Today we headed to Argentina, we caught a bus at 10am and our bus leaves on the other side of the border to Salta at 2:30, plenty of time we thought...but the Bolivian immigration had about as much organisation as...well words fail to describe it, it was nearly 'Mutiny on the border' at one stage we had moved an inch in an hour and there was only about 30 people in front of us at most.
We met two Dutch people who had bribed the Bolivian border guards to get to the top of the queue, we were tempted to do the same do we knew the Argentinian border guards would not be so easily bought.
While in the queue one of the border guards saw us and brought us to the front of the queue, the other people were hurling abuse at us in Spanish but we were hardly going to turn down being brought to the top of the queue, he stamped all our passports and then we walked to the other side of the border where we stood for an hour and a half! Yep two borders took over 3 hours to cross, and the Dutch had no luck bribing the Argentina Border guards.
We finally got to the other side, the guard searched our bags, well he squeezed my bag, he absolutely ripped apart the Bolivian peoples bags...knickers were on the ground! They get a fair old grilling at the border as well..that's why there's such a delay...that and the massive drug trafficking issues!
We'd arrived in Argentina again, we asked him how far to the bus station, 4 blocks he said...it was a 20 minute walk in the end...PRICK lied to us.. We missed the first bus but one was leaving in 45 minutes, we travelled with a girl from England for the day united in the struggle of the border crossing.
7 hours later we arrived in Salta..our hostel from last time had doubled in price and was now at Irish standards. We stayed in a hostel around the corner, it was a decent price...but the noisiest fuckers I've met since I left Ireland...and they were the Israeli variety so the volume was LOUD even in everyday conversation...they even made living with my brother like living with Mary Poppins.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Tupiza Horseriding...Why the long face?
We wondered what sort of horseriding we'd get for 3 euro an hour and weren't that surprised when a 10 year old appeared and told us he was our guide...well he claimed he was 15, but he must be smoking a long time to be that vertically challenged. Never the less he was decent at what he did and had control over the horses at MOST times....maybe the young Travellers in Ireland should offer this service..with a free gift at the end: Ford Fiesta gearbox or an auld Washing machine.
We rode through Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid country, our guide had never heard of them...The real Burch Cassidy and Paul Newman must be rolling in their grave! Tinas horse got lazy and fell behind, next minute the kid gave the arse of the horse a whallop and she was off like she was running in the Galway Races, Tina with the sunglasses down the nose and the cowboy hat hanging on to her back...if only I'd caught that on video!
All through the day the horses fought each other, mine and the guides horse absolutely despised each other and charged each other a few times only to be pulled back by both me and the guide. Tina's horse was putting the moves on the girl from Hong Kong's horse, as mine was also male and the Boyfriend of that horse it picked it's moment and kicked Tina's horse in the face..just brushing Tina's leg in the process...a lucky miss by all accounts...at this stage the day was nearly over and we were thankful it was too, it was enjoyable to say the least but with just over 2 weeks to go till were home We really want to wrap ourselves in cottonwool and avoid any potentially dangerous activities!
God help those on the 7 hour ride!
We rode through Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid country, our guide had never heard of them...The real Burch Cassidy and Paul Newman must be rolling in their grave! Tinas horse got lazy and fell behind, next minute the kid gave the arse of the horse a whallop and she was off like she was running in the Galway Races, Tina with the sunglasses down the nose and the cowboy hat hanging on to her back...if only I'd caught that on video!
All through the day the horses fought each other, mine and the guides horse absolutely despised each other and charged each other a few times only to be pulled back by both me and the guide. Tina's horse was putting the moves on the girl from Hong Kong's horse, as mine was also male and the Boyfriend of that horse it picked it's moment and kicked Tina's horse in the face..just brushing Tina's leg in the process...a lucky miss by all accounts...at this stage the day was nearly over and we were thankful it was too, it was enjoyable to say the least but with just over 2 weeks to go till were home We really want to wrap ourselves in cottonwool and avoid any potentially dangerous activities!
God help those on the 7 hour ride!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
The Extreme Fun Pub - Uyuni
Forgot to mention this spot in Uyuni - The Extreme Fun Pub...yes thats it's name! I got the 6 shots in the one glass...think there was rum, whiskey, malibu, gin and something else!
We later opted for the mystery cocktails, which arrived in some risqué cups!
We later opted for the mystery cocktails, which arrived in some risqué cups!
Uyuni - Tupiza
We decided to stay last night and do feck all and take a day off, this morning we had to rise at 6 am to catch a bus to Tupiza, not sure the logic of 6am as the journey's only 6 hours. Anyway we got up and it was feckin freezing, even the people in the bus office were saying 'Mucho Freo' (very cold).
After the first 2 hours of the journey we pulled into Atocha and the driver said we were stopping for 2 hours for more passengers! So why not leave at 8am instead? Anyway being Bolivia 2 hour quickly turned into 3, to be fair I was reading my book so it went by fairly quickly.
We arrived in Tupiza, found a nice little pizzeria (Almost the national dish of Bolivia!) and watched the Barcelona -v- Real Madrid game.
We've booked some horse riding for tomorrow. 3 Hours at a cost of 3 euro an hour! We'll ride through Butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kid Land, this is where they spent their days in Bolivia...and alot of Westerns were filmed in Bolivia.
After the first 2 hours of the journey we pulled into Atocha and the driver said we were stopping for 2 hours for more passengers! So why not leave at 8am instead? Anyway being Bolivia 2 hour quickly turned into 3, to be fair I was reading my book so it went by fairly quickly.
We arrived in Tupiza, found a nice little pizzeria (Almost the national dish of Bolivia!) and watched the Barcelona -v- Real Madrid game.
We've booked some horse riding for tomorrow. 3 Hours at a cost of 3 euro an hour! We'll ride through Butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kid Land, this is where they spent their days in Bolivia...and alot of Westerns were filmed in Bolivia.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Salt Flats day 3
Got up this morning and headed towards "The Stone Tree", we were lagged on the way out by the park officials, we expected to be anyway! We had a good day of sightseeing, but it was mostly driving today. On our way back we got a puncture, as it was the second puncture of the journey we were out of luck, when Johnny our driver pulls a pump out of the back, the sort of pump you'd pump a bicycle or a football with! We managed to get some air into the tyre after taking turns pumping, it wasn't much easier at the altitude either.
We arrived back at 6:30pm and glad we'd booked our room, after 3 days 2 nights we were back in sleepy Uyuni...next stop Tupiza!
We arrived back at 6:30pm and glad we'd booked our room, after 3 days 2 nights we were back in sleepy Uyuni...next stop Tupiza!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Salt Flats day 2
Our guide told us as none of us were going to Chile he'd propose a different route for today which involved us not getting up at 4am. Today the scenery was amazing, we saw red lakes, flocks of flamingo's, green lakes, and some pretty active geysers! You name it Bolivia has it..it's totally exceeded all my expectations as a country! It has so much to offer. We dodged the national park fee on the way in as it Easter Sunday so hopefully they won't catch us on the way out!
Before we retired we headed to the hot springs and jumped in for a while.
After a hard say sightseeing in the 4x4 we headed back, as it was expected to be -12 tonight we wrapped up well, but it wasn't that bad actually from what I was told it was baltic conditions there. Anyway we left a couple of cans outside the window to cool them down abit while we played some cards, sure enough in front of our noses someone stole the last 4 cans! We were right beside the window...Feckin ninja!
Before we retired we headed to the hot springs and jumped in for a while.
After a hard say sightseeing in the 4x4 we headed back, as it was expected to be -12 tonight we wrapped up well, but it wasn't that bad actually from what I was told it was baltic conditions there. Anyway we left a couple of cans outside the window to cool them down abit while we played some cards, sure enough in front of our noses someone stole the last 4 cans! We were right beside the window...Feckin ninja!
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