bolivia itinerary..

jobless

Hey,

just looking for some suggestions from those of you that have been to bolivia...i'm heaing that way in June... hoping to spend the guts of 3 weeks there... below is a rough itinerary i've though off.... any thoughts?

Coming from villazon head to Tupiza....spend a couple days there exploring the area...
From Tupiza do the tour of the salt flats and end up in Uyuni
From Uyuni head to Potosi
From Potosi head to La Paz via Oruro..
Stay in La Paz for 3-4 nights
Visit Rurrenabaque (think this would take 4 days up if i fly)
Visit Lake Titicaca (2 days)...

As you can see with the different tours i wont have much change out of three weeks... i think between the salt lake tour, rurrenabaque tour and visting lake titicaca i reckon i have between 9/10 days not including travel..

where would people suggest i spend this time?.... whats Uyuni like, Potosi etc?

Also has anyone been to San Pedro de Atacama?...is it worth a visit?...are there bus likes between there and Villazon/Tupiza?

any info appreciated

dory

I really wish I had a better memory. I had to do a bit of googling there to even remember which town was which.
Potosi though I could never forget! It's said to be the most depressng town on earth. I didn't notice that if it is true. I thought it was really interesting. The people do drink to forget their job (in the mine) a lot, but the people around were so nice to us, and I really wished I'd explored more rather than just go there, do mine tour and leave. Do the mine tour by the way, it's terrifying but so worth it. I've bad asthma and I survived.

I had crazy trouble getting from Uyuni to Chile. It'll probably be the same way you'll go if you start the tour in Tupiza. The people who start in Uyuni get left at a border, but you'll be passing that border on Day 3 or something. People who start in Uyuni miss some stuff though so I still think your way is better. If you care to read about the difficulties I had it's here: http://blogs.bootsnall.com/cybersusst/some-days-arent-so-great-on-the-road.html Sounds like I complain a lot about it but it was still great.

I'd say just leave the itinerary loose, unless you have to be somewhere at some time. I really like Sucre, you can google and see what it's like, it may be just another town if you're going to others that look like that.

Sounds like a great trip. When you off?

jobless

dory wrote: »

I really wish I had a better memory. I had to do a bit of googling there to even remember which town was which.
Potosi though I could never forget! It's said to be the most depressng town on earth. I didn't notice that if it is true. I thought it was really interesting. The people do drink to forget their job (in the mine) a lot, but the people around were so nice to us, and I really wished I'd explored more rather than just go there, do mine tour and leave. Do the mine tour by the way, it's terrifying but so worth it. I've bad asthma and I survived.

I had crazy trouble getting from Uyuni to Chile. It'll probably be the same way you'll go if you start the tour in Tupiza. The people who start in Uyuni get left at a border, but you'll be passing that border on Day 3 or something. People who start in Uyuni miss some stuff though so I still think your way is better. If you care to read about the difficulties I had it's here: http://blogs.bootsnall.com/cybersusst/some-days-arent-so-great-on-the-road.html Sounds like I complain a lot about it but it was still great.

I'd say just leave the itinerary loose, unless you have to be somewhere at some time. I really like Sucre, you can google and see what it's like, it may be just another town if you're going to others that look like that.

Sounds like a great trip. When you off?

Hi Dory,

thanks a mill for the info, will have a read of your blog for sure... headin in June so starting to put a plan together... really looking forward to it now..
Heard a lot of nice things about bolivia so trying to pack as much in as possible within reason...

dory

Well all I was trying to convey in the blog is how hard it can be to go from the poorest to the richest country in South America. So you'd want to really want to go to San Pedro. It's only over the road for those doing the salt tour from Uyuni, but it'd be a trek for you and then you'd have to trek back. And I didn't think there was anything impressive about there anyway. But I'm only half sure San Pedro is where we ended up so don't go on what I say about SP de A. Maybe someone else will know if it's worth the trip.