Tupiza to La Paz - Enjoying the Bolivian Countryside and Culture!!

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Since I have been in Bolivia I feel that my feet have hardly touched the ground. The fact that I am always at a high altitude by the way doesn´t help. I never understood how hard it was but I have had headaches, nausia, dizziness and it feels like no oxygen in my lungs at all. Sometimes even having a converstation is hard never mind walking up a slight incline. Mind you - it unfortunaltey has not stopped me smoking and has certainly not stoped me from having a good time.

To go back about a week I was all set to leave Tupiza to go on this 4 day jeep tour the next day. I didn´t realise at that stage there were no ATMs in Tupiza and to get money you have to queue at the bank for 2 hours!!

(Just as an aside travelling really makes you appreciate certain thingsa in life. In Bolivia people seem to spend thier life queueing. You know how at home if you are waiting for longer than 3 mins for your skim Latte you start to get uppity?? I realised that I hardly ever have to queue for anything. I do my reseach on line instead of going to a library, I pay my bils on line, I do all of my banking via internet and even book my holidays that way. Things are not so fast and instant in other parts of the world.)

I was trying to get money for my tour at 6pm (the banks close at 4) when I bumped into these 3 irish guys. They are all so so nice. One lives in San Francisco, one in London and one of them runs a club in Berlin (who I will stop in and visit on my way to Stockhollm). They have been mates for years and years and are all 35 or 36. I went out with them that night. The places to go out in Tupiza are extremely limited and we ended up at a Bolivian Kareoke bar. We (maybe I) nagged the DJ to play something English. He eventually rewarded us with this mega mix of 90´s music. It lasted for about 1/2 an hour and only had about 10 seconds of each song on there but we felt obliged to dance to the whole thing (this is especially hard to do at altitiude). The guy who runs the club in Berlin said his reputation in the whole of the European music scene would be destroyed if people could see him. The all time low for him came when he was dancing to Sabrina´s ¨Boys, Boys, Boys!!. Anyway - we stayed out until about 3.30 and then I could not get into my hostel so the boys let me crash in their room.

There was no way I was going to make it to the tour the next day so one of them took me down to the tour company and we told them I was feeling very sick and would love to be transferred to the next day and be in a group with the boys. In the next breath we told the tour company that we did think it would be a great idea however, if I was able to go horseriding with the boys as the fresh air would be good for me. As I still had no money the boys thankfully paid for me. It was such a fun day. I have never been on a horse and I was galloping through these huge cannons and amazing coutryside. In typical Bolivian style we were given no instruction and a cow boy hat for protection but I didn´t fall off and it was really good fun-.

The next four days were absolutely amazing. I really can´t put it into words but every minute of everyday i saw so many outsdtanding things in nature it was untrue. We stayed in these tiny Bolivian villages really in the middle of no where. The fact that we were so isolated and so far away from most people in the world really blew me away. We saw moutains, green lagoons, red lagoons, bathed in natural hot springs, walked on salt plains which are so so amazing (you really have to be there to understand) rode on the top of a jeep at 100km per hour through these salt plains (which are basically dried up oceans so you feel like you are on the ocean a lot of the time) which cover 12000 square km. It sometimes feels like there is no one else in the world!!

I have lots of pictures but for now have mis-laid my cable that connects my camera to my computer so they will come later. I had only 2 showers in 5 days but everyone was the same so it actually felt quite nice. You don´t get the opportunity to be completely so uncaring with the way you look very often.

I have mentioned before my new found sleeping skills. Well a big group of us by this point caught an overnight bus from Uyuni (where the tour ended) to La Paz. The bolivian buses and roads are terrible and apparently for the first 6 hours it was the worst journey that most people had experienced to date. Everyone was saying they did not believe anyone in the world would be able to sleep through it but sure enough when the 2am toilet stop happened I was out cold and no one could wake me up! I am very very happy!!

Then we arrived in La Paz!!! This really is a party town and is a good way of rewrding myself after the 4 days of being fairly holistic! It is amazing how many people I already know in La Paz as we have met so many people along the way.

We are staying in party hostel and it is great. The only thing is that at any time day or night there is someone asleep in our room and it really is starting to smell like death! Too many sweaty boys I am sure it is nothing to do with me! A girl lent me her hair straighteners yesterday which was a real luxury. I really don´t know what I looked like on our tour as I didn´t even have a mirror but hardle no-one regonised me with my new hair and mascara on (the only make up I now own!!)

This really is the best hostel though. They serve free breakfast though to 1pm which I feel is very civalised in such a party town but I didn´t even manage to make it for that yesterday.

I got into bed in the afternoon on my top bunk in my room with 7 other people and felt like I was in the lap of lñuxury. There is a hot and pwerfull shower, Instead of having a bed that is slightly wider than my shoulders the bed is almost 3/4 size! I have 2 pillows!!!!! Usually you get one tiny little thing that is rock hard and lumpy and I even had matching bedding and to top it all off a real doona! Oh - the things you normally take for granted!

After the long bus journey to get here we were all up for a relatively quiet night and thoought we would go out the following night. That obviously did not happen and we all got back to our hostel yesterday in daylight hours. We had had a fun but crazy night out in many different clubs in La Paz and felt that we really emerged our self into Bolivian culture! I slept all day yesterday, was woken up at 8.30pm to have a beautiful roast chicken dinner put on by the hostel and then went straight back to bed and woke up at 8am this morning. It is a nice change from the tour as we were getting up between 4.45 and 6.30 every morning.

I will stay here for a few more days. Out again to see what a Friday night is like in La Paz, probably a recovery day tomorrow and then going to watch some female wrestelers on Sunday! I am going to a Coca museum this afternoon and then on an unofficial tour of San Pedro prison!!

Hope everyone is well and còping with the crazy weather. I hear it has been very very hot in Aus and very very cold in Europe????

Take care and love to you all xxxxxxxx

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