For most travellers who visit, Bolivia is not a place to sit still. The country offers a variety of must-see and must-do attractions that are spread out across far-reaching distances. Many backpackers here grow accustomed to the 12-hour overnight bus ride. The Salar de Uyuni, the jungle rivers outside of Rurrenabaque, the shores of Lake Titicaca, the colonial architecture of Sucre – any of the most visited destinations in Bolivia are found in all corners of its tremendous geography.
One cannot stay put in one city or location and come close to understanding what Bolivia is. To truly learn about Bolivia is to travel across it, to experience the variety of wonders it has to offer the adventurous visitor. It is in this process of travelling to other destinations that, along the way, you see the true Bolivia – the sleep-deprived bus driver; the friendly kiosk owner at the crossroads; the passenger next to you finally making the trip home after a semester at school. Sometimes the seemingly endless bus rides here feel like a blessing, given the opportunities to meet new people and to take in a variety of landscapes. For certain, these travels are central to the Bolivian experience.
In this issue of Bolivian Express, we looked at various journeys, both physical and metaphorical, to understand the variety of paths people in Bolivia have taken. We traveled by train across the altiplano, from the mining city of Oruro to the salt flats at Uyuni. We heard legends of great explorers who came to Bolivia in search of riches, and sent our writers out to find their own treasures along the Choro Trial and among La Paz’s culinary hotspots. We danced with our neighbors through the barrios of La Paz to celebrate the cultural history and tradition of Gran Poder. We explored the everyday-life journeys unique to Bolivia, from the process of becoming an adult to the taking of the streets by underrepresented corners of society desperate to have their voices heard. We even traveled outside this country to experience the culinary and cultural hotspots of other places to better understand the wonders found here.
In all our journeys taken to create this issue, we returned home with a better understanding of Bolivia, and hope to share our findings with you here. Most importantly, we understood that this is a large country, and it is important that those who come here give themselves the opportunity to see wide swaths of it, to not just stay in one place and call that Bolivia. Hopefully, this issue of Bolivian Express will be a reminder that the joy is in the traversing. The journey isn’t just arriving from Point A to Point B; it is everything in between.
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Photo: Jerusa Pozo
Jardín de Asia, in Zona Sur’s Calacoto neighbourhood, is the David Carradine of La Paz’s restaurant scene. And I mean the best of David Carradine: hot, with Asian inflections and an exotic elegance, rolled into a little bit of mystery. So, when people look for a high-end place to eat in La Paz, Jardín de Asia is often the fi rst place they think of.
Maybe the Carradine comparison is a bit much, but Jardín de Asia has a unique atmosphere, serving dishes that are a fusion between Asian, Bolivian and Peruvian cuisine. Jardín de Asia welcomes you immediately when you enter through its door – you feel you are in the ‘it’ place of La Paz: a chic atmosphere, waiters as welcoming as can be, the bar able to seduce a teetotaler and everybody having a great time.
As I take my seat at a table, my waiter asks me how my day was, and I respond by telling him I had been thinking about food the last three hours. When I ask for the latest addition to the menu, he responds ‘Good choice, miss.’
I spend the next several minutes observing the place, which surprises me with its expansive and elegant design. Suddenly my first dish is on the table: batayaki de mariscos, made with seafood, singani moscato and leche de tigre. It tastes delicious, and the waiter seems pleased by the look on my face.
My second dish is pato niquel, duck bathed in oyster and soy sauce. Again, it is great. I like what I’m eating. It might look small on the plate, but it certainly satisfi es.
My third dish, vinagreta maracuyá, consisting of huacataya leaves and a spicy peanut sauce, is too spicy for me, and I ask for a glass of water. Despite the heat, I knew my accompanying maracuyá sour drink should not be wasted by extinguishing the flames in my mouth.
My fourth dish, smokey yellow tiradito, consists of salmon, yellow chili and mote. What can I say? Jardín de Asia knows how to spoil you when you are looking for this kind of experience. For dessert, a maseta choco helada.
What can be better than a little flower pot made of chocolate with a sweet sauce inside of it?
The waiter asks me how my experience was, and I tell him it was the best I’ve had in a long time.
Photos: William Wroblewski
Along the desolate outskirts of the west Andean town of Uyuni lies a dumping ground for abandoned locomotives, some dating back to the 19th century. Walking beside the long-forgotten railway tracks and hollowed-out train carcasses of this almost post-apocalyptic, dystopian landscape, accurately called El cementerio ferrocarril, it is difficult to picture the thriving center of transportation that once existed here.
Before the early 1940s, this British-made railway was largely controlled by the mining industry and thus served as a central mode of transporting and distributing minerals to Bolivia’s borders and beyond. However, as the mines began to yield less and eventually fall out of favor, so did their cargo trains. Add to this the political disputes that transpired between Bolivia and Chile over the maintenance of their shared train tracks connecting La Paz to the northern seaside town of Arica, and the development of better highways and the buses that traverse them, and it is not surprising that the passenger trains died out as well.
Enter FCA Empresa Ferroviaria Andina SA, a modern locomotive transportation service of both passengers and cargo. According to FCA general manager, Cynthia Aramayo Aguilar, the current route was formed by the pre-existing tracks of two major companies that survived the dramatic decline in train transportation and joined forces about 20 years ago. Commenting on the status of train travel after the introduction of Bolivia’s highway network, Aguilar offered, ‘We couldn’t compete either in terms of time or price, so we as an administration looked for something to do with our passenger trains – how to reinvent them. Not to compete with highway travel, because that is impossible, but to offer something different.’
FCA oversees a myriad of different travel routes extending all over the country, but perhaps its most popular services are the tourist trains, the Expreso del Sur and the Wara Wara del Sur, which follow two separate tracks along the southwestern boundary of Bolivia. Both trains make up the principal ‘T’ line and travel from Oruro to Villazon, with stops in popular tourist destinations like chilly but breathtaking Uyuni and Tupiza. They are designed to not only transport passengers from one place to another, but also offer them an entertaining and relaxing experience along the way. The primary difference between the two is their respective departure times from Oruro – while the Expreso del Sur has afternoon departures at 2:30 pm, Wara Wara del Sur departs at 7 in the evening.
The trains are divided into two seating classes, salon and executive, both equipped with several features to accommodate both the passengers’ safety and comfort. However, for a respectable change in price from 60 to 120 bolivianos, passengers in the executive class can also enjoy larger, more comfortable seats, air conditioning, better video screens and other amenities, including more personalized attention from the train’s staff.
Both classes have access to the train’s dining car, which offers a clean and comfortable seating area and a menu housing a large selection of national and international dishes, including pasta, red meat and poultry, and a few healthy vegetarian options, ranging in price from 30 to 50 bolivianos. Also available are a wide range of alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, including a sizeable pour of Bolivia’s own national liquor, singani, which I readily sampled along with my dinner.
While the other cars of the train are mostly quiet and peaceful to accommodate movie watchers and sleeping passengers alike, the general atmosphere of the dining car is far more animated. Sounds of laughter and spirited conversation filled the room as tour groups, couples and new friends ate and drank together while enjoying their meandering ride through Bolivia’s highlands.
In fact, the view is probably the train’s most unique and defining characteristic. Rather than simply following along a highway, the tracks are nestled right inside the scenic natural landscape of the altiplano. On the journey between Oruro and Uyuni, the gently undulating background does not change drastically, but passengers can still enjoy the vast stretches of farmland and meadow bookended by far-off mountain ranges and the almost piercingly blue, cloudless sky. Peppered throughout this serene countryside are herds of llamas, alpacas and cattle grazing or being led across the salt-encrusted plain. Around the shallow yet expansive lakes, one can also take notice of the huge flocks of brightly colored flamingos, perched gently atop the water’s surface or preparing to take flight. As one of the train’s crew members, Pedro Montoya, commented, ‘I was born in the altiplano, lived my whole life in the altiplano, and will probably die in the altiplano. But I never tire of this view.’
As the train shudders to a halt in Uyuni, the same town that houses one of the most infamous collections of its rusted, graffiti-covered ancestors, it is interesting to contrast the past and present moments of Bolivian train travel and think about where it is heading. While Aguilar still maintained that trains will not be taking the place of either highway or air travel any time soon, she did reveal FCA’s plans to expand its existing tracks. She made note of the administration’s ongoing negotiations with a similar train company in Chile to hopefully extend the current ‘T’ line to Arica and the coast of the Pacific in the next few years. An addition like this could have ground-breaking implications for the decades-old conflict between Chile and Bolivia and the fight for el mar. In this way, perhaps it is the humble train, not the shiny new plane or automobile, that is the most indispensable mode of transportation.
Photos: Jules Tusseau
Meeting the people along one of Bolivia’s most beloved trails
Even if one feels prepared for the cold wind at the summit, a hiker here still has to face a soul-penetrating humidity. And the heat, equally intense, can be forceful enough to make someone strip off every layer of jacket and coat. At altitudes between 1200 and nearly 4900 metres, the Choro Trail, a 60-kilometre trek north of La Paz, is one formidable challenge.
This pre-Columbian trail was built by one of the oldest civilizations in Bolivia, the Tiahuanaco, and was later used and improved by the Inca. In both cultures, this trail connected the Amazon to the highlands, allowing for the distribution of important crops, including coca, among disparate biomes. Later, the Spanish used the trail in their monomaniacal quest for gold and silver.
This trail connects four ancient villages: Samaña Pampa, Chucura, El Choro and Sandillani. It takes the average tourist two to four days to traverse its length. During Easter, Bolivian nationals flock to it as an important pilgrimage for Christians celebrating Semana Santa. And despite this influx of tourists from Bolivia and abroad, these villages thrive, generation after generation, maintaining their agricultural traditions.
But the popularity of the trail amongst explorers has provided another way of life for those living along it. Francisca Mamani, a local from Chucura, travels with large groups of trekkers as a cook, preparing traditional Bolivian soups and breakfasts. But she does not have only Bolivian food on her menu; she is known for whipping up pancakes in the middle of the rainforest.
Other locals provide support and services for tourists. Miguel is a farmer from El Choro. In the 1990s he would sell tubers and corn to the other villages along the trail, but migration away from these communities was depleting the demand for his products. He saw a potential in the tourists, particularly the increasing number of foreigners coming to hike the trail.
‘There would be between five and eight per month at the end of the 1990s,’ Miguel says. ‘But around 2004, there would be 20 to 30 per month.’
One day, Miguel received a request for the use of one of his horses to help carry the baggage of an exhausted tourist. Shortly thereafter, a local tourist office started offering carrier services, which kept both him and his horse quite busy. Soon after, he purchased more animals to grow his new business. That's when Miguel decided to meet with village authorities to discuss the incipient tourism industry that was developing. Today, most tourism companies require visitors to book carrier services in advance – and, following Miguel’s lead, many locals offer horses, donkeys and llamas to aid weary hikers. Now it’s not unusual to see up to 30 well-trained llamas carrying bags filled with tourists’ tents and provisions.
In the community of Sandillani, at about 1400 meters above sea level, there once lived a hermit named Tajimi Hannamura. Locals tell of this Japanese man’s arrival in the 1970s. He was known to have built a beautiful garden with a lovely view of the mountain and the rainforest. Today this garden is a popular camping spot. Referred to by the locals as el jardín japonese, it is a quiet place that locals maintain to preserve its singular beauty. On a nearby hill rests Tajimi himself, his grave providing one of the area’s most beautiful views.
The influx of tourists along the Choro Trail has brought economic development to the area, but it has also changed relations here. Of course the locals are happy to keep living in their villages, and with the influx of trekkers offsetting some of the outward migration, the future of those along this trail is looking bright. It is as if a fog is slowly starting to disappear, revealing the once-hidden mountain valleys of this unique place.
