Bolivia and the Inca treasures

While researching information for my South American trip, I unexpectedly discovered a fascinating detail about Bolivia, a country nestled in the majestic Andes Mountains. Following the information, I was drawn into a relentless quest for a colossal treasure that humanity has been pursuing for over four centuries. This journey stretches from vast rocky plateaus and lakes filled with red sediment to the treacherous caves of the Andes, once home to the Inca indigenous tribes.

Bolivia's stunning natural beauty.

According to legend, the Inca king Atahualpa was captured by Spanish colonizers. The leader Pisarro promised to release the king if he could gather enough gold within two months to fill the very room where he was imprisoned. The royal family plundered the entire treasury and looted the country, gathering dozens of cubic meters of gold and many precious jewels, but it was still not enough. When the deadline passed, Pisarro ordered the king's execution. Upon hearing of the king's death, those who carried the gold on the backs of 11,000 llama hide it somewhere unknown in the Andes Mountains.

Sucre, where 5000 ancient dinosaur footprints are imprinted.

The wall bears the imprint of 5,000 dinosaur footprints dating back 80 million years.

Sucre was the gateway I chose when I began my journey to explore the mysteries of Bolivia. Located on the outskirts of Sucre city, a sheer cliff, 1200 meters long and 80 meters high, is covered with dinosaur footprints, exposed during the expansion of a local cement factory's mine.

Back in the Cretaceous period, this area was a lakeside region that attracted many herbivorous and carnivorous dinosaurs. The footprints of these animals sank deep into the soft soil in the hot, humid weather. When the area experienced severe droughts, the footprints dried and hardened. Then, the rains returned, burying these footprints under mud and silt.

The local guide explained that this cycle repeated itself up to seven times, preserving many layers of footprints. Subsequent geological activity pushed the flat land upwards, creating the sheer cliffs we see today. The Sucre authorities were overjoyed when this unique area was discovered. They began building a museum, life-sized models of giant dinosaurs, and an observatory so visitors could witness firsthand the movements of these colossal dinosaurs through their footprints. Sucre became the historical site with the most fossilized dinosaur footprints in the world.

The world's most creepy witch market.

Leaving the constitutional capital of Sucre, we took a night bus to La Paz. This is the administrative capital of Bolivia, attracting hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists annually due to its many unique "firsts." Situated in a valley within the Andes Mountains, 3,640 meters above sea level, La Paz is considered the highest capital city in the world and is known as the city hidden in the clouds.

La Paz's unique geographical location at high altitude reflects its social structure. The wealthy settle in the lowest areas of the valley, choosing private villas or townhouses for convenience in work and daily life. The middle class opts for upscale apartment complexes near the city center. Further up the hillside, brick houses perched precariously are home to lower-income earners. Sometimes, they have to wake up early to commute to the city center and factories to avoid the constant traffic jams of the capital during rush hour.

We ventured into the witch market in La Paz, exploring many mysteries of the culture of the people living in the Andes Mountains. Over the centuries, the unique, mystical items in this market have remained largely unchanged in their symbolic and spiritual significance.

Spiritual symbols used by people to pray for good luck.

My friend shrieked when she saw the macabre products displayed in the shops. For 5-10 Boliviano, tourists could buy a dried llama fetus, a type of camel native to South America, hanging in front of shops along the market street. According to the shopkeeper with a tanned face, Bolivians bury the fetuses deep under their houses as sacrifices to Mother Earth Pachamama to pray for good luck, health, and happiness for their family members. Dried Aymara frogs are believed to bring wealth and prosperity. Small effigies in traditional Bolivian clothing carrying bags of grain are symbolized as lucky charms, bringing good fortune to the family and are also believed to influence spirits residing in the spiritual world. These items are not only used as amulets or in religious rituals, but also for healing.

Upon further investigation, we also learned of an unwritten rule for visitors to the witch market in La Paz: always show respect for the local religious culture. The market is a serious and sacred business with a spiritual significance for the local people. They dedicate time and effort to advising customers on finding a suitable amulet or remedy. Any disrespectful or impolite behavior from visitors will certainly not be welcomed by the locals.

The witch market in La Paz is a serious and sacred form of business with spiritual significance for the local people.

The strange mirrors of nature

Our vehicle took us from the town of Uyuni towards the world's largest salt flat, located at an altitude of nearly 4,000 meters above sea level. Along the way, the vehicle stopped at the "railway graveyard," about 3km from the town, a collection of many giant locomotives that have rusted over time.

This place, once Bolivia's largest railway station, has now become a massive junkyard. It was built in the late 19th century by British engineers living in Uyuni. At the time, leaders believed they would create a modern transportation system to help the nation develop. Evidence of this is the trains, which proved very useful for transporting minerals and goods both domestically and internationally. However, the local population viewed the trains as an invasion and frequently vandalized them. Later, in the 1940s, as resources were depleted and the mining industry collapsed, the trains became useless and were left to the ravages of time.

We continued our journey and stopped at Salar de Uyuni, a village specializing in salt mining and processing. Here, salt is harvested using traditional methods. First, the salt is piled into small mounds to allow the moisture to evaporate, then dried over a fire, and finally, iodine is added before packaging. Nowadays, locals even show visitors the handcrafted salt production process, producing small packets of salt for tourists to buy as souvenirs. Another unique feature is that the houses and hotels here are built entirely of salt, creating a delightful experience for tourists, especially couples seeking a magical and romantic setting.

What's special about Uyuni is that the houses and hotels are built entirely of salt, creating a delightful experience for tourists, especially couples seeking a magical and romantic setting.

Our long-awaited destination finally arrived as the sun was high in the sky. The Salar de Uyuni salt flats are located in the southwestern region of Oruno and Potosi in Bolivia, near the border with Chile. More than 40,000 years ago, this area was part of the enormous prehistoric Lake Minchin. Over time, the lake gradually dried up, revealing two smaller lakes, Poopo and Uru Uru, along with two vast salt deserts: Salar de Coipasa and Salar de Uyuni. Today, Salar de Uyuni is the world's largest salt desert, 25 times larger than the famous Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, USA.

The car began to accelerate across the vast salt desert, where now I could only see the merging of sky and earth. During the winter months, the area is completely dry. However, when summer arrives, the fields are flooded with water, transforming the landscape into a magical, giant mirror.

Surrounding the Uyuni salt flats are numerous lakes, a gathering place for the famous South American flamingos that feed and breed there. Their food consists of bacteria and algae in the salt lakes, causing Uyuni to change color continuously with the seasons. Every November, thousands of flamingos return to begin their mating season, transforming the lakes into magnificent mirrors of pink and red hues.

The surreal treasures of the Incas

The Tiwanaku ruins are located southeast of Lake Titicaca, 72 km west of the capital La Paz. Based on existing evidence, archaeologists believe that the area around Tiwanaku was inhabited as early as 1500 BC. Most studies agree with the hypothesis that Tiwanaku developed between 300 and 1000 BC, becoming the political and spiritual center of the region.

By 1945, scientist Arthur Posnansky used astronomical techniques to estimate Tiwanaku's age at 15,000 years. However, some people doubted the accuracy of this calculation. Nevertheless, most scientists agree that Tiwanaku is the oldest city in the world, even predating the legendary Lake Titicaca.

Tiwanaku's dominance began to decline in the 11th century and completely collapsed in the 12th century. However, to this day, scientists have not found an answer as to why the empire in Tiwanaku fell, but they believe that Tiwanaku was once the capital, religious and political center of a powerful empire that lasted 500 years.

Tiwanaku Ancient City

I was utterly astonished to see the archaeological sites before my eyes. Most impressive was the imposing wall surrounding the central Kalasasaya temple, made of red sandstone weighing up to 130 tons. Scientists are also struggling to figure out how the ancients were able to transport such a massive block of stone from a quarry more than 10km away. Scattered throughout were intricately carved structures made from blue andesite stones originating from the Copacabana peninsula on Lake Titicaca. One theory suggests that these massive stones, weighing over 40 tons, were transported approximately 90km across Lake Titicaca by reed boats, and then towed another 10km to the site of present-day Tiwanaku.

A few hundred meters from Tinawaku lies the unique Puma Punku ruins, unlike any other in the world. Archaeologists believe Puma Punku was the site of ancient Inca temples and monuments, and based on what remains today, it could only be a structure built by extraterrestrial beings! The question is, why do they consider it a product not created by humans on Earth? Perhaps the astonishing element of this structure lies in its enormous, intricately carved, perfectly square stone slabs with smooth surfaces, resembling large, meticulously planed pieces of wood.

Archaeologists believe that Puma Punku was an area of ​​ancient Inca temples and monuments, and based on what remains today, it could only have been built by extraterrestrial beings!

The sites here are made of granite and diorite, stones whose hardness is second only to diamond, making them virtually impossible to work with ancient tools. Observation suggests that these slabs of stone could only have been created by machinery or even laser cutting equipment. Many of the stones have perfectly straight lines, absolutely uniform depth, and fit together seamlessly as a single, solid block. It's unimaginable how such precise works of art on such a large scale could have been created thousands of years ago.

Puma Punku is located at an altitude of approximately 4,000 meters above sea level, meaning that at this altitude, trees would hardly be able to grow to make wooden rollers, as quarries are hundreds of kilometers away. Therefore, moving massive stone slabs weighing hundreds of tons to this area would have been impossible at that time. This has led many to believe that extraterrestrial beings with advanced technology created these colossal structures, or at least advised the local people on their construction. Construction researchers also argue that, considering the complexity and technical requirements of the structures, the pyramids of ancient Egypt are far simpler than the ruins at Puma Punku.

With their unsolved mysteries, Tiwanaku and Puma Punku continue to attract the curiosity of tourists seeking to understand ancient civilizations in Bolivia and South America. Perhaps these surreal structures are the eternal treasures of the ancient Incas, a gift to posterity. Or perhaps, according to legend, they once concealed a colossal treasure belonging to King Atahualpa.

Additional information

• Visa

Bolivia is one of the countries that offers a visa-on-arrival system for Vietnamese citizens. You will have your photo taken and receive a visa affixed to your passport upon entry, at a fee of US$53 per person for a single-entry visa valid for 30 days.

When applying for a visa at the border, you must prepare documents such as your tour itinerary, round-trip air tickets proving your return to Vietnam, hotel reservations in Bolivia, a list of the group with full information including date of birth, gender, passport number, passport expiry date, and especially a yellow fever vaccination certificate, as they believe Vietnam is on the list of countries requiring yellow fly vaccination upon entry into Bolivia.

• Transportation

Currently, there are no direct flights from Vietnam to major cities in Bolivia. You will need to book a connecting flight via other South American cities such as Sao Paulo (Brazil), Bogota (Colombia), Lima (Peru), etc. To travel within Bolivia, you can use local buses via the websites www.ticketsbolivia.com or www.transcopacabanasa.com.bo. Some bus routes operate overnight.

• Accommodation

If you want to experience the local way of life, you can stay in charming homestays or guesthouses in ancient towns like La Laz, Sucre, Copacabana… For Uyuni, you should experience staying in a hotel built entirely of salt, costing around $150-200 per night.

• Cuisine

Bolivian cuisine can be summed up in two words: "meat" and "potatoes." The most common meat is beef, followed by chicken, llama, and pork. Fish is particularly popular in some areas around Lake Titicaca. Meanwhile, cuy (South American pig) and conejo (rabbit) are specialties in rural areas. Many tourists visit Bolivia hoping to try the famous grilled cuy.

Bolivia also has a wide variety of street food, especially in popular tourist cities like La Paz and Copacabana.

Some popular dishes include: Anticucho (grilled beef heart on skewers, served with potatoes and spicy peanut sauce), Salchipapa (sliced ​​sausages stir-fried with potatoes), or Choripan sandwiches served with grilled onions and sauce…

• Weather

Most regions of Bolivia have a dry climate in winter and a humid climate in summer. Despite its tropical latitude, situated on the Andes mountain range at an average altitude of over 3500 meters, cities like La Paz and Potosi remain cool, and visitors may need to prepare warm clothing for April and May. The summer months in Bolivia are November to March, when the weather is generally warmer and more humid. From April to October are the winter months, when the climate is colder and drier.

• Health

Some regions of Bolivia, such as La Paz, Potosi, Oruro, and the Lake Titicaca area, are at high altitudes, so tourists need to take precautions against altitude sickness ("sorojchi"). Local pharmacies can provide herbal remedies to help tourists cope with the symptoms of "sorojchi".

When visiting the Uyuni Salt Flats, the sun's ultraviolet rays are up to 20 times stronger than at sea level, so you should bring a wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen.

10 experiences in Bolivia for couples

1. Capture magical photos at the Uyuni salt flats.
2. Flamingo performance at Red Lake
3. Taking a hot spring bath at night at an altitude of 4000 meters in Potosi.
4. Discover the surreal ancient Inca structures of Tiwanaku and Puma Punku.
5. Strolling through the city of Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca
6. The historic city of Sucre with its romantic slopes.
7. The capital city of La Paz holds many wonders.
8. The mysterious Inca islands on Lake Titicaca
9. Discover street food and spicy grilled chicken.
10. Take a stroll through the local livestock markets.

Text and photos: Nguyen Hoang Bao

The Thanh