My passage through Bolivia
Once I got on the bus at the exit of the town of Iruya in Salta Capital, I crossed the border of La Quiaca. My first border. I had never left the country. I will never forget that feeling. I imagined that the border was a bridge in the middle of nowhere with lots of trees and military.
Yes, although there was military, there was a civilization too, a lot of business, a lot of people.
Bolivia was the first and only border where I really felt the change. As soon as you cross, the people change, the businesses change, what they sell on the street changes. Juices are now sold in bags, and many cakes were sold in little stalls in the street. I loved it. I felt very much in another world and I loved it. Unfortunately for me, it was a holiday, and there were no buses until late. So with my backpack full of stuff, I had to wait for hours in the part of Villazon, a few minutes from Bolivia, until I could take a bus. At the beginning of the trip, at least I, from my experience, was very careful with my money. The money I had saved was my entire economy. So, I thought a lot about where to go. I had the option to go to Uyuni and it was more expensive, or the option to go to La Paz and skip Uyuni, and it was cheaper, and La Paz is much closer to Peru . So, hoping that destiny and the universe would guide me, I left my life in the hands of a lady. I told her, excuse me ma'am, I can not decide and also after traveling a few hours I am not very clear what I want to do, you decide. Where am I going? Uyuni or La Paz? and CLEARLY, she told me Uyuni. And I was not wrong. I had to go there.
We got the tickets and waited for hours and hours. Until we finally got on the bus. I had never seen so many military and I had never been stopped by the military so many times. You don't really see this in Argentina. We don't see many military or at least in the places where I was I didn't see them. It was a little scary because they might get off the bus in the middle of the night and you get scared. It is far from home in an unknown land. I remember that as soon as we passed the police checkpoint a cholita, as the local women are called, jumped off the bus. It was all very strange. But it was normal there.
We went on for hours and hours, we traveled at night. There are NOT very good roads in Bolivia, in fact I remember passing through the middle of a river with low water at night, I don't know where it was but it was very crazy.
We arrived in Uyuni at dawn, it didn't look good at all and felt rather dangerous. We had not booked a hostel so we had nowhere to go. Walking in the early morning with your whole life on you is not nice. So the first place we found we rented. It wasn't very good but it was all there was. We slept, the next day, I woke up, I must clarify that it is very cold there, I wanted to take a shower and the water came out freezing cold freezing cold. Highly recommended, it is a salt flat with many kilometers and if I remember correctly there are two volcanoes that can be seen in the distance. It is incredible, you can see the water under the salt flat, it looks like snow. We did the tour, everything was fantastic. In the afternoon when we arrived we talked a little with the owner and he was from Monte Grande, a town in Argentina. Crazy, isn't it? because I am also from Monte Grande. It's a small world, it's a small town. We asked for hot water and he wanted to charge us for it. I had never been charged for water anywhere in my life. It was a pretty weird deal. That day we decided to leave Uyuni, which in itself, the city did not please me in the least. I remember the smell of the broths cooked by the cholitas in the street, from RES. I am a vegetarian so imagine, I had to cross the sidewalk and not breathe. That night we decided to go to La Paz. Can you believe that I was in one of the best buses I could have ever traveled, sleeping car, blanket. Everything was perfect. At one moment the bus slows down, 10. 15.. 20.. 30 40 60 minutes... and suddenly they make us all get off. The bus had broken down. We had to walk and hitchhike along the road at dawn. Luckily at an hour and something a bus picked some of us up and we traveled to La Paz, I was able to sit in a bed seat that was left but my companion had to travel standing for a few hours. We arrived and demanded that they reimburse us for the trip and they did, after several complaints. We arrived in LA PAZ. IT IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE CITIES. It is EXTREMELY HIGHLAND, TETRICAL, COLD, BEAUTIFUL, MAGIC, ANOTHER WORLD. For breakfast for less than a dollar you had an avocado, cheese and tomato sandwich and a GIANT coffee. All the streets have stalls and sell everything. I thought it was crazy and beautiful. Super photographable. And there was one of the biggest shocks I had. The looks of the Bolivians, especially the elderly Bolivians there. All day long working, from very early in the morning until very late in the evening, the women sitting in the street selling and the men carrying weight and more weight on their backs.
Their sad and tired looks. Tired of working, tired of surviving, and also tired of the tourist photographing them. When I took pictures, for example, on the street and a lady came out, in the photo I saw that she covered her face. I was very shocked by this situation because they transmitted me in their looks, the tiredness and suffering. It was like traveling back many years. I embrace them with my soul. They seem to me to be beautiful people, full of culture. But devastated by a system that does not allow them to do anything but work and work and work. Many old ladies in the street without slippers or food. It broke my soul. At the same time their hairstyles, their clothes and their looks are extremely mystical and photographable. But I tried not to take pictures of them because it was obvious that they were tired of it. I asked the ones I did take. Anyway, I remember that the day we arrived at La Paz we left everything at the hotel and went for a walk. We toured the gloomy peace and when we wanted to return to the hotel, we realized that we did not know where it was. On top of that, the city of peace, the streets never end in the same place, they seem to be circular, from one street there is a bridge or an alley to another street and it really is an extremely gloomy city and of course beautiful. We searched for almost an hour or more. Until my partner was guided by graffiti and graffiti and graffiti and graffiti until we got there.
Something very crazy about here or the places where I was is that the meat was not refrigerated, in fact men with carts were walking down the street selling the meat, chicken or cuises. There was also no refrigeration in the stores or supermarkets. They sold everything in its natural state. And something that I really liked about LA PAZ is that in one block on the street they sold candy, cookies, etc. In another block they sold all natural things, in another block they sold clothes. It looked like an amusement park.
After that we decided to go to Copacabana. Where you can find the island of the sun. What a magical place. It is beautiful and has the TITICACA lake. A lake with crystal clear water and an incredible mystique. I remember the sunsets on a terrace there. In the hotel where we stayed, which was extremely cheap and the truth was quite good, one day I went to ask for something in the kitchen and the lady did not answer me, my companion went downstairs and she answered him. It is, in part, a somewhat macho society and women are quite oppressed. So, when they see a woman in shorts and a short top, they look at her as if she is doing things wrong. I understand them, I understand and I don't judge, I embrace them from my place, from the freedom I can exercise. Women used to look at me very badly in the street, I remember, because of my tattoos and my way of dressing. But I never got into looking at them badly or getting angry because of that, but I understand that deep down, many of them would like to have that freedom. That's why I say again, I embrace them and I love them. I remember in the streets of Copacabana, for the first time, and then I experienced it many times in many places, there were many men offering drugs. I had never seen this in Argentina. You would pass by and they would tell you weed, coke, ecstasy... they were even annoying and annoying. This is repeated in several countries.
Something very crazy about Bolivia or the places where I was is that the meat was not refrigerated, in fact men with carts walked down the street selling meat, chicken or cuises. There was also no refrigeration in the stores or supermarkets. They sold everything in its natural state. And something that I really liked about LA PAZ was that in one block in the street they sold candy, cookies, etc. In another block they sold all natural things, in another block they sold clothes. It looked like an amusement park.
We visited the island of the sun, a beautiful and paradisiacal place, with incredible ruins and incredible trails. Finally. From Copacabana we decided to travel to Arequipa, Peru.
Why my trip through Bolivia was so short ? well.... First because I was just leaving and I was afraid of running out of money, second because I didn't feel very comfortable, and third because, I'm a vegetarian and I didn't have many options to eat but cheese sandwich.
Now, I know that in Bolivia there are incredible places, which I will come back and visit. I know that in part, the bad treatment that I felt there was because, in Argentina, there is a lot of racism towards and for them, something that I think is really shitty because they are extremely hardworking and educated and have an INCREDIBLE CULTURE AND HISTORY AND IT IS AN INCREDIBLE COUNTRY. Of course I am not like that, but I understand that they feel attacked by Argentines so in some places they don't receive us so well.
Something very crazy about Bolivia or the places where I was is that the meat was not refrigerated, in fact men with carts were walking down the street selling meat, chicken or cuises. There was also no refrigeration in the stores or supermarkets. They sold everything in its natural state.
Now. Bolivia is a country I want to go back and travel all over. I want to photograph everything and I want to continue with my portrait project there. I really admire their culture. They know a lot about the land. Their clothes are incredible. Their landscapes are incredible. Everyone should know Bolivia.
My time there was short, but if you ask me, it is one of the countries where I learned the most.
sorry if you don't understand everything, I mostly helped myself with a translator.
VIEW 15 of 15 COMMENTS
johnnydiscard:
OK, so actually looking now and I definitely pictured something different, but the pics are wonderful. Seems like a great trip.
ametrina:
@johnnydiscard Bolivia is completely photographable, and I have not uploaded many photos here. I'm glad I was able to transmit from the heart what I lived and felt. A big hug to you!