Quest Overseas - Gap Year Travel

Written by an anonymous writer - anyone willing to own up to it???

Chapter One: Death Road

It was a hot sunny day, the perfect day to die on death road, but luckily that didn't happen.

Well it's been a while since we've heard from our intrepid team in Bolivia, they've been camped out in the jungle slaving away on a new enclosure for a puma in our Bolivian Animal Sanctuary Project. Back in civilisation for a couple of days before heading out to another of the sanctuary locations and they very kindly sent us a few photos of their exploits. Above is a very proud group having made some serious progress on a new enclosure for Luna the puma.

Written by team member Nicholas Hirschfeld, worthy of a Booker prize perhaps???!

On Wednesday, the third of February, we arrived in Potosi and acclimatized to the 4300 meter altitude. The following morning we donned green jumpsuits, Wellies and helmets with headtorches and went to the miner´s market. There, we drank 96% alcohol and chewed coca leaves to begin our day in the fashion of a typical Bolivian miner. Ross braved the worst bathroom of this trip so far, and perhaps the worst bathroom any of us had ever seen.

After buying gifts of beer, more nearly pure ethanol and coca leaves, we took a dust filled bus ride 200 meters above Potosi to a mine on the infamous Cerro Rico. We journeyed through the mines for about 2 hours along a sprawling web of tunnels that ranged from muddy to dusty and head height to waist height. We ventured to the room of the Tio, god of the mines, and gave offerings of alcohol, coca leaves and cigarettes to ensure our safe passage through the mines. Afterward, Amy lit her birthday candle, which took the form of a stick of dynamite that was ignited near the mines. We ended our day with a llama barbecue and a nice swim at some thermal baths.

The following day we took a 6 hour bus ride to Uyuni, on an entirely dirt road, in sweltering heat with only one functioning window. We immediatly left Uyuni, divided into three jeeps. For the next four days we drove across the altiplano and took in some amazing sights. We saw beautiful multicoloured lakes, flamingoes, we bathed in a steaming thermal bath with the most incredible veiws, climbed huge rocks around the rock tree and finished off with a breathtaking sunrise over the salt flats. Even though we had to get up at 3.50am for the sunrise, in the pitch black, and freezing cold it was still worth it. On the salt flats we took some hilarious perspective photos and saw the stunning effect of water on the salt flats.

Tonight we look forward to a ten hour night bus ride which will take us to La Paz.

HOL-AR .  Que tal...estamas bien, just to throw a few of our many Spanish phrases out there. 

Monday, we got the privilege to spend some time with local school children, playing stuck in the mud amongst other games and they all seemed to enjoy it a lot. then we learnt about "full shroom" and "half shroom" haircuts - basically the equivalent of a pudding bowl, whilst watching the "devils miner" - a film about the mines which were going to next week in Potosi. They explained how important it was to worship the TITO……a scary looking devil that they give cigarettes to in order to keep them from danger in the mines. Later that night Alice and Nico ended up building their own version consisting of flip flops and Pringles.... oh dear.

So all is well, more or less. A few of us, ignoring all warnings have been out sampling the joys of Bolivian street food; The Bum Bible has been well and truly christened, and with 1 week down and another 11 to go, one can only imagine how full it will be, a novel of epic proportions!. This week began with what our leaders described as a mini trek… the villians. The entire team scaled an enormous hill in order to view the sun set over Sucre only to be greeted by an imminent storm and a large bull at the summit. We spent a total of 13 and a half minutes at the top before it became necessary to climb all the way down again, this time avoiding the enormous Inca stops that anyone smaller that 7ft 2 would have found extremely difficult climbing. It was a baptismo de fuego.  Of course the Americans suffered none of the problems our European contingent did, sprinting topless more or less the entire way; however what they have in stamina they lack in razor sharp wit and good looks (this may or may not be true, I cannot say).