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Published: June 11th 2008
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Day 254 - Saturday 31 May
Theres only 2 buses out of town to Tupiza, one at 8 in the morning and another at 8 at night. As we didn´t fancy arriving at 3am in the morning, we opted for the 8am one. We were lucky to get on it though, there were only a few seats left on the bus.
Seven hours later we´d arrived in Tupiza. We spent a while haggling for rooms at various hotels before finally finding one. Once we´d dropped the bags off we went to the various tour agencies in town (theres loads), to try and get a good deal on one of the tours you can do. In the end we ended up booking through our hotel so could have saved ourselves a load of time and effort. However its worked to our advantage in the past.
Tupiza is Butch Casssidy and the Sundance Kid territory. Its close to here that they staged their last robbery before being chased to the village of San Vincente 120km away and meeting their end in a shoot out. Were going to visit San Vincente on our salt lake tour so its an ideal time
to watch the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Luckily the hotel has a copy.
After the film had finished Russ and Pa headed to bed but as its a saturday night I ventured to the local nightclub. As I was on my own I took position at the bar. It was a good spot to choose as everytime one of the locals went to the bar they entered into a conversation with me. You notice the difference between a small nightclub and one in a big city. The dancing was terrible. There was also people fast asleep in there but no one seemed bothered.
Theres an english girl called Marie-Claire working on reception at my hotel. She turned up with a Bolivian girl called Norka, and a Bolivian bloke called Yugo. Seeing me on my own she invited me over to their table. It was fairly obvious that Yugo was interested in Marie-Claire but it worked out ok as I hit it off with Norka. I´d only planned to stay out a couple of hours but it turned into a really good night and it was half five before I eventually got back.
Day 255
- Sunday 1 June
I´ve booked myself onto a three hour horseriding trek which i´m looking forward to as its been 20 years since I last rode a horse. Luckily yesterday I´d decided to book it for 2pm this afternoon rather than in the morning. After last night there was no way I´d have made it up for a morning ride.
It was just after 1pm before I´d got up and showered so I had just enough time to pop to a local shop and get some water. I must have spoken to a lot of people last night as going to the shop, loads of locals said Hi Byron, how are you?
It turned out that the company I´m doing the horseriding with is owned by Yugo the bloke i´d spent most of last night drinking with. He wasn´t feeling too well so he just dropped me off with my guide for the afternoon. My guide was only 12 years old but he knew how to ride and put me to shame. To be honest although its been 20 years I was ok. There was a brief bit where I was holding on for dear life
when we galloped but after a few minutes I was used to it. The ride took in some great scenery through a canyon and by red rocky mountains, but for me 3 hours was enough. Any more and I´d be sore for days.
Back at the hotel I bumped into Gary and Bart in reception. They invited me out for a few drinks tonight but I´ve already got plans. Last night I´d agreed to attend a BBQ with Yugo, Norka and Marie-Claire. Yugo dropped round my hotel and we went food shopping before picking up the girls. We ended up driving into the desert to have the BBQ but once again it was really good fun. I also picked up some good BBQ tips. They do it much better out here.
I think Norka was trying to get me drunk because she kept pouring me strong measures of one of the local spirits. I don´t know why i´m not exactly going to turn her down. Once we´d run out of booze Yugo drove us all back into town to buy some more, (he was as drunk as a lord but i dont think the drink drive laws are
the same out here). We picked up some more booze but had nowhere to go and drink it. Its freezing outside and unfortunately i´m sharing a room with Russ and Pa.
It turned out that Yugo still had a key for a house he used to own and he reckons its still unoccupied so we ended up breaking into his old house and staying there. It was another long and brilliant night. Tupizas really surprised me.
Day 256 - Monday 2 June
I wish I´d known beforehand but there are no cash machines in tupiza and I hadn´t got a single cent left. Luckily you can get a cash advance at the bank so I went down with Russ whos also run out of money to get some much needed cash.
After the last 2 days i´m having a lazy day tody so spent the whole day on the internet, watching tv or drinking orange juice in one of the cafes. Ive also decided to have an early night.
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