Bolivia's National Treasure, the Cholitas - Day 15

Hotel Julia was the named of the hotel we stayed in last night in Uyuni. I believe it is one of the more expensive ones in town. The room was 270 bolivianos (40 USD) per night. Right above us was the kitchen and last night they didn't stop moving furniture until about 10PM which made us the tired travelers not very happy. At one point of the night, the curtain fell off. The shower had a mind of its own. It went from streaming hot to cold in a flash and back to hot again. The heat was suppose to be turned on at 8PM which didn't happen until 9:30. Breakfast in the morning was suppose to start at 7:30AM. The "cook" strolled in at 7:40 and we were served hot beverages, juice and dry bread. Needless to say, Hotel Julia will not be our hotel of choice next time around. If there was a star rating for this hotel, it would get a dot at best in our opinion.

Our flight back to La Paz was at 9:40AM. We had received an email informing us we will not be checking in at the airport (which made sense since the airport looked unfinished) and will check in at the Amazonas office by Uyuni's town centre plaza. We were lucky to bump into the agent we recognized on the way here. I think she stayed at Hotel Julia too. She took us to the office and checked us in. Around 8:30AM, the Amazonas agent told us to hop on the same bus and we had to pay 7 bolivianos per person again to get to the airport with our checked luggage at the back.






At the unfinished airport, our carry ons were not screened at all. But the flight once again departed and arrived on time in La Paz with no incidents. We were checked into our hotel shortly after lunch.

We met a couple of very funny kiwis on our Uyuni tour. We made plans to meet up with them at our hotel at 1:30PM today since we were all interested in checking out the Cholita Wrestling at 4PM every Sunday. Cholita wrestling is very unique to La Paz. It is women wrestling dressed in traditional riffled skirts and top hats.

The tickets for the show can be purchased from any travel agencies on Sagarnaga Street for 70 to 80 bolivianos (11 to 15 USD) each. We got ours for 70 since we had 5 people. The price included VIP front row seats, bus to the arena, a bag of popcorn, a glass of coke, a tiny clay cholita figurine souvenir and two bathroom passes. The yellow school bus picked us up near our hotel and took us to the top of La Paz city where the arena was located. Before letting us off the bus, the guide said this is not a safe area and do not wonder outside of the arena without an escort. In front of the arena there were already a lot of people gathering to get in and vendors selling popcorn and other local snacks. But the area smelled like urine and poverty was evident.

We got seats centre of the ring. Later we found out it can get hairy in the front row. The first match was a fat guy wrestling a skinny guy named Shocker. They all wore very flashy outfits and masks. The fake throw downs were so cheesy that it was good. We had quite a few laughs. At one point the fat guy threw the Shocker into the crowd, one of the kiwis who sat three seats down from us got scrapped in the face. She was surprised by the whole thing, but ok.


There were one or two more matches before the cholitas came out. But we were all waiting for the real attraction. Finally the cholita dressed in pink sparkly wrap, top hat and puffy skirt came out with the crowd cheering loudly. She "fought" bravely against a man and a "corrupt" referee. But she showed good heart and good sportsmanship despite being thrown into metal sheets and hit with a small wooden crate. She managed to turn the referee onto her side and won the match! It was all very dramatic.






Then it was a match between a really fat guy and Frankenstein. Again it was really cheesy and the real entertainment was when Frankenstein tried to scare the kids. The stadium now had become quite chilly since the roof was partially open. The next match was between two cholitas. It definitely was the highlight of the night. The two bitter rivals threatened to cut each other's pig tails off while the crowd cheered them on. The "bad" cholita had popcorn, an orange and numerous plastic bottles thrown at her. I felt really bad for her. But no one messes with a Cholita, she gave it all back. Opening the bottles that still had pop or water in them and sprayed the crowd with them. Being in the front row, we got a little bit on us, but lucky not too badly. Row 2 and 3 weren't so lucky. At one point the "bad" cholita twisted open the orange that thrown at her and threw it at the "good" cholita. Later, she picked up the mangled orange off the floor and took a bit out it. She was a bad ass!


There were three more matches including a foreigner wrestler named Gringo Flamingo. It all ended at around 7:30PM. We stepped outside of the stadium and to our amazement it was snowing outside! We ran to our bus because it was so cold.

By the time we made it down the hill, there were no more snow, but a drizzle of rain. We grabbed a bite to eat at a cozy pizzeria with the kiwis and headed back to our hotel for the night.


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Location:La Paz, Bolivia

Salar de Uyuni (Day 3) - Day 14

Today started awfully early. We had to be packed and ready to head out by 5:30AM. Might as well, I had been tossing and turning since midnight. I wasn't as cold as I thought I would be, especially we were also given hot water bottles for our feet. But I was under a sleeping bag and 5 layers of wool blankets. There were just too much stuff on top of me and I was too constricted to sleep.

Anyway, we went on our way in the dark and in -8 Celsius weather to see a volcano named Sol de Mañana at 4860m. I have never been so close to an active volcano before. It was cool to see the piping hot steam pressuring through the rocks. It was also smelly too due to the sulfur.



We didn't stay for too long since it was so cold. The next stop was the hot spring. I contemplated whether to go in or not on the way there. I am sure the 35 Celsius pool would be really lovely, but getting out afterwards would be painfully cold. When we arrived, I stuck my fingers in the hot spring water, I was sold. When I am ever going to do this again! Hanging out in a hot spring pool next to a lagoon with a bunch of flamingoes in the background.



I was so glad I went for it. The warmth of the water felt so nice after the chilly early morning rise. I wasn't going to get out of the pool if it wasn't for the pancake breakfast that was awaiting for me. When I emerged from the water, it wasn't actually that cold. After I got dressed, I was warmer than when I got in and didn't even need my third layer of jacket. I felt completely rejuvenated at breakfast and ate two pancakes with caramel spread and hot chocolate.

Now we were off to our last major spot on the tour, the Green Lagoon. This lagoon is full of toxic copper and many other different kinds of minerals. That is why there were no flamingos. When we got there, there wasn't much wind which was good because we were not as cold, but not so good since the lagoon didn't appear to be as green as when the minerals are mixed by the wind. It was still a beautiful site to see with the snowy volcano of Licancahur in the background.






Then we started our very bumpy and dusty two hour ride to our lunch spot. After lunch, the roads got a little better, but still dusty. We made a few more stops at the red lagoon again and volcanic rock site which was full of mosquitos.

Overall this was an enjoyable tour organized by Red Planet. However, we had felt we were short changed by not having an English guide with us in the car. The guide we had did his best to keep us informed after the two cars met up. But sometimes one car arrives earlier than the other and we would missed on a lot of information before we had to moved onto something else. We decided to speak to the company about our thoughts after we arrived back in Uyuni at around 5:30PM. I was impressed with Red Planet and the staff who actually listened to our problems. They decided to charge us the Spanish tour price which was 700 bolivianos (105 USD) and issued us each a 45 USD refund. We made sure we tipped the guide well since it wasn't really his fault.

I was happy the tour ended well. It was time to check in to our Uyuni hotel and take a much needed shower!

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Location:Uyuni, Bolivia

Salar de Uyuni (Day 1) - Day 12

We took a taxi to El Alto International Airport in La Paz. It costed us 50 bolivianos which I could've swore the hotel told us it should cost around 15. Oh well, we had a plane to catch. The airline called Amazonas had only recently opened up a route from La Paz to Uyuni in late July. We kept our fingers crossed for delays. To our delight the 1 hour flight departed and arrived on time. The plane was tiny and full with about 20 seats.  We did have to pay 15 bolivianos airport tariff (for domestic flights) before getting on the plane.







The Uyuni airport appeared to still be under construction and very small (I didn't even see it when we landed). Someone from Red Planet Tours was suppose to meet us at the airport, but we didn't see anyone. There wasn't even a phone to make a call. I had to borrow someone's cell phone and was told to just hop on the bus to town. The bus was 7 bolivianos (1.1 USD).

The tour was suppose to start at 11AM and we got to town centre and red planet office just before 10. Red Planet was suppose to provide us with an English tour guide, but they didn't have one! They offered us a shared guide with another group in another car and refused to give us a discount for the mix up. Although I was very annoyed with the mix up, we were stuck between a rock and a hard place. We had to take the tour and hope for the best.

While waiting for our 4x4 land cruise ride, we went out to grab extra water (2L per person) and toilet paper. Around 11:30AM, we were finally off on our 3 day Salar del Uyuni tour.

The first stop was the train graveyard. In early 1900, this area use to be a happening place rich in silver and the train was used to transport them out. The town of Uyuni had built wide roads with the potential to be the next big metropolis city like La Paz. However, when other new silver mines were discovered outside of here the mining experts moved out. The locals didn't know what they were doing and the industry died. The trains were then left to mother nature. The yard made for amazing pictures.









Second stop was the salt processing factory. The owner only works two days out of the week since there is no great demand for salt. The factory only supplies the local regions like Uyuni, Potosi and etc. There are no export since countries like Chile have their own salt field. The salt was very cheap and still packaged in a very traditional way. 5 bolivianos for half kg bag and 35 bolivianos for 50 kg. We each paid 1 to 2 bolivianos to the owner for the tour and demonstration.







The salt factory and surrounding buildings were all mostly made out of salt. They last approximately 10 years and the brown lines in the salt bricks indicated how much rained the area got each year.



We then moved on to learn more about salt. The salt field use to be a body of water thousands of years ago. Although most of the water is gone, the salt still contains moisture. So the locals put the salt into little piles to drain the water and dry the salt.



We had our lunch at a salt hotel in the middle of the field. Salt hotels are actually illegal here due to the pollution it causes the field. This particular hotel now only functions as a shelter for passing-by tourists to have lunch. There were a bunch of flags in front of the hotel. There wasn't a Canadian or Chinese flag. I urge whoever is going there next must bring one for me!









Next stop was Isla Inkahuasi (Inka House) or Fish Island which is an island in the middle of the salt field. The walk about costed 30 bolivianos (4.5 USD) and took about 20 minutes to get up and down. It was extremely windy and cold. I had three layers on and a very warm scarf. The island is best known for its giant cactuses. Unlike the cactus we know, these ones have no water inside when opened, but dry wood like with holes.






One of the biggest things to do in the salt field is to take perceptive pictures. We had a lot of fun taking these funny pictures.





It has been really windy and dry in the area. My hands have been cracking since the hand lotion I brought was not creamy enough. I really recommend anyone traveling in this area to bring lots hand lotion and cream.

It had gotten pretty cold by about 3:30PM. So we started head to our hotel. The hotel was in the middle of nowhere (but not on the salt field) and was made out of salt bricks. It was basic, but cozy. Definitely not as bad as I thought. A hot shower cost 10 bolivianos.






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Location:Uyuni, Bolivia