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Published: August 11th 2008
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Sunday the 3rd
That night I had a great night out in a restaurant Mainly with people from the hostel. Everyone was on the dance floor going crazy. All one big party.
Monday the 4th
Steve the aussie rejoined myself niamh and maeve on that morning. Hungover we lounged around for the day, packed our bags and said our goodbyes to crazy la paz. That night at 9pm we got a bus to Uyini a town in the south of bolivia.
Tuesday the 5th
We arrived in Uyini at 6 the next morning. The Salt flats are beside Uyini and that morning we started a three day tour around the salt flats. Our group was the four of us and two japanese guys taka and massa. Good lads but they didnt really speak english. Day 1 we got in a jeep and headed into the salt flats. They are amazing and we were able to take some pretty cool and strange photos. All we really did though was sit in the jeep all day as the guide drove us around. Despite the beautiful scenery it was a bit boring. If i had been on my own
Oops
Jeep minus one wheel and a hole in the window where the axle came through i dont think id have enjoyed the tour but with the four of us together we did have a bit of craic. That night we bought a few bottles of wine and played cards. We stayed in a place made out of salt. It was freezing but i was snug enough with the red wine inside me and 4 pairs of socks, two pairs of trousers, two t shirts two hoodddies, a beanie, a sleeping bag liner, a sleeping bag and blankets on top of it all.
Wednesday the 6th
Up at seven and back in the jeep for another pretty boring day of driving around the mountainous desert. The scenery was amazing with colourful lagoons full of flamingos and an active smoking volcano. But 8 hours in a jeep is not that great. That day both my camera and my ipod stopped working. Not sure how they both caved in on the same day but it was a complete piss off. the camera is only a month old. Anyways to drown my sorrows and salute my falled electronic comrades we drank a bottle of wine each and a naggin of whisky. Again dressed like the michilin man
i slept pretty well in the coldest place in the world.
Thursday the 7th
Up at 5.30 and we were in the jeep for some more driving in the jeep. Now things got really intresting. First we saw the sun rise beside some gyseers which was really cool. We could feel the heat off the gyseer which was welcome as we were all freezing. Then after the gyseer while heading down the road (or dirt path) in the middle of the desert the wheel came off the jeep. There was a crazy noise and next thing i knew the car was on its arse, minus one wheel and as we skidded to a stop the bloody axle of the car came in through the back window and almost speared poor japanese Taka. When we stopped niamh was shouting at me to get out. I think she thought the car was going to blow up. Luckily no one was hurt. Thankfully a few jeeps passed who said they would pass on a message for us, but we had to wait hours in the freezing cold for real help to come. Eventually two half full jeeps rescued us. The driver
in the my new jeep was the bolivian michael shumacher and scared the shit out of me on several ocassions, but the wheels stayed on the jeep and after more spectacular scenery we eventually made it back to uyini for much welcomed hot showers. We went to a pizza place and i ordered pizza. But when it came to the table i couldnt eat it as a result of my pizza experience in the jungle.
Friday the 8th
That morning we got up at 5 ready to hit argentina and headed to the bus station. The first bus was taking us to a town called tupiza further south in bolivia. The journey took 8 hours and we got to tupiza at 2. The onward buss to the argentinian border was meant to pick us up at 2.30pm but at 4 o clock we figured it might not be coming. We asked a few taxi drivers ho much to the border town of Villazon. The journey was meant to take 1.5 hours and only was costing us 7 or 8 euro each so we said fine and got in the taxi. About 35 minutes from the border, in the
Argentinian Steak
half a kilo each....mmmmmmmmm middle of the desert and on the shitty gravelly dirt track road we got a puncture. So we changed the wheel and set off again. Five minutes later the spare wheel blew. Now we were really screwed as. We tried waving down a few cars but the just drove by us leaving us to rot in the dessert. Eventually a car pulled over for us. Our driver got in, said he would head for the town and be straight back with new spares in half an hour. About two hours later after the sun set and in the middle of a thunder storm (in the dessert remember) he came back. Eventually at about 9pm we got to the argentinian border. Luckily it was open so we crossed and celebrated that we were finally out of bolivia. Bolivia is a beautiful place but it really was just problem after problem so im kinda glad to be away.
Now in argentina we went straight to the bus station and got another overnight bus to Jujuy further south in argentina. Now we were all pretty pissed off and facing a night on a shitty bus was not that appealing. at 6 am in the morning and without much sleep we arrived at juy juy. The next step was getting to Salta, our final destination. We could wait till nine for a bus or take a 2 hour taxi straight away. We opted for the taxi it not being that expensive and we were pretty sure it would be ok as there is tar on the roads in argentina. Half way to salta the bloody taxi started to act up and it could hardly accelerate especially going up hill. I was on the brink of tears. Luckily it was nearly all down hill and after about an hour of mostly rolling downhill slowly we made it to salta about 30 hours after we left Uyini in bolivia.
Saturday the 9th
Arriving in Salta at 10 in the morning you would think i would be wrecked after hardly any sleep but some reason i wasnt. We found a hotel and Niamh went to bed but myself Steve and meave headed off to find breakfast. We found salta to be a beautiful little city with nice central plaza. The coffee with breakfast was amazing as were the croissants and despite our day and a half of hell getting there we quickly cheered up. At last we were in a real country. We all showered (beautiful hot showers) slept after breakfast. Later we strolled around the town and that night i had my first argentinian steak. It was incredible. After the steak we ended up in an area with a load of bars and clubs and we partied away till about 5am.
Sunday the 10th
Still wrecked from the traveling we didnt do an awful lot only soak up the sunshine in the beautiful european style city. The day consisted of sleeping in late, drinking coffee in cafes going out for dinner again and finally going to see so live traditional argentinian music. There was a guy with a telescope on the street and we all paid him and took a look at the moon.
Monday the 12th
We all leave salta today. Our group has sadly split up. The girls are off to mendoza and myself and steve are heading for cordoba. It was good fun traveling in a big group but our plans just dont match up any more. Myself and steve head are going to stick together for another week or two, probably end up snowboarding together. So tonight we get another night bus. So its bye bye to salta nd thank you for bringing me back to civilisation and making me feel good again.
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Ashley
non-member comment
Argentina
Hey Darren! Make sure you drink some great Malbec wine with your Argentine steak. Good to read that you're doing well, despite almost being stranded in the desert... Ash xx