Shots from the road: In the Amazon

In today’s world it’s difficult to find places untouched by the greedy mitts of humanity. For the last four days, though, we were in the heart of such a location: pristine Amazon rainforest. It was astounding. The sense of pure nature, growth bursting forth from every possible surface, is something that will stay with me forever.

We stayed at Madidi Jungle Ecolodge, a low-impact venture created by indigenous families from the heart of Bolivia’s Madidi National Park. This handful of modest, comfortable huts nestles in the heart of the rainforest, serving as our base for a series of treks through thick primary rainforest.

Spotting wildlife in the dense jungle proved tougher than we might have imagined, but we still encountered peccaries, macaws, toucans, howler monkeys and many more creatures besides. But as impressive as they all were, it was the flora that stole the show, not the fauna. The rainforest here is immense, stretching for miles in every direction; the Madidi national park alone covers 18,958 square kilometres, and directly borders yet more rainforest.

Being surrounded by all this untouched nature felt truly profound, and with nothing to do other than savour the extraordinary environment for four whole days, I left feeling inspired and recharged. The only tinge of sadness was the thought of how much landscape like this we’ve already destroyed; may Madidi stand untouched for another few millennia, at least.

Shots from the road: Wandering in La Paz

Here we are in La Paz, the world’s highest capital city. And it’s not just the altitude that makes it a heady place to wander: as I alluded in my last post, the thin air is filled with choking exhaust fumes. The first time I’ve been grateful for the MOT.

It’s a fascinating place. The location is spectacular, with buildings of questionable safety spilling down the steep valley and out towards spectacular Andes peaks. Half the city seems to be one big street market, almost every stall selling the same selection of trinkets.

Our visit coincides with ongoing demonstrations about the country’s pension provision (or lack of), allowing us to spot a notable difference in the Bolivian national psyche, compared to that of Britain. Back home people just moan and grumble; here they let dynamite off in the street and block major roads day in, day out. So far it doesn’t seem to have achieved any more than the grumbling.

As unique and interesting as the city is, I can’t claim to have fallen in love with it. Not only is the air horrendous, but poverty is more prevalent than in any other place we’ve visited so far. Beautiful buildings have been allowed to rot, and young lads shine shoes in ski masks, ashamed to show their faces lest they be judged on the way they earn their living. Life here is hard. There aren’t a lot of smiles on the street.

Shots from the road: Hitting the smoke

Getting a bit behind, so here’s a wee snippet on what we’ve been up to since leaving Uyuni.

Our first stop was Potosí, the world’s highest city. The local traffic was only too happy to fill in for the lack of oxygen, with hordes of ancient collectivos belching out thick, choking fumes. The poor air quality is proving to be an ever-present feature of urban Bolivia.

Potosí was still a fine spot to relax for a couple of days though, recharging our batteries after a week of pre-dawn starts. My favourite moments were spent above the smoggy streets, gazing across the rooftops and marvelling at how improbably located it is – some 4070 metres above sea level.

The city sprung up in the 1500s, on the back of huge silver deposits in its neighbouring mountain, Cerro Rico. The Conquistadors devoured the lot, yet the mines are still full of unfortunate souls, scratching away at the barren tunnels for a meagre return of minerals.

Up top, the mountain is a colourful, impressive sight, frequently glimpsed from the city’s streets. It’s strange to think how many unhappy lives have been spent (and extinguished) inside it.

From Potosí we moved on to Sucre, where the lower altitude laid on our first T-shirt weather for quite some time. It was an exceedingly pleasant sort of place to wander around, if fairly unremarkable in terms of big attractions. The air was as choking here as in Potosí, but the city felt airier; thank the profusion of brilliant white buildings, wide plazas and more in the way of green spaces.

After a couple of days wandering in the sunshine we moved on to La Paz, the Bolivian capital, from where I write this missive via a ball-achingly slow Internet connection. So I’ll leave the bloggage there for now. Suffice it to say, La Paz could tell both Potosí and Sucre a thing or two about exhaust fumes…

Shots from the road: Across the desert

From San Pedro de Atacama we ventured to the Bolivian border, joining a three-day tour that would take us across the desert and the famous Uyuni salt flat, ending at the southern Bolivian town of the same name.

The Salar de Uyuni is the headline attraction of the region, and justifiably so once seen in person. The vast expanse of shimmering salt crust stretches as far as the eye can see, glittering in the dawn light as it segues from black to a pure, brilliant white.

We experienced the salt flat on the final day of our tour, but the sights that preceded it were equally impressive; vivid lagoons full of grazing flamingoes, enormous desert vistas and smoking volcanoes. Altitudes of up to 5000m made it all an especially heady mix.

What really made it special, though, was the group we were part of for the three days. A Toyota Landcruiser is a small space to be stuck with someone that’s doing your head in, but we were lucky enough to be joined by some really lovely people. The tour had two jeeps of six passengers each, and everyone got on really well from the off – it really added to the whole trip. Big props to Chris and Jenny (from just up the road in London), Roger and Manuela (Swiss newlyweds on an amazing year-long honeymoon), Brigette, Bryce and Dimitri from Belgium, and Robert, Stephanie and Fabien from Switzerland!

Quick recommendation for anyone doing some research – our tour was with Cordillera Traveller, and we couldn’t fault them. They were slightly more expensive than some we saw, but the food, accommodation, transport and drivers were all top notch.

Shots from the road: A change of scenery

Swapping the luxurious restaurants of Valparaiso for a bag of cereal bars, we boarded an 11pm bus for a 25-hour trip north. Our destination, which we finally reached at midnight the following day, was San Pedro de Atacama.

As its full name suggests, San Pedro is smack in the middle of the Atacama desert. And it proved to be a wonderfully different place. We’ve seen some spectacular sights but in some ways, Argentina and Chile haven’t felt that far removed from Europe.

San Pedro, on the other hand, is a true desert outpost. Scorching by day and freezing by night, its dusty, single-storey streets host a mellow mingling of travellers and sun-beaten locals.

San Pedro also marked the end of our time in Chile (we’re subsequently heading north through Bolivia and Peru), but before saying adios we made good use of our time. The town’s surrounded by awesome, otherworldly sights; lunar landscapes, belching geysers, and star-filled skies all joined by the dizzying altitude of the altiplano. Now we’re somewhere very different indeed.