The mirror of heaven -- Uyuni, Bolivia

Uyuni’s salt flat has always been one of my dream places and since I thought I probably won’t have another official break in February after school ends, my mind is set in stone that I AM GOING TO Bolivia this reading week no matter what.

This trip actually turned out to be much more difficult than I planned. My roommate and I spent 4 nights on buses. They are one of those buses that do not even have a flushing toilet… Don’t ask about the details.

The reason was that flying directly to the salt flat or to La Paz is around $1500 since this is the best season to see the salt flat, and the timing was not good at all; most of the flights, including layovers, takes up to 50 hours. Therefore, I decided to fly to Peru first, which cost me less than $1000 and to enter Bolivia from Peru. Thus, my trip looks like this:

Feb 16th: Toronto > Lima (air)

Feb 17th 5am: Lima > Cusco (air)

Feb 17th 10pm – Feb 18th 1pm: Cusco, Peru > La Paz, Bolivia (bus)

Feb 18th 8pm – Feb 19th 6am: La Paz > Uyuni Salt Flat (bus)

Feb 20th 1:45 am – Feb 20th 400 pm: Uyuni > La Paz (Train + Bus)

Feb 20th 430pm – Feb 21st 6am: La Paz > Cusco (bus)

So basically, we did not get to sleep on a bed overnight from Feb 16th to Feb 21st. There were several moments I was on the edge of mental breakdown lol…and on the bus from Uyuni to La Paz, I was literally checking flights directly from La Paz to Toronto.

To me, Bolivia, even Peru are living in an entirely different world. Several people who are familiar with South America has warned me that Bolivia is very very poor (the poorest country in South America), but I was never been able to image how bad the issue can be.

This is the border between Bolivia and Peru. On the left side where you see all the people are lining up, the building behind IS the immigration office. I thought to myself… okay, maybe because this is just the border.

As the bus entered the La Paz, when we were about 10 mins away from the bus terminal (bus terminal is less than 5 mins driving from the city center), the city literally looks like the rural area of China. I don’t mean a second or third tier city but an actual countryside. And my roommate and I did start to worry.

This is the almost the center area of La Paz and La Paz is where the richest people are in Bolivia.These cable cars are like our subways. However, there are not many stops. People living at the bottom are the richest and the further you live, the poorer you are. We ride this cable cars 5 times just for fun and you can only see a supermarket outside of the center stop. For all the other stops, most of them are flea markets.

This is the very center of Uyuni, Bolivia. My roommate took this picture for me as we were walking toward the train station at 1am in the morning.

The road to my hotel (the finest hotel in Bolivia, wanted to reward ourselves after not sleeping on a bed for so long) from the center of Bolivia, half of the “road” was just mud.

This is a school that I saw in Uyuni, Bolivia. I heard in Bolivia the tuition fee was 20 dollars a year. I asked: but they do learn? Markus, our tour guide, who lived in Bolivia for 5 years told me that, students were given some books but teachers rarely teach.

In Bolivia, I have never seen an iPhone, not even an advertisement. The Internet is expensive and slow and not always working. I have seen people living in a garbage bin as a shelter. However, Markus said people are so used to this life that if you ask a Bolivian, 9 out of 10 would say that they want to stay in Bolivia for their lifetime.

I thought to myself, it is so strange that we are all human beings on this planet and yet we live such a different life and worry about such different things. Lives in here, what is a highway? what is a house with 5 toilets that not only flush and can wash you? what is the world? what is Aristotle? No wonder we have terms like “first-world problem” This is the first time that I truly understood the term.

For Bolivians, their town is their world. For us, we talk about the globe all the time. However, were we really talking about the globe? Global financial crisis? Did we include this part of the world? To me, it felt like we are two parallel worlds that do not even matter to each other.

I wonder what would they say if they come visit our world. This thought reminds me my first visit to Europe when I was in 2nd grade. I remember coming home and telling my friends: you know what? Those BMWs and Mercedes were just casually parking on the street!! (At that time BMW and Mercedes were considered very high-end cars in China and you don’t just casually park them in the street because it is considered unsafe). This memory makes me laugh. Maybe one day the different worlds will matter to each other.

Regardless of all the difficulties, I never regret making an effort to Bolivia.

One because of the salt flat. Something that you do not see every day, especially not in a place where you have all the pollutions from light, factories, and cars. (All pictures are 0 filters, 0 PS, Camera Nikon D7000)

my roommate and I, standing between the sky and the earth. Literally unreal.

Are you sure Miyazaki Hayao has never been to the salt flat before he created the film [Spirited Away] ?

The sky at night.

I purposely joined the [star gazing tour] because I wanted to see the sky full of stars reflecting on the water, like a mirror and you are surrounded by all the stars. Unfortunately, that night was so windy that there was no reflection. Nonetheless, Markus told us that you only see this kind of clear sky 3 or 4 times a month since this is the raining season, which will mostly be cloudy! So I guess I am pretty lucky already.

Since I am in love with a starry sky and this is not the first time that I saw the milky way. However, this is the first time that I was able to see the only two galaxies that can be seen by human eyes, the first time that I can see so many constellations and the first time I can see satellites and even saw them moving.

At the end of the trip, we saw the moon, which was the new moon on that day, was literally sitting on the water. It looks just like the logo of DreamWorks. We tried to catch a picture but couldn’t. However, we were grateful enough to see it with our eyes.

Another reason for never regret this trip was because of meeting our tour guide, Markus Wendt.

Markus was French and speaks four languages: French, German, Spanish and English. He has been in Bolivia for 5 years. I learned everything about Bolivia from him. I asked him about politics, education, healthcare, history and cultures of Bolivia. We exchanged our opinions about politics and business. He told me about the tension in Bolivia now and he also explained to me the potential that Bolivia has.

Markus has been a delight of my trip because I felt we are very similar in some ways and by talking to him, I do not feel like a weirdo.

Markus has traveled to 26 countries before he turned 18; I traveled to about 14/15 countries before I turned 18. Markus has lived in 7 countries so far and I have lived in 3 countries so far with multiple cities and each is more than 2 years.

However, I never see myself belong to any of these places. My parents and others always ask me where do I want to live later and I cannot give an answer. I still cannot picture myself get a job and have a family in one city and live in that city for the rest of my life. I feel Markus is the same. I asked him which country is his favorite country thus far among all the once he has lived. He said it is a very hard choice, but if he has to choose, surprising probably Bolivia. He plans to move to HongKong later for business purpose.

I do not think he has ever considered or to bothered by the question of where to live for his life. I used to be bothered by this question because I do not feel like home anywhere I go and places that I am familiar with are not home by traditional definition. However, I resolve this question myself last year. I told myself instead of thinking nowhere is home, think “everywhere is home”. I always have people from different places asking me “Linda, when will you COME BACK to visit?” We do not belong to any places but we can fit in any place.

Markus called himself the “black sheep” in his family haha, because his parents are well-educated people but he is the one who goes to crazy places and takes on crazy jobs. He plans to go into food industry next month and he has been busy building his team and making his connection. He plans to start in South America and wanted to expand into the Asian market, first stop HongKong, if the plan goes well. He said he really want to do something in his life, not just hanging around and live a comfortable life.

My father has always told me since I was young that the best job for a girl is either working in the government as an office lady or a university professor. My mother has always wanted me to be a doctor if possible, just like her. My school, Ivey Business School, 80% of the people wants to be a consultant; even if not a consultant, as a business person, the bottom line of your goal is to make money. On the first day of school, our faculty dean said to us “everyone is going to have a job”, the hidden message is “everyone will have money don’t worry” and there is nothing wrong of course.

However, I want to be a social entrepreneur. I don’t just want money, I want to do something meaningful. I believe there are so many many ways to make money and I would like to pick the one that I like. It might not be an easy one but that is okay.

Since this is such a good thing to say, no one will ever discourage me especially in a polite society like Canada. However, how many of them truly believe in the feasibility of my idea? I highly doubt. Maybe not even my father.

Nonetheless, everyone has the right to choose the lives they want to live and this is perfect. I told Markus I will come back to Bolivia one day when I am rich. I will fly directly to Bolivia to avoid all the sleepless nights on the road and I will live in Hotel de Sal Luna Salada for a week. Markus said: If I get rich first, I will pick you up. LOL

This is a picture that he took for me and I loved the best.

Finding someone who is crazier than me is a relief. He said he is considering taking a job in the north pole. He said the payment is pretty shitty but it would be fun to go because such job is like the facebook for crazy people.

I laughed. I guess going to “dangerous/ignored places” is, in fact, the Facebook for crazy people.

When I was studying politics in my undergrad, I learned that there are some debts in the academic world about what to call these countries “First/Second/Third world? or “Developed/Underdeveloped”, in history, they were even called “backward countries” before. After this trip, I truly understand where is this notion of “different worlds” coming from.

Though I understand the importance of notions in the academic world, I personally do not see the big differences between using different names; they were names to us, not to the people in those countries anyway. I believe no matter what you call it, they are all colored lenses. Put down your colored lenses and come to feel their world first.

People always say some places are “dangerous, horrible, dirty and etc.” but I always can’t stop to wonder but aren’t people living in/growing up in those places as well? How did they manage that? Is there absolutely no beauty in those places? Is it really just like what is portrayed in the Western news media?

As a person who grew up in a developing country whose best childhood memory was living in a dormitory (people who had the same experience know what I am talking about, it was not bad at all lol), I know the answer is “not necessary”, the same feeling when Markus told me that Bolivia is his favorite place thus far.

Therefore, I want to continue to see the world and feel the world with my eyes. May the journey continues.

想起Gai 的歌词：我潇洒坦荡走在天地间

Feb 22nd, 2018

@Lima, a coffee shop.