Why Bolivia Should Be on Your ‘Bucket List’

Bolivia is not for the faint hearted. From the World’s Most Dangerous Road in La Paz to dizzying altitudes and llama carcuses hanging in shop windows, Bolivia has it’s own unique way of doing things and that’s all part of its charm. I honestly had no idea of what to expect before I got there – it’s not really a place you hear people talking about on the usual backpacker route. However, it was honestly one of the most breathtaking, beautiful and exhilarating places I’ve ever been to and it should most definitely be on your bucket list.

Salar de Uyuni

One of the main highlights of my trip to Bolivia was going on a 3 day 4×4 excursion through the Salar De Uyuni desert; visiting black, red and blue lagoons, seeing hundreds of flamingos flocked by the water and admiring scenery so unlike anything I’d ever seen before we honestly were all breath-taken…and that was by more than just the altitude!

As we chewed coca leaves to prevent altitude sickness, it was overwhelming to see nothing but desert for 3 whole days. We passed no villages or towns and were so isolated from civilization. We were travelling in a convoy of five 4x4s, it astonished us that the drivers even knew the route and where to go as there were no roads or markings, they must have just memorised at which cactus they should turn!

At one point our car broke down in the middle of the desert with no other 4×4 to be seen. The driver climbed up on to the roof of the car to try and look out for the other vehicles, but had no luck. All that surrounded us was the dry and dusty desert. Not understanding Bolivian and the driver not understanding English, we had absolutely no idea what was going on which was slightly concerning…!

We’d been warned that Bolivia was a place you had to have more patience than perhaps you would elsewhere… There are constant border strikes and things just don’t go as planned, you have to succumb to the fact “this is Bolivia” and carry on! We were jokingly dividing up our snacks, working out how we’d survive here the night until we were rescued. Pete and I had wine form Argentina and a head torch, someone else had some Pringle’s and chocolate and someone else had a sleeping bag… ‘we’ll be fine’ we all joked! The longer we waited though the more we started to panic, until we finally saw another of the 4x4s approaching us in the distance. We started moving until our car then broke down at night in the pure darkness… luckily we’d not lost the convoy then so we beeped the other car to tow us to where we were staying that night.

We stayed in a cosy thatched roof hut with furniture made out of salt blocks and salt covering the floor, it was amazing! We ate quinoa soup – they make anything out of quinoa as it’s one of the only crops that grows at such a high altitude – and drank coca tea. It was pretty unforgettable to say the least!

 

Salt Flats

When we approached the Salt Flats, after seeing nothing but desert for 3 days, it was incredible to see such an expanse of water. It looked like a glistening lake, but was so shallow we could walk across it and it barely came up to our ankles. The water was freezing and reflected the sky.

We drove through the water which was a surreal experience like driving into the mouth of a lake, it was a pretty breathtaking moment. We reached the dry part of the Salt Flats and saw the largest expanse of sparkling white from the salt and the bluest sky, it was a pretty amazing place to take pictures! In Salar de Uyuni, they are the world’s largest Salt Flats. The surface is so flat and large that they can be seen from space and are used to calibrate observation satellites.

 

Sucre

After passing through Uyuni and Potosi we reached Sucre which is a city I fell in love with. My Dad visited 20 years previous to me going and it was one of his favourite places too, so I was even more excited to visit. Sucre is such a beautiful place, filled with white-washed buildings sheltering pretty patios and plazas. There is a wealth of colonial architecture in Sucre and it is undeniably Bolivia’s prettiest city. One of my favourite days that we spent there was climbing to the top to reach La Racoleta with views across Sucre below where we admired the most beautiful sunset as we listened to Bolvian musicians play. It was one of those moments where you feel so relaxed and happy, chatting to the people we’d just travelled with and in awe at the scenery around you.

 

La Paz

The capital city, La Paz is a concrete jungle which amazes and appalls simultaneously. Coming from the Bolvian desert to the city was an assault on the senses. The market stall vendors crowd round the roads and roundabouts, cars honk their horns and manoeuvre around each other, just missing pedestrians – crossing the road is a pretty brave task! The noise from the streets and exhaust fumes from passing cars makes La Paz impossible to ignore and difficult to forget.

Getting above the city on their sophisticated subway in the sky gives you a whole new perspective on La Paz – the slick, modern architecture of their cable car transport system to the concrete, half-built buildings below and the houses built into the egde of cliffs was a striking contrast.

An unmissable experience is going to the witches market in La Paz and learning about their rituals and offerings to Pachamama. You can buy lotions and potions for pretty much anything – from curing a bad stomach to making you wealthy or even getting revenge on a cheating partner….they have it all. Hanging above shop windows there’s even llama feotuses to warn off evil spirits.

From the natural beauty of Bolivia’s landscape to its contrasting cities, Bolivia is one of South America’s most diverse countries and I’m so glad we had the opportunity to explore it. Have you ever been to Bolivia? What were your highlights?