Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

After saying goodbye to our human and furry friends at La Senda Verde, we headed back to La Paz to catch an overnight bus to Salar de Uyuni, also known as the best place to take the famous perspective photos. Salar de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt flat that covers 10,582 square kilometers, formed as a result of transformations between several prehistoric lakes. It is covered by a few meters of salt crust which serves as a source of salt and contains 50 to 70% of the world’s lithium reserves, which are currently in the process of being extracted. This was one of the main reasons we decided to travel to Bolivia and true to form, we left it to the very last minute.

We arrived to Uyuni at 6:30 a.m. with only the day to spend in the salt flats before catching yet another overnight bus. Ben’s parents were arriving to Buenos Aires few days later and we had a long way to go if we were going to arrive on time. The moment we stepped off of the bus in Uyuni, there were people trying to sell us salt flat tours and promising one thing after another. We finally gave in and went with Thiago Tours for 150 Bs (less than $22 USD) each for a full-day tour, including lunch, a “guide who speaks a little English” and a hot shower at the end of the day. While we did not receive the lunch we requested, a hot shower or an English speaking guide, we still managed to have a good time.

Our group included us, the driver and a Bolivian family of six. That is nine people in one jeep (when we were promised there would only be a maximum of six) and doesn’t even include the 10th lone traveler that got left behind. We never did find out if she got a tour that day or not. Thaigo Tours is not the most professional company we’ve ever worked with but who are we to complain? We should have done our research. Lucky for us the Bolivian family was friendly and welcomed us into their conversation, and plenty of their photos, too! Ali felt like a celebrity when Camile, a nine-year old girl on the tour continued to take photos of her and refused to leave her side.

During the tour we visited several sites including the hotel salt museum, Tanupa volcano and cactus island. Our guide even showed us how they extract the salt and gave us each a souvenir to take home. After getting a flat tire and randomly stopping a couple of times to allow the guide to talk on his phone, we were running behind schedule and still had one more stop on the tour, the train cemetery. Since our bus was leaving at 7:30pm and it was already 6:45pm, we had to reign on the tours parade and request that the driver take us back into town. We said our brief goodbyes, jumped out of the car, picked up the bags and just barely made it to our bus on time.

Thinking about visiting Salar de Uyuni and wondering how much time you should stay? We’ve met several travelers who say that the 3-day tour is a must, however since we don’t enjoy sitting in cars (or buses) for long periods of time, one day was sufficient enough for us. We can promise you that there is plenty to see in a day and you will NOT be disappointed by the spectacular landscape that surrounds you.

La Senda Verde, Bolivia

Our brief tour of La Senda Verde had presented us with just enough monkey exposure to lure us back in. And two days later, after returning to La Paz to collect the rest of our belongings we had stored at the hostel, as well as make some future travel rearrangements, we were headed back down the death road. It’s about a three-hour drive down to the bottom, and almost more spectacular as a passenger. You can actually enjoy the view without having to concentrate on not barreling over the edge of the ever-present cliffs. We arrived just three hours after planned, which has become/is pretty normal for us, but at least it’s fairly common in general in South America as well.

Crossing the bridge to La Senda Verde.

That night we met Vicky, one of the owners, (the other being her husband Marcelo) the rest of the volunteers, which numbered maybe 10 at the time, received our beddings, shirts, etc., and were back just in time to sit down to dinner with the group. The days are, for the most part, quite structured, and all of the volunteers sit down and eat as a group for breakfast, lunch and dinner, at 9:30, 1:30 and 7:30, respectively. It took a little while to get used to these new planned (and quite late) group meals, especially being constant snackers, but it was a nice change, and really helped the group of volunteers come together as more of a team. They (owners, permanent staff, other volunteers, etc.) really make you feel at home while there, and we quickly felt as though we were part of the family.

Thanksgiving at LSV. Que rico!

It was a pretty awesome group, which included volunteers from some 10+ countries, and free times and evenings were usually occupied by sitting around chatting, playing soccer with the locals, watching movies in the rec house, or drinking and listening to music. With new volunteers showing up almost daily, mixed in with a handful of volunteers leaving intermittently, our group was slowly growing, and always changing. Throughout our four-week stay the size of our group varied anywhere from 10-26 volunteers.

Sarah, Kirsten, Kyle and Adi take 5 in the volunteer room.

Ben can now add ¨monkey assistant¨ to his resume.

Everyone is one big happy family at LSV.

Johanna, the other surrogate monkey Mom posing with Wara.

As the refuge is home to some 400-odd animals, there are quite a lot of mouths to feed, and consequently quite a lot of poop to clean up. There were plenty of other aspects to the various tasks, including quite a bit of “extra-credit” enrichment time, but for the most part, our jobs consisted of feeding and poop cleaning. Of the handful of “stations” you were assigned to for a particular day, we were both put on birds to start. Kirsten, one of the volunteer coordinators from Belgium (who was born in 1993…) showed us around and walked us through the daily tasks. Each “station”, or rotation, had its own individual tasks and schedule, but for the most part every volunteer’s day was as follows: start work 8:00, work until breakfast at 9:30; free time mixed with a handful of tasks until lunch at 1:30; break time until about 4:00; work until daily tasks are completed, shower, with extra scrubbing to remove dried poop; dinner at 7:30; free till next morning.

The first week we rotated through birds, quarantined animals plus the two Tyras (look them up), and turtles and tortoises. Birds definitely keep you busy, and have taught us to never ever own birds. The quarantined animals were also a lot of work, but there were two awesome Capuchin monkeys in the group, so that made it a little more interesting. The Tyras were also fun to work with, as long as you could keep them from climbing you. The turtles and tortoises were the least work, but also the most boring. And so damn slow. Even slower than Ali and I.

Nami, an adult female howler monkey.

Kaluah (arrived to LSV with bullets in her wrists).

Feeding time for the Mccaws.

One of our favorite Capuchins. Look at that face!

The second week, we got our own baby monkey. Papaya, or Paya for short, was a female baby howler monkey who was brought in by a mother and daughter who claimed they received her as a present. The vets and owners of La Senda Verde suspect that her mother had been killed about 10 days prior, judging by her instincts and how she acted/reacted. She was a mere 800 grams (or a little over 1.5 lbs) when she arrived, and was as timid as can be. Not to mention ridiculously adorable. We had previously told the staff that we would only be staying for two weeks, but after learning that they were in need of baby monkey foster parents, we quickly decided our other plans could wait. We asked to stay for two more weeks, but they were looking for four, so we compromised and stayed for three. Three of the coolest weeks of our lives.

Petite little Papaya.

Paya sleeping on her surrogate-to-the-surrogate-parent, Teddy the Bear.

Paya tests the durability of Ali´s shoulders.

We know (human) parenting ain’t easy, but baby monkey parenting ain’t a walk in the park either. Luckily we had the two of us to split up the work, but we were with Paya 24/7. She slept in our bed with us, often woke up scared and turned into a tiny little gremlin with us, we fed her, and as she was not allowed in the dining hall, we were not able to eat a meal together for the three weeks we were her foster rents (with the exception of Ali’s surprise-Thanksgiving dinner). She peed on us, she pooped on us, and generally just made adorable little monkey noises. She was awesome.

Feeding time was not always this easy…

Paya a little apprehensive about primate playtime.

We´re not sure what´s furrier in this picture: the monkey, the bear or Ben´s upper lip!

When she wasn’t eating or peeing and pooping on us, she enjoyed just riding around on our shoulders with the largest curious little eyes you could imagine. And although she was extremely hesitant and cautious to leave us for the first few days, we quickly got her climbing, and by the end of three weeks often spent hours just watching her climb around refuge like the wild little monkey she was (and Ben got to ecstatically climb around with her, like the wild monkey he is). She taught us quite a lot during our time with her, and we really can’t wait to get back and visit her, along with all the other animals at LSV in the coming years.

Canelo, the alpha male howler monkey doin´ his thing.

Paya attempting to howl.

¨Look what I can do!¨ says Paya to the sleeping alpha male.

It was extremely difficult to say goodbye to a face like this.

La Paz, Bolivia

After speaking to fellow travelers, we decided to forego Chile as our next destination and travel into Bolivia, despite the hefty $135 USD visa fee. Once we arrived to the border of Lake Titicaca, our bus driver for any Americans to raise their hands, and of course we were the only ones. Our instructions were this: get to the front of each line if you can, your visa will take a while. At this point we were feeling a little singled-out, and dreading the process of crossing the border as we had read online that it was a nightmare for U.S. citizens. While it wasn’t completely horrible for us personally, it did have its frustrating moments.

Until next time Peru…

We arrived to Copacabana, a small town located on Lake Titicaca, and immediately booked a bus to La Paz for later that day. We only planned to spend a week or so in Bolivia, or so we thought, and we had to get a move on.

What we saw while in Copa Copa Cabana

As soon as we boarded our bus, a lady said we needed to get off because they had overbooked and no longer had seats for us. After several attempts to get some answers, she pointed her finger and told us to look for the green bus, it would be waiting. The next bus was cheaper than the bus we had paid for, left an hour and a half later and did not have a bathroom, which is something we were expecting since Ben had a bad case of the runs. Although it was not the first time that we’ve been two of the very few foreigners on a bus, it was the first time that we’ve ever had to have a bus pull over on the side of the road on our account. Correction: Ben’s account. All in all it was a pretty shitty day.

La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, is the highest capital city in the world with an elevation of roughly 3,650 m (11,975 ft) above sea level. If you have issues with elevation sickness, or if you despise walking up steep hills, this city is not for you! We spent the next two days walking around, eating street food and exploring the infamous Witches Market, where you can buy anything from handmade artisans, herbal remedies to a llama fetus which is believed to bring you good luck. We can only stand to play tourist for so long however, and we were looking for some adventure. The following day we had plans to mountain bike down the Yungas Road (or more commonly known as Death Road), named one of the most dangerous roads in the world in 1995. One estimates that 200 to 300 people are killed every year.

Bolivian woman cookies in San Francisco square.

Witches Market, La Paz.

Our hostel recommended two companys, and we chose Barracuda Biking because they were significantly cheaper than the other (400bs vs. 750bs). The first quarter of the day is on the “new road” which is paved, and the rest is on the “death road” which is unpaved, very narrow and steep. If you were to fall off, which some people have, it’s anywhere from a 100m to 350m drop. We loved every second of it.

Adventure awaits!

Pumped to get the ride started.

Cliff hangers.

A memorial on the side of the Death Road.

The official sign for both “Llama” and “We’re having a kickass time!”

At the end of the ride, the group stops at a restaurant called Monte Carlo which is located on a river where you can swim before lunch. A few minutes after Ben left for the river, he ran back and said, “Hurry, you’re going to want to see this!”. And by “this!” he meant the 3-4 spider monkeys that were hanging out in the trees across from the river. Finally, Ali got to see a monkey and practice her monkey calls in Spanish. We were having what felt like the best day ever.

While eating lunch, we saw a poster for La Senda Verde and asked our guide what it was all about, if they took volunteers, etc. La Senda Verde is an animal sanctuary that provides adequate care in a natural environment for approx. 400 animals rescued from the black market.

Since we planned on spending the night in Coroico, a small town approximately 25 minutes from the restaurant, we decided to visit the refuge the next day to take a tour at the very least. Our guide Brian was so enthusiastic about the animals, and his passion for the mission of LSV was contagious. So much so that we told everyone we MIGHT return again as volunteers.

Ok sign, you’ve got our attention…

A spider monkey convincing us to come back and volunteer.

We returned to La Paz that night and after going back and forth, decided to change our plans to go play with the monkeys. When else would we get the opportunity to volunteer with wild animals at an animal sanctuary in the jungle? The next day was spent preparing for two-weeks of volunteering, which meant doing a shit load of laundry, organizing our finances and also notifying our family and friends that we’d be MIA for the next two weeks. It also happened to be Halloween that evening (Ali’s favorite holiday) and so we did what we do best which is coming up with a costume that costs $0 and leaves a little money for the important things, like beer! We went to the party, conveniently held at our hostel, as backpackers, and people actually believed we were tourists who had just arrived to the party, looking for a hostel. It was a good send off before our next adventure as volunteers.

“Do you know where we can find a hostel?!?”

South American Travel Faux Poo

We found this sign, requesting that you not make poo poo in the bathroom while on a 17.5 hour bus ride, and surprisingly this is not the first time we’ve experienced this travel faux pas. The Cruz del Sur bus company actually has a safety reminder video that tells you not once, but twice that pooping is prohibited, and the bus attendant on another overnight trip had the nerve to ask Ali if she was going “solo numero uno” when walking to the bathroom with a roll of toilet paper in hand.