8 days of Wwoofing in Tarija, South Bolivia

Sunday, 10 January - Monday 18th January 2010
   Wwoofing, for those who don´t know is Willing Workers on Organic Farms. You basically buy a list of names for a country that you wish to Wwoof in, and apply to the farms on the list to work on in return for accomodation and meals. It´s popular, and I thought I would give it a go. I tried in Chile, but didn´t get a response from the only one in Northern Chile.
   The first one that got back to me in Bolivia basically offered that I could work in their winery from 6am to 12noon each day, mostly bottling wine, in return for accomodation and lunch. I thought it sounded uninteresting, and like I´d be undercutting the local labour force. So I declined the offer. I really only want to wwoof so it if I think I can learn, or the location is special, otherwise, I can earn money for my work elsewhere.
   The one I accepted, was more about making condiments and preserves, and I thought that from this I could learn and so I agreed to go. But I found it disappointing. It was in town (handy), and the ´farm´ was a backyard garden. My biggest disappointment was that I was grossed out by the lack of cleanliness. Add to this that I got extemely sick, and it wasn´t a nice experience. It did improve as the week continued, and I met some friends of the owners. And one took me out to the countryside a couple of times, which made me a lot happier. I should say that the owner is a really nice guy, and he is... But, could he please not lick the spoon and put it back in the jam jar, when I am supposed to be eating that jam too? (which I didn´t after that).
   Like I said, I was really sick on the Monday and Tuesday nights. I thought at first it was probably something I ate, but then a French guy who I met on the Wednesday got sick, and my teacher in Sucre had been sick on the Friday, so possibly it was a virus. Anyway, I guess I won´t know.
   Tarija is actually a really nice city. It´s off the tourist trail, which I think is always a plus. And it has a nice climate and friendly poeple. Even better, I went dancing on Saturday night, to a club with Salsa and the like and there was talent. (The owner of the wwoof project tipped me off that there would be Cubans there.... the men, not the cigars). It was the first time I had danced in 2 months! It was lovely, even if the Cuban kept telling me he wanted me to have his baby in Australia, to add to his collection throughout the world. Ha! what a pick up line!
   Tarija is a wine growing region, know for high altitude wines. So on the Saturday I went out to the wine growing area with the French couple who wanted to Wwoof, for a look around. We visited 3 wineries, each different and interesting. The only really touristy one of them all had wine tasting, but it was done so quickly, it was like speed tasting!
   And then on the Final Sunday, we (the wwoof boss, his nice friends, and the French couple) went out to a place of relaxation in the country... with a kitchen and BBQ´s and swimming pool and tennis courts etc. and we ate a Bolivians BBQ, of which there was nothing but meat.... about 1kg each. (it is so hard to do vegetarian here, and I just had to believe them when they told me the meat was free range farmed).

Washing of clothes in the river is prohibited.... I guess no-one told the locals, and they never learnt to read either.

Casa Vieja (Old house), was the most touristy of the 3 wineries we visited. It was pretty, and they lined us up for the quickest wine tasting ever, it was "take a sip and pass the glass on". It all happened so quickly with no time to appreciate the wine, and at the end I didn´t know which I liked the best.

 

For my final day in Tarija, we headed out of town to La Victoria and had BBQ meats.. bolivian style, about 1kg of meat per person had been purchased and the was nothing else aside from super hot sauce. Pictured are my Tarija friends and host, and the French couple.

Notes:
Bus to Valle de Conception 75c each way. Wine tastings Free.
Other buses into the countryside simiarly cheap.

Salt water wells in my eyes

Ok, so I stole the line... but yep, travelling here can be so sad. There is no regard for the environment at all. Rubbish goes out the window. Nothing is recycled. And if you can be a consumer, you consume as much as possible.
   To which I must make a comment on that last point. My Wwoofing host in Tarifa said something very similar to what my mother said to me a month ago..... That we (western nations) did consume, lots, and now that the developing nations are starting to be able to afford to consume, we are telling them they shouldn´t (because it will hurt the environment), and, they said, that just doesn´t seem fair. They have a point, but, for the sake of the environment, I do wish they´d listen, and stop. And I wish people everywhere would realise that stuff does not make you happy.

The landscape outside of Uyuni, Bolivia.... littered.

Surreal dinner stop on 14 hour journey, Bolivia

 Saturday 9 January 2010
    I was on a 14 hour bus journey from Sucre to Tarija. All the buses left between 3 and 4pm in the afternoon and arrived between 5 and 6am in the morning, so as much as I hate taking night buses (and missing the scenery), it was the only way to go. So I spent the extra $1.50 and bought a ticket on the best bus available, and it was still rough.
   At about 9pm the bus stopped in the middle of nowhere for dinner. In the dark, there appeared to be just the place we stopped at and an even smaller one across the road. I didn´t understand much of what the woman beside sitting me (on the bus) had said to me so far, but it seemed she needed my support... she seemed a bit fearful of the night bus journey (with reason, Bolivia is dangerous), and she had bought me some typical Bolivian snack earlier and had accompanied me to the toilet.
   We wandered into the ´diner´. Crocodile Dundee was playing on the TV, and two things were offered on the menu.... Soup or a little bowl of chopped ´cabana-type´ sausage and french fries. My companion was having the soup. I looked, I wondered if I should eat here. Was it safe? I decided it was soup, probably well cooked, and that the bus made this journey nightly and wouldn´t want a bus of sick people. I decided to go for it. When they brought my companions it had chicken feet in it. Now I eat chicken feet, but at this point I had only just convinced myself the food was possibly safe, and chicken feet needed more reckoning. Then mine came, without chicken feet, Phew!
   I finished my soup and the only other ´white´person on the bus approached me. He was Argentinian. He asked me where I was going, was I alone. He told me I was brave, and gave me his card so I could contact him in Argentina. He runs a modeling school. Does he want me to be a model? Or, like my mother (she used to say this ok, nothing bad here), does he think I need some coaching on how to present myself a little better? Ha Ha, either way, it´s a funny thought!
   An on I went to Tarija, arriving at daylight.

Indian slays Spaniard - Tarabuco, Bolivia

Sunday 3 January 2010
   In Tarabuco they had a most fantastic statue and I took a photo, so that you could all see it, and now it has mysteriously disappeared from my camera smart disk thingy (which is not seeming so smart now!). So now I will discribe it (which will take less time than uploading the photo would have anyway).
   The statue was big, I think close to 3 metres in height, and coloured (maybe painted) and depicted an Indian standing over the body of a slain Spanaird whilst he held the heart (that had been cut from the Spaniard) up to the sky in a victorious stance. Sure beats a statue of yet another war hero on a horse. I was rather excited to see it.
   Tarabuco, is a market town and I went there as a Sunday excursion from Sucre. These days it is predominently touristy, but like all these places, if you get right out behind the tourist stuff you can find some local people doing local stuff. I did buy an Alpaca sweater (100% acrylic I am sure) $13. And a new money belt $3. I didn´t haggle on the money belt.... I didn´t have the heart too. (My fellow travellers gave me a dirty look, but really in Australia you wouldn´t think twice about a gold coin donation (that´s $1 or $2 for non Australians) to a charity when asked, and these people need the cash.)

The poor armadillos are made into musical instruments!

The locals buying Coca leaves. Coca leaves are an important part of life here. They take away hunger, give you stamina and help with altitude. I tried it, it numbs your mouth.

A back street in Tarabuco.... actually it´s like most the back streets I have seen in rural Bolivia.

Notes: 
Bus to Tarabuco and back $1.50
 

Sucre, the beautiful white city

1 January - 9 January 2010
   On New Years Day there were no buses going from Potosí to Sucre (about 3 hours) and I was pretty clean to collect my laundry and leave. The night before I had chatted to some (3) Argentinians and they had said they were planning to take a taxi to Sucre, at a cost of about $4.50 each, and there would be a spare seat for me if I would like to join them. They were kind enough to wait for me to rescue my wet clothes (see previous blog), and then we headed off together in search of a Taxi.
    Being New Years Day everybody wanted more money (most wanted $12 per person), and we had to be careful to find a driver who wasn´t still drunk or hungover from the night before. Finally we acquired a taxi for about $8 per person. My new friends were Carlos, Pablo and Maxi.
   These guys were great company. In Sucre we had trouble finding accomodation for 4 people (being New Years Day), but eventually we found a room in a really horrible hostel (well our room was up the top corner, up a dark unlit staircases, and with a shared bathroom stripped to its very basics). At least the company was good and we spent the afternoon and the next morning sightseeing together before they caught a bus to La Paz. (I was invited, but thought it better that I stick to my plan.)
   I moved to nicer accomodations the next day, intending to spent a couple of days in Sucre before departing to Tarija in the South to do some volunteer work (WWOOFing) on an organic farm. But the farm owner postponed the work a week and I ended up staying in Sucre to do some Spanish Classes.
   Sucre is a really beautiful place. An easy place to spend some time and do Spanish Classes. Although I speak fondly of the Spanish Classes I took in Antigua Guatemala, these classes undoubtedly were of better quality. They also cost more here. My teacher, Fernando, was very good, and I highly recommend his ability.

Taking a taxi cost more than a bus, but it´s still not a bad price to pay. And the driver stopped the car to show us things.

The central Plaza of Sucre is very leafy, lots of seating. And lots of kids begging to let them shine your shoes.

In Sucre´s central Mercado I realised I had entered the land of potatoes.

Fresh produce in the Mercado.

If a gringo (a white person....me) sits in a restaurant or cafe, the beggars sit waiting outside.

I´m just a little jealous. These gringos rode into Sucre while I was sitting in a restaurant near the Plaza. I had to say hello. They started out individually in the USA, and joined forces along the way. One couple (sharing a bike) were from Australia. Travelling by bus frustrates me... I can´t stop whereever I want and am very constrained. I´d love to have independent transport (and a like minded companion for it).

Notes:
Accomodation first night: Hostal Amigo * $6.
Accomodation afterwards: Colon 220 **** $6 I loved it because I could step from my room into a sunny courtyard.
Private classes in Spanish: Academia de Español $6 per hour. Classes are also available with this school in Cuzco, Peru, and Quito, Ecuador.
Typical Lunch, 3 courses: $1.50 (why cook when I can do this?)
 

New Years Eve in Potosi

30 December, 2009 - 1 January 2010
   Potosí is the highest city in the world (4090m), and it is said that once upon a time it was more successful and populated than London or Paris. The mines (silver) which gave it this wealth also killed about 8 million people.
    The history of Potosí is certainly interesting, but the city didn´t do a lot for me. I survived the altitude, but no doubt it affected me. I only took 2 photos there and they weren´t good. And I didn´t much enjoy the place. The main attraction is to go into a silver mine, through small shafts and tunnels, breathing toxic fumes, to visit the miners. I have definate anxiety about man made tunnels and slight claustraphobia ... so I didn´t waste my money. Even to this day the miners live short lives, if they don´t die in a mining accident, they die at about age 40, from the damage to their lungs.
   I did spend NYE in Potosí, but nothing really happened there. I chatted to people at the hostel until 11.45pm, then hit the street to find some activity, but there was only the odd fireworks to be found, nothing big. I was accompanied by a Black african guy, resident in Brazil, in Potosí to join their Soccer team.
   On NYE the hostel lost my laundry, and so I had a cold time as well. They eventually took me to the laundry the next day so that I could find my clothes, and I got them back eventually, even if they were still wet.

Notes:
Accomodation: Casona Hostel. * $5.50

Uyuni to Potosi

30 December, 2009
   Once a person has done the spectacular 3 day tour on the Salar the Uyuni and the lakes, then there isn´t a lot of reason to stick around in the town of Uyuni. It has a train cemetery, which was included as the final part of my 3 day tour. The train cemetery didn´t much interest me.
   Uyuni, is incredibly dusty and the land around the town is strewn with rubbish. Add to this that my hostel roon stank! and you can see I didn´t like the town too much. So I hoped on a bus the very next day to Potosí.... a few other people from the tour were doing the same, so I tagged along with them. (My Plan A had been to 4wd to Tupiza in the South, but the road was too wet and the conditions reported to be terrible).
   The bus journey to Potosí was quite spectacular.

Taken from the bus... a farm house in the countryside between Uyuni and Potosi, note the old couple is amongst the setting.

The same old couple as of the farm house (there was a stream nearby, and at this place the drivers assistant jumped out and grabbed a rock to put under the wheel of the bus (the brakes) and then him and the driver went for a wash in the stream, leaving everybody sitting on the bus while they did). I don´t know what the farmers are digging at here, but they also seemed to have Llamas and sheep to look after.

Notes: 
HI hostel, Solar de Uyuni, musty private room, shared bath, $6.
Bus to Potosí $4.50.
Eggs for boiling (my lunch on bus) .11c each.

Entry to Bolivia via desert, lakes, geysers and the worlds largest salt flat.

27-29 December, 2009
   I chose to go from San Pedro de Atacama (Chile) into Bolivia on a 3 day  4wd trip, past colourful lakes, geysers, desert scenes, flamencos, and the world largest salt pan. I think I´ll let the pictures do the talking!

Laguna Blanca (White Lagoon).

  Laguna Verde (Green Lagoon)

 

 Geyser Sol de Mañana (Morning Sun Geyser Basin). Lots of colours, bubbling mud, bad smells.

Laguna Colorado... amazing colours, the white is Borax, which they do mine here, the other colours are mostly created by microscopic organisms. You can also see llamas and Flamencos.

 

Three types of Flamenco exist in this part of the world, the Andes Flamenco, the Chilean Flamenco, and the James Flamenco.

Isn´t it cute how they put the coloured wool in the ears... just like eartags at home, they identify who the stock belongs to.

The Car, the car companions... all Chilean. I was really lucky because they made sure we got a fabulous tour!

Our driver, waiting for us, as always.

Inside a hotel made of Salt, where we slept the night.

Driving across the Solar de Uyuni... the world biggest Slat pan, whilst it had a a few centimetres of water on it, it´s amazing how well the vehicles hold up with the rust.

Due to the rain, there was just one solitary salt miner working the day we were there.

Notes:

The tour from San Pedro to Atacama was with Cordellia Tours. 3 days, including 2 nights shared accomodation, 3 breakfasts, 3 lunches, 2 dinners, and entry fees, was $US140. I definatly recommend this tour.

Bolivia

    Bolivia is South America´s poorest country, with an estimated two thirds of the population living in poverty. The majority of the polution are indigineous, and from many different groups. Many people speak Quechua or Aymara. It has no coast line and shares borders with Peru, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil.
   As a travel destination, it used to be quite undiscovered, but not anymore. It´s isolated, and it has quite a lot of ´world´s highest´ things. It´s possibly the country in South America I have most been looking forward to.

Impressions of Northern Chile

Well, I have left Chile now, so I think I should give a taste of my impressions of Chile. From the People to the Landscapes and everything in between. All of this will relate only to the part of Chile that extends North from Santiago, because I have yet to visit anything South of Chile's capital.

The People
   Firstly, it would help if they spoke Spanish. Well, ok they do, but they cut the ends off the words, create new endings, and run all the words together. Then they change some words. Some explain that this is because Chile is so cut off from everywhere else... the Andes Mountains on the Eastern side, the Pacific Ocean on the West, Antarctica down below and the world driest desert to the North. But I come from a great big island in the ocean, so I don´t think it´s much of an excuse. All the neighbouring nations say Chilean Spanish is terrible, so this isn´t just coming from me.
   Now to the men.... well I haven´t been whistled at and called every synonym of beautiful (in Spanish and in English) so much since Cuba. Actually, Chilean men may have outdone the Cubans.  I took it all as compliments and it only bothered me when they sidled up too close so they could whisper their words. The men were largely helpful, on 2 occasions a group of men (both groups from mining area´s) became my main bus terminal support when my bus was late, finding out for me that I hadn´t missed my bus and making sure I got it when it came.
    Dress standards were very casual and mostly jeans and T-shirts, even when working. I noticed the only people wearing shorts when not on the beach were tourists.
   It seemed that 90% of adults smoked... but I have said before I might be exaggerating. It never seemed crossed their mind that you mightn´t like it.

The Food
   Nope, not good. Ok, I tried to get good, I went to the nice seafood restaurant in Valpariaso, and the Scallop place in Caldera, and ate what Jaime told me to at the place he said was really good, but nothing stood out. At best, the menu of the days were like a reasonably good home cooked meal. (And perhaps I should say that my Mum is a fantastic cook.) And somehow all the fresh fried fish meals tasted like they had been battered and fried some other time and then microwaved for my plate. Sorry Chile.

The Transport
   Oh the Chilean buses are very nice. They are clean, they check your lugguge with tags, they run to a pretty good schedule. But they are speed limited. Every time the driver passed 100kms per hour a long beep started in the passenger area of the bus, so that we could dob him to the authorities if he didn´t slow down.

The Scenery
   I took only day time buses so that I could see the scenery all the way. It was so spectacular. Most of Northern Chile is what I imagine another planets landscapes might look like. It´s very mountainous. And for the most part it´s very dry. It´s also very exploited with mining and mining exploration, which is a shame, but without it they´d be very poor and the terrain doesn´t seem much good for other things.

Environmentalism
   huh? I don´t know if the average Chilean knows much about environmental concern. They are extremely consumeristic, plastic bottles aren´t being recycled, there is a lot of litter lying around. At home I often pick up rubbish while I´m walking.... here I wouldn´t know where to start.

Other Travellers
    Are there any Germans between the age of 24 and 30 left in Germany? It used to be Australians that had the well traveled reputation, but they´re being outdone. A couple of the German travelers have told me that with the Global Financial Crisis there isn´t much work in Germany at the moment, so better to travel now, and go back to working when things improve. I´ve only really met Australians in the beach towns. I´m in a age gap here, not a lot of other backpackers my age. Some are older, but most are in their 20´s, on tight budgets (making the same mistakes as I did when I was a 20 year old backpacker), and opting to save money by not going to see things and spending it instead on alcohol and cigarettes, (to while away the hours that they aren´t using on sightseeing).

Notes:
I think I averaged about $330 (USD) per week in Chile. I could have done it cheaper, but I like to try to find nice food, and take the odd tour. Good tours give you information you might not otherwise get, and that´s worth a bit more. You also get a day off by doing a tour... somebody else organises everything and you just have to tag along. I also ate out most meals. Travelling alone, you don´t save much money cooking for yourself. Also, I like to cook.... I mean I like to cook well... limited backpackers kitchens and no access to good oils, herbs and spices (I really can´t be expected to carry a pantry) is just a bad experience. I do however often boil a couple of eggs.... boiled egg, banana, and a bread roll make a ok lunch for long bus journeys that might not stop for a meal break.