With just a couple of weeks remaining on my Bolivian visa I leave Sucre and begin heading to Chile, via Maragua a huge volcanic crater and its beautiful surrounding valleys, then on to Potosi, one of the highest cities in the world at 4000m and with it’s famed Silver mine, before returning to Uyuni to make my jump across the border before Christmas.
Meet Señor Duelo, Fart Boy and The Princess in Sucre, which, like the rest of Bolivia, is a beautiful city, a small centre of long history with a big heart….and great fruit salads.
Having completed the Jesuit Mission circuit I was back in Santa Cruz, hanging out with the “Quirkies”, looking for Mennonites and feeling sorry for market girls. I travel back in time to the 1940s and the Riva Palacios Mennonite Colony to visit a family, before returning to the mountains near Samaipata to hunt condors….
After Amboro, I head further east, deeper in to the Amazon, following the 1000 km Jesuit Missions circuit towards the Brazilian border. Ravaged by mosquitoes and savaged by spiders, I continue to Laguna Concepción and an interesting ranch stay before travelling on through the Mennonite colonies to reach Santa Cruz.
In Part 4 of Bolivia: After the testing Devils’ Road (from Part 3), I take it easy in laid-back Samaipata, go in search of Ernesto “Ché” Guevara during Holy Week, and then visit Amboró National Park first from the mountainous south and then across the rising rivers of the north as the rainy season begins. As usual I write far too much about far too little….
In Part 3 of Bolivia, read as the journey continues, still dropping in altitude on my way from the high cool altiplano to the lowland Amazon. From Tupiza now in the south of Bolivia, heading out east through meteor craters, down towards sea level again and the hot jungle, as well as the hottest place I’ve ever visited, before attempting a ride through this infernal green ocean north along the fiery “Devil’s Road”, one long isolated trail, 600km direct to Sucre….maybe
