It’s been a month since we returned from our  traveling around Bolivia . It was the most exhausting trip I have ever done and I ended up so weak that what ought to be a minor cold landed me in bed for few days. Luckily this happened only after our return, but still I didn’t get to write this post then and I’ve been struggling to find time for it every since.

I am not sure why I was so tired. We did spend quite a lot of time trekking, but not really more than we are used to. I suspect it had something to do with high altitude and sheer amount of information my brains tried to digest. A month of travel may sound long ^[1] , but it’s really too short to get to know a country especially one so big and unfamiliar as Bolivia. Best you can hope for is to learn enough to give your ignorance a bit of  a shape.

It is also too short because you will need more time than you expect. One advice you hear often is that something will go wrong. It happened to us too and though you can be disappointed at times, you’ll mostly have fun, be amazed ^[2] and sometimes even shocked. Our schedule was packed and it will take me months to process all that we have seen and experienced, but I hope we can return soon.

Finding reasons to visit Bolivia is easy. Finding help for organizing this trip may prove more difficult. Pick an agency and search will turn up somebody who had a horrible experience with them. Not us though. We met amazing people who really worked hard to make our trip unforgettable which leads me to real reason for writing this post.

If you intend to go and would like some local help, here are our recommendations.

There is no shortage of hotels in La Paz and mid range hotel Rosario has deservedly consistently high reviews. It has great front desk staff (especially Ximenia), nice rooms and location. Dinners are consistently great too, but I would avoid lunch. Same kitchen but apparently different team and what you get might not be exactly what you ordered.

America Tours is a travel agency recommended by Lonely Planet which can help you organize your way around country. Speed with which they were able to organize alternatives to our cancelled our trip to Madidi (thanks Amazsonas for nothing) was simply amazing.

Most people who visit Potosi stay in town. It’s certainly cheaper than alternatives, but if you can afford it, then a good place to stay is at hotel museo Cayara that is about half an hour drive away. Museum and a chance to talk to Arturo alone are worth it. Hacienda that has been there since 1557 is in the middle of beautiful nature and away of polluted surroundings of Potosi and is a popular destination for daily trips organized by travel agencies in Potosi (a good alternative for those on small budgets).

Usual way of seeing the largest salt flat in world is to travel to Uyuni and take a trip with one of many unreliable operators who are often hostages to their prone-to-drinking drivers. I believe it is better to travel to Tupiza (if you have time) and take a slightly longer tour. We had really good experience with Tupiza Tours , but my advice to those who prefer email for arranging their trips, is to start at least a couple of weeks before they go because girls at Tupiza Tours seem to be swamped in work. Or call them if you can. If you pick them, then ask for Hernan Cordova, the best off-road driver we have ever met (and Spanish speaking guide), and Jeaneth Menchaca Condori if you need an English speaking guide. They went above and beyond their duty, really made every effort to anticipate our wishes and needs and had an unlimited amount of patience.

There are many agencies in La Paz that will take you trekking and prices vary significantly. Andean Summits is certainly not among the cheapest, but they are very professional and accommodating (like with our last minute request to change dates of our trek). Ask also for Gustavo Miranda Hulliri, who apart from being a great cook and camp manager also seems to know every path there is. This can be really useful if you, say, get really weak because you were throwing up all previous day.

Tourist guides in Bolivia have to be certified. Most of them studied tourism and are very good. Still we were especially impressed by Julia Catunta Janco who consistently surprised us with showing us things we wouldn’t even think of asking. She would be our first choice unless you go climbing. Contact me if you need her email address.

One sure sign that your guide was really good is that saying goodbye feels like leaving a good friend. It is a feeling we didn’t expect before, but felt repeatedly once we were there. Life is too short to visit every place we would like to see, but I still have no doubt that we will return. I hope this post has been of some help to those of you who might be thinking of visiting Bolivia.

1. Popular stereotype of a Japanese tourist used to be someone who took pictures non-stop. Someone explained to me once that this is a necessary memory aid for short vacations with packed schedule because it can help you recall and organize memories later when you’re back. I don’t know if this is true for Japanese, but it is certainly true for me. ↩
2. I knew Bolivia was rich in minerals, but I had no idea that there were so many mines which often exist in the most inhospitable places. Even big scale mining (such as for silver around Potosi) is usually done individually and this is even more true for small mines where there may be only 10 or so miners risking their life. It’s very hard and often short way to live that can still be better than alternatives. ↩

V petek popoldne in soboto cel dan (20. in 21. aprila) bo v Ljubljani potekal odprto podatkovni hackday. Vabljeni vsi, še posebej pa tisti, ki želite dejavno prispevati.

Več o dogodku lahko izveste na njegovi prijavni strani .

We visited a wonderful exhibition a few days ago about two failed Antarctica expeditions led by Scott and Shackleton . I learned a lot, but what I keep thinking of are Frank Hurley’s glass plates.

Frank Hurley was the official photographer on Shackleton’s Trans-Antarctic expedition (1914-1917). Shackleton and his crew encountered ice farther to the north then they expected and eventually got stuck in it. It is impossible to imagine how they felt when their efforts to free their ship Endurance proved unfruitful and had to spent arctic winter on it. Ship had to be abandoned by the end of October 1915 before surrounding ice crushed it. Crew then spent next few months on floating ice. They decided to seek safety on land which meant hauling what they needed by themselves and leaving everything else behind. Which brings us to Hurley’s plates.

These were early days of photography and equipment was larger than it is now, but even today’s gear for taking large format photographs is pretty big and heavy as are prints made with it. Hurley had two cameras, a large format one capturing images on glass plates and a smaller portable Kodak using film ^[1] . He made more than 500 images on plates which were too heavy to carry them all, but he managed to persuade Shackleton to pick and keep 120 or 150, depending on source ^[2] .

Then he broke the rest.

I couldn’t find an explanation for his action in one of the most inhospitable places on earth where environment should soon enough destroy those plates without his help, but I think I know why he did it.

Expeditions were expensive and selling publishing rights for images made during trip was an important source of funding. Breaking plates ensured them that their images would be the only ones that could be printed. Breaking them was in essence an enforcement of copyright.

There is no moral to this story. It was doubtless a difficult decision in even more difficult situation. But it is hard to look at remaining images and not feel a real sense of loss. Such a waste!

If you are in London these days, then go and see this exhibition which you can find at Queen’s gallery just next to Buckingham’s palace until April 14th. I bet you won’t regret it.

Update: Exhibition closed and my theory is wrong. As visitor pointed out (with Frank’s own words) plates were broken to remove temptation to return for them.

1. Kodak, one of pioneers of photography, recently abandoned making cameras to solely focus on their soon to be dead image printing business. ↩
2. Hurley continued documenting their ordeal with Kodak. Resulting images are more grainy and less sharp, but equally fascinating document of what they all went through. ↩