Bolivia’s Minerals: Na+

The backpacker’s favorite natural wonder of Bolivia?  Salar de Uyuni, or the Salt Flats.  It’s one of the biggest salt mines in the world, what used to be part of the ocean but then got cut off by tectonic movements which created the Andes Mountains.

let me tell you what makes a lucrative business here- cocaine.
this would be worth a million.  instead, this salt is likely ~$50

just reach down and scoop it up

 Here, salt is mined by hand.  It’s not a lucrative industry at all, and the salt flats are protected land so people cant use machinery.  They shovel little piles which are then taken, shoveled onto a hot plate to dry, and then packaged by hand.  Iodine is added to prevent goiters!  A small baggie, enough to refill the table salt multiple times over, goes for about a quarter.

Not far away exists a lithium mine, and Bolivia has the largest supply of lithium, which is indeed a lucrative material.  However, they are currently lacking the technology to mine it properly.  Also, you can learn how Potosi, Bolivia, used to be one of the richest cities in the world with it’s silver being mined by the Spaniards, but now there’s not much left.  Potosi used to have one of the world's largest mints, and the sign (PTSI superimposed on each other) may have been the start of the modern $ sign!

The salt mines are everyone’s favorite place to 

Misa came!  And blew me away!

play with perspective.  The land is incredibly flat (and bright!), so you can go to different dimensions with the lack of diminishing perspective. 

that's one big apple!

I love seeing Japanese people who represent the epitome of their
culture. This group brought a huge set of action figures, and took
pictures of another person fighting with them.  He wore a wig,
bright clothing, and parachute pants.  Wish I had those pictures!

Misa Travels Bolivia!

It’s always fresh to see a new perspective- and luckily Misa could leave her 2 kiddos with her husband and my mom for 10 days to come visit (thanks!).  We began in La Paz, one of the two capitals, and an area representing the stereotypical Bolivia or the western Andean plateau.  The people are mostly indigenous and have their own food and customs.

On our bus tour, we learned these shocking statistics: 36% of the population is under 14, whereas less than 5% are over 65.  The average woman has 3.5 children (total fertility rate or TFR).  Compare this to the U.S., where 20% are under 14, and 13% are over 65, where the TFR is 1.89 (to be a replaceable population it must be 2.1).

These are "cholas", or the typical Bolivian women.  They wear
bowler hats (brought over from England) as well as pleated
skirts, embroidered tops, and shawls.  And two long braids!

Misa in the bowler hat and awayo.  Most women
carry everything from their crops to their babies
in awayos tied around their backs

We have TONS of fresh juice available in Bolivia,
but what Misa could not get enough of was this
pineapple juice.  She raves about it!

Great candlelight dinner.  Minutes later, the power went out in
this small town briefly, and it really was candlelight...

Street Dogs are standard.  This is quite
possibly the cutest dog I have ever seen.
It's funny how indifferent they can be.

the markets with fruits brought in locally are found in all
cities and towns.  always make a colorful photo

in Santa Cruz, tropical plants = big leaves!

       In Bolivia, Zebra direct traffic!  We tried to ask them what they were doing, but they just shoo-ed us along