Bolivia
- Rotem Haskia
- Apr 21, 2020
- 9 min read
Updated: Apr 22, 2020
Visa to Bolivia!
Note: Every embassy in every country require different forms. Those are the one requested from me in Buenos Aires. Not all the countries need that visa but if you know you do here are some things you can bring with you from home to save some time and power: 1. Printed copy of your passport. 2. Printed copy of your credit card. 3. printed copy of your yellow fever vaxin. 4. Authorize a family member as a partner in the bank so they will be able to send you your bank account info that the embassy would want. 5. Extra passport photo. 6. A made-up trip plan for Bolivia.
Uyuni
Located in the south of Bolivia and mostly serves as a gateway for tourists visiting the world's largest salt flats.
Where to sleep?
Bunker hostel: a very cheap and nice hostel in the center of the town.
What to do?
A 3 days tour booked with Yudit from expedition Manual to the famous salt flats.
Salar De Uyuni day 1: The tour started with a 10 minutes drive to the "Train Cemetery" where you can climb and have fun around past used trains with a beautiful desert view and then we continued for another 30 minutes to Colchani- a local market where we bought salt crafts and went to the salt museum.
After the museum we ate lunch at a cute local restaurant provided by the tour and then finally made our way to the famous Salar with 2000 km of salt flats. In the Salar we stopped at the "Salar Eyes" and continued to the famous Dakar monument next to the famous flags Island.
After that we drove to a distant part of the area where the salt is very white and beautiful and spent here an hour of taking too many pictures and soaking in the breathtaking unique views.
We drove a bit more and stopped in the middle of the Salar in Incahuasi- an island in the middle of basically nowhere that is the home of hundreds cactuses. This extraordinary spot provides a magical walk between the fascinating cactuses underneath blue sky and over the entire white Salt Flats that spreads as far as the eye can see. Truly fell in love with Bolivia at that point.
Last but not least we finished our day with an enchanting pink sunset over the mountains and arrived to a great hostel for some rest before our long day tomorrow.
Salar De Uyuni day 2: This busy day started at 06:30 am, we fueled up with breakfast and made our way to Ollagüe Volcano view point between many Lama colonies. At the viewpoint we were surrounded by 10 volcanoes (5 active) saw the smoke and walked inside stone valleys that felt like we are walking on the moon.
After that we drove between marvelous mountains with incredible colors all the way to a few lagoons that are the home of countless flamingos which we ate lunch with.
From the cute flamingos we continued to the Seven Colors Mountain which gets its colors from the minerals in the ground. We made another stop in another moon like valley where we saw more fascinating huge rocks and most important the famous stone tree that was carved by the wind.
Our last spot today, which was truly breathtaking was Laguna Colorada (the red lake) that is a colorful lake that every single part of it gets a different color from the minerals in the area. On top of all the magical lake is surrounded with beautiful views and we also enjoyed many more flamingos.
Tip: all the hostels in this area are in remote locations that are perfect for stargazing. Look for clear skies and don't miss the option of laying down in the dark underneath this magical event.
Salar De Uyuni day 3: Before dawn we woke up in 04:00 am to watch the sunrise above the geysers that were the most impressive one I have seen yet. Smoke from everywhere, bubbling hot water and egg smell in the air this spot was the first place that I actually came close enough and touched a geyser.
After the geysers we rested in Polques hot springs that are a beautiful spot to enjoy the view from a natural hot tub. After the hot springs we drove through Dali's desert that is a lovely desert that the famous artist Salvador Dali painted and made our way to the green and white lagoons that were so impressive with the reflection on the mountains and the volcanoes around it.
At this point the ones that wanted crossed the border to San Pedro in Chile and the rest of us continued the trip on our way back to Uyuni. We drove quite a few hours to Villamar where we ate lunch and enjoyed the beautiful green valleys that were filled with Lamas.
After some time in a beautiful road with a lovely view of more desert mountains and also Catal lagoon we arrived to the one of a kind rock valley that blew our minds- the pictures speaks for themselves.
Our last destination for today and for these crazy 3 days trip was a village called San Cristobal where we just stretched our legs with a short city walk between the church and the small local market.
Tip: From Ujuni you can continue to the silver mines in Potosi and then to Sucre where you can do the Village Hike or some city tours. We were short on time so went directly to La Paz.
La Paz
Set in a canyon created by the Choqueyapu River, La Paz is the third most populated city in Bolivia. It is located in a depression surrounded by the high mountains of the Altiplano and Its peaks are always white from snow.
Where to sleep?
Kayak Hostel: the cheapest hostel I stayed in yet but is actually really good and located in a great spot in the center.
What to do?
Snapling: jump down from a building in front of the Urban hotel.
Cable car: La Paz owns a very advanced cable car system above the entire of the city which is the perfect way to explore it from above and admire its unique geographic structure.
Megacenter: a big mall where you can shop, eat, play bowling, advanced video games or catch a movie at the cinema.
The Death Road: We left the hostel at 08:30 and started driving towards the Death Road. After a 1.5 hour drive we arrived to the starting point, geared up and started paddling. The first 21 km were on asphalt road, after that we stopped for breakfast and then started the 43 km real Death Road. The Death Road got its name from the car crashing and accidents that happened here and is considered one of the world's most dangerous roads but now it's a beautiful place with insane views. Advice: In my opinion this trip is great for the bikers between you and also the adrenaline seekers, this road is in steep downhills on plenty annoying stones so it requires some physical strength for breaking a lot but you almost never paddle. After the long road we finished in a restaurant and had some fun in the pool before returning to La Paz. Tip: although the pool is really fun the road back is extremely dangerous with many cars, huge cliffs and clouds that blocks the driver's sight completely! After asking we discovered that its like that always so spare yourself the scary dark drive and try to start it as early as possible.
Moon Valley: 30 minutes from the center you will find this valley that is filled with oddly shaped white rocks that looks like they were shipped from the moon. This nice place costs 15 Bolivian for the entrance and takes about an hour of looking around. A short but yet recommended option.
Rurrenabaque
A small town in the North of Bolivia on the Beni River, tourists visit here for the Madidi National Park and Pampas.
Where to sleep?
Oscar hostel.
Where to eat?
Sol Del Mar: has an amazing Shnitzel for lunch.
Juliano: considered as the best restaurant in the city and is really really good.
What to do?
Oscar pool: The main thing about this location is not even the pool but the crazy viewpoint over the entire Rurrenabaque town and the jungles. We had a lovely evening of great music and great friends in the pool with Oreo banana milkshakes.
The Pampas jungle experience with Flecha agency:
First day at the Pampas jungle: After breakfast the agency picked us up, we left our important things in a vault and started a 2.5 hours drive to the starting point of the trip. On our way we saw our first animals such as capybaras and big birds and later met with our beloved team. With our guide Fernando and our cook Erica we started sailing together on the Pampas river surrounded with green trees and bushes from all over, smells that takes some getting used to and wildlife noises that are not yet familiar to the ear. We sailed about 3 hours in order to find some wildlife, our first encounter with a wildlife or what used to be a wildlife was an Anaconda Snake that turned up to be dead after we picked him up. We also saw some amazing birds and played with little monkeys that jumped all over us and our canoe.
After some settling down in our campsite area we quickly returned to the canoe in order to watch the sunrise. We arrived to what seems to be a local house, the children were running around with pigs and chickens playing soccer on a swamp with some wooden gates while we sat on comfy hammocks and peacefully watched the sunset. The sun came down between the clouds and brought to the sky heavenly colors and also some alligators in the water right beneath us.
We returned to the camp for a great dinner but no time to stop, it was alligator search time! We grabbed our flashlights sprayed as much mosquito repellent as we can and came back to the canoe only now it was peach black. At the beginning we left our flashlights off and were just admiring the stars and later we turned it on and looked for a reflection of alligator eyes. We found one hiding underneath a tree and another baby one in the water.
Eventually we came back, so excused yet satisfied and slept our first night with insane jungle noises surrounding us. Seccond day at the Pampas: At 05:00 am, completely sweaty from the heat and with a lot of questions about the noises from the wildlife last night we rushed to the canoe to catch the sunrise. Unfortunately there was too many clouds, we gave up on the sunrise and went wildlife searching again. We got lucky and saw a family of capybara and many pink dolphins.
We got back to the camp underneath the jungle rain for a lovely breakfast, put on some boots and went snake searching- specifically Anacondas! With a lot of luck not even 5 minutes after our search started I spotted with a lot of fear the Anaconda, it was yellow, 2 or 3 meters long, strong and angry and for some reason our guide decided its a good idea to pick it up. I kindly refused the offer of holding him as well and only took a nice picture. After a short photoshoot, we released the snake free and it quickly rushed between our legs and ran away to the water. After that excitement we also found a Jopa snake which is very dangerous and too poisonous even for the guides to hold and also watched a very fascinating owl.
We got back to the camp for some break time from all the activities, we ate lunch, took pictures of the cute Capibara that visited our campsite and had an amazing nap on the hammock over the river. In the evening we sailed with the Canoe for wildlife searching again, skipped the Piranha fishing activity and went to sleep.
Last day at the Pampas: What is a better way to open the morning than a swim with a colony of pink dolphins? We sailed with the canoe to a spot where we found the dolphins, took our clothes off and jumped into the actually disgusting water. We swam in the river while pink dolphins jumped around us and tried to play with us. After the exciting swim we took a shower, lunch and said our goodbye to the staff before the 2.5 hours drive back to Rurrenabaque. After the drive we organized our stuff in the agency office and took a flight back to La Paz.
Copacabana
On the shore of Lake Titicaca, Titicaca is a large, deep lake in the Andes on the border of Bolivia and Peru. Copacabana is also known for its famous Basilica, home of the Virgin of Copacabana and religious festivals.
What to do?
Sun island tour: we walked between the city's markets, visited the town's famous basilica and took a boat to Isla Del Sol (Sun Island)- a sacred Inca island. The boat sailed for around 45 minutes and took us all the way to this beautiful island. We walked around 40 minutes to the top of the island between local people houses and cute alpacas and found the beautiful viewpoint over the entire island and the islands around it like Moon Island.
Thank you for joining me again for another chapter of my South America adventure! I did not know what to expect from Bolivia but it’s truly a beautiful country with countless of opportunities, could easily spend some more time here.
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