Big Bolivian Heart

Bolivia, a country full of contradictions. Often so free and wildly beautiful that it feels like a slap in your face, often so rude and messy that you just want to leave.

A place that would like to help you, to bring you closer but sometimes is just too hard. Life is complicated and you have to care about yourself, with dignity and some coca leaves in your mouth. Maybe dressed on rainbow colourful clothes with a serious smile along.

This was our impression after the first days spent around Oruro. We definitely needed a push to be able to discover Bolivia in a better way and we decided to jump into our first South American train ride. “Fortune favours the bold”, as the Latin proverb says and our luck completely changed: the historical train flew over the UruUru Lake surrounded only by wonderful flying pink flamingos, as in a fairy-tale. We crossed incredible valleys encircled by enchanted huge snowy mountain peaks, with the repetitive calm sound of the railway cradling us.
 

Here starts the long list of people that we want to thank through this article because nowhere as in Bolivia, we felt a special connection with human beings, solidarity and brotherhood. Nowhere else it felt so easy to find friends with such open hearts and hands full of generosity.

Thank you then to the receptionist that opened us the doors of the hostel in Uyuni so late, saving us from a certain night outside in the cold. She treated us more as a mum than an employee, trying to solve immediately many problems, giving us a nice room for cheaper and handing out sincere deep smiles for the soul.

And what about that old couple of peasants, with their 40 years old blue pick-up, so sweet and genuinely simple. After 2 hours of unsuccessful wait, they finally gave us a ride out of Uyuni in direction of Potosí, without even a question or a hesitant word. They stopped in the middle of nowhere and simply left as they came, giving us the impression of a mountain summer breeze.

It's the turn of Alberto from Cochabamba, who became a friend more than a simple host of Couchsurfing. He opened us the doors of his house and garden, drove us around until the top of the city, let us stayed even longer than planned, shared future travel ideas and some Catan's battles. Enjoyed a wonderful Sicilian “Pasta alla Norma” together with his girlfriend and even shot some hoops in the basketball court right behind home. A special guy!

A thanks won't be enough to compensate what Raquel from Copacabana have done for us. After pitching our tent in a campsite, we decided to eat outside and we entered in a Trattoria on the side of Titicaca Lake. While having dinner, a huge storm crossed the village and surely made our tent completely wet. It was a big surprise when Raquel, after we explained the situation, simply invited us to sleep at her place on top of the restaurant. We ended up staying there for more than a week, cooking together lunch, helping with some restaurant preparations and shopping for her, until handing out flyers in the village to bring some new guests. Thank you Raquel, that delicious Polenta in the middle of Bolivia will remain one of our best memories!

Last but not least, Nicolas and the entire Murillo family. They also hosted us in La Paz through the Couchsurfing platform but this was just the beginning. Nicolas was a great guide through the city highlights like “Valle de la Luna” (an insane natural park which brings you straight over the moon, check it out here) and that wonderful view spot, hard to forget. We spent quality time with the family, discussing about politics and dreams, eating a real Italian “Pasta Carbonara” and visiting the “Feria de las Alasitas”. Thanks dear Murillos, we know we have a new family in Bolivia now.

 

But what is this “Feria de las Alasitas” then?

Bolivians are a real miscellaneous population, still strongly based on several traditions. One of these is faith, a mix between religion, paganism and the need to believe in Nature.

And this is exactly what the fair is devoted to: God Ekeko, recognized as "Dios de la Abundancia" (God of prosperity). A fair completely based on the sale of miniatures of any types: money, cars, food, diplomas, houses, tools. Anything you could imagine and desire was there: the purpose of these miniatures is to wish, to who receives it as a present, to be able to obtain what the miniature is about.

Here on the left, you can see an example of miniature. Check out the background!

 

To give it a deeper meaning, God Ekeko is honoured with cigarettes, coca leaves and fake money

Bolivia is also famous to be populated by many animals belonging to the camelidae family. Are you a bit confused? Camels, in Bolivia? No, you misunderstood. We are talking about vicuña, alpaca, llama and guanaco: we made some research and we will shortly explain the main differences between these funny animals.

 

VICUÑA	ALPACA
Weight: 40-65 kg Habitat: only wild, 3.200-4.500mt Features: uniform colour, shorter head Curiosity: most expensive wool in the world, 400 $/kg	Weight: 50-85 kg Habitat: domesticated, 3.500-5.000mt Features: several colours, thick wool Curiosity: it has 52 natural colours fibres
LLAMA	GUANACO
Weight: 130-200 kg Habitat: domesticated, 2.300-4.000mt Features: longer head, used as pack animal Curiosity: eaten as meat and used for religious sacrifices	Weight: 90-140 kg Habitat: only wild, 2.500-2.800mt Features: short fur, the most ancient one Curiosity: really fast runner, up to 56 km/h

As you can read, alpacas are fundamental animals for the Andean communities because of their meat, milk, help on the fields and especially for their wool (a great material for clothes and artisanal products).

Here we are, at the end of our journey through Bolivia. We wrote many things about this country and hopefully we were able to inform you better and push your Wanderlust to this destination. Bolivia is still one of the cheapest country we have visited and is worth a trip, even if now it doesn't seem the best moment tough.

But don't give up! We know how Bolivians are: you can see it in their faces, strong and proud. Things will get better soon and they will keep welcoming tourists with those warming smiles, offering the best of their country.

As the Salt Lake of Uyuni… Enjoy this photographic special surprise!

(A huge thanks to Carlo Targhetta for this professional post-production)

Risk Curiosity