Back... in Bolivia!

My border crossing experience was interesting (aren´t they all?). I had no problems finding the border and gtting my exit stamp but once over on the Bolivia side I stood in a line for 45 minutes waiting for it to move just a little and wondering why no other travelers were there. Luckily I decided to ask the immigration police for a form and he told me that I did not need to wait in that line and I breezed into Bolivia. I bought a ticket for the next bus to Tupiza and went to check on train tickets for the next day. That was when I discovered there was a strike in Uyuni and no buese were running. That was upsetting because it meant I had to take a bus through Potosi and add about 8 hours of travel time to get to La Paz.

I got to Tupiza after 3 hours on a shaky, dusty bus on unpaved roads and was met at the bus station by Ken who I had traveled with in Bolivia. After I checked in and freshened up, we headed out for food and drinks and ran into Laura from New Zealand who I had met in Mendoza. Small world. The three of us went for dinner and drinks and ran into Ken´s German friends and an Austrian guy I met on the bus. So we all hung out for awhile and then Ken and I decided to check out the local nightlife for a bit. The next morning Ken and the Germans headed for Uyuni. I gave the train station one last shot and found out that the trains were back on! So I booked a ticket and spent the day lazing around Tupiza (I had been there previously so didn´t need to check out the tourist sites). I splurged for "executive class" on the train. Once on I was reminded that I was back in Bolivia as "executive class" had more comfortable, smallish chairs that reclined a bit. It did not include food (and apparently you cannot bring any on) but did include blankets and heat which I was VERY thankful for that night- it was freezing!

The next morning I arrived in Oruro and took a bus to La Paz. I wandered around and booked into a little hotel and booked a tour for Monday. The tour was terrific! We drove up to close to the top of Chacaltaya Mountain (5450 meters- 17,895 feet) and hiked up to the peaks. The views were terrific! We could see Illumani (tallest in Bolivia) and Waima Potosi as well as others. After the mountain we headed south of La Paz to Valle de la Luna which is named Valley of the Moon because the white rocks and formations look like the moon´s surface. Awesome day! I got back to La Paz and moved to a hostel to meet more people and then booked a trek for today. Today I hiked for over 4 hours to alpine lakes with more terrific mountain views. Pretty good couple of days!

Anyway, this is a quick update and I am trying to keep them shorter. Ciao for now!

A short stint in the desert

From Cordoba I took a very disappointing overnight bus to Salta. Since I am not a fan of long bus journeys, I splurged for the ¨cama¨which usually involves a hot meal, wine, pillow and blankets. Our bus (Ken was with me) had none of these. And it arrived late. So that was lame. As was the ridiculously loud snoring man across the aisle from me. But we made it nevertheless. In Salta we headed to the hostel where Ken´s camera was and headed out to check out the town. We wandered around, found some great pasta, and checked out the overpriced, interesting and rather sad mummy museum (that is not the official name for the record). Apparently the Incas used to take the most attractive and physically fit children in each town and make them walk hundreds of miles to a religius ritual. Then they walked back and one of the children was ¨chosen¨to be the sacrifice. This child was taken up on a mountian, fed chicha (alcoholic drink) until s/he passed out, and then buried alive in a cave with ceremonial objects. There were two of these mummified children on display. One of them had obviously woken up before freezing to death. It was kind of gruesome. After a nap, Ken and I decided to have dinner and check out the Salta nightlife. It was Sunday so not too much was going on (we spent Saturday night on the bus) but it was fun watching the souped up cars cruise the strip. Souped up in Argentina runs the gamut from shiny race car look-alikes to beaters with flashing lights.

Monday a crew from the hostel took a bus to San Lorenzo about a half hour away for some hiking. There was a short zipline that a couple of people did and the hike was short but nice. It is really hot up north during the day (finally!) so we were all cool with a shorter hike. That night we treated ourselves to a steak dinner (probably my last in Argentina). Tuesday morning I headed north to Tilcara with a couple of Canadian girls from the hostel. We had a relaxing afternoon reading and enjoying views from the hostel, but one of them realized she had lost her passport and they headed back to Salta to look for it. I hope they found it! Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised by blue skies (forecast was for rain) and spent the day exploring the desert near Tilcara. First I went to Purmamarca which is know for its ¨Seven Color Hill¨which, as the name implies has seven colors of stripes in the hill. I took a little hike there and then headed to Maimara where there is a picuresque hillside cemetary. The walk back to Tilcara was a bit farther than I anticipated, but I go there eventually. Then I headed to an archeology museum and up the hill near twn t the Pucara which is the ruins of an Inca fort. I ended the day with a llama steak (regional specialty) and paid for it later that night. Ah well, the last one I had was fine... This morning I came up to another indigenous town on the way to Bolivia called Humahuaca. I wandered the town and did a short hike to the Peñas Blancas or white rocks overlooking the town. Tomorrow I am heading up to the border to Bolivia. I am so ready t be back in Bolivia! Argentina has been nice to fantastic, but it feels so incredibly first world and comfortable. I will have plenty of that when I get back to the US in 6 weeks (OMG- just 6 more weeks!). Plus I miss the vibe and people and otherworldlyness of Bolivia.

All for now!

I heart Cordoba!

I planned to spend two nights in Cordoba. I ended up being here for six. Sometimes you just get stuck in a place. And I am so not complaining! I met some people in the hostel the first night and three of us decided to head to Alta Gracia the following day to see the Che museum. Two more people arrived from Mendoza the following morning and the five of us spent the day in Alta Gracia. The Che museum was really interesting. It is in a house that Che lived in when he was young and mostly focused on his "pre-Che" life. There were loads of pictures and letters and maps- definitely worth a visit if you happen to be in Cordoba. That night we added another couple of people from the hostel and hit the biggest buffet in Argentina for dinner (my second visit). A couple of the girls decided to go skydiving the following morning and invited me to join them. I said I would think about it.

I woke up the next morning and decided to jump out of a plane. There ended up being five of us in total- Mercedes and Fiona from Canada, Cathy from Australia, myself, and Espen from Norway. The plane was so small that only one person could go up at a time so we spent a long time sitting in the sun and waiting our turns. There were some Israeli girls before us. It was all of our first times to skydive so we were all in the same boat. I was terrified. I hate heights and always said that unless the plane was going down, I was staying aboard. Since I signed up last, I went last. It was great being there to watch my new friends do their dives as it became more and more real that I was about to do the same thing. Finally it was my turn. I was totally OK until I was strapped to the instructor hanging out the door of the plane. Then I freaked out a bit. By "freaked out" I mean screamed a few obscenities and wondered why the hell I was there. Then I was falling through space from 8500 feet. Oh and our intro talk where they explained what to do lasted literally five minutes... Anyway, before I knew it, the parachute was open and we were drifting down. All was well. I survived. About 10 minutes after my jump, a plane from another company broke its wheels on landing and they had to cancel all of the rest of the jumps for the day. Lucky for me it happened after my jump because I do not think I would have come back the following day... That night we went for a celebratory steak dinner with nice wine.

Wednesday was spent relaxing and walking around Cordoba. Wednesday night an impromtu plan was made to take a long trek on Thursday. So Thursday morning myself, Ken from Ireland, Jules from Oz and Wouter from Holland got up and grabbed a bus to the Quebrada del Condorito. The first 10 km of the hike was fairly easy and flat. Then we hit the valley- 500 meters straight down followed by 500 meters straight up. But at the end we hit this amazing overlook with condors soaring past. Totally worth it! The walk back seemed longer and had a bit more elevation gain. We were all pretty tired but glad to have done it. We got back just in time to shower and head up to the roof for the hostel BBQ.

Yesterday was the start of a 10 day Oktoberfest in a German town about 2 hours from Cordoba. There was a group of nine of us from the hostel who went to check it out. Unfortunately it was pretty dead the first day but with such a big group, we made our own fun. And the weather was terrific! It was the first time I was able to wear shorts and a tank top in months (still got pretty cold at night though). Today is a chill day and tonight Ken and I are taking an overnight bus to Salta. I am looking forward to exploring the quebrada north of Salta that I skipped on the way down. Also getting very excited to meet up with TK and Mish in two weeks in La Paz!!

Photos uploaded! Many fewer than I would have liked since I lost five weeks of Bolivia and Argentina, but better than nothing...
http://picasaweb.google.com/stacyb/ArgentinaUruguay#