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After spending an extra day in Uyuni for me to get over my altitude sickness we decided to get moving and head across the desert to Tupiza in southern Bolivia. We were both looking forward to it as it has been described as the wild west of Bolivia where you can do horse riding trips and all sorts of other activities.
Our bus left at 5am in the morning so it was an EARLY start! We drove about 10 minutes when the bus broke down! It was fine as we were still in uyuni and hadn´t ventured into the desert. It took an hour or so to fix the fan belt and we were on our way again. After another hour or so when we were deep in the dererted desert there was a huge clunk and then the sound of metal dragging across stone! the drive shaft had come away underneath the bus! We stopped and our driver donned a mechanics jumpsuit and slid under the bus to fix it. After a few minutes we were on our way again. This happened about 3 times before he finally gave up and just drove at snails pace dragging the damn thing along underneath the bus. Everyone on the bus started to get a bit nervous as we were in the middle of the desert (not on a road i might add) totally deserted as there was only one bus a day that left for Tupiza on this route (and that was us!) Even the Bolivians were a little anxious which didnt bode well! We eventually stopped in the middle of nowhere not knowing what was going on and just waited as the driver somehow got another bus to us. We met some other travellers on the journey and got chatting to while away the time. A Kiwi guy got out some 80% proof alcohol he had bought off a miner down in the mines in Potosi. It looked lethal - it came in what looked like a nail varnish remover bottle! he added it to some rubbish pop and we drank, drank until the pain of being stuck in the desert went away! Eventually another bus came along and we got to Tupiza a mere 5 hours after we were supposed to. We checked into our hostel and rejoiced as we had a TV in our room! Oh the simple things!
Tupiza is a very beautiful place actually...eventhough it is surrounded by desert. It does remind one of the wild west (eventhough ive never been there!). Horseriding is the thing to do so we booked a 3 hour trip. There were full day trips and even 2 day trips but i dont think our buttocks could take it! there were 4 of us in our group, an Israeli girl from our bus to Tupiza (she won´t leave us alone now!) and a really cool Bolivian guy who now lives in London. Tom was HILARIOUS the whole trip. he looked like he was going to fall off his horse and i´ve never seen anyone looked so scared of horses while actually riding one! The horses were pretty wild though and would gallop off on ther own a lot. I got blisters on my hands from holding on so tight. We were taken around the outskirts of Tupiza which were really beautiful. The landscape is stunning and the photos never do it justice! It really was the perfect way to end our trip in Bolivia. Next stop Argentina and we cant wait. We have heard so many good things plus we cant wait to have a big fat steak!!
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