Best of Bolivia & Argentina

Bienvenidos! Welcome to Bolivia! Your trip begins with a welcome meeting at 6 pm. If you arrive early, why not explore the streets of La Paz or check out the Witches Market? Though we can’t guarantee the potions, incantations and voodoo dolls will work their magic, the experience is fascinating, and the locals will be happy to tell you about their significance. Alternatively, you could hop on a local bus to Moon Valley – this maze of canyons and clay spires make for some impressive views. After your welcome meeting, you might like to head out with your new travel buddies and get to know each other over dinner.

You’re free to discover La Paz at your own pace today. Perhaps visit the Museo de la Coca, which isn’t too far from your hotel. This unusual museum delves into the history of the coca plant that grows in the region. You may also like to check out the local cuisine in La Paz on a food tour – taste fish fresh from Lake Titicaca as well as a variety of intense flavours on a chocolate stop. Just ask your leader about your options. Late in the afternoon, leave La Paz on an overnight bus to Sucre.

When you arrive in Sucre, drop off your luggage at the hotel and enjoy free time in Bolivia’s World Heritage-listed capital. The city sits in a mountainous valley and is a hub of Indigenous cultures and Spanish influences, as you can see in its architecture and local markets. You might like to visit the Museo de la Recoleta – a 400-year-old convent home to a fascinating collection of sculptures and paintings – and a great spot to take in views over the city. If you have time, you could also head to the Plaza 25 de Mayo to rub shoulders with Sucre’s affluent residents and check out the extravagant interior of the Senora de la Merced.

Enjoy another free day in Sucre today. Wander the streets lined with centuries-old houses and medieval churches. Or, for something more active, hike along the pre-Inca path known as the Chataquila trek – a mostly downhill route that offers stunning views of the surrounding Andes. For something completely different, discover a prehistoric landscape and compare shoe sizes with a dinosaur at Cal Orcko – the world’s largest collection of dinosaur footprints, with evidence suggesting they’re 68 million years old. There’s also a great food scene in Sucre, so enjoy some delicious empanadas at a restaurant or a fresh juice at the Central Market.

This morning, take a local bus to the mining town of Potosi – once the wealthiest city in the Americas, thanks to its location at the base of silver ore-rich Cerro Rico (Rich Hill). The discovery and extraction of the silver led to a financial boom for the Spanish empire, though the city’s riches quickly diminished and its citizens slipped into poverty once the silver dried up.

Today is yours to explore Potosi at your leisure. If you’d like to learn more about the mines you visited yesterday, consider a tour that discusses the brief history of Cerro Rico. Another place of interest – the Santa Teresa Convent Museum. The convent was founded in 1685 and still houses a small community of Carmelite nuns. You can observe art and treasures inside the convent’s original walls, including a Madonna by Castilian sculptor Alonso Cano.

Leave Potosi behind and travel to the city of Uyuni. This remote town sits on the edge of the high Altiplano – a wilderness area extending for hundreds of kilometres towards the border with Argentina and Chile. Apart from being a gateway to the Salt Flats, Uyuni also happens to sit above one of the world’s largest lithium reserves. While it won’t help you if you’ve arrived with a flat battery, Uyuni’s lithium, once extracted, could potentially power the planet’s smart phones and electric cars for the next century. Enjoy free time when you arrive – perhaps take the opportunity to rest up before you kick off your exciting excursion to Salar de Uyuni tomorrow. Tonight’s hotel is fairly basic, but it’s clean and comfortable and has hot water. As you’ll be heading out into the desert over the next few days with limited amenities, make the most of the facilities.