Blogs from Tupiza, Potosí Department, Bolivia, South America - page 7

Today we have a much needed rest and chill out while in the small town of Tupiza. Tupiza has similarities to the American wild west as it is surrounded by red coloured mountains, rocks and canyons. This small place is famous for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as it was around here that they met their end. We had hoped to do some horse riding in this area but we are too tired and need a day resting. We spend the morning typing up our blogs for the past few days but unfortunately the internet cafe felt like it had slowest connection in the world and we were unable to upload them. The weather was really warm so we relaxed and had lunch on the hostels roof terrace. Late in the afternoon we have a ... read more

We are dedicating this blog to Pete because he keeps popping up in John's dreams and saving the day. Thanks for subconsciously always being there for John, tall guy. We have really weird dreams while we're travelling. Sometimes, when our days aren't too full we are very busy all night with math tests, waiting on tables, places to go and stuff to do. Other times people from our past pop up with people from our present. It's a weird inner world on the road and even weirder while sleeping. We wish we could say we just hopped a bus to Tupiza, no problem. But, of course, we were in Bolivia and things rarely happen so simply. Our bus stopped after 2 hours (of deafening Andean flutes) and it became clear we were meant to get off. ... read more

Tomorrow I am leaving for the Salar de Uyuni. After checking out a few of the tour companies in town, the French couple and I decided on El Grane de Oro. They all offer more or less the same trip; 4 days and 3 nights through Southwest Bolivia and ending in the Salar, but the receptionist at El Grane de Oro seemed the most honest about everything. Bolivia is a gorgeous country. Tupiza makes me think of the old west, it dry and dusty and very poor, but the mountains are magnificent. Yesterday, after a bit of a rain storm in the afternoon, we hiked into a canyon just a couple of km from town. The mountains are mostly a deep red color and the formations are very dramatic and look like great big slices of ... read more

I decided not to stick around Tarija any longer and took a bus out of there yesterday morning. I took the same bus as teh French couple and we are still together in Tupiza. The bus ride was about 8 hours long over a dusty, narrow road carved into the Andes Mountains. It was a beautiful ride and definitely worth taking during the day, despite that fact that for most of teh ride there was nopthing seperating the bus from the bottom of some valley, and the only signs of any recent human activity in the were the numerous crosses erecteed along the side in memoriam of whatever unlucky vehicle happened to go over the side. For a while it was quite scary. Other a few small hamlets along the way there is nothing between Tarija ... read more

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 ... read more

Day 620 (09.12.08) We arrived in Tupiza, right in the South of Bolivia, at the inconvenient hour of 4am and after waking a poor chap found some beds in a hostel and crashed out for a few hours. We'd met up with James, a guy who'd stayed at the same place as us in Potosi, and together headed out to explore the town and book up a tour to the Salar de Uyuni, a must-do trip touring the south-west of Bolivia. It turned out that there were a couple of people booked for the following day and with the three of us that would fill a jeep. It was a little earlier than we'd planned to go as we'd wanted to spend some time exploring the surrounds of Tupiza but it worked out cheaper to have ... read more