Saddle Sores and Wine Stores

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We arrived in Tupiza at around 4am, with no map to hand we set off to find our hotel. Being told that it was a small town we were surprised by how big it actually seemed. After getting directions from another place owned by the hotel we finally got into our rooms and got a bit more sleep!

After breakfast we spent most of the day by the pool, and in the evening went to a local parillia place for a big plate of meat!

Next morning it was time for our horse riding adventure to begin. After sauntering to the stables we saddled up (or more believably were plonked on our horses) and set off to the canyons. After a trip down a steep hill, in which Charlene's horse would not do as it was told, she swapped horses with the guide.
We then visited the first of a few canyons before lunch, where we enjoyed not being on the horses for a while.

The journey back had us fording rivers and trotting along the train track. Having gained a bit more confidence Stuart wanted his horse (Rosillo) to go a bit faster, however every time he tried to go past Charlene, her horse (Oberto) would then start to run until Rosillo backed off. Not fun for Charlene! We got back tired and sore and jumped back into the pool! Unfortunately it was too difficult take pictures whilst riding, so Stuart has drawn some cartoons to document the occasion.

The next day we set off on the overnight bus to Tarija. We arrived at 3am with nowhere booked and sat in the coffee shop in the bus station until a more reasonable hour! After finding somewhere to rest our heads we spent time looking round the plazas and preparing for the wine tour the next day.

We were picked up for our tour (half an hour late!) by a taxi driver and a guide, who turned out to be only 18 and from America. We went to three different wineries:

The first was quite a large one, and they had imported all their equipment and vines from France. The second was the smallest of the three, and did a lot of Singani (a Bolivian spirit) products. The third was a family run vineyard and was more traditional in the way in produced wine. We went back to our hotel full of wine with some more for later.

The following day we took a flight to Santa Cruz, where we spent a few days relaxing by the pool, eating Japanese food and sweating in the humidity!

And with that we left Bolivia- next stop Paraguay!

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