Bus-capades. That’s how I would describe trying to get from the Uyuni Salt Flat back to Peru. The jeep driver told me if I went back to Uyuni, I would be stuck by the roadblock for possibly several days. There was no solution in sight and I was obviously going to miss my scheduled trip to Sucre. He suggested I go through Chile to get back to La Paz and finally to Cusco. Lasting over 2 ½ days, it ended up being the longest bus trip of my life.
The last day of the tour in Uyuni would take us through more of the Eduardo Abaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve. First thing in the morning, we made a quick stop to see some geysers. Not exactly Old Faithful. I was expecting them to be much bigger, to be honest. But, a geyser’s a geyser and it was still cool to see.
I was terribly sick on my tour to Uyuni. I tried to fix my stomach the night before, but I woke up in horrible pain. It felt like someone was stabbing me in the guts and twisting the knife. I skipped breakfast, packed up my things, and loaded them onto the vehicle. I couldn’t do anything but try to sleep through the pain.
Finally, I made it to Uyuni after successfully breaking through a Bolivian roadblock. I had booked a three day all inclusive tour of the Uyuni Salt Flat (Salar de Uyuni) and the Eduardo Abaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve for an incredible price. I was looking forward to starting the tour the next morning.
My primary goal in Bolivia was to see the world’s largest salt flats in Uyuni. I planned the perfect 10 days through Bolivia, booked all of my accommodation, tours, buses, and flights. Suddenly, the day my overnight bus to Uyuni was to leave, the lovely people of Uyuni decided to protest and block the only road into town. All buses to and from Uyuni stopped running.
I had plenty of time to kill in the UNESCO World Heritage city of Potosí while trying to figure out how to break the roadblock to Uyuni. I decided to go on a silver mine tour and found a street with a few tour offices.
When my bus to Uyuni was cancelled because of a protest and roadblock, I decided to hop on another bus to Potosí. It was once the richest city in the world because of its silver mines and is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. I went to the La Paz bus station and stopped at four or five different companies before I found Trans Copacabana, who offered a cama, or reclining bed, for the 10 hour overnight trip. My goal was to see as much of Potosí as possible and find a way to break the roadblock and get to Uyuni.
Bolivia’s most important archaeological site, Tiwanaku, lies just a couple hours away from La Paz. Located in the modern town of Tiahuanaco, it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site that was the capital of a Pre-Columbian empire from about 300 to 1000. The original name of the city has been lost because the inhabitants had no written language. The ruins are still being excavated.
In Copacabana, we boarded a small boat to Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun) and sat on the top deck. The ride was windy and cold but I enjoyed the scenery. Lake Titicaca is a strong shade of dark blue and the contrast against the clear Bolivian sky was an incredible sight. On the way, we passed by the Isla de la Luna (Island of the Moon), where the Incas believed the rising of the moon was commanded. The ride took about 90 minutes.
An hour after the bribing incident, we pulled up to Copacabana, a tiny town on the shores of Lake Titicaca that happens to be the namesake for the famous beach in Rio de Janeiro.