

All in all, a fun trip. I think that the Salt flats can be done in one day (there was such an option) and that I enjoyed the first day the most. The three day was a tad much, though, this could have been due to my shitty tour group. The last 12 hour stretch was brutal due to our car falling apart…the vents were broken, and a constant stream of dust filled the entire car for hours on end. Our car was overheating as well, and we had to stop every 20 minutes to dump more water in the radiator (I’m no car expert but this doesn’t seem right). I didn’t eat a bite the last day and spent the ride in a state of a zombie (sleep deprived and malnourished). The tour company is AVI…do not use them. Do some research and don’t be a retard like my friend and I.

Anyways, we drove back to Uyuni and we moved on to Potosi later that night. It was a 6 hour bus ride and we got in around 1 a.m. Our plan was to do the silver mine early that morning and then move on to Sucre the next evening, a short 3 hour bus ride away. So next up is the Silver mine in Potosi…

We traveled all night long from La Paz, Bolivia to Uyuni, which was 10 hours south (by bus). We left at 10 at night and got in around 8ish. Overall, the bus ride was fairly smooth, and I slept well.

We got in at Uyuni at 8 and were hounded by prospectors…They were all trying to get us to go to their travel company, selling us either a tour or a hostel. We chose one persistant guy and just said fuck it after he told us we could go that day.It was a 3-day/2-night tour for $80, with all meals and lodging. This would prove to be a vast mistake (as we soon found out…but more on this later). Our guide spoke Spanish for the most part and didn’t know much English, which was fine, since we’re not seeing the Sistine Chapel or anything.

We went to a train graveyard to start…No idea why we went there but meh, cool nonetheless.

The salt flats are amazing…the scenery reminds me alot of the SouthWest United States. There are huge mountains among vast expanses of desert and hills. There is a large amount of peace and silence there, a nice change from big city living (in La Paz or others). The weather in the Salt Flats (and in La Paz) is a bit chillier than in Peru, mostly due to the high altitude. The Salt Flats is especially chilly (relative to what I’ve seen in S.A. up until this point)…and our pathetic preparation would bite us in the ass (again, more on this later).

We toured the Salt Flats first, walking along the area and looking at the salt mounds. I wish there could have been a small bit of water over the flat, creating the world’s largest mirror…but we were not so lucky. Nevertheless, it was still an excellent sight/view.

We continued to drive along the desert coming up to a small museum, where there were salt-made sculptures.

Later, we went to Cactus Island (or something along that line)… it was an old mound filled with giant cacti, molded from ancient coral long ago. Some of the cacti were 1,000 years old or older, which seemed amazing to me. There were also large coral formations, creating small caves (really awesome)-

Along the salt flat we were able to warp the perspective a little bit and do some funny things with our shadows-

Everything (houses, furniture, etc) seem to be made of salt, be it in large salt blocks or others. We ended the day with staying in a salt-made hostel, with salt beds and tables/chairs. we walked up the mountain behind our hostel for about 1.5 hours, giving us a great view of the surrounding area. I slipped and fell on a cactus while descending, fucking up my right hand in the process (at least now I have two fucked hands instead of an uneven one)…