Beneath the hulking smoking Volcano Ollague, I stood gingerly kicking the front right tire on of our Toyota Siena van.  The border agent had informed us that one of our tires was flat just minutes before.  I was stuck in no man’s again between Bolivia and Chile.  We had successfully exited Bolivia and were waiting on the customs agent in Chile to get a new temporary import permit for our van.  They apparently were on a shift change.  The agricultural agents were very helpful and tolerated our children and all their games.  The last 60 miles of the road out of Bolivia were particularly rough and bumpy, so it was not that surprising that the tire was flat.  It looked like the tire was slowly leaking air, I almost thought we could drive to a repair shop just outside Ollague but the customs delay prevented that.  I decided that I should change the tire there in no man’s land, I was almost all the way through and I sheared off one of the bolts on the axel arrrgggghhh.

Once I put on the skinny spare we were off but with only 4 bolts, it should hold until we get to a big city to fix it.  Our custom agent signed off on our import permit and we got directions to the nearest place we could fix the tire.   After finding a nice man to fix the tire we were back to four full tires.  We pulled out of town and got an up close look of the  volcano for the next 30 minutes, it was smoking out of the southern side, we were informed that it could erupt at any time.  It’s good that we didn’t get marooned at the border.  Fixing a tire at 12,000 feet is not for the faint of heart.

So when we started planning our trip I had a special obsession with the Salar de Uyuni, we finally made it to the largest salt flat in the world today and it did not disappoint.  What an incredible place.  We arrived in Uyuni on Thursday we checked into our hotel which was somewhat overprice compared to what we have been experiencing so far in Bolivia.  Once we got situated we headed out and acquired a tour company because we did not want to take our van out of the salt flats… smart move.  Once we got our tour lined up for the next day we ate dinner at the Minuteman pizza joint, very good pizza, and hit the sack.

Our tour didn’t start until 10:30am the next day so we did some school work and at breakfast.  Julie was having a not so great start to the day screaming at Mimi for a shirt that wasn’t hers, it wouldn’t the last time during the day that she would have a screaming fit.  Anyway so we got picked up by our tour guides Jose and Nancy and proceeded out toward the Salar.  We first visited the train graveyard, left over after the war with Chile cut Bolivia off from the coast.  The kids climbed all over them and we all had lots of fun being daredevils.  We then visited a village that processed salt for sale, lots of trinkets and salt crystals for sale.

After that we headed out to the salt pan… there was a bumpy dirt road that led to the edge of the salt, once past this there were some major ruts and swales that were filled with 1-2 feet of water that we had to navigate to get to the main part of the Salar.  We were outfitted with a 4 wheeled drive SUV that handled the drive pretty well, our driver was also very patient and had obviously been out many times, again a very good choice we didn’t decide to do it ourselves.   Once we got out there it was pretty incredible, the day was very hot and the clouds seemed to stay at the edges of the Salar just hanging around to give us amazing pictures.  We first visited a “Gayser” which seemed to me to be more of an ordinary springs within the salt pan.  Somewhat unimpressive but were all were just excited to be on the salt pan and anywhere you looked there were cool pictures to be taken.

We ate lunch at this salt hut out on the salt pan that was very busy, fun people watching and the girls loved just playing in the parking lot collecting salt and building salt castles.  After lunch our guide took us to an area that was covered with a thin layer of water, not more than an inch deep which had the affect of reflecting the clouds and making for incredible pictures.  We stayed there and took pictures for several hours and took every different goofy picture you could image.  We have included a few good ones with the post.

After a while, the kids and I began investigating several small holes in the salt and we discovered that some of them had really cool crystals of Halite that we could pull out.  We proceeded pull out crystal after crystal until my hands were literally bleeding.  We did find some neat specimens we will need to dump the rest at some point, these discoveries rendered the crystal that I purchased for 3 bolivianos (40 cents) rather worthless.  Oh well.

We stayed for the sunset and got some really neat pictures of clouds and sunset colors, it was an utterly satisfying and exhausting day.  We all went home and took showers because we were filthy, but we all had such a cool time.  All that time learning and planning to visit this place was a well-placed obsession.

We ate breakfast and zipped out of Potosi, the drive to Sucre was only 3 hours so we were able to do some activities in the afternoon in Sucre.  We got a hotel for the first time in two nights and everybody enjoyed the fancier place to stay.  Maddy had to do some work so the girls and I went to a dinosaur museum.  The Cal Orck’o museum is home to the largest number of in-situ dinosaur foot prints in the world.  We were able to get an English speaking tour guide by ourselves and had a great time looking at all the life size dinosaurs models and learning about the fossils and amazing diversity of dinosaurs that were living in this Cretaceous environment.

After we completed the museum the girls and I walked around the downtown of Sucre, we happened upon the Mercado and got the girls some ice cream for being so good at the museum, we wondered around the market taking pictures and resisting any attempts at buying any items.  We were going to get a soccer ball but Julie couldn’t decide on the color.  The downtown area was a Unesco World Heritage site and it was quite interesting again with narrow streets and beautiful squares and churches.  We went back and retrieved Maddy and went to dinner at a vegetarian restaurant and had an empanada the size of Caroline’s head.

I have discovered that older Bolivian people like to touch Mirabelle’s hair, I am assuming because it is red.  She is getting tired of it so we are coming up with a phrase for her to say… No Tocar.  Next stop the Salar!!

After the border debacle in Peru we packed up our rental in Copacabana and got out of dodge.  I got the hotel to accept some of the American dollars that we brought with but they are very picky if any of the dollars are even slightly ripped.   Due to getting waylaid at the border we were behind on our driving schedule so we decided to stop in Oruro half way to Potosi so we would avoid driving at night and the girls wouldn’t go bonkers being in the car for that long on the first day.  It was great to have the van and the sense of independence that one gets with a car, like we were 16 again.  The driving in Bolivia is crazy people half obey the laws of the roads but all our interactions with police have been very positive with such things as asking directions or being stopped at checkpoints and such.  We didn’t see much of the town of Oruru other than we heard the Dakkar road rally ended in the town only a couple of days early,  we got pizza and hit the sack.

The next day we drove to Potosi; the drive in itself was amazing and beautiful there were some beautiful canyons that showed off the natural rainbow colors of the hills.

Once we arrived in town we realized that the old town was not set up for modern day cars and after driving around the same area three or four times we realized that google maps were wrong and there was no way to actually drive to the hostel we were staying at.  We finally got a parking spot and walked to the hostel and checked in.  Potosi is famous for it’s silver mine, Cerro Rico, the mine is a huge conical mountain adjacent to the town, it was apparently associated with Miocene caldera volcanic complex which left concentrated deposits of silver, lead zinc and copper.  The mine began operation in the late 1500’s and the wealth that came out of the mine was largely responsible for Spain’s emergence as a world power in the 16^th and 17^th centuries.

We didn’t go get a tour of the mines as we didn’t think it would be safe for the girls, as we have read it is a bit of a health and safety nightmare.  We did go on a tour the Spanish mint where all the silver ore was refined and minted into coins bound for Spain.   We only spent one day in Potosi to stay on schedule.  Our hostal was called the Koala Den and we had a whole 8 person dorm room for the five of us.  The old town of Potosi had quaint old alleys and plenty of churches.  If we weren’t so stressed about driving I think we would have enjoyed the city.

The van… the lynch pin to our entire travel plans, without which we would not go as far as we planned and sure not get to Patagonia.  We purchased a van from a couple in Peru and just needed to take possession of the car and acquire a temporary import permit as the car is titled is Wisconsin.  We planned on meeting up with the seller at the border of Peru and Bolivia near lake Titicaca for the exchange.  I went alone to meet up with Pepe who was traveling from Lima.  Pepe was a bit late due to weather, so when he was getting close I took a taxi to the border and exited Bolivia into the border no man’s land.  Once Pepe finally got there we transferred the remaining money to his wife.  Pepe then had to exit Peru to relinquish his temporary import permit so that I could get my own temporary import permit in Bolivia.  Things were going smoothly until Discovered there was a three hour line to get in and out of Peru although Pepe was able to get through the line faster that one would normally.  He then cancelled the import permit and we switched the plates in no man’s land, yes we put Wisconsin plates on the new van!!  Rocking America’s Dairy land in South American.

We were bumping up against the closing time to exit into Bolivia so Pepe helped me get the car through customs.  Which was good because the guy was irritated that we were there so close to the border closing time and talking really fast in Spanish.  Pepe had to sweet talk the guy into letting us through.  By this time it had started raining and it was coming down in buckets.  Finally got the import permit, only thing left was to enter Bolivia right?!

I got there just in time in enter except for the fact that apparently I can’t exit Bolivia and go back in without entering Peru… oops.  So the van was in Bolivia but I had to go and wait in a two hour line to enter Peru, so I was forced to wait in the rain by this time the Bolivian was closed so I was forced to spend the night in Peru at a Hostel, the last bus at the immigration office was nice enough to give me a ride to the nearest town.  I met up with very nice people that helped me along the was but navigated the border issued with only a a bit of discomfort.  The next morning I got up early exited Peru and entered Bolivia picked up the van without further issues.  We finally got our van!  I am exhausted.

We all arose at 6:00am the next day to board a bus for Copacobana on the shores of Lake Titicaca on the Bolivian side of the border.  It took us several hours just to get out of La Paz, there is a highway being built into the city from Copacabana but several of the river crossing were not completed.  I wish I had a video but if you can imagine and large bus fording a river with significant banks, I swore were going to get stuck and need to get out and push.  Once outside the city the road was paved and there was smooth sailing.  The route to avoid venturing into Peru required us to cross part of the lake… all the passengers deboarded and the bus was put on a barge and traveled separately from us and our travelers who bought tickets and boarded a wooden bottom boat with an out board motor.

After some amazing scenery of the lake and interesting rocks along the hillsides we arrived in the Copacabana.  We checked into our bungalow at Las Olas, a very interesting rooming establishment where all the building look like they are out of the hobbit.  We put our bags down and ventured down to the shore, where lots of tourist boats and paddle boats.  Although to my surprise the Bolivians still out numbered the gringos by a good margin.  We played on the beach for a couple of hours and got some amazing food at La Orilla and headed home.

Strong last day in La Paz!!  The girls did great school work, lots of reading and we figured out where we need to work on math.  After a morning of work, including for Maddy, we all went out for lunch… we tried to find a vegetarian place for Maddy, but had the wrong address and were cruising around what had to be the most chaotic streets outside of Dehli.  We finally figured out that we were in the wrong place and went back to the old city and finally located our lunch destination.  Thank goodness it was amazing; the carrot noodles and veggie soup was incredible.  After lunch we had to acquire insurance for our new van so we visited what seemed like the business district.   After procuring our insurance I finagled some alone time, Maddy had work and nobody else wanted to wander the streets with me, so I got some freedom.  I wandered up to Plaza Murillo which was the parliament square and took a tour of the national art museum; trip advisor needs to update it top destinations, it was incredible art, I basically had the gallery to myself, sorry no pictures were allowed.

I wandered my way down out of the business district back passed Iglesia de San Francisco and wandered around the markets which were more alive now that the new years holiday was over.  I wandered into the Museo de la Coca not expecting much but it was full of neat stairways and eccentric wood carvings.  Running out of time I didn’t go into the museum but had a pint at the Restaurant Pub 1700 at the top of the museum before heading back to fetch Maddy and the kids for dinner.

I took them back to the restaurant after some errands and had a delightful dinner, the kids actually ate some food for once.  We headed back home and packed to leave La Paz for Copacabana on Lago Titicaca.

Our third day in La Paz was a warm one, we completed our school work in the morning and then went out exploring.  We slathered on the sunscreen because the sun is very intense at the high elevations of La Paz even though the temperature is only 60 degrees.  We took a taxi to the Valley of the Moon and had the taxi wait for us to complete our hike as there are not many taxi’s in the vicinity.  The valley of the moon was a complex of lacustrine (lake) sediments that were eroded like the hoodoos in Bryce Canyon.  The majority of La Paz seems to be built on this type of sediment.

Once we completed the our hike, which was about 15 min, the taxi took us to the Mega Mall, our first in South America, and hopefully our last.  We strategically ate lunch near the beginning of the teleferico system, we boarded the Verde (green) which took us to the Amarillo (yellow) then took a taxi to the top of the rojo (red) which leads to our hotel.  All in all we soared over the better part of the city.  It was very easy to navigate and cost us 50 cents per ride!!

We all had a great time, although the silence game was getting old for Julie by the end.  Great way to see La Paz.

We went out for dinner last night in La Paz, most of the city was shut down due to the holiday weekend but we found a restaurant after much searching.  We all ordered food and appetizers and beers and I was ready to pay an arm and a leg but it only cost $35.  What a deal!

The next day we started home school and one of the first things we did was choose the name and mascot of our school.  So after the girls wrote down lots of choices we winnowed down to a couple options:

The Cool School

The South American School

num num blegh school

Escuela de adventura

Maddy prevented me from padding the ballet box, so guess what the name of our new home school is…. on a vote of 3 to 2?  Who knows where they came up with that name.  Our new mascot is the ice cream cone, I think they are assuming lots of treats in our future.  The ice cream cones beat out Tortugas and Penguinos.  We set up the rules of home school and I think things went pretty well.

Just before noon we met up with a walking tour of the old town in La Paz for our first field trip.  We visited a vegetable market, plaza de San Francisco and the witches market. We enjoyed the walk and learning some history but the kids were worn out fairly quickly, even with snacks and cold drinks along the way. When Mimi decided to lay down on the cobblestones in front of the church in plaza de San Francisco we decided it was time to throw in the towel, mid-way through the tour…

We all took a long rest after that and then headed out again to a big park on the other side of town. We found a great area for kids with some rides and everyone had a fun time. We tried to go to this cool local restaurant and walked about 20 min uphill to get there only to find it closed (along with a majority of other stuff in this town the past 2 days with the new year holiday). We grabbed a taxi back to our hotel but still needed food. A nice tour guide we ran into on the street walked us to another one but it didn’t start serving til 7pm (waaaaay too late for these kiddos) so we had another street food meal. Empanadas and corn on the cob for the kids and Tamales (which have a Bolivian name I can’t remember) for the parents. It hit the spot and we trudged back to the hotel.

Walking around here is soooooo exhausting. Between the hills and the altitude affecting our lungs we are all perpetually huffing and puffing. But all in all it was a great day. Fewer meltdowns than yesterday. Think we are figuring out the right balance of getting out and about and having chill time at the hotel.

A couple of other interesting things from today. Two of the girls, separately, said “we are the only white people here.” I told them that it is because we are travellers and people from this country have darker skin than we do. But I also think it is a good experience for them to know what it is like to be different since so much of their lives have been spent in a predominantly white community. Some people have stared, a couple of older women pet their hair, but they seem to take it all in stride.

They also notice all of the stray dogs around (who luckily seem friendly enough) and have a particular fondness for pigeons and like to chase them all over the place. Ahhh childhood.

Mirabelle was excited for this Ferris wheel and talked Caroline and Mike into joining her

Mini merry go round

Views are ridiculous up in here!

Puffy clouds. Forecast always says chance of rain but we have yet to get rained on

Our first day in La Paz was pretty low key. After we checked into our hotel, we were all in various states of sleep depravity so we napped a bit and walked around the city a bit.

Maddy took the girls out in the morning, and took a ride up the teleferico – basically a gondola system that goes from the lower part of the city of La Paz to the higher part up the mountain. Julie was a bit nervous at first but they all loved it! At the top was a neat open-air market, with lots of families and stalls selling everything from underwear to car parts. Kids were most excited about the food. We tried a lot of new and some familiar snacks – dried corn, banana chips, chicken and rice in a bag, watermelon, grapes, and ice cream. I love street food! Also had some good conversations with locals where I got to practice my crappy-but-rapidly-improving Spanish.

Pictures include Christmas trees made from tires & water bottles, shots on the teleferico, view from teleferico, obligatory baby llama shot #1, remains of the street food, and the girls with ice cream in the market.

Later in the afternoon Mike took Caroline and Julie out while Maddy and Mimi napped. They had fun exploring some streets near our hotel.

Tomorrow we start homeschool!