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Published: February 3rd 2007
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The town of Atocha
The town where I had an unexpected three and half hour lay over on a Sunday morning. Once again it was another early for me. I was told to be at the bus office at 4:45AM for my 5AM departure for Tupiza. Surprisingly for 5AM bus, it was full and I seemed to be the only tourist on this bus. There isn't much to write about the first part of my journey and the minute I got on the bus, I fell asleep. I was awakened in the town of Atocha at about 7:30AM and told that I would have a three hour layover until the next bus left for Tupiza. I tell you one thing, having a three hour layer from 7:30AM to 10:30AM on a Sunday morning is not the best time to be visiting Atocha. This town doesn't even get mentioned in any of the tour books, such as my Lonely Planet book, so I had no idea where I was. I walked around for the town for a good hour and a half, following some music that led me to a church and passing by some not so attractive looking buildings. For the next hour and half, I found a great spot on a park bench in the main plaza and read a book
until my bus was about to leave for Tupiza. While reading in the plaza, the town began to wake up. People were out buying breakfast from street stands, entrepreneurs were setting up there stands for the day to sell their wares, stores opened with Coldplay music blaring out of them, and suddenly the streets were alive and it was time for me to go.
So once again, I seem to be the only tourist on the bus going to Tupiza. Where are all the tourists in this part of the country? So it was a pretty uneventful ride to Tupiza and the views were pretty spectacular. The road between Atocha and Tupiza was quite interesting however and not for those with sensitive stomachs. It wound through the mountains, going up and down, up and down for five hours. And of course there were no guardrails anymore... this country can't afford them. I am glad that the road was quite wide and the weather was sunny and dry otherwise I could see the road being pretty scary.
Finally at about 2:30PM, I finally arrived in Tupiza and found myself a room to stay in for the next few days
at Hotel Mitru. For 30 bolivianos a night, I had my own bed, bathroom and television, breakfast was included and they had a very nice outdoor swimming pool. I only wish I could find a place like this in Canada for $3.50. My friend Lesley from La Paz would be arriving in Tupiza around 4:30PM after a two-day horseback ride, so I had some time to kill before meeting up with here, so I did what I always do, and wandered around town to see if there was anything being set up for New Year's Eve festivities. I was unable to find anything of such, but I did fall in love with the town very quickly. Tupiza is a beautiful little town surrounded by mountains of red... now what isn't to love about that.
Finally when I returned back to my hotel after wandering around for a while, I met up with Lesley there. We went out for dinner with an Israeli couple that she had met on her horseback riding tour and enjoyed a nice dinner with some nice and cold beer to start us off for the New Year's Eve celebrations. After dinner, we found an ice
cream parlour for some dessert and then Lesley and I parted from the Israelis as they wanted to use the internet. Lesley and I went searching for a bottle of wine and cups so we could enjoy it in the main plaza, as drinking in public is not frowned upon here. After polishing off the bottle of wine, it was now time to wait to see if anything would happen in this town for New Year's. The plaza began to fill up with people, but there was no signs of any festivities or anything going on until about 11:55PM. All of sudden bands playing music with people dancing behind them came into the plaza from all directions. At midnight, they stopped to sprinkle each other with confetti and then continued on playing music and dancing, making their ways around the plaza for a many hours. I cut out at around 2PM as the early mornings finally got to me. I definitely won't forget this New Year's Eve!
What a way to end off 2006 and what a year it has been. The year 2006 was definitely a very memorable year for me, with both its hardships and excitement. The
best thing that happened during the year was doing what I had to do to realize a dream, and that was to quit my job to take the opportunity to work and live in another country and what a great decision it has been! Hopefully 2007 will have plenty of adventures in stock for me!
¡FELIZ AÑO NUEVO!
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