The Travel Archive - Part 2 Travelling Bolivia

in #photography8 years ago

Few year ago I went with my father to Bolivia. For a European kid who I am it was quite a big deal. What have I found during the travels? Well the first thing is the travelling itself. The way how the Bolivians drive, is just sheer crazyness. They are the only nation in the world who are able to crash head on a salt planes with no traffic. It did happen and over 40 people died. Why? Because they drive drunked a lot. 

Another particular interesting thing is that they do not care about dying that much as we do in Europe or in North America. They simply do not care. That's also why they drive the way they drive. I have heard from a mother of an ill child that it does not matter if it dies, she will just make a new one. And pregnant she was.

It would not be a Bolivia if we weren't close to death at least a little. We were going south to the borders with Argentina when this happend:

We have nearly crashed to another car, which just as we were approaching it lost a wheel and started spinning. Luckily no one was hurt. Nevertheless, because of the altitude the car we were travelling with broke down and so we had to switch to another one. Where we have punctured a tire in the matter of minutes.

Bolivians believe that when somone dies, you should leave the body in that spot, so the bad spirits won't kill anyone else. All of the roads are therefore full of crosses as many people dies on the roads. So is it worthy to travel by car in Bolivia. Yes you are free to go pretty much everywhere. And take a lot of great pictures.

The amazing flatness of the salt plains.

Breath-taking sunsets.

And finally animals. In the next part I will start with the whole Bolivian story.