To be blunt, this entry wont be as exciting as my last ones. I am sitting in a town called Uyuni, Bolivia. The best thing to ever come out of this town is the road! I´m talking to dad on msn and just hearing from him, made my eyes water. So I was telling myself ¨fluffy kittens fluffy kittens¨ to try and be calm, but to the amusement of Emma beside me and myself, I started crying-laughing. I have had heightened emotions at the moment and have been in a cold environment for over a month now, and I HATE the cold. People think travelling is easy, and not working would be the best thing in the world. But, it is hard not having an everyday purpose, especially when I'm such a dreamer with my career, and all the things I want to accomplish. And so the burden of homesickness has been getting stronger, and word from home makes me smile & keep going (hint hint).
And so, there have been good times too… we have seen great places, and the images will stay in my mind forever. We first arrived in Bolivia in Copacabana, home of the highest lake in the world, Titicaca. Absolutely freezing, we hiked across the hills of Isle de Sol, and got stoned with some funny Americans overlooking aymara ruins and talking to llamas. The next morning having a cosy breakfast with my best friend Em, overlooking the lake from the top of the island, our minds struggling with bitter sweet emotions from seeing the most beautiful places, and also being treated badly as travellers from many lying Bolivians! La Paz was good to see again, finding more secret places to eat & drink red wine. Spent some time with my adopted Bolivian family, and played ¨beach¨ volleyball surrounded by snow capped mountains. I tried my best to tell them they can't call it BEACH volleyball, but because it was on sand, apparently that counted.
So leaving La Paz, we thought it would be best to fork out the extra cash for the best tourist bus. But unfortunately, it was not worth it. 4am in the morning, we woke up to the sound of a spinning tyre. We were bogged. I put on as many clothes as possible and jumped out of the bus to be blasted by the cold winter of a desert in the middle of nowhere, in this bitter sweet country! Usually I can become that bit warmer just from star gazing, but because I was freezing my tits off, all that came out was tyrrets sounds. The bus driver lit grass fires, for light and warmth, and began digging out the soft sand underneath the tyre. The bus was lodged in a dip with its arse on one side and the headlights on the other. The novelty for me lasted about 20minutes. Emma and I, with some being-bogged experience tried our best to help digging, collect rocks and give suggestions… but the Bolivian men were not about to listen to two gringas (female tourists), now or ever. So hugging each other and wishing our dads were there to fix it, we gave up and got back into the warm cabin. The sun came up… and 100 Bolivians, 3 4WD´s, 2 trucks, 2 local buses, 1 farm tracker and 5 hours later, we were towed out.
So we made it to the town of Uyuni, to find our adventure in the Salt Flats and mountains, famous to this region. We chose a tour of 3 days, to see all the sights, and to be driven around in a land cruiser 4WD. There were Israelis on the list, so I requested that me and Emma be put in their group. Good or bad decision, I'm still deciding… but we had an awesome time seeing these amazing places: the huge salt flats, driving through the mountains, blue lakes & pink flamingos, hills that looked like my mum had painted them (and me bursting into tears thinking of her), striking blue-orange sunsets, riding through a mud brick town drunk on a bike that had no breaks, the fruitless search for san pedro cactus (for natural hallucinations!), teaching the german card game Uka to Israelis, singing ¨every sperm is sacred¨ for an hour with a funny Englishman who looked like side-show-bob, chasing the baby llama that was wearing my red scarf, relaxing in hot springs at 4300m with red hills blue skies, and a big moon around us, and me refusing to pay 1boliviana to pee in a toilet, fed up with how in-humane it is (but giving in eventually). So that kind of sums up our trip to the salt flats, and the images will stand out as some of the most amazing things my eyes have ever seen.
Today we leave for Sucre, in search of Che Guevara´s last steps. So until next time: ¨Todos Possible, Nada Seguro¨ (All is possible, Nothing for sure)
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