Tilcara, Jujuy Province to Uyuni, Bolivia.

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I arrived in Tilcara, Jujuy late at night having luckily made a reservation at the beautiful Hostel Malka. After walking around at night of a very unfamiliar place, I found the hostel and settled in for a nap before I found some grub. And grub did I find! A huge steak, 4 empanadas (pastry filled with spicy meat, cheese or egg famous in this part of argentina), and a ½ litre of wine. The restaurant was beautiful, but the good memories didn´t last long. What I had neglected to consider was the 1500 or so meters I had climbed from Salta, meaning a lower functioning digestive system. The dinner was rather rich, and I suffered for the next 2 days. I celebrated the halfway point of my trip from bed, sipping on flat coca cola, the only thing I could keep down. Whoa! A lesson I had to learn, don´t eat rich food until you are accustomed to the altitude. The town of Tilcara, once I had built up the energy to see it, was absolutely beautiful. A fascinating down historically, having been populate since 10,000 BC, and an important fort for peoples of the late period (1480´s ad) and the brief inca period. The town has an inca fortress, accessible to the public and situated in a very strategic place high on a cactus armed hill. I´ve never felt so huge in my life, barely being able to get inside the fort´s barracks and easily seeing over the walls. From the fort you can see huge distances in all directions. I leave Tilcara on a bus bound for the Argentine border town of Villason, where I will cross into Bolivia. Many thanks to the kind people at hostel Malka for their TLC, there are few better places to be sick.

I entered Bolivia the way most people enter Bolivia, walk across a long bridge and get your passport stamped. Upon entering the country there is little different, lots of places to change currency, busy markets and taxis everywhere asking if you need a ride. I took a ride to the train station, to find I had 3 hours to kill before the train to uyuni. I found a phone to tell mom I was alive in Bolivia, found a great little restaurant and ate some more goat stew. The train was pleasant, of course they had run out of seats in the 3rd and second class, so I had to pay the mighty sum of 8 dollars for the executive car. Hilarious 80´s latin music videos, a rather illegal copy of the new superman movie, some yogurt and a dusty but nice 12 hour ride to Uyuni. Met some fellow solo travelers and communicated via the ever-popular ´franco-italo-spanglish´, a language I´m proving to be rather adept at using. The train was similar to one I took from New Delhi to Amritsar, very Raj, with odd uniforms and holes in the bathroom floor for #1´s and #2´s. I made it to Uyuni late at night, again luckily having made a reservation beforehand. A cold bed, and colder room, I wore all my clothes, plus scarf, toque (thank you julie), jacket and mitts.

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Photos

the view from the breakfast table
the little town of Tilcara

a town of little people
remember, I´m barely 5´9.

Comments

[Rosana]

is great this pleace!!!!!
i hope you enjoy this earth with PACHAMAMA!!!!! kISSSSSSSSSSSS Foxy Roxy...