A few beautiful days in northern argentina. We rented a car in salta and drove three hours through the bright orange andes to the wine region of cafayate, a tiny tiny town with good food, beauty and tranquility. the whole drive i wasnt sure if i was on mars, in zion national park or what. out of ths world geology. the town had gorgeous colonial buldings and catholic churches. i wish we could have stayed a week.
then on to san salvador jujuy for a night in a nice hostel where we rested and then took a bus to the little pueblo of tilcara. all adobe buildings and maybe 500 residents. in a valley surrounded by enormous orange moutains speckled with cacti, wild llamas and apparently not wild horses. traditional pena music came from a few small music places around the town square, llama burgers were availalable at the ´restaurant´-houses and the people were very kind. we stayed in a hostel with cabins and homemade jam breakfast situated on a hill over the tiny brown town. sunrise was unforgettable.
next, we took a bus to the bolivian border and thats when the stress started. the computers were down. three hours of waiting, we talked with travellers and watched hundreds of indigenous women dressed in big skirts, sweaters, widebrimmed hats and braided pig tails schlep huge sacks on their backs back and forth across the border. once we got across, we got the the bus station where we were harassed by every bus company and finally just got on one destined for tupiza. this bus ride was straight out of indiana jones. creek crossings, more dirt roads than paved, dirt tunnels just big enough for the bus, the whole time the bus was making wheezng noises, and of course it was night.
arrived in tupiza and decided what the heck we dont want to stay here lets keep going. bought bus tix for la paz for 830. the bus came at 1030. when it came it parked across the street in a patch of dirt and three men hopped out and started working on the engine. a couple of girls got off and said ´`good luck with that bus´`. we freaked out, should we get on or not, is this stupid? we got on. it was 18 hours of no sleep, bumps, but beautiful nighttime scenery. bright stars, big moon and huuuuuge mountains, tiny villages. we passed the famous potosi mines, saw the shacks the miners live in. we sat next to indigenous women carting sacks of herbs anmd things. they spoke a very different toungue of spanish, hard to understand.
finally got to la paz, this big city in a valley below snowy peaks of the andes. i have never seen a city like this. street venders everywhere. ill describe it more when ive seen more. chaotic but beautiful, smells of everything you could think of. street food, dirt, gas, pee. after being denied by two hostels we found one, then realized we had to go to immigrations as the people atthe border gave us the wrong stamp and we were currently illegal ´'invaders' as the man put it. after two hours, back and forth from window to window to copy center, and about 200 usdollars later we are legally here. keep in mind we hadnt eaten all day. we were all about to strangle the people at immagrations.
got soup, sandwhiches and pizza into the bellys and suddenly the color of la paz was brighter. went to bed, slept on a bed for the first time n a couple days. in fact, slept at all for the first time in a couple days. stayed in a cute hostel with courtyard. now were checking out to a cheaper hostel for backpackers. and going to go see the city and figure out how were getting to the amazon. mayah is going to brave the´20 hour busride across part of the death road, where usually you dont even have your own seat and people pee in bowls and toss it out the windeow. met someone yesterday whose friend was on it and the brakes went out. they fixed it with a shovel and a two by four. apparently they lose a couple of busloads a year. i am opting for the cheap flight. 80 dolars seems worth my life.
after the hell of the last 24 hours of waiting, bussing, not eating, waiting, arguing in spanish, i feel like la paz may bring a little more paz now that our bellies are full and we are legally here.
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