Bolivia

Been a while since an update. I´m in Sucre, Bolivia now. Too much to write about...

We left Mendoza and headed to Salta, our last stop in Argentina. Salta was quite a change from the rest of the country - far less European, most of the people are indiginous not white. Anyway, we had to stick around for a few days to wait for Alex´s cards so we rented a car and drove around the countryside. It was insane driving to say the least. Being with a few wrong-side-drivers (english, aussies), I had to do nearly all the driving. Out of the city was all windy mountain roads - certain death if I fucked up; and city driving was all cross-town-manhattan-fight for every inch bullshit. But it was serious fun, we got to go to many small towns that see few gringos, and saw some great natural beauty.

After Salta we headed to the Bolivian border. The bus drops you off at the border and you have to walk across to Bolivia. Due to our stellar relations with the Bolivian government I had to pày 100 American Dollars to enter the country. But whatever, this country is dirt cheap: hostel bed $5-7, buses under 5 and stellar street food for under a dollar. After the border crossing we headed straight for Tupiza where we set out on a four day jeep tour through South West Bolivia.

From what I can tell, Bolivia is nearly all moutains. It is wicked high and you can really feel the altitude (hard to breath, get drunk after 2 beers etc.). In order to fight altitude sickness many people chew coca leaves. It actually works pretty well; they don´t taste too bad and work great for an upset stomach. Also, because the country is so high, it is terribly cold. I was not at all prepared for the weather up in the mountains - it even snowed one day (remember it´s summer here). (side note: these Bolivian kids in this interent cafe are being bastards, they keep asking me for money, getting in my face and shit saying "chupa, chupa, chupa.") Anyway, the jeep tour ranged from amazing to absolutly miserable. We saw geysers, red lakes and of course the Salar de Uyuni - probabally the coolest place I´ve ever been.

After the jeep tour we headed to Potosi (the highest city on earth, I believe). Somehow, in Potosi, I was convinced to climb around a mine that was supposed to collapse four years ago. It was terrifying, something I´m glad I did but will never do again. We also got to blow up some dynamite. Anyone can buy the stuff, it´s great.

Yesterday, in Potosi, was the miners Carnival. All the miners came down from the moutains and partied like there is no tomorrow. All the kids arm themselves with water balloons and shaving cream. Being the few gringos attending the party we were absolutly massacred - shaving cream to the face, water balloons, buckets of water - no mercy for the gringos. After a while (and a few beers) we took to arming ourselves. After that, things get a little blury due the the Bolivian moonshine we were drinking. I remember catching someone with their hand in my pocket trying to steal my camera and then, of course, someone stole my camera outright a few minutes later by slashing open my zipped pocket in a massive crowd. Just my luck. I lose all my pictures halfway through my trip, again. We were obvious targets though, we were essentially the only white kids there and really stood out. Most people were fantastic, though; they were showing us around and were very proud that white people would come so far to see their little carnival (even if it was a coincidence). Bolivians, in general are extremely hospitiable and nice. We´ve had many people go out of their way to help us. Except this kid next to me, he´s a little bastard.

Anyway, in Sucre now, going to La Paz soon. I´ll try and keep up the blogging (and will try and get some pics of Uyuni up cause its absolutly amazing).

And I can´t believe I´m rooting for the Packers to beat New York!