Sacrificing llamas and moonscape salt plains in Bolivia

Two highlights stand out from our three weeks in Bolivia - aside from the cable car rides and eating a Swiss fondu in La Paz - our most memorable moments have to be the Fiesta del Espuritiu in Potosi and the Salar de Uyuni.

First the llamas. On a predetermined Saturday in June, miners of the Potosi silver and zinc mines celebrate Fiesta del Espiritiu- a tradition where they "give thanks to Mother Nature" - by slitting the throat of a couple of llamas and eating them... The all-day celebration takes place at the entrance to the mines where firstly miners and families (and 5 franco-kiwi gringos!) sit around the llamas chewing coca leaves and drinking home-made alcohol (at 10am in the morning!), not forgetting to sprinkle the llamas' backs with leaves and alcohol and to drop some on the dusty earth for the Pacha Mama. The miners (ranging in age from 18 to 60) explained that they perform the ceremony once a year to give something back to the Pacha Mama (as she offers them so much allowing them to work in the mines), as well as to appease the appetite of El Tio (the devil of the mines) so that he won't create any accidents during the year. After a couple of hours, the llamas throats are unceremoniously slit, and El Tio's thirst for blood is quenched by throwing bowl-fulls of blood over the entrance to the mines and splattering blood across each doorway. (Sorry! Did I mention this would get gory?!) We participated in all steps- although only half-hearted in the drinking as we were aware it was a long day in the sun and dust, along way from home with a lot of very drunken miners! The kids were intrigued by the traditions and beliefs and were as absorbed by the dissection as if it had been the Disney channel. And we all chowed down on an enormous hunk of reddish llama meat at the end of the day. We tried to refuse but their hospitality was so all-inclusive, there was no being polite for this final step! It was truly an eye-opening experience, both listening to the miners' stories about this difficult job and their beliefs, and also observing our kids fitting in like locals, playing in the dust surrounded by blood splatters and ripping the llama meat from the bone with their teeth! This trip is certainly teaching them to adapt easily!

After that emotion, we headed to Salar de Uyuni in the southwest corner of Bolivia, close to Chile. After a quick stock up at one of Bolivia's awesome open air markets, we headed straight out onto the white plains of salt, past the famous salt hotel and Dakar monument and straight on out into the wilderness where we saw only one other car in 3 days. There are a dozen or so 'islands' on the plains and we stayed near one of them which gave the kids endless climbing possibilities, awesome lookout spots for sunset and some shelter from the wind. We absolutely loved our time on the salt, going for aimless walks into the infinite nothingness, the kids playing with the salt like it was sand and admiring the absolute silence that was almost stifling! However, it was pretty cold- like -10°!! After Max discovered ice on the inside his window and we spent four days with no hot water as the gas wouldn't work at that altitude and/or the tank had frozen, we decided it was time for a change in direction and we began the long road back up north, to head East into Brazil.

So here we are, back in warmer (but not Central America-hot) climates again, surrounded by luxurious jungle, flights of parakeets, markets full of papaya and pineapples and off to visit some of the Jesuit missions before the crossing into the Pantanel National Park in Brazil.

Hope you enjoy the photos- some of them are not for the faint hearted! :) Bisous, besos, hugs xx