Bolivian Badlands: Oruro and onward to Potosi

We departed La Paz in the morning and caught a decent-enough bus to Oruro. Most travellers would skip this town and head straight to Potosi, where there are a lot more places of interest. But I wanted to see Oruro because that`s the town where my mom was born. Other than that though, even other Bolivians say there`s not much reason to go there if it isn`t Carnaval. (During Carnaval, though, Oruro is THE place to be in all of South America!).

Oruro is a gritty town, in character and in...well, grit. The outskirts lie on a completely unprotected desert plain, which allows for an unceasing wind to tear through the area in violent and dusty gusts. On our way into town, we saw several maestroms of dirt blasting through several of the peripheral neighborhoods. It would have reminded us of the great Oklahoma dust bowl, had we actually been there.

Although the gritty intro to the town made us question how much time we wanted to spend there, I also absorbed my mom`s hometown with a fair degree of pride and admiration. I think of her as an extremely brave, tenacious, and resolute woman, and the sparse, tough town reflects these traits in spades. Taking in the harsh, ragged town where she was born served as an origin story of sorts, personifying the strength of her roots as if by the destiny of the place.

Matt! and I were able to book our next bus for about 40 minutes after we arrived. So we used that time to get to know the town beyond the bus station at the outskirts of town. In other words, we grabbed a taxi for a 5 minute ride to the plaza at the center of town, spent about 15 minutes there, and took a taxi back. That`s some efficient sight-seeing! But that little trip also added another great dimension to our Oruro visit. Further from the outskirts, the center of town is much more protected from the elements, and the plaza was one of the nicest we had seen throughout the whole trip. We were both really glad we made the effort to get a more complete picture of the place. Plus we bought some delicious donuts on the plaza for our lunch.

Donuts in hand, we continued on to Potosi, with several things to look forward to on the ride. Earlier, when I had wanted to theme our trip according to funny place names, Lago Poopo became a must-see destination in my mind, and luckily it was on the way! We also passed through some truly legitimate indigenous dwellings, and observed the ruins of some Tihuanaco (pre-Inca) funeral pyres among other unexplained round structures. And, so far from the tourist stops, we finally saw llamas as they are authentically raised--not just for photo opps within the cities. Herds and herds of llamas grazed freely along the slopes by the roadway, or loosely penned in by makeshift uncemented brick walls precariously stacked and miraculously untoppled by the wind. Finally, we were treated to a spectacular sunset across two canyons of the Altiplano before arriving into Potosi that night.

All in all, a great day on and off the bus.