Well, we made it to Buenos Aires.
Last time I posted we were headed to Potosi, Bolivia. We got there and had a great pj party for Bens birthday. Got nice and drunk and almost got kicked out of our hostel...all class.
I ended up doing the mine tour with everyone. I was definitely interesting. First, we went to the miners market and had to buy gifts for the miners, including 96% alcohol, cocoa leaves, dynamite, gloves, etc. Then we got all dressed up in our wares and headed down to the mine. It was pretty easy going down, only a few small holes to climb through. We met a lot of the miners (who start working there as young 14) and shared their alcohol with them (its rude to say no apparently.) The alcohol was essentially just rubbing alcohol and very disgusting. Oh ya, on the way to the mines I managed to work up a HUGE wad of cocoa in my mouth, so I fit right in when I got down there. We also saw Tio, who is the devil that they worship in the mines. What else....oh ya, I almost decided to stay down in the mine when we were leaving because it was so incredibly hard to climb back up. My lungs were full of dust and I couldnt breathe at all! But I made it!!!
After Potosi, we headed to Tupiza and did a 7 hour horse trek, which was absolutely amazing! For my first time on a horse I managed to not fall off! I had the most stubborn horse who only ran when the others did and then proceeded to cut everyone off. It was a lot of fun.
The next day we did a 4 day tour to the salt flats. It was a lot of lagoons, flamingos and sleeping in really really cold accommodation with no showers!! It was fun, but I was pretty tired by the time we got to the salt flats. We took some cool photos (which will go up on Facebook soon).
After we got back from the salt flats, we headed across the border to Salta. Our bus from Tupiza to Villazon (the Bolivian border town) was horrible. The seats werent even bolted to the bottom of the bus. What a way to leave the country!!! We walked into Argentina then got on an awesome bus to Salta. We didnt do too much there, but we did manage to go out until about 5 am, which was fun....
From Salta, we took a 23 hour bus to Buenos Aires....the bus was really nice, which leather seats and everything (compared to Bolivian buses, anything is nice) and we managed to last the entire ride on Valium (which you can just buy over the counter here!)
Last night, we went to a drum show and then partied at our hostel pretty hard...so its been a lazy day.
Im going to just post pics on facebook from now on, its easier then posting on here....
Inti Wara Yassi pics
Machu Picchu pics
Let me know if the links dont work.
More later....
On the move!
14 years ago
