The Coca Tea Myth and other legends from Bolivia

We'd read a bit about Coca Tea before venturing into Bolivia, mainly that Bolivians and foreigners alike drink or chew it to

help with the altitude and a variety of ailments. It would be, I suppose the Tylenol (or insert your catch all drug) for the Andean people.

Well, I'm here to tell you that it is not all it's cracked up to be. After getting wildly ill on a 4-day jeep tour through the Southwest of Bolivia, I was offered Coca in every form: tea, chewable, pill, you name it, and each time, my body violently rejected it. So much for centuries of knowledge. It did, however, become humorous after a bit. The Bolivians couldn't comprehend that the tea might not actually be making me feel better, so they'd switch teas and give me some concoction of coca tea mixed with another herb. Nothing helped.

All that said, and advice here stated: DO NOT GO ON A 4-DAY JEEP TOUR (I think I came to the same conclusion after our Safari in Tanzania. No matter how great what you see is, you still are spending your entire day bumping around in a jeep -- and that sucks), we still had a amazing time seeing the Salares.

We woke up for the sunrise, which was incredible.







Then we proceeded to take funny pictures:
See -- it looks like Nick is eating the car








And in this one, I'm holding the car up,








And here I'm jumping out of a can,








And finally (this was Nick's idea), he's dancing on my fingertip!

Here's to feeling better and being coca tea free . . .