Arrived in Argentina

---

heh all,
Since I last wrote we have had a bit of a crazy few days through Bolivia. Copacanana was pretty nice and a good setting for Lake Titicaca.We visited Isla del sol (island of the sun) on Lake Titicaca for a day trip. This is the birth place of the Inca civilisation I believe. it was very beautiful (a bit like the Aran islands but with dusty land and lots of climbing). We trekked for about 3 1/2 hrs from the south to the north and then got the boat home.
Next we took the bus to the crazy city of La Paz. The bus was like a v old uncomfortable steel can of a school bus and 5th gear was unattainable (or so it appeared by the noise). Our ride to La Paz was over 4 hours and the journey was quite scary as the roads were extremely windy and we were right over Lake Titicaca. The funniest thing was when we were all asked to disembark at one stage to cross over the lake. the bus drove onto this "make shift" boat and we had to board another boat and catch the bus again on the other side.
We spent 2 days in LA Paz. It really did live up to its crazy reputation-people, markets, stalls, cars, everywhere. The division between rich and poor is extremely evident here just by walking down the main street-one end has all the banks, business people and the other end is just poverty.We stayed in the Majestic Hotel which was v basic but comfortable and v central. It had a tv so we followed the attacks in India on CNN and were able to tell other backpackers about them ( U really lose touch with world news). We went to see the new James Bond movie and wow! it was for the most part set in La Paz-what a coincidence!
Thursday night we took a local bus to Uyuni to see the slat flats. This was a 10 hour journey, leaving at 8pm. The bus was just ridiculous-cracks in the windows, shabby seats-again an old school bus. We managed to sleep for a few hours but after midnight, we woke up to what I thought was the bus crashing but no, this was the bus leaving the main road to take the road (a dirt track) to Uyuni. I have never experienced anything like it. the bus just hopped off the dirt track for 6 hours -it was incredible scary! and then the cold set in. We were absolutely freezing, all the locals were prepared with their woollen blankets and layers. we could feel frostbite setting in. when we arrived in Uyuni, we vowed not to take another bus like that again but unfortunately....
Uyuni is the kind of place you see in cowboy movies when there´s a shootout-big wide dusty streets with very few people and a train that only passes through 3 times a week. it´s no mans land and you really dont want to be stuck there. We booked our 1 day tour of the salt flats with Esmeralda tour operators and headed to the train station to book a ticket on the train that was passing through that night to Villazon(Friday). We almost cried when we were told it was booked out and we would have to wait til monday morn in Uyuni. So, having no real option, we headed to the bus station and booked the bus for the following morning, having heard that the journey to Villazon was 10 hours and the road would be worst than what we had just experienced.
Our salt flats tour was amazing and well worth the journey-we visited the flats, the salt hotel, a village where the locals sold items made form salt and finally Isla del pescadores ( an island in the middle of the slat flats with giant cactii growing ). our driver only had spanish but a Kilkenny girl on our tour translated for us.
The following morning we got the bus to Villazon, the border town with Argentina. the bus was all locals except for 2 dutch guys a New Yorker and us. the journey was surreal. dirt tracks the entire way to Villazon-10 hours travelling through the desert with v little sign of life. I personally have never been so scared in my life - we were going so fast on dirt tracks, hopping off the road and most of the journey was up so high, looking right over huge drops into the desert, not a ditch in sight. It´s just unimaginable what these locals have to go through to get to the next "town."The salt flats are such a huge tourist attraction-its unreal that there isn´t a proper road in and out.(no money) Anyway, the journey got even more exciting when we reached Tupiza (another no mans land town). we disembarked for a half hour and then got onto another (even worst bus) to find that it was packed with locals-no seats and loads standing. we didnt know what was going on and could not face standing after about 8 hours travelling but luckily Oliver, one of the Dutch guys, had good Spanish so he got people out of our seats. Seemingly, when all the seats are sold out, the driver lets people on and pockets the money himself so he completely packs the bus out. pearse ended up beside a really old local woman with no teeth who kept laughing up into his face -it was priceless! So off we headed again up the dirt track for 2 hours to Villazon. It seems that all tourists plan their salt trip around the train and book in advance so its highly unusual to take these local buses but we definitely saw the real Bolivia that day ( and hung out with the locals). We were ecstatic to arrive in Villazon and get across the border to Argentina. Our final destination was Salta so we needed to travel another 7 hours. Our bus left at 11 30pm so for 4 hours, the 2 dutch guys, the new yorker, pearse and myself drank some well deserved beers and Argentinian wine, ate , laughed about our journey and played cards (my new pastime!). Most of this was done with limited light as a tropical storm started up and the lights kept going out. The downpours left what was like an inch of snow on the ground-unreal! It doesnt really rain in Ireland at all!Our bus to Salta was a welcome relief-a normal bus-we all conked asleep as soon as we sat down. However, we were woken up twice by the Argentinian army during the night-the first time to check our passports and the second time we had to get off take out bags out of the boot and join a queue for them to be checked, for smuggling. we eventually arrived in Salta at around 5 30am (24 hours later!!!!!)-its a´party town and it was Sat night so everyone were just heading home from clubs (clubs start at 2am). i was never so glad to see a bed.

From the pàrt we saw in a week, Bolivia is such a poor country-sanitation very bad, very bad land, very poor housing and the buses -ridiculous! the poor animals scrape around in the dirt and dust, no welfare so everyone has to work´-old and young. One thing that stood out was the shoe shine boys who wear balaclavas to cover their faces as they dont want anyone to recognise them but need the money-sad! most of the women look so old and withered-so much sun, bad diet, working so hard, they still wear the traditional dress which is hundreds of years old-layers of skirts and old cardigans and a top hat. It´s really quite sad so see the poverty and the hard life they have.

Anyway, onto Salta -its a lovely city -v civilized and I suppose first world. And the steak-beautiful! It´s raining today so we´re just completely relaxing....after all the craziness...
Our next destination is Mendoza tomorrow night on an overnight bus...

Exxx

---