Adventures in Bolivia...at least to start
Okay, so where did I leave off...probably right before our horseback riding in Tupiza! Horseback riding was lovely, though the bus ride the next day was not conducive to healing the back side. Um, and galloping? (Yeah, probably wasn't even real galloping, but it was fast to me!) Imagine my butt just jumping all around on that seat, me trying to keep it down but being totally unsuccessful. We "galloped" past these guys that were hiking out on the path and they were like, "Uh, you look like you're in pain." Yup, definitely didn't feel good! It was definitely fun, though, and by the end I was feeling a bit proud that I was able to ride a horse without looking like a total amatuer. I think.
The next morning we took off for Uyuni, yet another frightening bus ride where we were afraid that we were going to tumble down the side of the mountain. Did I mention that there are (as of yet) no paved roads outside of the city? Yup, none, which certainly makes for interesting bus rides through the Andes. We got to Uyuni and aside from tons of hostels and companies that arrange tours of the salt flats, there's really nothing to see or do there. I mean, it's a dead town. So we made our tour for the next day, and we were off! Oh yeah, off without a shower, since not only was there no hot water in the hostel that morning, there was no WATER that morning! During our three day tour, we were also without showers, so you can imagine that we were pretty smelly. And while I'm on the subject of hygiene, I feel the need to tell you how hairy my legs are right now. I have no one to impress, and it is SO cold that I can't bring myself to stay in the shower long enough to take care of business! And when I say that my legs are hairy, they are hairy in the "Anna coming back from Ireland" kind of hairy. When I saw her legs after that trip to Europe (and the lack of shaving that went on) I swore that I would never let that happen to me, yet here I am, legs crying to be taken care of! However, since this is probably the only time I will ever let this happen in my life, I have decided to make an experiment out of it. Guys' leg hair sort of stops growing at a certain length, right? So I wonder what length my hair would actually stop growing at? I have about two and a half more weeks before I see Marcus (and he will not be exposed to the grossness that is my traveler self at the moment), so I'm going to let this travesty continue until I get to Lima to see what happens. I mean, at least it's keeping my legs a little bit warmer at night, right? Ha!
That was probably too much information for a lot of you, but it's amusing me...
The tour of the salt flats was pretty amazing. We were in a jeep with two great Irish girls (though there was some tension with the English-speaking, conversation topics, and music that took place in between the French and the Irish...but we won't get into that) and we saw some amazing sights. Colored lakes (green, red, white), boiling mud geysers where you could swear you were going to find a mammoth, incredibly huge and blinding salt flats, a train graveyard (so random)...I can't even remember what we saw the whole time we were there. The roads were worse than the roads we go over with the buses (oh yeah, the 4 x 4 definitely got used!) and we ended up getting three flat tires. But our guide, Freddy, was an amazing jack of all trades, so we made it back to Uyuni without any problems. The first night we stayed in a hostel that's semi-salt, which basically means the walls, beds, tables, and chairs were all made of salt blocks. Pretty dang cool, it felt like being in a winter wonderland, except that if you licked the walls, your tongue wouldn't get stuck and you'd get a big of a salt shock. We licked the walls, don't even worry about it. Gross, but it's just one of those things you have to do!
The next night we stayed in a more basic shelter (both of them were solar powered, pretty cool fact!) but that was, I am quite sure, the coldest night of my life. The temperature dropped to 15 degrees celsius below zero, and although we were given hot water bottles to take to bed with us, it just didn't last for very long! I was twisting in my sleeping bag all night long, getting choked by my scarf, trying to curl up in a little ball and being prevented by the stupid sleeping bag which I tried unzipping, then after freezing, zipped back up again. This is a process that cycled pretty much all night, and when I woke up in the morning, I was just....ugh! You know those mornings that you wake up and your body just hates you? It was definitely one of those. But then we got to the geysers and they were amazing and I felt better. There's nothing like being on a volcano at 7:00 in the morning! That night when we got back to Uyuni, we ate American pizza (BBQ chicken and cheddar, so good!) and chocolate chip cookies (with too much cinnamon) and it was easily the best meal I have had here in Bolivia. I cannot wait to get to Peru...
Right now we're in Potosi getting ready for our night bus to La Paz. We watched the documentary "The Devil's Miner" last night which is about a 14-year old boy who works up in the silver mines (oh just wait, I need to detail this more, but need to get out of the internet cafe!). Awful working conditions, miners can expect to live 10 years after they begin workingin the mines. Over 8 million people have died in the mines already. It's just crazy. I was contemplating going on the tour, but after watching that documentary again, I just couldn't do it in good conscience.
Anyhew, time for me to run.
Now we're in Potosi
The next morning we took off for Uyuni, yet another frightening bus ride where we were afraid that we were going to tumble down the side of the mountain. Did I mention that there are (as of yet) no paved roads outside of the city? Yup, none, which certainly makes for interesting bus rides through the Andes. We got to Uyuni and aside from tons of hostels and companies that arrange tours of the salt flats, there's really nothing to see or do there. I mean, it's a dead town. So we made our tour for the next day, and we were off! Oh yeah, off without a shower, since not only was there no hot water in the hostel that morning, there was no WATER that morning! During our three day tour, we were also without showers, so you can imagine that we were pretty smelly. And while I'm on the subject of hygiene, I feel the need to tell you how hairy my legs are right now. I have no one to impress, and it is SO cold that I can't bring myself to stay in the shower long enough to take care of business! And when I say that my legs are hairy, they are hairy in the "Anna coming back from Ireland" kind of hairy. When I saw her legs after that trip to Europe (and the lack of shaving that went on) I swore that I would never let that happen to me, yet here I am, legs crying to be taken care of! However, since this is probably the only time I will ever let this happen in my life, I have decided to make an experiment out of it. Guys' leg hair sort of stops growing at a certain length, right? So I wonder what length my hair would actually stop growing at? I have about two and a half more weeks before I see Marcus (and he will not be exposed to the grossness that is my traveler self at the moment), so I'm going to let this travesty continue until I get to Lima to see what happens. I mean, at least it's keeping my legs a little bit warmer at night, right? Ha!
That was probably too much information for a lot of you, but it's amusing me...
The tour of the salt flats was pretty amazing. We were in a jeep with two great Irish girls (though there was some tension with the English-speaking, conversation topics, and music that took place in between the French and the Irish...but we won't get into that) and we saw some amazing sights. Colored lakes (green, red, white), boiling mud geysers where you could swear you were going to find a mammoth, incredibly huge and blinding salt flats, a train graveyard (so random)...I can't even remember what we saw the whole time we were there. The roads were worse than the roads we go over with the buses (oh yeah, the 4 x 4 definitely got used!) and we ended up getting three flat tires. But our guide, Freddy, was an amazing jack of all trades, so we made it back to Uyuni without any problems. The first night we stayed in a hostel that's semi-salt, which basically means the walls, beds, tables, and chairs were all made of salt blocks. Pretty dang cool, it felt like being in a winter wonderland, except that if you licked the walls, your tongue wouldn't get stuck and you'd get a big of a salt shock. We licked the walls, don't even worry about it. Gross, but it's just one of those things you have to do!
The next night we stayed in a more basic shelter (both of them were solar powered, pretty cool fact!) but that was, I am quite sure, the coldest night of my life. The temperature dropped to 15 degrees celsius below zero, and although we were given hot water bottles to take to bed with us, it just didn't last for very long! I was twisting in my sleeping bag all night long, getting choked by my scarf, trying to curl up in a little ball and being prevented by the stupid sleeping bag which I tried unzipping, then after freezing, zipped back up again. This is a process that cycled pretty much all night, and when I woke up in the morning, I was just....ugh! You know those mornings that you wake up and your body just hates you? It was definitely one of those. But then we got to the geysers and they were amazing and I felt better. There's nothing like being on a volcano at 7:00 in the morning! That night when we got back to Uyuni, we ate American pizza (BBQ chicken and cheddar, so good!) and chocolate chip cookies (with too much cinnamon) and it was easily the best meal I have had here in Bolivia. I cannot wait to get to Peru...
Right now we're in Potosi getting ready for our night bus to La Paz. We watched the documentary "The Devil's Miner" last night which is about a 14-year old boy who works up in the silver mines (oh just wait, I need to detail this more, but need to get out of the internet cafe!). Awful working conditions, miners can expect to live 10 years after they begin workingin the mines. Over 8 million people have died in the mines already. It's just crazy. I was contemplating going on the tour, but after watching that documentary again, I just couldn't do it in good conscience.
Anyhew, time for me to run.
Now we're in Potosi
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