We'd made the decision to try and catch Carnival later that month in Bolivia, but this meant we'd have to travel around the rest of Bolivia in slight odd direction! So after leaving Sorata we caught a bus all the way down to the south and the town of Tupiza. Problem was this meant a 17 hour bus ride on a heap of an old bus that had its windows secured with cellotape, people sleeping in the aisle and no toilet on board….that's ok though, its bound to stop for toilet breaks! Yep, twice!! Twice in 17 hours and one of those was at 2 am in the middle of nowhere and was actually just a rapidly increasing puddle by the side of the road! We now know why Bolivian women wear those big rounded skirts – makes situations like these a lot easier – it's not just us boys that can go anywhere!! When you weren't freezing because of the draft or desperate for a wee the journey was actually stunning! It crossed the high Altiplano and went through mad red rock valleys before finally arriving in Tupiza (about 2 hours late). We checked into a hostal then went out to explore the wildwest like town, it was a cool little place. Sat and had lunch whilst watching kids having a water balloon fight in the main plaza and waiting for a cowboy to ride into town (which he didn’t) or a tumbleweed to blow past (that didn't happen either!). The following day we arranged to go on an excursion called the Triathlon, this involved a bike ride, horse ride and an off-road jeep trip. Started off in town and cycled out along a red dust road, following the river through a stunning valley. We meet up with the jeep at the end of the road, loaded the bikes on and headed off further into the hills and through the mad rock formations. Stopped for a picnic lunch by a small river in a little canyon whilst fighting off a horde of hungry goats who were trying to steal our sandwiches! After lunch we jumped on the horses and followed a dried out river bed through more bizarre landscape, reaching an old Inca site. It was then back in the jeep and up into the mountains, we reached the top at around 4,500m and its amazing view back out across the valley and town, problem was the weather was closing in. We sat in the jeep as snow, hail and rain hammered down on us whilst we looked out the window nervously as a lightening storm got ever nearer! Lightening strikes shot down from the clouds only meters away from us….I know what would be a good idea… let’s get out of the jeep and ride down the mountain!?! Which we promptly did! Didn't last long though, the road had slowly turned into thick mud as a growing red stream of water ran down it! After a quick chat with the driver we decided it was probably safer to get back in the jeep and head to town on 4 wheels not 2! Was fun while it lasted though!
Wanderlust for Life
Adventure travel around the world