A once in a lifetime journey across Bolivia and Peru with my mum and dad! Bolivia, the 3th country which I travelled through after Ecuador and Colombia (and also a short-term visit in Argentina and Peru). I stayed in Bolivia more than a month and could easily stay longer…Started in Santa Cruz, after I stayed almost 2 weeks at a Bolivian family (including cheap Spanish lessons) and spent 3 weeks in Bolivia and Peru with my parents; WAUW, what a special journey was that… A trip I will never forget! Beautiful saltflats, amazing unique landscapes, tropical weather, beautiful historical old city’s and super nice and good restaurants and also cafés with good WiFi spots:-) Me gusta mucho! Bolivia has it all (mmzz okay…except a sea coast;-).

Kick-off Santa Cruz in Bolivia, part 3 South America:-)

After a very good summer break in the Netherlands, I returned to South America (part 3) in the middle of September and started my travels in the tropical town Santa Cruz in Bolivia. My first 1.5 week I stayed at Jodanga hostel: the perfect hostel (highly recommended) to start your travels with: good atmosphere, good clean facilities and nice and chill vibes. During my stay in Santa Cruz I didn’t much touristy things: I visited the small village Samaipata (famous for the Samaipata ruins El Fuerte) and Guembe Biocentro & Resort: a luxury unique holiday resort (worth a visit) where you are surrounded by toucans, pea cooks, parrots, monkey island and beautiful swimming pools! After 1.5 week of sunbathing, sports, chillings and work@Santa Cruz, I flew to my next destination Sucre: the beautiful white colonial city of Bolivia.

Spanish lessons at a lovely host family in Sucre

Due to the fact that my Spanish was still pretty lousy (after 7 months in South America), I decided to take some lessons again. This time at a lovely Bolivian host family, which I found through Airbnb. We e-mailed I few times than we met in Sucre, talked a little bit, they drove me to their house, they showed me the house and my room and soon afterwards I made a decision and stayed. I had my own private room with own bathroom, cooking facilities for less than 15 euro’s a day (including food and private lessons). Where else in Bolivia or anywhere around the world you can find it that good and that cheap? We had breakfast and lunch together, the family showed me around in Sucre and we even played squash together;-)! Surrounded by the nice colonial buildings, walking around in the charming white and old streets, learning Spanish in Sucre was good fun! So if you are you looking for a good, cheap and nice place to learn Spanish in South America? Sucre is calling you!

Meet the parents@La Paz in Bolivia

With my new Spanish skills after 1.5 weeks ‘studying’  in Sucre, I packed my bags and hit off to La Paz to meet my parents, where I (after a long time travelling alone) became part of the Daemen-travel-crew 😉 We started our journey in La Paz, the highest administrative capital in the world, which is located more than 3.500 m above sea level. We stayed 4 days in La Paz walked around, visit Valle de la Luna and so my parents had enough time to acclimatize! We didn’t book anything in advance for our trip, we made a global plan for the next 3 weeks and than our adventure started!  After a few days in a beautiful 4 star hotel in the ‘smelly’ and ‘dirty’ city La Paz, we flew to the beautiful historical white city Sucre. We spent one day in beautiful Sucre, afterwards one day in Potosi and one day in Tupiza (countyside in Bolivia) where mam and I went horse riding.

Amazing Salt flats tour Salar de Uyuni

After doing some sightseeing in different cities, it was time for real adventure;-) From Tupiza we started our 4-day and 3 nights 4-Wheel drive tour and visited the amazing landscapes and salt flats of Salar de Uyuni (see the pictures below:-).

 

Our Salar de Uyuni tour finished in Uyuni after 4 days. The same day we took a ‘cama night bus’ to La Paz. From La Paz we took a local bus in the morning and than arrived (after 14 hours by bus) at our last stop in Bolivia: lovely laidback and relaxed small town Copacabana.

A small peek into my work- and travel life

My parents, both in there 50’s- had nothing to complain about the journey and me as a travel guide;-)… Until the bus ride we had from Puno (Peru) to Cusco (Peru)…I will write about in my next blog;-). So those 3 weeks travelling together with my parents was defenitly very special. They took a peek into my work- and travel life and experienced a lot: from luxury hotels (like back home in Europe) to dodgy local hostels and hotels, from overnight comfortable ‘cama busrides’ to unexpected local and dirty busrides and so on…!

Global Love♥

Brittaaaaa