For Mom, Love Steve

Uyuni (3675M) the frigid,otherworldly middle-of-no-where community thrives on tourists flocking to visit the astounding salares (salt plains.) Based on the fact that half the bus were tourists, I knew it was going to be pretty touristy. The ride from Potosi was along a dirt road which made for a rough ride with some scary points when we swerved off the road and into a little gutter. For the most part, we drove through desert like mountains with little life except the usual stickly weed plants. When we finally subversed the last pass, the earth opened up into a vast plain for as far as eye can see. It was so flat that a pitchers mound would probably stick out quite a bit.
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To say the least, today was an eventful day.

I did get up in time, actually a bit early. I was pretty smart and left my shades partly open so the sunlight would glare through first thing. That and the normal noise from a busy hostel usually curtails any late sleeping. My stomach contents weren’t trying to escape my body, so that was a good thing. It was making some wretched noises, but as long as it wasn’t near my behind, I didn’t mind. I also planned on not eating or drinking anything until I got back from the tour. I made my way to the agency where I met a Ecuadorian backpacker. We had a pretty good conversation even though he spoke no English and it was all in Spanish. I was actually pretty impressed with myself and so was the lady working there. Later a Japanese backpacker showed up as well. We all jumped into a waiting mini-bus where there were six other tourists whom they had wrangled up from other agencies. It was two German guys, two Israeli girls, and a Swiss couple.
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Oh man, the worst night ever. Not only did I have to make bathroom runs a half a dozen times last night, but also the altitude thing wreaked havoc on my sleep. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Hmmmm. A half an hour of Counter-strike, watch 3/4's of Troy, or catch up on the blog. That’s the choices when you get in a fight with the hotel/owners ... [Continue reading this entry]

I woke up feeling very good. The strain in my shoulder from lying on my side playing counter-strike and watching tv has fixed itself with a good nights sleep. I have a ... [Continue reading this entry]

Set in a valley surrounded by low mountains, Sucre (population 175,000; elevation 2790M) is a small, convival city with a rich colonial heritage evident in its streetscapes, churches and 1991 Unesco Cultural Heritage designation. The ... [Continue reading this entry]

Whooo, this trek is more difficult than walking up a mountain. I did however figure that I would mosey my way down south. As much as a ten hour ass kicking sounds unpleasant, the guilt of lazing around ... [Continue reading this entry]

After finally getting out of the hotel room by noon, I took a walk down to the bus station to find out about buses to Sucre, my next destination. 10 hours away. Son of a bitch. My ... [Continue reading this entry]

I got a bright idea that I should actually try and do something so I figured I would make use of being in civilization and mail off the back-up cd’s of all my pictures so I could free up some ... [Continue reading this entry]

Not much to say except that I just ate all day, oh yea, and watched tv. The food consisted of a beef plate- a thin slice of steak fried in oil then fried in a kind of gravy, a corn on ... [Continue reading this entry]