Blogs from La Quiaca, Jujuy, Argentina, South America

Day 2 Summary: Nightmare and regal bananas! Distance travelled 300Km Max speed: 111Mph (we found the car’s got a max speed limiter) We had a good night’s sleep in the little town of Tupiza after a nice Pizza in an Italian restaurant for the tourists. As I was waking up I was dreaming that the government was firing missiles at us! Well when I actually woke up I realised that there were the sounds of Petardos (very loud firecrackers, hence the missiles), which is the signature tune of blockaders all over Bolivia. The local taxi drivers were blockading the road into and out of Tupiza over some dispute over the state of the road. So with a schedule that involved 700Km stretching ahead of us, we couldn’t move. But as usual with the blockades in Bolivia, ... read more

We arrived in Villazon from Tupiza at 11:30 pm the night of Jan 19th. We were totally green to this town. We didn't know its layout and we had made no arrangements. Big mistake. We should have learned after Uyuni but we didn't. We wandered the streets a bit checking out the hotels but they were all booked. The streets there were wider and even less inviting for wandering late at night than the streets in Uyuni. We took a taxi to a hotel mentioned in our guidebook. We knocked, but there was no answer. It was after midnight by then and we had no solution to our sleeping problem. Would we sleep in the bus station? Would it even be open? I figured that we would be safer sleeping in the surrounding hills than in ... read more

M writes: After the most horrendous 12hr bus journey from Potosi (Bolivia) we were mightily looking forward to arriving in what we had been told what a relatively comfortable part of South America: Argentina. But "fresh" off the bus, first we had to deal with customs and immigration in Villazon (Bol), involving joining a queue of literally hundreds of traders who constantly cross the border to sell their wares. Fortunately we were soon spotted by an immigration official who came and took our passports somewhere and disappeared, which is when we realised everything the books/websites tell you - never do this. Anyway, he returned, fortunately, and we crossed to La Quiaca in Northern Argentina (love these border crossings by foot!) where the police were far more formal, inspecting luggage minutely and remaining stony-faced throughout proceedings. I ... read more

The last time we were in La Quiaca was when we crossed from Bolivia into Argentina for the first time, almost two years ago now. We took a taxi from the border to the bus station, which seemed to take forever, giving us the false impression that it is miles away. In fact, it is quite simple to walk the 20 minutes to and from the border! That's what we did on arrival at 7.30 am this time, and again at about 8.30 am when we re-entered Argentina. It is extremely cold until the sun warms the air rapidly, and it can soon have you taking off layers of clothing! Our aim this time was to find the bus to Yavi. There isn't one!! We were told to make our way towards the market where we ... read more