Tupiza, Bolivia

Hi everyone,

It has only been a little less than two weeks since I last wrote an entry, but it feels like longer since Rachel and I have been traveling quickly and haven't spent two consecutive nights in the same place this whole time. We've made it as far as southern Bolivia and tomorrow we're going to catch a 4am bus to the border of Argentina and from there look for a bus to Mendoza (which should take about 24 hours).

Our last few days in Peru went really well and we enjoyed Machu Picchu, Aguas Calientes, and Cuzco. We didn't have the best weather for Machu Picchu, but we made the best of it and spent about five hours wandering through the ruins and climbing Waynapicchu. It was really amazing, by far the most interesting ruins I've ever been to and I would love to go back some day if I get the chance. To see some pictures, click here.

From Cuzco we took an overnight bus to La Paz and after only one night there we took a bus to Tupiza. We liked La Paz and wish that we could have spent more time there. We wandered around the city, ran into a bunch of past Hands On volunteers, played cards in coffee shops and went to see a movie called Evo Pueblo about the life of Bolivia's president. The only unfortunate incident was when someone tried to grab Rachel's bag as we crossed the street and then when she held on to her bag tightly she got spit on. Usually people spit on you first and then try to grab your bag so we're thinking this thief must have been new to the job.

As soon as we got to Tupiza on Monday we signed up for a four day-three night southern circuit tour and left for that on Tuesday morning. We headed up the next morning in a jeep with our driver, Samuel, our cook, Augustina, and a Swiss couple and an Australian couple. Our first three days were more or less the same. We'd get up early and spend about 10 hours in the jeep, stopping for lunch and other places that were of interest. We saw lots of lakes (of all different colors), volcanoes, animals, mountains, and a few small towns sprinkled in the barren landscape. I was amazed that even the smallest of towns in the most remote areas had solar panels; apparently it is due to a recent government initiative to bring electricity to the rural areas.

We spent our last night in a small town on the edge of the Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world. We slept in salt beds on a salt flour and got up early so that we could see the sunrise out on the salt flat. It was amazing to be out there and see white almost as far as we could see in every direction. We had fun taking all kinds of 'fotos locos' as our driver called them (I'll post one above). To look at the pictures I've uploaded of Bolivia so far, click here.

Our next destination is a small family farm in Argentina and we're looking forward to staying in one place for a little while and hoping that the farm is as nice as it sounds. We've heard that the organic cherries will be ripe so we're looking forward to eating lots of them (and picking a few too).

xoxo, Katie