Riding around Tupiza

Friday, April 22, 2011 – Saturday, April 23, 2011

Full day of travel.  Woke up to have a pancake breakfast at the hostel.  Was still waiting for my tickets, a bit nervous about getting them, but the guy finally showed up at 9:30am.  He walked me to the bus station and pointed out my bus.  While I was wandering around wasting time, I ran into Chris (from my hostel) so I had company until I boarded.  A large woman with a young boy sat next to me.  She seemed to be pissed off that I was taking a more local bus and started talking at me that I should have paid more.  Traffic getting out of the city was crazy and the queues for gas reminded me of Myanmar.  Bolivia is noticeably poorer than other countries in South America.

Partway through the four hour bus ride, she decided to put up the arm rest.  I made a fuss because that was the only thing keeping her off my seat, and she furiously yelled back.  So for the rest of the ride, to my annoyance, the armrest remained up.  I couldn’t wait to get off that bus when we pulled up in Oruro.  Struggling to find a taxi, I eventually found some Bolivians who were also going to the train station and agreed to share the cab.  They even paid for me.  Such a contrast to the woman on the bus.

At the train station I decided to purchase my return ticket from Uyuni to Oruro.  Oddly it was more expensive than my ticket to Tupiza, which is farther.  Well, turned out it wasn’t so odd.  The agency that I’d bought the ticket from in Copacabana (with an office in La Paz) purchased a second class ticket, instead of first, even though I’d paid for first.  This was “mildly” frustrating, but I sucked it up and upgraded my ticket (which took a bit of time), concluding that I would return to the agency in La Paz and ask for a refund.

I ran into the nice people from the taxi who offered me some food, but I passed and said I’d see them on the train.  After dropping off my luggage, I found my seat in “first” class.  The first class on the Bolivian train wasn’t what I would consider first class, but it did have a large flat screen TV and blankets, and luckily, my seat was facing the direction in which we were traveling.  We took off just after 3:30pm.

A woman from La Paz sitting in front of me struck up a conversation and after a few minutes invited me to a cinciñera in Tupiza.  I was flattered and considered going.  She introduced me to some of her friends and Marco, a Bolivian who spent 22 years living in Virginia, continued talking to me.  They invited me to the dining car for a late lunch, but because there were five of us I ended up at a table with just Marco.  A very friendly man, but he seemed a bit too interested.  The spaghetti bolognese had terrible flavor, so I ate around the meat and sipped my orange juice.  Marco didn’t offer to pay, thank goodness, and as soon as we settled the bill I headed back to my seat.

I read a bit until they put on The Tourist, subtitled in English.  When that ended I read a bit more before attempting sleep.  I was very restless and felt myself moving around a bunch.  I guess I eventually fell asleep because the next thing I knew Marco was shaking me awake, telling me we’d arrived in Tupiza.  It was 4 in the morning and freezing outside.  While I was grateful he woke me (I would have ended up in a town a few hours south otherwise), I decided that I couldn’t go to the cinciñera if I had to spend the whole night talking to Marco.

While I was walking down the platform, a woman approached me and asked “are you Erica?”  Of course I responded yes and she told me she was with La Torre, my hotel.  I had specifically requested a transfer but was told it wasn’t possible.  It tuned out that a couple that I’d met on the train were staying there too and had arranged a pick up.  I wasn’t complaining, and quickly located my luggage, before finding the jeep.  Once I got to my room at 4:30am, I organized a few bits and crashed until 9am.  I strolled downstairs at 9:30 just in time to catch the end of breakfast with the couple (Monisha and the Polish guy from the train).

At the travel agency I inquired about horseback riding and was informed I could take a tour at 3pm, so I went back up to my room to chill.  I read for a while and eventually took a hot shower before going downstairs.  Heather, from Toronto, and I enjoyed a three hour horseback ride with our almost silent guide.  We walked through town (it was hotter outside than I expected) to find three horses tied up on a tree.  We both looked at each other and shrugged.  It was a bit of a way down the railway tracks until we turned off into a more natural setting.  The surrounding hills reminded me of home while other bits of the trail looked like Arizona.

When our guide pointed out Devil’s door it was the first time he spoke in an hour.  Compared to Cusco, everything was dry, dry, dry with red colored sand and rocks.  The wind constantly blew dust in the air making it difficult to breathe, especially with the altitude.  About an hour and a half into the ride, we got off the horses to have a walk in a canyon.  We met an Australian couple and chatted (and posed for some pictures using their cowboy hats) for a bit before briefly scaling the rocks to have a better look in the “canyon”.  Our guide, who really followed our horses rather than lead, took a nap in the sun while we stood around for him. 

On the way back we took a different trail and came to a stream enclosed in concrete.  My horse hesitated a moment before jumping over the foot wide obstruction.  I went flying forward and held on to the horse to keep from being thrown over its head.  It was frightening.  Heather was laughing for a second before her horse jumped. 

Guide dropped us off a 15 minute walk from town.  Stopped into our hotels to wash up before going for dinner.  Shared the “doritos” (a plate of spongy bread covered in ketchup, mustard, mayo, onions and sausage) and I tried the chicken Milanese (very different from the others I’ve had).  Got back to my room by 8pm, and will do a bit of reading before going to bed.