Blogs from Tupiza, Potosí Department, Bolivia, South America - page 11

Farewell Chile When we left Argentina on December 26th I thought it might be the last time we'd see this great country (on this trip), but since then we've returned three times from Chile. We just can't get enough of it! This latest visit was very much a last minute decision: Bolivia was our next planned destination and the best route in from San Pedro de Atacama seemed to be via Argentina. So we left San Pedro at 10.30am, and all was going fine until close to the border at the Jama Pass. Then, the bus engine started overheating, as it apparently didn't like the altitude! We stopped a couple of times, then struggled onto the border, where there was a 5 hour wait for a replacement bus from Calama. The border pass is at a ... read more

After the excitement and inspirational tour of the Salar de Uyuni, the town of Uyuni itself (with the exception of the quite exceptional MinuteMan pizza restaurant) was rather, well, dull and uninspiring. So much so that - after updating our blog - we were quite keen to leave on the first train, bus or donkey. Our next destination was to be Tupiza - Bolivia's 'Wild West', less than 200 km to the South-East. Unfortunately, escaping Uyuni proved to be rather more of a challenge than we had anticipated. A train heads south to the Argentinian border every 2-3 days, but by the time we had got our brains in gear, we had missed the first available train, so it would be at least 48hrs before we could hop on another. No problem. Buses leave to Tupiza ... read more

From Salta we bused 7 hours to the border towns ( La Quaica on the Argentine side and Villazon on the Bolivian side). With another stamp in our passport we then proceeded a further 3 hours to Tupiza, 3000m above sea level. He we did a day tour which consisted of seeing the views in a Jeep and on bikes. The last bike ride in the evening we were taken up to 3700m and told to ride 'slowly' back to Tupiza and to keep control around the winding paths with huge drops. What spectacular views though - as you can see from the photo's. On the 21st of Feb, at 7pm, we got the night train to Uyuni which arrived at 2am. We decided to get the train because this form of transport is a rarity ... read more

Hey, sorry, these entries are so boring - I have left it too long to write them and can´t remember as many datails as I would like.... bear with me! Right, next leg of the trip is to Bolivia, but no direct bus there as have to change at the border. Took an overnight bus to La Quiaca from Salta which was supposed to take 7 hours.... when everyone started getting off the bus after only 5.5 hours, I thought "hmmm, this is a popular spot where ever it is.... but why on earth does it say welcome to La Quiaca???" - whoops was there already and it is pitch black outside (5am!). We head inside the "bus station" (very make shift type of place) and stood there thinking what on earth now??? Lots of locals ... read more