Bolivia: Tupiza

After our long Salar de Uyuni tour and horrible nighttime train to Tupiza, we took two days off to just chill out, get some sleep and relax. We had a great HOT shower with pressure and cable television with 2 channels of English movies about 1/2 of the time. We even broke down one night, with no English options and watched Spiderman in Spanish. Quite entertaining actually. So with a bit of rest and movie watching, feeling back to normal, we decided to do a little horse riding around the beautiful and multi-colored canyons of Tupiza.

Tupiza is famous for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid fame. They did their last robbery in Huaca Huanasca and shot it out for the last time in nearby San Vicente, where the gravestone still marks their presence.

We opted for a full day of 7 hours of horse riding, opting out of the 2 day ride. Thankfully so as we are fresh off that day of horse riding around the Tupiza canyons and are a bit saddle sore, tight backed and rubbed raw in a few spots.

We headed out about 1000 for our ride with two guides, two Israeli counterparts and a party sunny day with stiff breeze. My horse, Pancho, seemed alright if a bit stubborn at the beginning and Rachel’s horse, was meek by comparison. We followed the train tracks, turned right as we got to the campesino farming area and made our way to the canyons. The guide decided to go for a run (muy rapido) and off we went. My horse bolted as if he’d been stung. Later on, I’d find out that he only liked to be in front, always....and was a very fast horse.

Never having been on a horse that fast before, it was exciting, if not a bit scary. Following behind the guide, I took a few rocks to the face and mouth, luckily not shattering my sunglasses or knocking out a tooth. Funny to those who have ridden, but the control factor of my steed would become an issue to deal with later in the day. If you’ve felt that feeling, then you know what I’m talking about.

We followed the road admiring the views all along. The colors and heights and formations of the rocks were amazing. Then the wind kicked up and did not stop for the rest of the day.
20-30mph winds sucking the dust from the earth and hurtling it along from all directions, in our face, down our backs, in our teeth....not pleasant and we still had 5 hours to go.

Coming down to the river for lunch, my horse bolted for the other horses...he headed for a low lying concrete picnic table, then veered quickly to the left towards a tree, thankfully missing them both (yes I was trying to stop, turn left and get him to slow down, all in vain nonetheless...) and then he just stopped. With Pancho happy to be with the other horses milling about, I dismounted a bit shaken.

I asked our guide to trade horses for safety reasons, but to no avail after lunch. So I rode Pancho, rather he carried me where he wanted to go. Whether the commands were in English or Spanish, he was uncooperative in every way. He would not set still, would not give up first place and could not stand to be directed left or right and hated the bit in his mouth.

As we approached our first river crossing, the guides were behind us having issues of their own. One of the horses refused to be mounted. Finally, he got on and we crossed the river. We made our way down the riverbank taking in the scenery. The second half of the ride was by the far the best. We passed local houses of mud brick, farming in the old plowed way along the river, following the train tracks we made our way in and out of the canyons and saw the local landmarks of the area. Just beautiful scenery.

We crossed the river many times, but the second time would be a remembered experience. The guide set off on a run again at full tilt, and Pancho went for it. Only he aimed for the rocky part of the riverbed, without responding to the reigns one bit. At full tilt, my right foot slipped out of the stirrup and the saddle move a little to the left. Watching the rocks blur by below, we sped along to water’s edge, where he slowed only a bit to cross and then finally milled about when he reached the lead horse (these two did not like each other anyways....matter of fact, the guide said Pancho was a bit crazy and did not like many other horses).

The guide finally recognized my concerns and told me to amigo abajo (friend get down). As I tried to dismount swinging my right foot over the saddle, Pancho was still walking a bit. As my foot came over the top of the saddle, the entire saddle and I fell to the sand in a big heap of anger and words that I cannot write here. Luckily the ground was only sand and nothing but a bump happened. Nothing broken, no blood...all good.

Well at least I finally would get to change horses. I moved onto Rachel’s original horse called Negra Lady. She was sweet, followed commands and had an easy run. Rachel had traded with one of the Israeli guys earlier to get a bit more speed as he had been spooked by our first run.

The trailing guide mounted Pancho and had a tough time bringing him home as he was just as stubborn with him. We finished the ride with some horrible trotting (hence the sore bottoms) into the driving wind and still taking in the views. Needless to say, we were very happy to have a nice hot shower and not be stuck in a cold shack somewhere contemplating another 7 hour ride the next day.
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