Prisons, salt and empanadas

Last time I checked in I was in La Paz in Bolivia, which surprise surprise was a pretty long time ago now. Despite feeling pretty scared when I first arrived in La Paz due to it generally looking pretty run down and the gunshot-like sounds I heard in the taxi to my hostel I ended up having a pretty good time in Bolivia's capital. If you ever find yourself there I recommend doing the walking tour- I've found with a few cities that I don't instantly love that doing the walking tour can really open your eyes to the better aspects of a city and give you a better appreciation for it, as it's always an enthusiastic local doing the tour. One of the strangest parts of La Paz is San Pedro prison which is in the middle of the city. It's a low security prison in that there are a few guards on the outside of it but none inside- the place is run by the prisoners. It has restaurants, shops, a whole economy all of its own inside the walls of the prison. The rich prisoners have hot tubs, cable TV and they apparently have the wifi password for the 3 star hotel over the road. It's also famously known, due to the book Marching Powder, to be a major cocaine supplier with the inmates making the drug inside the prison and throwing it out of the roof at night in dirty nappies to waiting dealers on the streets. There was a time when an illegal 'tour' of the prison by an inmate was the number one thing for backpackers to do in La Paz but after horror stories of attacks and tourists being locked in the prison it doesn't seem to be popular anymore- probably a good thing as my curiosity probably would've got the better of me and I'd have ended up locked up in Bolivia.. We were also shown the witches market where we saw llama foetuses that apparently you're meant to bury under your house for good luck. I'll spare you the photo.

Anyway, other than the prison and buying animal foetuses there are other things to do in La Paz; people braver/stupider than me often take on Death Road, where you cycle a road known to be extremely dangerous. It isn't as bad nowadays as there's a new road that vehicles are meant to use, but my general nervous disposition, clumsiness and the fact I've rarely ridden a bike in the last ten years lead me to the decision that I shouldn't take on the challenge. Everyone I know who did it survived but I'm still happy with my decision. 

After La Paz I headed down to Sucre with Jack and Mike, two English guys I met in Cusco. Sucre was a welcome change to La Paz; it's a colonial town and a UNESCO world heritage site so is much prettier and nicer to walk around. 

We didn't do that much in Sucre but it was a good place to chill out after our stay at a well known party hostel in La Paz. We also spent Halloween in Sucre, meaning that an hour before the party started at our hostel we were down the market searching for anything we could use to dress up. The boys nearly went as sexy batman and robin but unfortunately the guy on the stall refused to sell them the costumes. In the end they settled for fairy wings and tutus (Mike also fashioned his own wand out of cardboard), and I did my half skeleton face paint that I've relied on for the last few years now. 

A fairly lethal happy hour meant that the next day we all woke up with one thing in mind; a full English breakfast. After extensive googling we found a place nearby. Unfortunately it didn't include fried mushrooms, proper baked beans or brown sauce but it did the job. 

Next stop after Sucre was Uyuni to sort out our salt flats trip. We'd heard that it was cold in Uyuni but when we stepped off our night bus at 3.30am into the freezing cold I think we all got a shock to the system. We also hadn't booked a hostel so we had to traipse around town waking up multiple hostel receptionists and having no luck for empty rooms. In the end we had to find a hotel who made us all pay 100 bolivianos despite the fact we got there half way through the night, but I was just happy to not have to sleep amongst the stray dogs outside. 

The next day we booked our salt flats tour through a company called World White Tours who we'd heard good things about, then spent the rest of the day being fairly unimpressed with the dusty streets of Uyuni. We did, however, find a pub very simply named the 'extreme fun pub'. Curiosity got the better of us so we went in and ordered a few drinks off the happy hour menu. Unfortunately we'd read the menu wrong and it was no longer happy hour; the pub had a solution for this however. If you're willing to get your bum stamped and written on with marker pen you can still get happy hour. All I'll say is I'm just glad that Jack and Mike went up to the bar instead of me.. 

At 10.30 the next morning we set off in our tour jeep with two German guys, Kai and Andy, and a Canadian girl, Rylei. I'd been excited to see the salt flats since the start of my trip and they didn't disappoint; it's amazing to see just how huge they are and see nothing but salt flats for miles around. Everyone who visits the salt flats has the ulterior motive of trying to get their own skewed perspective photos (google them, there's some really great ones out there) but despite our best efforts we struggled to get any really good photos. After about an hour of trying to balance on beer cans, be chased by toy dinosaurs and stand on each other's hands we gave up, did the standard group jump shot (which I also failed at), and got back into the jeep. 

That night we stayed in a salt hotel, which is exactly what it sounds like. It was pretty cool but the novelty wears off a bit when all your belongings end up covered in salt. 

Over the next two days we saw a train cemetery, various coloured lagoons, flamingos, geysers, cacti and amazing scenery. I think the salt flats was one of my favourite things I've done so far, probably enhanced by Oscar, our driver, who every so often that would quote Titanic to Jack.

At the end of our tour we were dropped at the border to Chile. This one was probably the dodgiest border I've seen so far- literally just a hut in the middle of the desert. Soon after we were stamped out of Bolivia we arrived in the desert town of San Pedro de Atacama. After the freezing cold of the salt flats the heat of the desert was a very welcome change. I really enjoyed my time in San Pedro- Jack and I went out to a place called Moon Valley, named so because the landscape looks like the surface of the moon, and the three of us also went stargazing another night which was really cool. Jack & I also discovered that you can buy a 1.5 litre bottle of red wine for about £2.50 which is never a bad thing in my eyes.

After a few good days in San Pedro we decided it was time to make the 24 hour bus journey down to Santiago. I was understandably dreading the journey but the roads in Chile are so much better than the ones in other countries that it felt like a much better journey than shorter ones in other countries in South America.

Santiago is a really lovely city. Chile is noticeably more developed than other countries, especially in contrast to Bolivia, but it still has such a nice vibe about it. We stayed in a very lively part of Santiago called Bellavista which was full of restaurants and bars, and we really liked our hostel- it was called La Chimba and I'd definitely recommend it if you're ever in Santiago. We managed to do quite a lot around the city; we got the funicular up San Cristobal hill and saw just how huge the city is, we visited the Museum for Human Memory and Rights all about the Pinochet dictatorship, saw the Plaza de Armas..and of course visited the mall. In my defence my jeans had the worst knee rips ever and I heard there was a Topshop there - it was impossible to resist. I think the reason I love Santiago is that it has a lot of parks too- the other day there was an event there called '100 in 1 day' where there were 100 different little things happening around the city for environmental and health awareness. For example in the park there was a bench with lots of cushions all over it and prompts to help people meditate and feel peaceful, and nearby people were writing down things they liked about the city and pegging them up between little tents. The streets were full of people engaging with these stations and walking round the city that day really solidified my love for it.

We also spent the weekend in a nearby seaside city called Valparaiso (Valpo to locals). I think it might be one of the best places I've visited so far. The winding streets are filled with art and there are lovely little cafes and shops everywhere you look. It has such a chilled out vibe and really seems like the kind of place that would be great to live in. Chileans also have a reputation for being the friendliest people in South America and so far I'd say they're living up to their reputation. On our first full day we happened across an empanada shop that sells 80 different varieties; in case you don't know an empanada is pretty much the South American version of a Cornish pasty, usually filled with cheese and whatever else you fancy. We went back to that place every day we were in Valpo in an attempt to try as many empanadas as possible, though I think my favourite was cheese, mushroom, onions and cream. 

I'm actually back in Valpo by myself right now before I fly down to Patagonia where hopefully I'll find the boys again. They decided to undertake a nearly 48 hour bus journey down there to do a 5 day hiking and camping trip- I think anyone who knows me will know that nothing in that previous sentence is the sort of thing I enjoy. I'm just waiting to hear that they made it there alive..keep your fingers crossed. 

I can't believe it's nearly Christmas and everyone back home is spending their weekends in the German market and generally being festive- I have no concept of seasons out here with it being 30 degrees for the last few days. I can't complain, I know, but a tiny part of me is starting to miss the build up to Christmas and the home comforts that come with it. Although last week I did manage to successfully make Yorkshire puddings in a hostel kitchen, so I'm not missing out too much I suppose. 

Until next time, I hope anyone back home is having a good day- and serious brownie points if you got to the end of this one!