Cochabamba: The good, The bad and The better (sorry it just never really got too ugly)

So I haven´t posted in a bit so here it goes. We left Sucre at about 7:30pm on Saturday after having to pay some sort of weird leaving the city tax, it was super cheap so it didn´t matter but it was still damn weird. Now I was alittle sketched out because everything I have read said, ¨don´t take an overnight bus in Bolivia, it is dangerous¨ but we didn´t have a choice because the only buses going to our next destination, Cochabamba, were night buses. So we settled into our seat and awaited the ride ahead. It was a beautiful night and as we moved out of the city the fullest brightest moon ever shone over our heads drenching the countryside in a milky white glow. It was so bright you could make out most of the scenery and it was extra beautiful because it was all cast in moonlight. The bus continued down this huge river valley, down and down, winding back and forth for hours. On either side of the mountain like hills that banked the river giant storm clouds were creeping in. So a couple of hours in to our journey we watched huge bolts of lighting shoot across the valley right above us. It was a spectacular light show and some how we basically avoid all rain, which was good because the road we were driving on was crazy enough as it was. The road was cut into the mountain side above the river, sometimes high above, some times almost at water level and sometimes we would cross back and forth across the river. This road was like most in Bolivia : gravel. And many times over the course of the night the bus would have to slow down as it forded as small river that had decided to flood over the road. Some of these little rivers were at least a couple feet deep. But that is what highways between major cities are like in Bolivia. The bus had no washroom despite the fact that it was a 9 - 10 hour trip so that meant we had two stops along the way. Both were in tiny towns. At the first I got out to stretch my legs and pee. It was drilled into me as a child that on a road trip you MUST pee at any possible opportunity because you never knew when your next chance would be and heaven forbid the car might have to be stopped along the highway down the road. Anyway so with this in mind I went looking for the washroom which turned out to be in the back of this restaurant we stopped in front of and I use the word washroom in a loose sense. After wandering to the back of the restaurant, past what appeared to be two dead, skinned dogs just hanging near some dining tables I found the Banos. It consisted of a couple of stalls with very very dirty toilets and no stall doors what so ever. So I waited for the one stall with a very shabby scrap of material that functioned as a curtain. This toilet also turned out to be as dirty as the others and looked to have not been flushed for some time, days, weeks, I am unsure. And that is all i will say about that experience, except that sometimes hand sanitizer is about your best friend. At least it acts as a placebo for the mind. The next stop was about the same, the washrooms were really no better accept for the fact that you got to ¨flush¨ the toilet with a bucket of water you scooped from a big barrel of water out front of the toilet stall. The bus was alright really and not sketchy at all which was nice but that didn't mean that Anna or I slept a wink as the bus bumped its way on down to our next location. So as we rolled into Cochabamba´s bus stop at 6 am Anna and I wearily gathered our stuff and set out. We had a hostel in mind that the nun who ran the orphanage we were going to volunteer in recommended. (ps on the cab ride to the hostel we passed a parade I am guess for Easter but only in Bolivia would there be some giant parade at 6am which included brass bands) But after we arrived at the hostel and woke up the owner at such an ungodly hour we found out is was more money than we wanted to spend. So we walked basically all the way back to the bus station to another hostel in my guide book that sounded alright, checked in and promptly feel asleep. We slept for about 4 hours then got up as to not miss the entire day. We wandered down to the giant market a few blocks from the hostel. The market was INSANE. It was blocks and blocks of narrow aisles of stalls, fruit, meat, cloths, watches, pens, nicknacks. It was almost too much for our sleep deprived brains to handle, too chaotic, especially after someone started firing off fire crackers above the crowds heads. Now already my guide book had kinda put us edge about this town telling us there were a couple of parks we couldn´t go to because they were too dangerous so that didn´t help our attitudes about the place. It also didn´t help that we arrived on Easter Sunday which meant that the entire down town was shut down and seemed to be some sort of creepy ghost town. After wandering about desperately trying to find a cold beer to drink (and failing) we headed back to the hostel to sleep. It is now that we realize that it is not such a great thing to have your room right across from the bathroom because we now know how often some people pee and who has diarrhea. The hostel sucked!!!!! We went to sleep again. Then we trudged out to find some dinner and a god damn beer. We finally stumble upon a student bar and order a cold beer and some food. Now another thing I don´t quite understand about this country is how, even when we look and I might say smell our shittiest Anna and I still get hit on. There is something about being western even though we are no where near as pretty or I might say as clean as the Bolivian girls at the bar we are still a catch or maybe some weird freak prize. But we ended up talking to this med student from Brazil (many Brazilians do med school here because it is cheaper and easier to get into) much of the night he turned out to be pretty cool and spoke a bit of English because he had been to both Vancouver and Toronto, topics of much conversation that itself was a hilarious mixture of English and Spanish, spenglish. These other two dudes who had been trying to make Anna and I sit with them were choked and tried to convince me that because they were architects, which is cooler then medical students, we should moved tables. It was ridiculous. Anyway so we end up going back to the Brazilian dudes apartment and hanging out with him and his friends for a while and their funny pit bull terrier that got so excited to see us it pissed on the floor, not once, not twice but three times. And then finally the dude drove us back to our hostel which really turned out to be a blessing because the neighbourhood had turned into a total sketch ville, kinda scary even. I was even uncomfortable standing on the step waiting for the owners to open the door. It was the pits. And we were exhausted. The next day not much was open again and we were kinda crabby and we got yelled at by this dude who told us to go home and that Yankees were shit, I don´t think he would have cared much for us to correct him about our nationality. And at the market this woman totally ripped me off for change and pretended not to understand my Spanish. It was just a really shitty day. I felt pretty down. And we had to find another hostel. And one more thing about Bolivia. I really love this country but people honk their car horns like mad here. I mean it. It is insane. I suppose it is because their driving is so erratic that honking helps but when it gets to this point a honk really doesn´t mean anything when you spend more time laying on the horn than not. People honk for everything and sometimes even nothing, maybe because they are bored I don´t know. But fuck it is insane. Anyway, we finally find a new hostel, much better no pissing and shitting noises, we even have our own bathroom and there it a beautiful court yard and it is in a better neighbourhood. And the city had grown on us now that people are out and about and things are open. So the grey clouds have lifted and we are back on track. I have even discovered a new and most favorite of fruit but I have no idea what it is called in English or how to spell the Spanish name. It is something like, manticulla, who the fuck knows. But it looks kinda like a hard pale yellow green smooth orange from the outside and is full of this bright orange juice and black seeds on the inside and the texture can be kinda like slime at times but damn it is so tasty. It is tangy, tart and smells and tastes like purfume and i can´t get enough. Well enough with that . . . . I started volunteering at the orphanage today. I didn't really do much just check it out and hang out with some kids for a bit. It is hard because I cant speak their language at all but on the other hand most of the kids I am hanging out with are handicapped and some can´t really speak either so we are a good fit I suppose. The orphanage is crazy. It is in this little town out side of Cochabamba on this no name dusty road that pigs and random sheep wander up and down. We took a cab there from Cochabamba and really I just shut my eyes on cab rides I know I will get there and it will just stresses me out too much to watch the driving. Anyway it is run by this 60 plus Scottish nun sister Josephine. She is really really nice and so interesting. She has lived all over the world. she lived in France, in Kenya and in Algeria before Bolivia. Her order in Europe cared for old people I think. She trained as a nurse at some point I am not sure before she became a nun or after, or if you can go to school as a nun. I don't know much about nuns really. And she was in Europe and though that she was taking it easy too much and worrying about her own comfort and read an article on Bolivia and moved here and has been here for the last 12 years. She volunteered at another orphanage in the area and some other group built the one she runs now and they had no one to run it so she took over. It is really beautiful and inviting on the inside with a courtyard with roses and other floors, and all cheerfully decorated. She is amazing and has seemingly endless energy. There are 24 kids who live at the orphanage, a whole range of ages and many of them are handicapped some even severely so, including one boy who is totally blind and cant walk and lies in his wheelchair all day (Anna and I took him outside today to the sand box) but Sister Josephine told us he was born totally ¨normal¨ I put that in quotations for obvious reasons but I mean without his current conditions and he was abused to this point which is pretty fucking intense. Anyway since she has been at this orphanage she has built a school in the back which educates more than 200 poor local children, including supplying them with school supplies and lunch. the school is based on the montesouri method which is pretty cool. She also built a bakery next door that also houses a library for the kids. And the bakery is used to train people in baking and all of the proceeds go to paying for continuing education for the kids at the orphanage and in the neighbourhood, I think it is paying for some 70 kids to go to university. And she is always planing more. Although she told us that she never even knows if the ends are going to meet every month and she is going to be able to pay all her staff including the teachers and social worker. All of her money comes from donations. Every night she is the only adult there for 24 kids making them dinner and everything. the older kids help out (there is one in university) but seriously that is an insane amount of work. It was just amazing to meet someone who is really just dedicating her life to improving the lives of the less fortunate and children. I have so much respect for her and she just keeps plugging on every day, and she told us she got yelled at and told to go home so that made us feel better, if she could be yelled at it really doesn't matter. Hell she even drives a big school bus to take all the kids out sometimes and I wouldn´t even get behind the wheel here. It gave me a lot of perspective. It was a good day after two pretty shitty ones. But after being at the orphanage it just remindes you to be so fucking grateful for everything and one in your life I am so damn lucky it is unbelievable. Thank you all for making my life so damn good. On that cheesy note I have to go to bed this account has taken far to much time.

Leaving Sucre is a hard thing to do . . . . .

I am off today for Cochabamba on a 10hr bus, oh buses my long lost love hate friend. I hope it goes alright. Sucre has treated us more than well. It has been amazing. Mostly we have spent a lot of time doing nothing. Over the last two days we discovered that you can buy any movie you want on the street here for about a one dollar so we have been chilling out watching movies, wandering around, eating far too much. I will actually be a balloon when I get back to Canada! None of you will recognize me. Last night we were walking about and ran into an interesting reenactment of Christ getting put on the cross and dying, complete with Romans, a crown of thorns and everything. I guess that is what they do at Easter here, it was interesting. I have also been drawing a lot. I was really inspired by the market so I drew a few scenes from it. I found it very interesting how differently people react to been drawn than to being photographed. Lots of people don't want to be photographed but when you are just sitting there drawing everyone gets really interested in you. They want to know what you are doing and who you are and to see the picture. They were all really great about it and introduced themselves and at one point I had about 8 kids around me watching what I was doing and asking me questions (many of which I didn't understand because again my Spanish is shit) But I found it really fascinating how different an experience it was. Really cool. Other than that not much else is up. Kaye our traveling companion is leaving us for La Paz but our paths might cross again down the road. She had a kinda rough, funny experience in Sucre. This one guy we met from Cyprus fell in love with her after knowing her for about 12 hrs and wanted to pay for her to travel with him and almost wouldn't accept no as an answer and told her that she had broken his heart (Damn fast romance if you ask me :) ) Miss you and hope you are all doing great.

Market Love

I am in love. I am in awe. I am in rapture. And I am so full I might explode. I am in Sucre right now and I got up this morning and decided to explore the city. It is a beautiful place. In the downtown almost all of the buildings are white and colonial style and really gorgeous. I was just wandering around minding my own business looking at the sights when I stumbled upon the local market. Now I have to say something for the markets in Bolivia. They are great in general. They are always in these huge open style concrete structures that have all of these little stales as well as people just laying out their goods on the floor. They are always somewhat haphazard and appear to have been built over a period of time as they meander. They always have an upper floor two that circles the lower floor and the second floor is often mostly comprised of food stands where you can buy complete meals. Well for any foodie ( ie anyone who is as addicted and in love with food as I am: Clare I am thinking of you) I have found the mother land, the mecca! The market here is probably the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It is huge and contains anything you could ever want to buy for cheap. There are a ton of meat stands selling every part of any animal you could ever want. There is a whole section devoted to fruit stands where there is every kind of fruit imaginable piled high. It is like and enormous rainbow of deliciousness. There are veggie stands piled a persons height tall with the most beautiful perfect veggies you have ever seen. There are spice stands, and nut stands. There is a whole courtyard that is ringed by stands piled high with amazing fruit selling fruit and veggie shakes. There are potatoes, herbs, flowers, jelly stands. There are stands selling some of the most delicious looking sauces (including hot sauce which is awesome down here). There are bulk stands selling pasta and rice. There are stands piled high with miscellaneous can goods. There are household goods. And the cafeteria area is filled with bubbling pots of the most amazing looking stews and soups and fried meats and veggies. I actually wandered around for about and hour with the biggest smile on my face ever. I think that some day I will move to this town for a while just for the market. I could go there ever day and I would leave every day with a smile on my face. Today I bought a papaya, pineapple and milk fruit shake, a huge slice of pineapple and a delicious empinada for about 70 cents all combined. I am in love. I am in awe. I am in rapture and I am completely full. I have made a point of eating street food while being in South America and it has always paid off. It is the best food you can get for the best price. A complete meal at one of these market stales which includes a huge bowl of soup and a main course costs around 10 bolivianos which is about $1.20. I am not eating anywhere but this market the entire time I am here. I think the hardest thing to moving back to Canada is going to be missing these markets with my entire heart. I dont understand why we dont have these kinds of markets, with fresh farmers goods.

Potosi Silver Mines

So on our last day in Potosi we decided that we had to take a trip through the Silver mines. The mountain, hill, thing that just towers over the town is the reason the town is there. Potosi was a bigger, richer town than anyone in Europe in the 16 century because of the amount of silver they were pulling out of this mountain. Silver veins were a number of feet wide back then. This history makes Potosi a pretty interesting place to visit and kinda old school and medieval looking. We also visited the old mint where they used to make silver money when the town was booming. Now Bolivia doesn't actually make any of its own money, other countries do that including Canada. Anyway so the silver mines closed after the initial silver ran out and Potosi shrank in size. The mines then became state owned and were worked for a while and then closed again for a number of reasons. Now the state rents the space to about 300 cooperatives that mine the mountain. Although it is mostly tapped, only 15 percent of what they pull from the mountain is actually silver, or zinc or whatever else they mine. So we got up early this morning to make it to the tour guides place by 8:30am although we were late. It was Anna, Kaye (the girl we met on the salt flats tour and are now traveling with) me and this Israeli girl I cant remember her name. The tour agency puts us in to a cab and we go up to their building near the base of the mountain. Here we get suited up. We all get rubber style rain suits, tops and bottom, rubber boots, a plastic backpack, hard hats with miners lights and safety glasses. (also on a funny note the washroom at this building is a tiny room with a toilet and a door that had no upper portion so you are basically just sitting in the courtyard and pissing. After we suit up we set of to the market to buy the miners presents. A necessary step to entering the mines. Anyway so the presents you can buy are Coca leaves (which we do), cigarettes (which we do), drinks (which we do) Booze (no one buys this - but you can buy 90 percent stuff) and dynamite (which we all buy). Now it is pretty crazy just buying dynamite, a first for me, and carrying it around in your backpack, although the actual dynamite is not really that dangerous but the explosive cap is so the guide carries that. A whole set up including the stick of dynamite, fuse, and cap is 10 bolivianos which is about a $ 1.20. It is also kinda crazy that there are all these stores that sell dynamite, and our guide was telling us that the government had to start regulating it more after a German tourist came and bought some and committed suicide in his hostel by blowing it up. So after the market we drive up to the mine. We are going into the ¨Black mine¨ (which is the translations) but there are over 300 different mine entrances. Ours is near the bottom and our guide says that is safer but I am not so sure. So we hang out outside the mine entrance, which by the way looks just like you would expect it, a tiny hole cut in the mountain with cart tracks leading out, very Indiana Jones and the temple of doom. We chat through our guide (because most of the miners speak the native language which none of us know) and they are mostly just hitting on us because we are all girls. Then we get ready to go in. Now remember at this point that I have severely sprained my ankle not a week ago and am still having trouble walking on it and we are more than 4000 meters above sea level which makes any physical activity very hard. We are standing outside the mine entrance and our guide says that we have to go very quickly for the first 300 meter because the tunnel isn't wide enough to step aside if one of the carts loaded with rocks comes by and since they weigh more than a ton when full the miners have a hard time stopping them. And with that wonderful piece of knowledge we set off in a dark tiny tunnel where I have to half run, half walk, doubled over because the roof is not remotely high enough to walk standing up, through almost pitch dark along water covered very uneven rock covered tracks. The perfect thing for a busted ankle I might say. When we finally reach the first place where the tunnel widens I am totally out of breath and terrified for my pour ankle and wondering just what I have gotten myself into. The first stop is this tiny cave off the main tunnel that houses this particular mine´s devil statue that they give offerings to. Since we are underground we are in the devils territory and the miners want to keep the devil happy so they wont get hurt and so they will make money. This devil statue is crazy. I am not sure what he is made out of but he is red with horns and a beard and a huge dick. (which we are later told some of older miners suck to appease the devil but I find that very odd and homoerotic) This statue is also surrounded by booze bottles and has a huge pile of old coca leaves in one hand and an empty bottle in the other. We sit under the gaze of this Devil (who they refer to as Tio which means uncle, you cant say devil underground) for a while as our guide who is a touch crazy rambles on about the history of this place. Then we are off again and the next two hours comprise us running down these tunnels to different tunnels than climbing into different tunnels. We saw all sorts of stuff. These huge shafts that miners blast to follow the silver veins and miners at work and all sorts of things like that. (again great for the pour ankle) We met this one miner who was 19 had been working in the mine for a year and was married and expecting a baby (a very different life from mine). The miners here have a life expectancy of around 50 years because the dust kills their lungs. It was hard to meet them and know this but you could tell that many of them had a lot of pride in what they did because it was so hard. How these mines work is that the coops assign areas to different groups of men (only men work in the mines ) and they just blast away until they find silver or nickle or zinc. We asked the guide if there was any over all plan to all this blasting to make sure that the mountain doesn't cave in and he said no which was a great thing to hear when you are deep within the belly of the beast. I just tried not to think about it. After the tour Kaye said that she met a guy who had read a study on the mountain that said that it was basically Swiss cheese and should have caved in by now, which I am also glad I didn´t know at the time. The last place we went was the craziest. Our guide really wanted us to see what it was like for the miners so he led us down this crazy tunnel that got smaller and smaller, at one terrifying point I had to crawl into the darkness foot first, unable to see how far this tunnel was and wriggle on my back because the tunnel was so small that you could only barely fit your body through it. So I was wriggling lying on my back and the tunnel was barely an inch around me and getting smaller and I had no idea how long I had to do this for because Anna had gone ahead with the guide and since I was slower because of my ankle I couldn't even yell to her in the darkness that extended beyond me. I almost turned back at this point but finally after squeezing through the tunnel opened a bit and we climbed down through another hole and eventually found these two miners who were mining this tiny crack of a cave that they had to keep pumping out because naturally water filled it. I will tell you it is possibly the crazy place I have ever been. Deep within this mountain in this slit of a cave knowing I was going to have to go back the way I came through that two foot round hole and knowing that the huge mountain above me was basically Swiss cheese. Knowing that these miners spend every day down there and set explosives down there and would only live to be 50 was really nuts. At this point our guide got all political and started explaining the cooperative and other things and turned out to be a pretty interesting dude. Finally we squeezed our way out of the tunnel, slightly less scary this time because I knew what I was expecting, and ran for the mine entrance, my ankle very sore by this point and thinking that I am loco for making it do this. At the very end we had to pass by two carts and about six miners who are waiting for us to go back into the mine (one of the miners grabbed Anna's bum as she squeezed by) and then we were out into the blinding sun. After rubbing our eyes for a minute we headed back to drop off our equipment. We were all exceptionally happy that we had done the tour and that we were still alive. Then we headed down to the central market, got some food which tasted amazing, everything was amazing after leaving that tiny hole in what felt like the centre of the earth. I feel so bad for those miners, just thinking about those conditions is overwhelming. Then we caught a cab which was no more expensive than the bus to a town called Sucre from where I am writing this entry. One last note, some sort of acid must have gotten through my rain pants and on to my jeans because on the taxi ride the left side of my jeans on the thigh developed a palm sized hole where there had been no hole before. My jeans just kinda fell apart on touch so I took them off as soon as possible and plan to wash them before I wear them again. In conclusion it was an amazing tour and I am glad I did it and I am glad I am out and I really cant believe that people have to do that every day. It really opens your eyes.

Random Sighting

So I was walking around Potosi on Sunday which I suppose was Palm Sunday because everyone was going to church followed by bands and carrying palm fronds. On a side note Potosi is awesome I loved it. It has this huge central market that is all chaotic and full of everything you could ever want, including 20cent fruit shakes and llama fetuses to put under your house as a blessing. Anyway back to the original story. I am wandering around Potosi which is very old and kinda medieval with these tiny cobblestone winding streets and all. And I come to this old church that is just blaring this serene religious music that is just blanketing the neighbourhood. I walk up this side street and there are these two very fluffy, very mutty, very cute dogs, with their tongues hanging out and the biggest smiles on just doing it to this serene religious music. So I stop and kinda laugh at how happy they look having sex to this music then they stop and the bottom one gets on top and they start doing it all over again and this goes on for a while. I still have no idea if they were both male or what but it was pretty hilarious watching these dogs go against ¨Gods will¨ and look so fucking happy while this really calm and tranquil music is just cranked in the background. Anyway just a random sighting I thought I would share

Uyuni to Potosi

We left Uyuni at about 10:30 am yesterday. It was a complete shit show as we left. It seems that the company that booked the bus either double booked the bus or another bus broke down, we are still not sure but it seemed as if there were two people for every seat. A woman from the company got on the bus and cleared up much of the mess, ie kicked people off the bus but just before we left the Quebecois couple that was sitting in front of us got kicked out of their seats by these two Bolivian dudes. So as we left Uyuni for a 6 hour rocky trip to Potosi there were about 4 people standing in the middle. It was a dirt road the entire way winding down and up mountains through desert plains. Just before we got to our only stop Anna gave up her seat to the Quebecois woman but was promptly seated again as the ticket collector kicked this other guy out of his seat. He was getting off at the next stop but I didn't really understand it. The stop was just this tiny village where the washroom was a corn field that we all piled into. Pretty hilarious. Then we got this amazing soup with mystery meat at the "restaurant" for about 50 cents and Anna got the complete meal which we split for about 1 dollar, it was actually pretty good and amazing hot sauce, you all know my love for the hot sauce. Then we were off again rolling though the mountains listening to the oddest Spanish Bolivian music that sounded a bit at parts like star wars sound effects smashed with Spanish singing. At this point Anna and I are travelling with Kaye from the Tour, Huge and Madeline headed off to La Paz because Hugh had to fly out soon but we might meet up with Madeline again ( I hope). I finally trade seats with the Quebecois guy (who ever says that french and English Canada don't have good relations can kiss our ass!) so I settle in on the floor for at least the last hour of the trip. Ouch that will hurt the bum. We finally arrive in Potosi, an old mining town that in the 16th century rivalled the largest cities in Europe ie Paris for size and richness. It is a crazy town built on a huge hill. With the mountain looking over it. We get a cab to our hostel. The cab is hilarious, it is a right side drive car where someone ripped out the steering wheel and just put it on the other side but the dashboard is still on the right. We reach our hostel and settle in, there is a TV and we find some English TV and watch for a while. It is really nice to actually understand something completely for once. Finally we get hungry and we set out. The town is amazing at night, stuffed with people and stands. We find this market and wander around for a while then get some street meat, burgers and fries. Then I we find this weird little cart with this old woman selling what at our best translations is " Natural Medicine". Really there is a big pot of boiling plants, water and honey and a whole bunch of old Jack Daniels bottles filled with oddly coloured liquids (one being dark green) that the woman adds to your glass like an alchemist. We order one and drink up, it is actually good. Anna leaves us to make a phone call and Kaye and I wander around more. I get a street stew which was good too for less than a buck and we go back and get some more Natural Medicine but this time the woman gives us this shot of stuff which is "good for our stomachs" for free and it is the most bitter stuff I have ever tasted in my life!!! she laughs at our expressions and gives us some extra of the liquid in the pot with the plants, which is sweet and balances it out. Over all a great night. We finally reached the hostel again and hit the sack. Kaye got sick today but we dont know what from because we eat all the same food? I think today we are off to the mint museum and tomorrow we want to take a tour of the mine which is supposed to be intense since the miners conditions have not changed much since the mine was founded.

Bolivian Salt Flats, Andean Desert Plains, Altitudes above 16 000 feet, 5 Flat Tires and a Serious Loss of Mobility

Man it was a crazy ride and I am sure I am not going to capture the insanity but I will try, so here we go. . . . .

Day 1)

After we decided at 4pm the day before to go on this tour Anna and I wake up apprehensive for the day. What will the tour be like? We really didn´t do any research. Who will we be spending the next 4 days with? We have no idea. Where are we going really? Haven´t got a clue. But we get up early because we have to make it to the bank to get out the money for the tour before we leave. Searching the town the only place we can find to get out money it this one bank (there are no ATMs in the entire town) and there is a line up of gringos hoping to get money for their own tours that morning. A very slow process which almost makes us late. And you can only get money out on your credit card and they charge a 5% fee damn it. A very weird system but we jumped that hurdle, we said goodbye to our friend Patcho and we wait for the tour company to show up, who eventually arrive in the form of a young Bolivian woman with a baby on her back. She leads us up the road toward a super shitty station wagon. Anna and I turn to look at each other, our worst fears in our eyes. But we walk on past the station wagon, thank the lord, and on the the tourist office where we meet our three fellow travellers. They included an American named Kaye (who we had met earlier in the bank line up) and two Aussies named Hugh and Madeline. We sit and chat for a while, waiting for the tour to begin. Now I have to say right now we lucked out in the extreme. Those three turned out the be the best fucking traveling companions Anna and I could have dreamed up. We got on like 5 peas in a pod, although we expected that from the beginning because the Aussies were packing a guitar. Finally our 4/4 shows up with our intrepid driver Alehandro ( have no idea about the spelling so I am just kinda sounding it out). We pile our bags on top in a tarp, grab some coca leaves and (smart on anna´s part) some toilet paper ( a travellers best friend in these parts) and we were off. We drove out of town past streets of mud huts and then just turned up a dryish river bed which I suppose is a road in these parts. Then we start climbing and climbing, up and up and up. Now anyone who knows my fear of driving (Ian I am thinking of you) will maybe be able to fathom my inability to look anywhere but straight ahead as we wound around the craziest cliff roads ever. I just had to be prepared for death I told myself. With each pass I felt he was taking the road too far on the out side but I he does this all the time so I guess who am I to question. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Red and brown and yellow jagged cliffs and hills spread out below us, cut up only by valleys made of what looked to be old lava runs and cacti everywhere. We finally reached the top of the pass and I began to breath again, despite the fact that breathing was getting harder and we set out descending the other side, down into a magnificent landscape of mountains and valleys. We eventually reached a small stretch of mud brick houses that contained a four shelf store that we stopped at and started chatting with the other tours that were starting off too. Lots of nice people. We decided not to stop there for lunch which was a good idea because an hour later we reached this huge green field amongst hills of brown that was just chock a block with llamas and donkeys of all shapes, sizes (ie including a ton of babies) and colours. We stopped to have lunch and while the driver was getting the food out we ran around and took pictures of llamas and tried to get close enough to pet them although they would have none of it. Then we were off again, although at this point I have to add that the driver had one of those tape adaptors that you can plug an ipod into so the entire trip we were rocking out to Anna and my tunes which really makes any road trip that much better. After the llama field we speed out into the scenery which was both desolate and beautiful yet always changing, kinda hard to describe. Mostly highland desert, we spent most of the trip above 3000 meters or 10000 feet, much of the trip was up above 16000 feet which is fucking high and hard to breath and move at. And I mean speed out because our drive seemed to be descended from a long line of race car or rally car drivers. He over took all the other tours who left before us. We began to laugh at everyone eating out dust until the first tire blew. It was at an ok time because it was on a hill so you could find some where to pee with a bit of privacy. Al (as I will now refer to our driver although that is not what we called him I am just to embarrassed to try and spell his name over and over). He started to change the tire, which he was experienced at we would learn but the jack sunk down in the sand and we had to wait for the other cars to catch up to use their jacks to finally put on the spare. While we were doing this the other travellers all got out and hung out and started playing games. Good times. We then had to use an air compressor that was part of the engine of one of the other cars (everyone helps each other out there in the desert) and then we speed off leaving all of those who helped us in our dust. We continued on through the most deserted landscape I have ever seen. We passed this seven house town, which Al told us only made any money off of raising Llamas and selling their meat and wool for everything else they needed. They couldn´t grow a single crop up there, not one thing. We were always passing these little mud houses in the middle of nowhere, I have no idea how people live out there or what they do, or how they cook or anything. the only thing to burn is this lichen that is going extinct because everyone is burning it. We stopped to help a motorcycle driver whose battery had died. Al helped him fix it and then gave him a running start all the way down the road.

Finally around six we reached the tiny village that we were spending the night in. We were staying in this small housing unit that was owned by a local family, there was another tour group staying in the house as well. And by house I mean tiny mud and clay brick structure that had a tiny court yard, our two rooms the eating room and maybe two other rooms for the family. The kids from the family were pretty funny, they were obviously used to travellers and kept asking us where were from and stuff like that. After we arrived we wandered out into the town and found a bunch of the other travellers and hung out in a field, chatting and talking to some of the local kid. There was a storm closing in and the sun was setting fast all red and orange over the hills and mountains around us. (we were at least above 4000 meters at this point) It was really weird though invading this town. All of these (mostly) white tourists speaking (mostly) English, while everyone else around lived such a different life. You could tell that some of the kids didn´t like us being there, one of my friends was taking a picture of the sunset and one of the children got upset that they were taking a picture of his house, which they were but only because the sunset was above it. And another kid, a young entrepreneur, rented us a soccor ball to play with for 1 boliviano. Other kids seemed much more interested and some didn´t seem to give a shit. After it finally got dark and damn cold we headed into get tea. The five of us and the five other people from the other group all crowed into this little room with two tables. The Aussies pulled out the guitar and we began what would be the best night of the trip. Hugh and Madeline are amazing musicians, he rocks the guitar and she has the best voice I heard in a long time. They write all their own stuff. So we spent the next couple of hours drinking tea, eating dinner and passing the guitar around. The other group were amazing too, they all joined in on songs they knew, like bob Marley and Tracey Chapman and they sang us some hilarious Spanish songs (although only one of them was from Spain, one from Holland and the rest from Israel.) One of the Spanish songs basically goes, I want a boy friend I want a boy friend, I am so hot I am so hot, etc they preformed it with quite a bit of flare. We just had the best night ever, and were all laughing and smiling as we got ready for bed, all brushing our teeth in the one washroom while we took turns peeing behind a curtain.

Day 2)

We walk up early but not to early to rain. We eat our (not so good) breakfast and drink our tea and we are off. We start by heading over to this ghost town. It was huge and crazy all of these old piled stone walled buildings all falling apart. It was apparently a Spanish founded mining town but was abandoned when the mine gave up. It was really cold and wet out with patches of snow everywhere. We begin to travel over steep up and down roads that are bumpy, rocky and muddy as hell. We run into this other group whose four wheel drive had given out, we tried to help them but they ended up by having to head back the roads were way to bad if you didn´t have four wheel drive. We start climbing and climbing again into the rain and snow clouds. Up until almost 5000 meters. We are all chewing coca at this point to try to assuage the effects of altitude. It actually works pretty well. I have grown to like it quite a bit. And then down again. All I can say is the clouds clear up and it is spectacular! We pass an ostrich too, weird to see in this landscape and we are always passing llamas and wild llamas (that look different) so I won´t continue to mention it. We drive though a couple of little towns and then out on to this giant plain over looked by the tallest mountain in the area. By this time our back wheel is making weird noises and we stop as Al uses his magic and jams a bit of his belt in to fix it but despite his efforts one of our back breaks is shot. We start off again and we pass by the first of a whole bunch of lakes. They are beautiful and clear with mountains reflecting in them. We then head on to this desert flat where they gather borax I think, surrounded by mountain peaks. Just as we pass this random gathering of houses (a truck stop borax mining operation?) Our tire blows again. So we head back to the huddle of buildings and have lunch and hang out at the most middle of nowhere place I have ever been. The only other people there seem to be these 5 guys loading a truck with borax I guess and the saddest dog I have ever seen. He was so matted with dreads that it looked like he was made of felt and had two tails but he was nice and we feed him part of our lunch. We then just hung out and played guitar and wandered around until Al had replaced the tube in the tire and filled it thanks to the dudes working on the other truck. Then we were off again. Towards more colored lakes (ranging from green to red because of the algae that grows on them, they can support it because they are all thermal fed). Because of the algae in these lakes they also support colonies of flamingos which I will tell you is a damn odd sight in the middle of nowhere Bolivian desert cold highlands. And just as we headed over to a stop at some hot springs the tire goes again. By this point we have all become highly attuned to the sound of escaping air. And so we hang out at the hot springs. Anna and I go swimming in our underwear. As Al again deftly attempts to salvage what tire and tube we have left to make one functioning wheel. Coming through again we head off to the green lake and then back through the most Salvador Dali landscape I have ever been in. Mountains with desert sandscapes between them dotted with these crazy tall wind carved rock formations. Then we headed on to some gysers but by this time we had reached about 16100 feet above sea level and the wind was blowing so it was damn cold to get out of the car. Finally about 6 pm we rolled into our hostel for the night, which turned out to be our least favorite place of the trip. It was this long mud brick building built in the middle of nowhere especially for tourists on this trip. It was also the half way point from on end of the trip to the other so there were tons of people staying there who where heading in both directions. It was just too many people for us and too loud after the solitude of the last couple of days. We vainly attempted to search high and low for our friends from the first night but they were staying at a hostel a little further on. So we played some guitar with this guy who brought a ukulele (Andrew Chute he really reminded me of you!). Then dinner then bed for our tried souls. But we stayed up chatting for a while about everything. Really great group as I said before.

Day 3)

We wake up late today, to the sound of Al again hacking away at the rim of the tire to replace the tube. We hang out in the large hallway that serves as the dinning hall. Most other groups have left by this point. We have breakfast and finally we are set to go. We head out over the plain to a huge red salt lake that is just covered with flamingos. Then sssssssssssss the tire is shot again so Al leaves us at the lake for an hour as he goes back to fix the tire again. This guy has the patiense of a saint. I tell you I would have burned the car down by now if I had to change the tire that many times. But it was lucky for us because the lake was just amazing. It was this bright rose colour with a ton of flamingos and huge mountains reflecting in the water. I walk out alittle ways into the lake on a clay sand bar but as Madeline tries to follow me she steps slightly off the sand bar on to what looks like a bit of mud but she automatically sinks knee deep in white clay. I help to pull her out but from then on she looks like she is wearing knee high white boots. We walk up the lake a bit and run into some llamas. I took some funny pictures with llamas in the foreground and flamingos in the back ground. Not a combination I expected to see. there is one tiny stone house on a hill over looking the lake. I guess they own the llamas. After just chilling out on the shore of the lake for a while Al returns all ready to go and we drive around another pink lake with huge icebergs made out of salt and more flamingos. Then as we head onward a huge BANG in my ear as the tube just explodes. So we stop once again. I have decided by this point to take up juggling so I practice with the plethora of rocks at my disposal as Al once again replaces the tube. Then we load back into the car and we very slowly drive off. None of us can quite figure out why were are going so slow because we all know of or drivers love of speed. We head out over a sandy desert and reach a bunch more of those crazy Dali rock formations. We get out and wander around a super surreal environment and take pics then we are off again over the plain. A storm has begun to follow us and we pass a couple of bikers doing the same trip. Now I love biking but that seems a might crazy it is hard to breath up here and the terrain is hard for a car! We reach this crazy undulating rock wall in the desert and decide to stop for lunch. I automatically climb the rock wall and start wandering over the top of it. Trying to reach the tallest point and then over a rock and CRACK my ankle just buckles under me and I am on the ground curled in a ball of terrible pain. I seriously sprained my ankle unable to speak for about 5 min because of the pain. If I hadn't done this when I was 16 I would have though I broke it. But Hugh helped me up and I managed to slowly climb my way down the rock face and wrapped my ankle in my shirt and sit with it propped on a rock as we eat lunch. Damn I felt like and idiot and I was worried about my ability to carry on after the tour, carrying by back pack and all but what are you going to do. (ps I am still limping but it is doing fine!) Another car drives by and stops. A bunch of English guys get out who Huge and Madeline knew from months ago, odd meeting in the middle of nowhere. Their driver gives us his spare tire. Which is good because after we looked at our tire we saw why Al was driving so slow. the tube was practically sticking out of the tire. A bad situation. So with a new tire we were off again. With me taking up the entire back seat my foot propped up on Anna's little backpack with my socks wrapped tight around it like a tensor bandage, there is no ice in the middle of the desert. But I will tell you having a terribly sprained ankle propped up on a nagene bottle in a backpack on some of the bumpiest roads in the world is not the best or most comfortable situation but we still had a good time. We made our way past a bunch more lakes and as the Storm shot down lighting around us we made our way onwards past a huge volcano which marked the border with Chile. We drove over a huge flat plain that started playing tricks with our eyes, making it look like there was a lake infront of us. We reached on small town that was surrounded by these colorful flowers which turned out to be quinoa, their only crop other than llamas, that just wandered around the town and hang out on the basket ball court. We climbed up a valley and finally reached the town we were spending the night in. A tiny village, which also didn't have any ice in the whole town, yet it was the capital of the region. We had a great big dinner and played a bit of guitar and went to bed early because we were getting up early the next morning.

Day 4)

Waking up at 4 am I wrapped the tensor bandage that Madeline had in her big back (which was on the roof the day before) around my swollen ankle and we packed up and we were off. Driving through the pitch dark the Southern Cross beamed down at us from a cloudless sky. We finally reached the slat flats just before dawn and we stopped on this part that was covered with about an inch of water. As we played Tom Waits "old 55" and Nina Simone "Nearer My God to Thee" we watched as the sun rose over the salt flats which spread out infront of us ringed only distantly by mountains. The thin layer of water meant that the sky that was turning a brilliant array of yellows, reds, blues and oranges was mirrored perfectly on the salt flats. We got out of the car and wandered into the most beautiful awe inspiring landscape I might have ever seen. It was is if you were standing in the sky. And it just kept getting better. Finally I just stood in silence and watched the sun slip over the horizon bringing with it a new day. After a while we all piled back into the car and sped out over an enormous pure white plain to the one island infront of us. We had breakfast there. The island was so crazy. It was this rocky oddity that stuck out from the flat white surroundings and it was covered in these huge tall cacti. An bizzar sight indeed. The rest of the crew went climbing out over the island but my ankle forced me to stick to flatter surfaces. But in doing so I found the other group from the first night who had also been searching for us in vain so we had a wonderful reunion. After breakfast all ten of us (who acted like long lost friends even though we had only met that on night) took a ton of pictures out on the salt flats. You can really play with perspective because of the environment so we took a picture that looked like a bunch of us all in miniture walking down the neck of the guitar. It was a ton of fun. Then we set off again speeding out over the flats. I put on "Tiny Dancer" and we rocked out! It was great! We reached the middle where some people had built this tiny building which functions as a hotel all out of salt. Then on to the other side. Leaving the Salt flats behind we entered a tiny town, looked around for a while and then on to our final destination. Uyuni is a weird little town that is basically based around the salt flats. We got a hostel room and sadly said goodbye to our fearless leader and driver and endless tire fixer and wandered out in to civilization once again. We ran into our friends again and hung out much of the afternoon. Then went to bed just before it started to rain. We had been wandering around the market at night just before that, we got some great drink made of Quinoa, and the sky had just been flashing with lighting. So the trip was over and we fell asleep to the sound of rain. Over all probably the most amazing thing I have done so far.

Random town Bolivia: Tupiza

It has been a quite hilarious day and a bit so I thought I would write it up. We started out yesterday in our super shitty hotel which turned out to be worse than I thought. The room smelled of wet dog and none of the washrooms seemed to have water so you couldnt flush the toliet or have a shower or anything. Although we did manage to shower right before we left but it was freezing cold water only! We stayed there all morning reading, not much to do in town, but we did get fruit shakes and fried bread for under a dollar. And there was this man on a loud speaker for much of the morning actually crying about something, we could never figure it out, but just before we left for the bus he had left the mic and now people were dancing to happy music, I have no idea! We then took a train to Tupiza, which was quite funny. The train played music videos on this tv, but they were all english music videos, ie Everything I do I do it for you - brian adams and My heart will go on- Celine dion, but all dubed over in spanish, with other singers. And then they played this funny (because it was so bad) movie about an ulimate fighting match in prison, as far as I could tell. I met this guy on the train to who is from Argentina, Patcho is his nickname and he doesnt speak a word of english but he has been hanging out with Anna and I since we got here. Pretty silly converstations because Anna and I are shit in spanish so alot of the time he will just talk and we have no idea what he is saying but he is nice. The train went through some amazing country side all desert like with cacti and desert grass, but then there are these deep cut river beds and little villages with trees and surrounded by fields of wild flowers, corn and tall grass. With the occional horse, donkey, chicken and pig thrown in. We also passed these tall rock formations I dont really know how to discribe and huge eroding clifts

We finally got to Tupiza and our traveling companion, Mali, met her boyfriend, Max and we (including Patcho) went to the hostel Max is staying in and got a room and then it was off to get some beer which turned into a huge shit show. Anna, Patcho and I looked all over town for some tall big bottles of beer, the town itself is awesome, all adobe type buildings with a bunch of little markets. We finally, after asking everywhere, got three big beers at this tiny backroom resturant but the owner wanted us to give him 30 bolivianos (the name of the dollar here) more to ensure we were going to bring the bottles back, I guess sometimes you cant get more beer unless you have a bottle to return, I am not sure how you get your first beer though we have had that problem. But we didnt want to give him the money so we went out back with him and he found these old big pastic soda bottles which we then poured the beer into. Nothing like drinking beer from random old containers found in some guys back yard. Then we bought some wine (all very cheap) and we were set, we went back to the hostel and drank, all this time remember we are attempting to carry some sort of converstation with someone who does not speak a language we know. But he was pretty happy to talk a bunch and let us nod away. Then we went out to meet Mali and Max at a pizza place which turned out to be some of the best pizza I have had in a long time, very thin crust. We also met up with this Italian couple we had met that morning. IT seems here you see alot of the same people becuase you kinda follow the same routes, its nice to run in to people you know though! We got a bit tipsy and listened to a band that came in and played for us. We also drank some of this traditional bolivian hard alchohol, I cant remember the name of but it kinda tastes like grapes, out of Maxs flask. Very tasty. Then we finally headed home to hang out at the hostel for a while. The stars were really amazing, the village casts hardly any light. And then to bed. Although I did by accident (without thinking) drink some water straight from the tap, bad news I think my stomach is paying for now.

This morning we woak up drank Mate and then went out to the market which is amazing, all full of crazy meat shops sawing up beef and selling whole chickens and then a ton of veggie stalls, all spread out on the ground with farmers selling food. We bought stuff for patcho to make us lunch, we think he is making pasta of some sort, and then got some more fried bread ( a big breakfast thing I guess) and some coffee which turned out to be warm milk that you add some sort of coffee syrup to. But really not bad compared to some of the coffee we have tasted. We are just going to hang out for the rest of the day, and then tomorrow off to the town near the salt flats. So far I am loving bolivia, it is very different but really fun. Also I am having problems accessing my gmail account so sorry if I am late with responces.

Bolivia

hey all,

Just a quick note to say that I got to Bolivia today. It was a super easy border crossing. Really casual compared to the Chilian border where we had everything taken from us. I am loving Bolivia so far it is pretty crazy, like for example right now there is some huge parade passing the internet cafe, at 8pm. I have no idea what it is about but there are a shit ton of instruments and people holding candles and glowing signs. And either people are setting off fire crackers, cars are backfiring or people are shooting off guns but it is damn load. Also I am chewing Coca leaves right now. I thought I would drive right into the culture, also it is supposed to ward off the problems of altitude sickness and the altitude is getting to me we are above 3500 meters right now and it is harder to breath that is for sure. One thing that seems to be true of what I have heard of Bolivia is that the food here sucks. WE went to an oriental resturant tonight that only served one dish which was plain noodles, a leg of chicken, a scoop of rice and french fries. Not really Chinese food, but what the hey it was cheap and we got beer! Also we lost one traveling companion. We were very sad to say goodbye to Lorena today who was heading back to Buenos Aires and then Canada but we picked up another (at least for the short term) a German girl named Mali. Well that is about it for me. I am heading out on a train tomorrow for some town I don´t know the name of right now and then on to the salt flats which are supposed to be amazing.

Salta and Beyond (mostly beyond)

Here we go.

We spent two days just looking around Salta. It is a cool town, lots of amazing churches and a great town plaza. Laid back and cheaper than most places we have been already with amazing fruit, I have been eating about 5 peaches a day and the biggest avacados I have ever seen, like three avacados in one, basically my dream! On Feb 29th, the three of us when out, finally stayed up until 2am to start the night. We went out with this guy who works at the hostel we were staying at. We went to this disco on a strip of road that is closed down at night as a party stretch. We got trashed and had a really great time just dancing around and being idiots. We were very different from all the Argentinian girls at the bar but the ratio of guys to girls was very good and we got hit on a lot. Hilarious. Anyway we made it back to the hostel at about 6:30 - 7am slept for about 2 hours and then had to get up check out of the hostel and pick up the car we had rented for the next four days. They guy actually dropped the car off for us and Anna bravely took it for a test ride with him despite her lack of sleep. I can say this now (mom) because we have arrived back safe and sound but driving in the cities here is a fucking mess!!!!!!!!! Almost all the intersections are uncontrolled ie as far as we can tell it is a constant game of chicken. Who ever has the balls goes through and the other person stops. there are no traffic lights or stop signs at most intersections and no real rules stand. After some hair raising experiences we made it out of Salta and we were off. The first place we headed was called San Antonio de los Cobres. We started out in very lush surroundings, humid and green. It is beautiful countryside around here. And then we began to climb in to a mountain range following a river and the scenery began to change. It was spectacular! We climbed basically into an Andean desert. It was amazing, huge cacti and remote adobe houses and churches. There were huge cliffs and mountains everywhere and the soil here was an amazing range of colours, there was bright red, brown, yellow, green and blue I am not kidding it was amazing (have I said that enough?). We finally drove up to 4010 metres above sea level. It was crazy. Then we finally reached our destination. It turned out to be so different then we expected. It was this tiny mining town in the absolute middle of nowhere and it was hands down the poorest saddest place I have ever been in my life. If we stopped the car we were surrounded by people trying to sell us stuff, even kids with rocks they seemed to have picked up off the ground. There was absolutely no where to buy food, except a little corner store where we bought some local goat cheese which turned out to be very good. It was such a sad sight this place not a tree for miles only dust and mud houses. Everyone was dressed as you would imagine people in the Bolivian highlands to dress, wide brimmed hats etc. I know I am going to see more of this in Bolivia etc. but it makes you feel really incredibly guilty. That you have so much and these people, kids have nothing. We were exhausted by the time we arrived, having no sleep the night before but we didn´t really want to stay in town, and the only place to stay was pretty expensive (they had the market cornered.) We couldn´t even find food, I went up to the door of a restaurant and knocked and asked if they had food, but the look the man gave me you would have though I went up to a random house and asked the same question, who knows maybe I did. So armed with our goat cheese, bread and some chocolate we headed back to salta. We finally reached a small down about 45min from salta at about 8 - 9 pm. We found a hostel, and headed down town to find some food. And we found a street meat stand (by far the best food we have found in Argentina) and we had the best meat sandwiches we have had yet in Argentina for about 4 pesos a piece (1.25 Canadian) I actually can´t discribe how good they are! they put this amazing spice on them and serve them with fresh tomatoes and onions so good. so we sat under a tiny aluminum shelter and ate our street meat while watching the rain fall, less than 200 kms ( which took hours to drive due to road conditions) from the poorest, driest place I have ever been, it felt weird.

The next day we woke well rested for once, ate our shitty breakfast that was served at the hostel - they do not have good coffee here it mostly tastes like it has paint thinner in it, and we were off. We headed back up through Salta and north. We drove again up from lush tropical palm trees and green green fields into a mountainous desert. We stopped around noon at this tiny town at the base of a hill called the seven color hill or something because it really was seven very distant colors, very beautiful. The town was cool, all adobe again, many houses were built using these mud and straw bricks. It was a touristy town where you could buy lots of amazing handy crafts. We spent a while just wandering around and checking it out. Then we were off traveling further up the road and higher in elevation. There are llamas and donkeys everywhere here. They are just roaming free crossing the road at will, sometimes you have to honk to get by. There are tiny remote houses sprinkled over vast desert spaces. Some flat and some jagged hills and some plateaus and some rolling hills. And randomly a person biking once and a while where they are going or where they came from we could never figure out. A little further down the road we began to get concerned with our lack of fuel. We had not filled up at the last place which was before the seven color hill and the next place (we weren´t even sure where that was) was seeming mighty far away but we kept on, it seemed the only thing to do. Now these are remote roads, we would pass another car maybe once or twice an hour. We finally reached these salt flats, after climbing the largest number of switch backs I have ever seen or experienced. We spent a while fooling around taking pictures, you can really fuck with perspective. and just admiring the vast vast whiteness of if. you can just drive out on the to the flattest remotest whitest place I have ever seen, and we were the only ones there, a truck would pass every once in a while. Then on again past more llamas and donkeys. Now the gas gage fell on empty but the light had yet to appear, we had our fingers crossed. Then finally we reached the town, Susques ( another dusty, three tree, six street town) and rolled into the gas station on fumes. We reached the hostel outside of town and really in the middle of nowhere, and I mean that. The landscape was rad, it was like how I would imagine the bad lands of the American south west to be, all rugged and full of desert plateaus and valleys and crazy rock formations. We finally settled in for another restful night but it was not to be. We were at 3650 meters above sea level and the altitude played havoc with us. I felt like I had a really tight anxious chest and I got a head ache. None of us could sleep so come dawn we all decided to go for a run, which is funny because of the altitude. We all independently ( because we started at different times) took this dirt road into the vastness. It was amazing to watch the sun rise over this kind of a landscape. I could sort of run on flat parts or down hill but had to walk up hill, my legs and lungs couldn´t handle it. Finally I went off the road and climbed this hill and just watching the sun turn the distant hills red, knowing that I was in the middle of vast emptiness.

After getting back from our runs we drove all the way back along the same road we came up on and then once we reached the highway we headed north again. We finally reached a town called Humhuaca. It was pretty cool, again I really felt like I was in a different part of the world. the town was made of all adobe houses and colonial architecture with tiny cobbled streets filled with people dressed in very traditional rural cloths mixed with travellers and people dressed pretty normally. There were little markets and corn fields. Stray dogs and donkeys abound. We took a nap when we got there, exhausted as we were then just looked around town. It was great. We had a traditional stew for lunch with these corn nuggets it was good then a big pizza for dinner. Pizza is the most global food it is everywhere.

The next day we drove out to this remote indigenous village, which turned out to be about three houses then drove two old indigenous women back into town. They were hilarious because none of us could understand the other so conversation was very difficult but we did learn that one woman was named Marie Antoinette. They took up much of the back and I was squashed to the side and managed on the very bumpy road to hit my head quite hard giving me a bad head ache. Anna and Lorena decided to go back to ferry more people back to town and I decided to wonder town some more not looking forward to more head wounds. I bought some more amazing local cheese, anyone who knows me knows I love cheese and you can´t get a better deal than a big round for 4 dollars. Finally we regrouped after Anna and Lorena made some wrong turns and we headed out of town and to a national park. After getting mixed up passing through the capital of the Jujuly province we reached our destination. We checked into a hotel which was dirt cheap and headed out the the park rangers office where I managed to stall the car 4 times trying to reverse so that the ranger came to see what was wrong. Today was just not my day, I was in a bad mood. Damn standard cars, and looking like an idiot. We reached the park and went for a short hike into misty jungle. WE reached an algae covered laguna and thought a frog might have been a puma making noise. I was happy it was a frog, but it sounded like a baby crying. Then we headed down to a river and went for a swim, which resulted in us covering ourselves in mud and taking some hilarious photos then back up to the car and into town. We went looking for our favorite food street meat but instead ended up eating at an asado, a barbecue which was pretty damn good. It started pouring down rain and we headed back through the nearly flooded streets to the hotel to spend a very sweaty night trying to sleep through the heat.

This morning we woke up early to get back to town to return the car at 11am. We were having a fine trip back when this bloody SUV tries to merge from the left of us on to this turn off. If Anna hadn´t thought super fast and swerved the car to the side we would have driven right into them, as it was our side mirror was bent back because we came that close. It was crazy and totally this other guys fault but we didn´t know enough Spanish to yell at him the way we should have but we and the car were all ok so it turned out as well as it could have but damn drivers in this country, again anyone who knows how much I hate being in cars can understand my discomfort at these situations and the driving attitude here in general! Well back in Salta now, planing where to next. Lorena is leaving us on Friday and heading back to Buenos Aries and then back to Canada while Anna and I are off to Bolivia we just have to decide how we want to get there. Hope you are all well, send news.