Welcome to Bolivia!!

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A lot of people had told me that Bolivia and Argentina were 2 completely different countries but I really was not prepared for the vast difference just by crossing the border.

I caught the bus from Himuaca which is a wonderful town in the north of Argenitina. By this point I was only 2 hours away from Bolivia so I thought that catching a bus at 10am would get me to Bolivia in plenty of time for the 3.30pm train that I needed to my first stop.

Luckily I met a nice group of Argentinians just as I was leaving my hostel and I did the trip with them. The bus was half an hour late to start with but again that was ok. When we reached La Quiaca (the last stop in Argentina) we had to get off the bus and walk for 10 mins to the border. I felt terrible. The altitude really effected me. I was dizzy and felt sick and everything was spinning.

Then I was introduced to the wonders of the Coca leaf. Everyone around me seemed to have a bag of it in their pocket and it costs about 30c. Now dad this is NOT COCAINE it is just that cocaine is derived from it and a lot has to be done to it before it becomes cocaine. It is completely legal and is very much a part of Bolivian culture. The raw leaf is not harmful and is said to be high in calcium and vitamins.

Basically you take a big wad of them and de-vein them and then shove them into the side of your mouth next to your teeth. It is a strange bitter taste but not unpleasant and you then leave them there for abuout 45 mins to an hour. It was amazing that within minutes my altitude sickness went and I felt fine. You do not get any rush or anything it just makes you a bit more alert and helps with pain, cold and altitude.

Anyway - on the way to the border we met 4 Croatians, a swiss guy, a french girl and a couple of other argentinans so before long we were a group of 10. We had to wait at the border for 2 hours! It was crazy and seems to be for no reason because at no point is there any bag searching or questioning it just takes for ever for them to give you your exit stamp.

We then crossed no-mans land onto the Bolivian side. Although we were actually in Bolivia and could wonder about the streets if we so wished we then had to queue for another 2 hours to get our entry stamp. During this time the weather seemed to fluctuate from sunny and 35 degrees to absoulte downpour of rain and 15 degrees. We were happy to finally get our stamp but then found out that there were no more trains and possibly no more buses. The last thing we wanted to do was spend the night there as it was a very dodgy place and I was glad of the company of the others.

The problem with Bolivia is that it is difficult to trust peolpe. You constantly get told wrong information and already I am seeing that it is very frustrating. Eventually we found out that there was one more bus to Tupiza that day and believe it or not there were just 10 seats left. We quickly snapped up the remaining tickets at a price of $4 each for a 3 hour journey (not sure if this is correct or not as apparently you will get ripped off even at normal bus stations) and settled down to a cerveza and some food.

Everyone was trying to be careful with what they ordered. For example you cannot order salad here. I think the vegetables themselves are ok but the water is said to be medicine to send you straight to the toilet and make you stay there for a week so you have to be vigelent with everything.

Anyway we finally got on our bus and it wasn´t as bad as I was expecting. It was a bit like a coach in England. The only problem is there are no toilets and you all know how much of a problem that can be for me but I thought if I concentrated enough I could make it though a 3 hour journey (should have really thought about that when I was drinking the Cervezas!).

I had heard the roads in Bolivia were bad but I was expecting there to actually be a road! When we left the border town of Villazon about 2 mins into the journey the bus suddenly turned into what looked like a big field! But it just went on and on. Yes, that was our road. Basically a dirt track through fields. It was hardly surprising that about 2 hours into the journey the bus got completely stuck and we all had to get off (I had my toilet break!!). It was pitch black, we were in the middle of no-where and we were ankle deep in mud!

Luckily some tractors appeared out of no-where (??) and came to the rescue. It did take about 1 hour though of them messing around and trying to push the mud out of the way, blokes under the bus with spades trying to dig us out and then finally with a tow rope got the bus out.

I have a feeling that this might not be the only time something like this happens as we are now well into wet season.

I hadn´t even thought about seasons and Bolivia but it does mean that there will be quite a lot of things that are not accessible to me. For a start now is NOT the time to go to the Jungle unless you want to get eaten to death and live in water logged misery for days at a time. Also some of the east of Bolivia I was looking at is inaccessible as the "roads" are apparenlty closed!

Spent the day in this town called Tupiz. Am slowly trying to adapt to Bolivian life. I slept in a room with 4 of my travelling companions last night for $5. They are going a different way to me so I bid them farewell and have moved into my own room. It is the first time I have slept on my own since BA. My room is basically a cell with a single bed and a chair. There is not even any windows but they are still only charging me $5 per night so I can put up with no windows.

Tomorrow I am going on a 4 day jeep ride to see lagoons and hot spas and the famous salt plains. 2 of the nights will be spent in shacks with no electricity or running water......I will adjust ....I will adjust!!!!!

Love to you all xxxxxxxxx

p.s I am not even going to attempt to put photos up from this computer as it takes 10 mins just to flick between screens.

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