Fernando gave me quite a shock when he told me that he wished to buy Tornado. We talked a great deal about it, and I was to think about it as I went to Sucre and Potosi for a few days. That way, I could go straight to Uyuni, without a detour. It was also good to ride a bus for a bit, only for the realization that I don`t want to sell him. Talking to Victor about northern Argentina also confirmed this. I grinned by his comment on that I did better on bad roads than on paved, good ones, anyway.
Riding from Coroico to La Paz is beautiful; lots of green, turns and climbing. In the end, though, we were just too heavy to make it all the way up. He knew where to pick me up, so he told the bus driver to take me to the terminal, with all the stuff, where he picked me up after.
We then ate, arranged all the stuff, washed the bike, sunbathed, and went to play beach volleyball in the southern part. There`s a nice park there with an entrance fee of 3bolivianos. In the park, there were a whole bunch of Norwegian volunteers that we played with. It was a bit strange to return to being a gringo in La Paz after many days of no tourists and little towns. I was once again struck by how strange and fascinating La Paz it. It`s never boring to look at.
I also learned about the tsunami that had struck so terribly, and I want to send my best wishes to everyone involved.
The same evening, I got on that thirteen hour bus ride to Sucre, a city with a very good reputation. I like it. I`ve found a lot of nice places to spend my time; a lovely main park, a market with great juices(had 5 and a half glass of three different juices for breakfast with some other gringos, and a very good salteña), a nice tea place to read at night, etc. I`m staying at hostel Amigo, which is strange. They charge you to watch a movie in the tv room, so no one uses it.
I`ve done shopping, fixed my jacket, treated myself(or my hair) at a hairdresser, tried a good mondongo, read, seen the intense movie: black swan, in the cinema, and hung out with people in the hostel.
I found myself mentally tired and bored the second day. At first I tried to fight it, and talked to some others that shared the same problem. Later on, I realized that I was wrong to do so.
When you travel, you don`t allow yourself to be in a bad mood because you feel like you have no right to. You start to take things for granted as you`ve already seen so much, and thats when a lot of people start looking back too much and get homesick. Yet its only natural to have ups and downs, and though you might be down for a reason, sometimes its good to let yourself feel it a bit before you kill it with a change of scenery or activity. Maybe cry to a sad movie and let a lot of pressure go. Very often you also need to exercise or to be productive.
Travelling can be a very superficial experience, where you only search for highs and pleasure. Sometimes what you need is actually pain, to remind you how good life is. Thats one of the good things about some treks and riding. Sometimes you need to take in the unfortunes of the people you see. Still, I don`t go around feeling sorry for everyone. I`m not that big of an idiot. That woman selling gums on the street corner could be the happiest woman I`ve ever seen.
The bad mood passed after watching the sunset from the mirador, overlooking the city and surrounding mountaintops. Later on, I went with an irish woman to see a fountain-light show in the main park, which was peaceful beneath the stars, yet they enjoyed playing everything from japanese, classical and dance music to it.
The next morning, I had some of the crappy breakfast, read in the strong sun and went with a danish friend to rent bicycles. You can`t, without a guide, so I decided to go to Potosi for a daytrip, after all. The bus ride was said to be amazing, and it was! 14 kr for the 3-4 hours by bus and 30-40 by taxi. Definatly recommending the taxi, as its faster and gives you the opportunity of stopping to take photos.
I booked a mine tour through "the real deal" and met some germans who brought me to this really nice hostel: koala den; 35 bolivianos pr night w (free) tv and Great movies, good breakfast, hot showers and free internet. Also very nice people.
The next morning, I did the Potosi mine tour. I wrote a long entry about Potosi and the mines, but its disappeared somehow.
Potosi would`ve been a rich city if they had been able to keep their silver-wealth. Instead, the mines are almost empty and Potosi is poor, without other income than the scarce silver and tourism. They will keep the mines open for as long as they can.
8 million people have died in those mines; many, african slaves. Families have and still work together. Boys from 13 to 65 work there now. Things are different: they chose how much they want to work and earn more than waitresses, f.inst.
There is no bathroom in there, and they never eat in the mines, no matter how many hours they work in that dust. They only chew coca leaves on the job, which is one of the gifts we as tourists bring, as well as dynamite, which you can buy in a normal shop.
Last photo is of the road between Potosi and Sucre. Worth a look.
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