Bolivia: Bizarre and Extreme

Although we only spent 10 days here, they were very impressive for both of us. Upon entering Bolivia, we quickly realized that the country and its people are much poorer than the other South American countries we have visited so far. Life in La Paz seems to mainly happen on the streets, and at night, the poorer residents gather around fires on the sidewalks to keep warm.

Thilo brought the spirit from Peru and immediately embarked on a 3-day tour to his first 6,000-meter mountain, Huayna Potosi, upon arriving in Bolivia. Thanks in large part to our good acclimatization training, he made it to the top relatively happily and arrived back at the hostel exhausted and overwhelmed. Well, he still can't feel two fingertips today, the ascent to the summit on the final day, which started at 1:30 in the morning, was quite chilly.

Meanwhile, I met a fellow traveler from Colombia and explored the city with him. Promptly at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, a famous homeless American was found in front of the prison square, who had spent 14 years in prison and told his life story every day. The prison in La Paz is known for being run and organized by the inmates themselves, with the guards only making sure that no one escapes. Even the children and women of the inmates live in the prison, provided their families have enough money. Family members can come and go as they please, and there is even a private school for the children next to the prison. It is easy to imagine that the inmates take matters into their own hands.

But there were also many bizarre things to see and experience in La Paz. This includes the Witches' Market, where you can buy, among other things, dead llama fetuses. These are sacrificed, for example, when building a house in honor of Pachamama, the 'Mother Earth'. It is said that even human sacrifices are made for particularly large or important construction projects - we prefer not to go into the practices and rumors surrounding these sacrifices...

Another strange experience we had was in the poor neighborhood of La Paz, where we witnessed Cholitas Wrestling. Cholitas are traditionally dressed Bolivian women who compete against each other in a show fight. Most tourists found the show incredibly bizarre, but there were locals with surprisingly many children sitting in the back rows, cheering on the women as they fought...

An unexpected highlight for us was the Death Road, a 60 km long gravel road along steep cliffs, which we descended on mountain bikes. We started warmly dressed at nearly 5,000 meters, and as a final part of our downhill ride, we jumped into a pool in the jungle at under 2,000 meters. Impressive not only was the adventurous ride, but also the incredibly beautiful landscape. We won't go into the horror stories of the accidents that our guide told us about at the various stops, out of consideration for the parents ;-) Just this much: If you take a little care, you will make it down in one piece.

From the La Paz area, we flew directly to Uyuni, the salt flats of Bolivia, to take a three-day jeep tour crisscrossing the desert to the Chilean border. Uyuni revealed an incredible abundance of natural spectacles, which are best seen in the pictures. We even spent one night in a salt hostel. By the way, the nights were the coldest we have experienced so far on our trip, and the tour, of course, took place above 4,000 meters. And the border with Chile, in the middle of nowhere, the most extraordinary border crossing.