Bolivia and the Blockades

We have been pretty lucky to have been in Bolivia for 3 weeks without falling victim to a notorious blockade. These are very common occurrences when groups of protesters block main roads and travel paths. 

We have heard so many horror stories from friends and travellers about being stuck on a bus for hours (sometimes days), or being stranded on the side of the road, or having to hike for hours get around a dreaded blockade. 

Unfortunately, today was not our day. And proof that even the best laid plans can fall apart.

A group of 5 of us from Sustainable Bolivia had made a (very informed!) plan to get an early bus from Cochabamba to Ururo, and from there board a train to Uyuni. We have heard nothing but bad things about the overnight bus to Uyuni and how cold and uncomfortable it is, but there is a train that runs once or twice a week from Ururo and is apparently miles better than the bus, even if it takes a little longer to arrive (about 7 hours). 

So we got the 4.5 hour bus from Cochabamba to Ururo and arrived in plenty of time to buy our train tickets. We were super excited planning our photo-shoot stunts on the Salt Flats over lunch. But when we returned to the train station at 3pm and were just about to board, we were met by hoards of people getting off the train and going in the opposite direction. There was a blockade down the track, the train (and us) were going nowhere. 

We had to queue for a while to get our money back, then decided to head to the bus station to see if that was an option. It wasn't. The roads were blocked for the weekend and busses wouldn't be running again for another 4 days. Shizzers. 

The only options were to go back to Cochabamba and try again later on in the week (not an option for Karen and I because we are due to be in Argentina next week) or get a bus back to La Paz and hope there is a flight to Uyuni over the weekend. 

So that's where we are currently - the only 2 gringos on a 4 hour bus to La Paz with Spanish dubbed "Resident Evil 4" blaring through the speakers. We are hoping against hope that we won't miss out on the Salt Flats, and sorry to be missing out on doing it with our buddies who decided to cut their losses and head to Torotoro instead and do the Salt Flats another day. 

Hope we made the right decision, wish us luck... 

Update:

Well unfortunately the Salt Flats are not to be. There are daily flights from La Paz to Uyuni, but the riots in Uyuni mean that all tours of the Salt Flats are cancelled for at least a week. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit devo, it's one thing I was really looking forward to and may never get the chance to do again.

But on the brightside we are get to do another few days in La Paz and we booked a flight to get us closer to the Argentinian border so...

Next stop: Tarija