Farewell - sadly

Time to pack. There's not a lot for me to take home. A box of salt crystals is probably the main item.
The last four days passed in a flash although we've mainly be sitting at the kitchen table talking and eating – they claim I don't eat a lot... Usually in the afternoon I go to the girls, where Angelica is taking care of her siblings as her mother is in Santa Cruz with her sick mother and Betty is out with her friends. One afternoon they are looking at the pictures of the trip on her “new” laptop. Their room is neatly in order. They all contribute – if a thing is put back, it is put back right.
I wish the place was closer.
At 17.45h after the mandatory tripod pictures in front of Sakurai's house I depart sadly. Aya rides with me as she has to attend university tomorrow in Santa Cruz. It's about 1.5 hours with little traffic but the difficulty that at night the road dividers are hardly visible, the cars are blinding, etc. The dorp-off procedure at Avis takes about 45 minutes during which the car is inspected closely (incl. from below). I get the lift to the airport where there's a huge line at American Airlines – high season. Families travel with suitcases in sizes of chests that the Spaniards used to take out the silver coins. Time to check-in probably also takes about 45 minutes. From there on things go on schedule with the biggest delay being the flight to Zürich (from 10 to 40 minutes).

Wet feet

After a heavenly sleep I'm woken up at 9 by “breakfast is ready”. I peel out – it's warm again – and go eat. Afterwards I suggest that we go down to the river and see the pot holes (pozos). This is an instant hit for everyone. Mr. Sakurai goes plant hunting and the kids start to wade in the water then they get wilder, start splashing and Betty even jumps into the water in her cloths. They try to catch fish with their hands. And the food Mrs. Sakurai took along against the will of all (not necessary!) turns into a success as it serves as fish food.
Since we are not rushed to check out we get back to the cabin and Mrs. Sakurai starts to cook the food we've been transporting for over 2000km and we have lunch in the moist heat of the jungle.
The drive back home is easy. In this beautiful light the green of the forest surrounding the road stands out. Our only issue is to get gas, as there are long lines on the gas stations (surtidores) so we keep going till we run out or get lucky. The latter is the case (if the former were the case you can always asks taxi drivers if they sell “gasolina en bidon”).

Gas hint: Get gas right then when you think you could also do it tomorrow. Tomorrow there could be a shortage (in a land that produces oil) or there could be a power blackout. You learn to deal with all kinds of possibilities why there isn't any gas at the pump.

Free fall of 4000m

After a light and cold breakfast on the top floor of the hotel I leave to find the car (yesterday I probably found all parking lots, estacionamientos, around the hotel as they were all full). It's still there and I manage to get it out of the tight parking lot and to maneuver it to the hotel. The streets are completely empty on Sunday morning so there is no rush to pack the car.
The way out of Oruro is nice (highway level) and slightly climbing till it gets steeper and higher. Every 100 m there's a dog sitting at the side of the road. It still makes me wonder how they survive at these altitudes where there is basically nothing. The “summit” of the road is at 4500m! The views on the mountain chains are fabulous as the weather is good. It is amazing how people seem to be able to survive at the conditions here – freezing at night and decently cool during the day.
We kill some 2000 m to Cochabamba where we drive to the plaza to check if Mrs. Sakurai's cousin is at her shop (Cosmos pharmacy). By look I see someone slipping in so we knock on the metal curtains. We leave Mrs. Sakurai and Aya with the cousin and split up to meet again in an hour. Mr. Sakurai goes to the market with his son, and I take the girls for a stroll and an ice-cream around the plaza. At exactly 15.30h we meet again and depart for Villa Tunari which should be close now.
However, it's an uphill drive a first (to 2700m) where we meet the clouds again and we dive into the jungle as we know it from the book. At the same time the road gets really bad again. The traffic is heavy especially with heavy trucks crawling up or downhill. Additional delay is caused by trucks that have broken down and are being left right where they stopped working. There are also two accidents where trucks have slided off the road or simply tipped over and left their load on heaps. And finally it is getting dark which makes the drive even harder as the visibility in general and in the dust specifically is not the best. We need to descent another 2000m to our destination at 300m over sea. At some point the breaks start to fail on the car because they overheat and for some time we use second gear to slow down.
Eventually we pass the gate of Villa Tunari. There are more hotels and restaurants than I remembered from two years ago. We check out two or three but they are on the expensive side and not all really that great, so I suggest to go to El Puente which is outside but in the middle of the jungle. The place is deserted as all guests had left to go back to work on Monday and there is no problem getting a cabin.
We make a quick drive back to the village for dinner (as I feel hungry again) before we hit the sack in a surrounding of those sounds of wilderness.

The great white plain

Getting up in the cold reminds me of the army in winter. There's quite a good breakfast that increases the energy levels. After a while I can even get the car out of the car park – as there is a car blocking the exit. At 8.45h the guide arrives and we head for Colchani, one entrance onto the lake that at this time of the year is dry. It is an amazing feeling to drive through a white plain that is hard surfaced (not like White Sands). Since you have no references (just white flat salt to the horizon) it is really difficult to estimate distances and sizes: the cars seem close at the same time they are so small that you KNOW they must be further away (seeing is not believing).

The island with large cactus is impressive and offers of course some great Kodak (or SanDisk) moments. On the way back we get to fish for salt crystals. Mr. Sakurai has a long stamina to keep his arm in the ice cold salt water and to try to rip out some of the sharp crystals. However, we are surprised that the tour is basically over and that we could make it to Oruro the same day. We strike a deal at the hotel and head out as fast as we can.
Tour hint: a one-day tour of the lake can be easily compressed into half day. Skip the souvenir shop in Colchani, you won't find anything worth buying and head right for the salt piles and then to the now closed salt hotel in the middle of the lake (the new salt hotels are built along Colchani's lake side), then to Isla Incahuasi, where you'll walk around for probably at least an hour. On the way back stop at the holes to pick salt crystals out of the ice cold highly concentrated salt water (bring your tools!). If you leave early you'll be back just around lunch and have time to drive to Oruro without stress and in daylight.
Another advantage of getting up early for the tour is that you will basically be alone on the salar. On the way back we literally cross dozens of 4WDs heading into the lake - all of them heading to the same places.

Smothered by blankets (conchas)

The water in the patio of the hostal is frozen and it's really slippery. At freezing temperatures we have a good breakfast (BTW bring your sleeping bag as you'll be warmer and more importantly will not be killed under the weight of the blankets, e.g. you may have as many as five of them, disabling any easy moving of your feet under them).
According to Lonely Planet the casa nacional/real de moneda is one of South America's finest museums – the king of Spain thought that it was built of silver when he saw the bill for its construction at the time. It's a huge mint that was used to make coins from the silver of Cerro Rico behind Potosí for 200 years. The entrance fee covers the guided tour through all the vaults. Indeed the building and its exhibitions are impressive.
Before we leave though, we have to buy some Salteñas (like an empanada) for Mr. Sakurai's happiness. We leave for Uyuni at around lunch time - we loop a few times to find the right street, and have to ask several times.
Then over the ridge all of a sudden the salt lake reveals itself with the mountain backdrop: Salar de Uyuni. The entrance to Uyuni is not very pleasant, actually Sakurai's are quite shocked how messy it is (large areas covered with garbage, mostly plastic bags).
After two stops we find rooms in the Toñito Hotel which is supposed to have heated rooms, except that there aren't any anymore. It is bitter cold in the evening and we rush to the restaurant. Just before we book a guide to ride with us to the lake (35 USD) – a one-day tour. We decide that we'll be back on Tuesday so we have enough time at Uyuni and we also agree to meet the guide at 8.30h next morning. Later we find out that usually the tours start at 10 or 11 o'clock.
As I am still not at my digesting capacity I don't remember the food, but the open fire offered some warmth – or the impression of it.

Resetting definition of cold

The morning in Sucre is for sight seeing after a rather cold night in unheated rooms. First thing we do is to visit the museo historico militar just off the iglesia de San Francisco (and it used to be part of the convent). The inscription to visit this museum is quite a procedures in itself as all our details are written down by hand – must be as the Bolivian army will reveal it's weapons of mass destruction in it. However, the wait is worth it as we get a personal tour by a soldier: “This is a canon of 105mm caliber used in the war of …, this is a canon of 85mm caliber used in the war of …”, and so on. Most of the weapons were gifts from other governments around the globe and most didn't seem to really work. The soldier tries hard to demonstrate the strength of the Bolivian army but there's only so much he can twist to display a long history of military defeats and losses.
The mudéjar ceiling of the iglesia de San Francisco is closely inspected, before we get to the highlight of the town, the casa de la libertad where the declaration of independence of Bolivia was signed almost 200 years ago, on August 6, 1825. It's a beautiful building with some interesting displays.
As we decide to walk around a bit we attack the hills and slowly climb higher and higher till we reach the museos de la Recoleta and de Niños. Both we skip but have a look at the plaza Anzures. It's also where the Café Mirador is that offers a great overlook of the town and since it's past lunch time we sit down and eat. It' not until 3 o'clock in the afternoon that we start to think to make the next stretch – to Potosí. It's a 2.5h trip on a good road, and as such an easy ride to the highlands at almost 4000m!
As a man you learn to ask for directions in Bolivia as there are basically no signs and street names. On of the people asked was especially helpful, Alan. He offered to ride with us after he finished his business in the copy shop just on the street. But as we already have full-car he shows me with great knowledge of places and streets where we are and how to get to the center and the hotel (Hostal Compañia de Jesús). We get there without any problem winding the big car through narrow one-way streets. Later on we see Alan again almost right a the hotel – he had to make the long way by foot! Another lecture of the day: Don't let the somewhat mean looks of the locals fool you, if you talk to them they are in most cases very friendly and helpful (and will be able to show you what you are looking for and if necessary also say if they don't know – not like in other areas of the world).

Now Potosí is a cold place – winter cold and not summer cool. We pull out all our cloths before we look for a restaurant, but we end up at the one close to the hotel that looks warm and actually has good food, too.
Warm shower? 24 hours? Yes, but not in the morning as the water freezes over night! In the evening then, but only if you are patient. It seems we didn't know how to do it as the water stayed cold – in the morning I discover the main power switch that was set to off for the shower head (remember: the warm water is produced in the shower head electrically for an extra frizzing shower).

How long, how long?

It's a sunny day when we get up. Till we have packed up and loaded the car it's almost 10 am. We drive into the village to get breakfast that we eat in the car on the plaza.
Road conditions deteriorate to just Epizana where we branch off to Totora and I gain hope that not all roads will be so bad: There's a stretch of excellent road, then it turns into one of pave stones to Aiquile, where it's back to dirt road in a decent conditions. Luckily Mr. Sakurai is driving who definitively is used to it and time's running out. Although it is supposedly just 300km we'll end up taking 12 hours with mere breaks for picture, bath and gas only.
About 90 km before Sucre it's paved road but in such bad condition that we actually are not any faster on it. Mrs. Sakurai doesn't mention it (until after the trip) but she sick from fear on the roads. Actually she feels saver when it's dark because then she doesn't see the dangers luring everywhere: trucks stopped in the middle of the road, cliffs with no railing, others driving on our side of the road, … So luckily in Bolivia at 6pm the world goes pitch black (when there's no moon) as reflectors or street lighting are a rare thing and drivers are very energy conscious and save on having their headlights on.
With all the up and downhills we had to do, it was amazing to see the temperatures change from 74°F to 54 and up again. Heights are constantly changing from 1500m to 3000m. At some point we reach the clouds blowing over the ridge and converting the rather arid vegetation to the dark green dense rain forest.
We stay in the Hostal Charcas right opposite the main market. As it is late we end up eating in hole in a wall as all other places are closed. I don't eat really as my stomach is bothering me.