This is...mi vida

Bolivia, it hit me like a slap in the face

On an uneventful bus ride to the Argentine, Bolivian border I met a
strange Canadian man who I befriended to join me in my walk across the
border in case I needed some male protection, not that he would have
been able to provide much but nonetheless.

After crossing the border, changing money and being told by an old Bolivian
women that it was far to cold for me to be outside (she was right) I stumbled upon a
bus heading toTupiza, the "American Wild West" town between the border and Uyuni. I saw other gringos, bought a ticket and jumped up on the bus. Literally, the first step was at least 3 feel high and small children had to heave their grandmothers up the first step.

The bus was ok and I immediately found out many Bolivians had gold grills holding their teeth together and that yes the older women wear traditional clothes(colored blankets, two braids with tassels on them, and funny European style top hats).

The bus toke off and we started out 2 hour trip ON A DIRT ROAD! Actually the whole trip was on a dirt road, I hadn't thought that Ale could be right about this (Ale, you re awesome). The entire scenary was desert and small brick houses and a few towns, I still cant be sure if there was really people living in them because they looked more like abandoned ruins than houses, but occasionally i saw people.

Arrived in Tupiza, the man stilling next to me said we had arrived and I felt sick to my stomach and thought, no way absolutely not please tell me this isn't it. The tiny dust town was pretty much nothing and the bus station was chaos. Animals, people selling food I couldn't identify, dogs, people hauling bags of potatoes and all indigenous people. I wanted to cry, get back on the bus and the gringos Id stopped had other plans than to get the hell out ofTupiza.

I immediately went to the train station to get a ticket to Uyuni, closed until 4pm...it was 10:30 am. I went to the Hostel International and the women tried to talk me into taking a 3 day tour toUyuni, her intense sales push made me stop feeling ill and I was composed myself and decided on a 3 hour horse back riding trip.

The guide for my trip was the old age of 15! He assured me he was going tonight school (yeah right) and we toke off. The views were out of this world, old wild west. ButchCasidy died here or something and it seems like the correct setting for a shot out. Blue, orange and red hills with tons of Cati, pounding heat andunforgivingly dry air.

The horse backing riding went great I didn't fall off, chatted with the guide about why I dont have a boyfriend, saw wild pigs, old abandoned houses, rode under the crackling wire of the electricity plant and got back early to get my ticket.

I waited in line with all the locals, got my ticket and got dinner and talked to
a crazy Yugoslavian,which was difficult because he had only slightly better Spanish than me.

I got the same sick to my stomach feeling when I saw the train, PACKED with people and their goods to sell. Luckily I was in the eleccion section and the only inconveniences I had to deal with was occasional crying baby and the mother than insisted on playing a xylophone while here uninterested 1 year old sipped on a juice boxand ignored her. Spiderman 3, dubbed in Spanish, was also a nice distraction.`

*Forgot to mention that one my way to lunch I saw a procession, which meant almost the entire town walked around the square, stopped and the church to bless and pray and then they continued on all signing followed by a military band.

Also strange Bolivian observances were that Beyonce music videos playing at lunch, almost all the toilet paper here is pink and the market in Tupiza sold decent knock off verisons everything puma and nike and the women manipulate blankets to be backpacks or baby carriers all of which seem to work with surprising efficiency.

entrada de Stacey @ 15:32