After La Paz we headed on to Cochabamba. From what we heard, it wasn’t much more than a massive pancake of a city, but we weren’t interested in comparing any big city to the likes of La Paz (which we loved), we came to see dinosaurs. Yes, not more than 60 miles from Cochabamba is Torotoro National Park. No, it does not mean “bull,bull” but is a spaniardization of a local word meaning (from what I could tell) “hard to walk in when wet”. Lucky for us, we have been traveling during the winter dry season, so none of that was going to go on, just dusty isolated treks through a scrubby bushy highland desert. Torotoro takes its time to get there, 6 hours by bus arriving at midnight, but it is completely worth it. Within our 2 ½ days there, we climbed through a ´city of rocks´, went caving, and hiked through the wilderness.
The biggest highlight was the dinosaur tracks. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, dinosaurs used to migrate through torotoro north and south. The region used to be swampy and flat so along the way, the dinosaurs, both big and small, left footprints which have since been fossilized.
Torotoro is no longer flat though. Time has bent and folded the landscape, dried it out and some of the last thousands of years got washed back away exposing ancient signs from a world since lost. Heavy big footprints with, what is that?!, a trace of a tail. Hundreds of small three toed prints running over the step of a velociraptor. I was skeptical until I saw them. And now you can…
Hiking around the city of stones
The amazing Toro Toro mountain formation
The biggest highlight was the dinosaur tracks. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, dinosaurs used to migrate through torotoro north and south. The region used to be swampy and flat so along the way, the dinosaurs, both big and small, left footprints which have since been fossilized.
Dinosaurs footprints
Dinosaurs footprints !!!
New dinosaurs! ;-)
Us walkiing on the bridge of Love, hehe :D
Scott sitting in the herbivorous dinosaur's footprint
The Toro Toro canyon
Scott and Dino- our guide, swimming in the very cold natural spring water
Torotoro is no longer flat though. Time has bent and folded the landscape, dried it out and some of the last thousands of years got washed back away exposing ancient signs from a world since lost. Heavy big footprints with, what is that?!, a trace of a tail. Hundreds of small three toed prints running over the step of a velociraptor. I was skeptical until I saw them. And now you can…
Torotoro really inspired me to recognize that many small towns all over the world likely hold wonders greater than and metropolis and grand city. We only just need to look.
After Cochabamba, anna and I split to Sucre. Anna swears it is the most beautiful of what we have seen in South America. It is collegiate, provential, and bustling with life. The central market is out of this world. There is an entire courtyard devoted to juice makers. There is any and every combination possible from cherimoya and milk (my favorite) and batidos which are malt drink mixed with raw egg and sugar (beer as substitute for those hard mornings). It was across the street from our hotel and I therefore spent most of my time there. Anna also discovered a French run cultural evening with indigenous Bolivian dance and a gourmet meal for a steal. The costumes were colorful and wild. At one point a bull was chasing a demon through brightly dressed tribal women with flowing skirts. And of course, Anna was one of the few chosen to dance the last dance. She and her colorful legs warmers fit right in. A great night.
Now we are in potosi, once one of the most well know cities in the world and the source of most of spain´s silver. It is above 4000 meters (13100 ft) and a great place to enjoy a beer. Tomorrow Anna goes on a mine tour of the still functioning silver mines and then we are off to Tupiza, the site of the last robbery of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid. But for that, you will have to wait a few days.
In one way the visit of the mines was very interesting as we got to learn how the work in the mines looks like. On the other hand though visiting those mines felt a little bit like voyeurism as all the miners we met were working and on the top of that grievly sick. Nevertheless they keep working in these horrible conditions as they have to provide for their families. On average the life expectancy of miners is lower than 50 years. Being a miner is considered as being a good job. They make about 8 times more money than those working in the city. The nice part about the whole tour was that before getting to the mines we went to a market and bought some gifts for the miners and their families.
In one way the visit of the mines was very interesting as we got to learn how the work in the mines looks like. On the other hand though visiting those mines felt a little bit like voyeurism as all the miners we met were working and on the top of that grievly sick. Nevertheless they keep working in these horrible conditions as they have to provide for their families. On average the life expectancy of miners is lower than 50 years. Being a miner is considered as being a good job. They make about 8 times more money than those working in the city. The nice part about the whole tour was that before getting to the mines we went to a market and bought some gifts for the miners and their families.
The entrance to the silver mines
Assistant miners pushing a card full of 10 tones of silver out of the mines
A miner working with his 15 year old son
El Tio, the owner of silver and protector of the mines.
Trying to make a hole for a dynamite...1h30 for 20 cms..
Behind me Potosi located at more than 4000 m above the sea level
23.08.2011
We are now in Tupiza in the very southern part of Bolivia, about 90 km north of Argentina, where we are spending 2 days horseback riding before going on our tour to see the Salar of Uyuni. SO EXCITING! On our bus ride from Potosi tp Tupiza we met a swiss (french) :)) couple and paired up with then in order to form a group of 4 people for the tour of the Salar.
Today we rode some horses for 3 hours and liked it so much that we signed up for another day tour tomorrow! We had a lot of fun. After that on Wednesday we are off for our big last tour that is going to last 5 days. Supposedely on the Salar during the night the temperature falls up to 20 degrees celcius below 0! Crazy! We think we have enough warm cloths...we hope so!!! The next post is going to be in about one week. See you then!
In Tupiza, ready to horsebackride
Cowboy and cowgirl :-)
Scott and Nils chasing the puma :P
Me and the young lluvia (rain) following at the very end.
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