A nice relaxing day after our horse ride in Tupiza and unfortunately, it was time to move on. The muscles are still a bit tender, but on the mend. Up early, (on a side note, back to Copacabana when we ran into the 2 Finnish girls...well we ran into them in La Paz and in Tupiza as well...) a quick breakfast of saltenas (pastries filled with chicken or beef and potatoes, etc. (http://www.boliviaweb.com/recipes/english/saltenas.htm ) see here for more info... and off to the bus station to jump a bus to Potosi some 7 hours north.
The arriving bus was about 30 minutes late and finally we were off. A filthy, beat up local bus and nothing but a long, bumpy, dusty, washboard road taking us up to Potosi at 4060m lie ahead. We rolled, bumped, climbed and the air got thin and cold. 6000m snow capped peaks surrounded us on all sides. The scenery was still amazing!
A short 20 minute stop in some dusty little village for everyone to get something to eat added 30 minutes to the trip. A road block only a short ways out of Potosi threatened to have the entire bus disembark, walk 500m and get on another bus. Thankfully, the road block was opened and we continued on our way. We arrived in Potosi, with the sun going down, the temperature plummeting, headaches battling the climb to altitude or was it the constant battering of the vibrations from the not-so-smooth road underneath? Whatever the case, we finally got out of the bus, into a taxi and arrived at hostel shortly thereafter.
Not wasting any time, we headed out to dinner at what used to be Potosi’s finest, called El Meson. Properly attired waiters, cloth napkins and a old school feel led us to a pretty good dinner of fresh tomato and vegetable soup, filet mignon and wine. All for the ultra low bargain price of Bs145 (= approx. $18USD). Try that anywhere at home. In fact, that was my third steak of the week for under $3USD and we haven’t even hit Argentina yet!
Trying to sleep for the night proved to be another challenge. 6 wool blankets not only made it too hot underneath, but also felt like 200tons of lead on your feet. Kicking off a blanket or two, invited drafts down any crack that opened up and if you moved to another more/less comfortable position to try and sleep, that part of the bed was freezing. Add a bit of cotton mouth, a little dehydration and a fear of freezing your feet off should you need a wee in the middle of the night and you’re enjoying a typical night of sleeping at altitude. Seeing your breath billowing from your mouth while brushing your teeth is another story.
Daylight finally came and necessitated all the usual layers and protection from the elements. At over 4000m, Potosi is touted as the highest city in the world and a continual cold is always present. Potosi is noted for its present day silver mining, decades after the boom town collapsed. There are tours that take you down into the mines to see the workers and real conditions. We opted out of this tour, deciding to move on to Sucre after we had a killer (cheap and filling) breakfast and wandered around the local markets for a bit.
Not wanting to waste the day waiting for the local bus to depart and after our hellish journey from Tupiza the day before, we decided on a shared taxi which would shave about two hours off the entire journey and deliver us door-to-door. The tiny Nissan Sentra was less than comfortable stuffed with Rachel, myself and a local guy in the back, the driver and another passenger in the front.
Nonetheless, he zoom us along the windy mountain roads passing slower trucks, dodging donkeys and curious dogs at speeds over 100km/h and dropped us down into Sucre (2760m) about 2 1/2 hours later.
Sucre will give us another couple of days to chill out before making our way up to Santa Cruz (our final week in Bolivia...boo hoo...) and finally over to the Brazilian Pantanal (hence the reason for the Brazilian visas we got back in La Paz).
http://www.traveljournals.net/stories/9333.html
The arriving bus was about 30 minutes late and finally we were off. A filthy, beat up local bus and nothing but a long, bumpy, dusty, washboard road taking us up to Potosi at 4060m lie ahead. We rolled, bumped, climbed and the air got thin and cold. 6000m snow capped peaks surrounded us on all sides. The scenery was still amazing!
A short 20 minute stop in some dusty little village for everyone to get something to eat added 30 minutes to the trip. A road block only a short ways out of Potosi threatened to have the entire bus disembark, walk 500m and get on another bus. Thankfully, the road block was opened and we continued on our way. We arrived in Potosi, with the sun going down, the temperature plummeting, headaches battling the climb to altitude or was it the constant battering of the vibrations from the not-so-smooth road underneath? Whatever the case, we finally got out of the bus, into a taxi and arrived at hostel shortly thereafter.
Not wasting any time, we headed out to dinner at what used to be Potosi’s finest, called El Meson. Properly attired waiters, cloth napkins and a old school feel led us to a pretty good dinner of fresh tomato and vegetable soup, filet mignon and wine. All for the ultra low bargain price of Bs145 (= approx. $18USD). Try that anywhere at home. In fact, that was my third steak of the week for under $3USD and we haven’t even hit Argentina yet!
Trying to sleep for the night proved to be another challenge. 6 wool blankets not only made it too hot underneath, but also felt like 200tons of lead on your feet. Kicking off a blanket or two, invited drafts down any crack that opened up and if you moved to another more/less comfortable position to try and sleep, that part of the bed was freezing. Add a bit of cotton mouth, a little dehydration and a fear of freezing your feet off should you need a wee in the middle of the night and you’re enjoying a typical night of sleeping at altitude. Seeing your breath billowing from your mouth while brushing your teeth is another story.
Daylight finally came and necessitated all the usual layers and protection from the elements. At over 4000m, Potosi is touted as the highest city in the world and a continual cold is always present. Potosi is noted for its present day silver mining, decades after the boom town collapsed. There are tours that take you down into the mines to see the workers and real conditions. We opted out of this tour, deciding to move on to Sucre after we had a killer (cheap and filling) breakfast and wandered around the local markets for a bit.
Not wanting to waste the day waiting for the local bus to depart and after our hellish journey from Tupiza the day before, we decided on a shared taxi which would shave about two hours off the entire journey and deliver us door-to-door. The tiny Nissan Sentra was less than comfortable stuffed with Rachel, myself and a local guy in the back, the driver and another passenger in the front.
Nonetheless, he zoom us along the windy mountain roads passing slower trucks, dodging donkeys and curious dogs at speeds over 100km/h and dropped us down into Sucre (2760m) about 2 1/2 hours later.
Sucre will give us another couple of days to chill out before making our way up to Santa Cruz (our final week in Bolivia...boo hoo...) and finally over to the Brazilian Pantanal (hence the reason for the Brazilian visas we got back in La Paz).
http://www.traveljournals.net/stories/9333.html
No comments:
Post a Comment