Blogs from Tupiza, Potosí Department, Bolivia, South America - page 14

Ratsastusretkella Argentiina on taakse jaanytta elamaa ja nyt ollaan Boliviassa. Matka tanne sujui huomattavasti odotettua helpommin. Ensin otettiin bussi Humahuacasta La Quiacaan, mista kaveltiin rajalle ja ylitettiin silta Bolivian puolelle Villazonin kaupunkiin. Rajan ylittamiseen kului kaikkineen ehka sellaiset 20 minuuttia. Siina ajassa kerettiin hakemaan Argentiinan puolelta leima, kavelemaan maasta toiseen, tayttamaan Bolivian maahantulokortti ja saamaan myos Bolivian leima passiin. Ainoa "ongelma" oli, etta saatiin rajalta vain 30 paivaa maassaoloaikaa. Tarvitsee siis kayda jossain isommassa kaupungissa viranomaisten pakeilla pyytamassa jatkoaikaa, jonka kuitenkin pitaisi jarjestya ilman sen suurempia kommervenkkeja. Villazonissa suunnattiin samantien rautatieasemalle ostamaan junalippua Tupizaan. Lipunmyynti aukesi vasta pari tuntia myohemmin, joten saatiin vahan leva... read more

Hello Everyone Well, you may have noticed that we´ve not updated the blog for over a week now (thanks to those of you who posted messages in the mean time) but after managing to elude the dreaded tummy bugs that plague travellers in South America for almost 3 months, we finally fell ill. Really ill. It´s hard to know the exact cause but we suspect it was a pizza at Minuteman Pizza in Uyuni. The morning after eating there I was in pretty bad shape but we were due to go on our 3 day salt plains tour and I stubbornly (and stupidly) refused to cancel, thinking that these things usually pass in a day. By lunchtime however, whatever was making me ill had also caught up with Glynn and we were both getting worse, not ... read more

The horses were healthy. They had hardly a sweat after galloping across the dry river bed and up into the hills of the canyon’s wall. Their strong hind legs had carried us over 500 metres higher than the plain so we could survey the town of Tilcara below us. Even if someone had tried to follow us, they would not have caught us at the speed these spirited steeds galloped. Not that we had much say in the matter, nor too much control of it either. This was their run - and us gringos were merely attempting to ride gaucho style as we held the reigns loose in one hand and firmly hung on for the ride with the other. It was a hundred years ago that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid blazed this ... read more

Massive culture shock crossing the border into Bolivia. The altitude literally takes your breath away - over 3000 metres high. Interesting first experience of Bolivian buses - apparently it doesn't matter that the tyre has a huge hole in it we were told when we expressed concern. 20 minutes into the journey though the engine fell out of the bottom - that did matter. We sat on the side of the road for 3 hours in the middle of a desert until a passing chicken bus took pity on us. Met Lucy and Darren in a village called Tupiza, they were sickeningly brown after their month in Brazil - Mark and I very much ill looking in comparison. Went for a horseride to the Canon del Inca - no helmet, no guidance, bucking horses but ... read more

***I keep forgetting to mention a little something I only recently discovered about this site. You can double click on a photo to pull it up in a larger format and then slide show through all the photos in the entry*** Another entry where I'll mostly let the photos do the talking. The scenery got more and more spectacular as the days went on. This day we started by going to Laguna Colorada first. We were amazed at the number of flamingos and how beautiful the perfectly still lake was. We actually got to spend a bit of extra time here while our guides did some more "preventive maintenance" on the jeep. That was nice, because we got to walk around a bit and listen to the "pingos" and just take in the scenery. Next stop ... read more