Monday mornings

We left La Paz on Sunday morning towards the south of Bolivia, Potosi , Sucre and the salt pans of Uyuni. After checking thoroughly the maps, we decided to skip the Jesuit missions in the East of the country: too far, too many kilometres on unpaved roads. The camper is doing great these days, let’s keep it that way. The 500 kilometres plus drive from La Paz to Potosi is amazing. The road is excellent and hovers between 3’500 and 4’300 meters along snow capped mountains, magnificent canyons and rural hamlets; llamas, cows, and sheep are grazing on whatever meagre grass they can find.

As it was getting dark, we decided to stop a bit before Potosi in a spot called “El ojo del Inca”, the eye of the Inca. It is a small lake surrounded by mountains, a beautiful spot. It is actually a hot springs coming from the depth of the earth with allegedly curative powers. So this Monday morning, after breakfast I decided to take a dip. The water is hot, even bubbling like a jacuzzi in some spots. It was definitely a very pleasant way to spend a Monday morning. Because I had not read our travel guide beforehand, I did not know this little lake is not as placid as it looks: locals say that people can be sometimes swallowed to the bottom. Anyway, the owner of the place had told me when we arrived that  we could go into the lake provided we can swim properly. I was surrounded by plenty of locals who were doing their weekly or monthly laundry or washing themselves in the little stream coming out of the lake; it is indeed better to wash clothes in hot water and most people in rural areas do not seem to have even cold running water in their houses, let alone electricity.

After this, we packed up and drove the remaining twenty kilometres to Potosi, the highest city in the world at, according to the travel guide, 4’100 meters. According to our GPS we are “just” at 3’950 meters.

Internet is a bit sketchy here so unfortunately we have not been able to upload any pictures. We will do that as soon as we can, but probably only when we reach Chile…