Amazing Adventures: Josh Renaud in Bolivia
Part travelogue, part love story, this weblog follows Josh Renaud's trips to Bolivia. Since marrying his Bolivian fianceé, Yoli Zegarra, they have had four kids — with whom they now travel to Bolivia.
We woke up at Hotel Nobleza in Potosí, ready to face a final day of travel to get back to Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Breakfast at the hotel was simple and light, but the lady serving it was very attentive. Unfortunately none of the hotel staff could get the heater in the comedor to work, but some hot coffee did wonders.
Our goal for Day 2 of our Bolivia trip was to get from Santa Cruz in the lowlands up to the town of Uyuni in the altiplano. From there, we would set out a three-day adventure on the great Salar de Uyuni, a vast salt flat, and nearby deserts. Yoli and I had previously visited the salar on a one-day tour as part of our epic trip across Bolivia’s altiplano cities about 18 years ago.
But this time would be different. We were bringing the whole family, taking a three-day tour, and coming during the dry winter season, rather than the wet summer season.
Sucre has a relatively new attraction: dinosaur tracks. We decided to check them out on Tuesday morning. We went to the plaza to wait for the “Dino-Truck” which arrived ahead of time (a bit unusual for Bolivia!). It transported us outside the city to a concrete plant. Behind the plant were the tracks.
Today was museum day in Sucre. We saw some interesting things. But before we get to that, let me tell you about something else we saw: an unsuspecting young woman (presumably a tourist) was pelted in the head with a water balloon as she walked with some friends in the plaza downtown. One thing we’ve learned is that around here you need to walk around with your eyes open, or if you’re on a bus, keep the windows closed. Kids walk the streets with water balloons they throw as a prelude to Carnaval. But the guy today was no kid… he was probably college age or even older. Last night, a boy threatened to throw a balloon at us if we didn’t pay him 50 centavos. We pretended we didn’t understand Spanish (It was probably harder for Yoli to get away with that). This morning, on our way to our first museum, we saw a pack of kids roaming around outside a church/convent complex looking for targets.
