Tim_Day 37-39 (Uyuni - Getting there)

Day 37 (Continued)
We hit the bus station later that night and the bus ride sucked as usual. They stopped every ten feet till about 3 in the morning. Turning on the lights about half an hour before we got to the station. So by the time we arrived at the town of Viason right on the border of Bolivia I got about 2 hours max of sleep.



Day 38
We were pretty tired when we got off the bus and had to wait at the station for a couple hours till the border opened up. The poeple and the environment was changing in the blink of an eye. The people in Bolivia are much more indian looking, worn features and bodies, and are much poorer then the people in Argentina. They also much more simple and crude with there maners compared to Americans. In fact I was shoving old ladies and kicking the peg leg out from the old man in no time. It´s the way they do things down here and I´m adjusting pretty quickly. Ana´s getting the hang of it but still feels bad "cloths lining" the older people. I told her if the old ladies don´t stop nut checking me I´m gonna start DDTing the old ladies from the top of the bus.

Anyway we were sitting at the bus station that morning for a couple hours. It was cold and we had our sleeping bags drapped over us. It was dark and it was interesting to see the people. The older people wear allot of the traditional cloths which consist of a large skirt that must be stuffed with something becasue it is so puffy. They wear stockings and black sandles. Then they have a somewhat normal shirt or sweater with a stripped colorful blanket made into a backpack. They carry food, plants, kids, and whatever they can in there blanket backpacks. They also have jet black hair which they braid into to long pony tails going down there back. Average length goes down to about there butt. They also wear these black hats that remind me of the smaller rimmed hats the American cowboys used to wear. All the bolivians are pretty small as well averaging around 5 feet. Both the men and the women. Very interesting people to look at. They make me feel like I´m in disneyland.

We made it to the border via taxi. Which was a good chioce since we were thinking we could walk it but it was dark, the road was far and pretty bad. I was glad we caughed up the 1 dollar for the ride. I´m trying to keep us a little safer. Crossing the border was easy and we made it just as the sun was comming up. Was really magical walking down the street with the morning lighting.

We saw allot of older poeple sweeping the streets. Was funny to watch this one old lady sweeping in her local cloths. She had to be around 50 or older. She was working very hard sweeping the trash into a pile. Her little feet would make little fast steps from under her huge puffy dress. She was moving at a pace that seemed so quick. It was sad to see someone so old working so hard for something I bet she got paid almost nothing to do. But she worked with vigor and I only could watch and take in what was something that was so foreign to me. I really enjoy experiencing things like that. It´s what I travel for. Experiences that can never be understood or created. You just find them eveyday right in front of you.

We exchanged money and decided to take the bus that was leaving right then to Uyuni. We were lucky to catch a bus so quickly. The train was the other option but it didn´t leave till later and got into Uyuni at 12:00pm. The bus ride turned out to be very interesting indead.

We were pushed onto a really old beat up bus full of local poeple. It was dirty and smelled like people. We were lucky to find to seat sitting apart from each other. We took off and bouched our way all the way down the dirt road to the next city 2 hours away where we were hoping to get another bus that would take us all the way to Uyuni. The first bus wasn´t too bad. It was crowded and there was poeple and things all over the place. Funny thing was that we were going threw harsh desert all the way. But then we would stop all the sudden and people would get off. I would look out the windows and there were no mud structures in side? I don´t know where the hell they were going? It was like we were leaving them in the middle of the desert to die. So weird. We were also pícking up people in the middle of nowhere. Weird stuff.

We made it to the first little city and I had to go to the bathroom bad. Right as we got off they said the bus to Uyuni is leaving. So we got our packs from under the bus (which we were suprised to see) and ran to the other bus. We put our packs under the bus and hoped they would be there when we got to Uyuni. In fact every stop we would try to see if our packs were being taken off. But there is no real way to see. So we just hoped.

When we got on the second bus the people were even more poor and local. They seemed like allot of farmers or something like that since I didn´t actually see many farms. I don´t know what they did for a living since they seemed extreamly poor. Anyway we stepped over bags of extire corn stalks, and random shit. Pushed people out of the way and made it to our seats in the back of the bus where we sat for one of the top interesting bus rides I´ve had. I think what also made it so interesting was the fact that we were getting used to the nice buses in Argentina.

We started out of the town and drove the next 9 hours on some pretty bad dirt roads. Certain times it was a little hairy going on a one way road up the dirt mountains. The wheels seemed to hang over the cliff as we turned rough pitted corners. Was interesting to say the least. The bus driver was a good driver though and was doing well with what he had. The roads were dirty and dusty the whole way. In fact I had a coat of dirt on my watch so thick I had to whip it off to see the time.

If the roads and the old ass bus that bearly ran wasn´t enough the poeple were. The people are much more crude than I expected. Crude compared to what I expected. In fact when we stopped for the first time after about 1 hour I had to pee bad since I didn´t get to at the last stop. In fact I was getting close to just filling up the empty coke bottle I had and throwing it out the window. I could have and no one would have cared. But luckily the bus stopped and there were bathrooms all over the place just outside the door. In fact about 6 feet from where you exit the bus the was a kid pooping right on the dirt floor in front of everyone. There was another guy peeing right on the wall a little furthur away. I joined him and Ana when she asked a proper bathroom they pointed at the area we were all doing our business. Luckily Ana found a little wall and her and the Swiss girl we met took turns looking out for each other. I was real glad I didn´t need to do number 2. That would have been interesting. It was interestnig to be in a group that acted that way. It was gross but at the same time very free. Were so scared to do anything in America while here it´s fine just to pick your nose right in public or poop right on the road in front of everyone.

I saw some little barbeques with carne asada on them. It looked like the locals were cooking but it was actually a little store. I bought some carne asada and rice to go. It was only 1 dollar american. I got it to go and they put the rice, a couple small potatoes, and the meat in a small plastic bag. No fork. So I sat there and ate rice, meat and potatoes with my hands. The meat was great and I got my hands all dirty and dropped food all over the ground in the process. It felt really prehistoric but at the same time it was really cool. If they didn´t have a trash can (which I was suprised to see) I would have just threw the bag on the ground and left when the bus started up. That experience was really cool. I never want to live like that but here in the middle of nowhere, in a small 6 mud house community in Bolivia it was how they lived.

We proceeded all the way to Uyuni with old guys picking there nose and a young girl pucking in a trash bag. Me and Ana were really tired and the bus right was beating us up. We had been running all day and hard since San Martin and we were feeling it. We were upset, emotional, and picking at each other. We got to Uyuni around 7:00 (about 3 hours later than we though which also sucked) and we got a nice room. Luckily this city has 14,000 people and was much more nicer than we ever expected. I was thinking we were going to be sleeping in a mud house with dirt floor and no shower. But we got a room with a decent bed and a hot shower. We didn´t know that we had to tell the guy to turn on the hot water so we took a cold shower. So cold you couldn´t breath. Ana took the fastest shower I´ve ever seen. Honestly about 30 seconds which after she was having trouble catching her breath. Pretty funny.

We went out to the city to get dinner. The city is celebrating Carnival which would be fun but we were tired and not in the mood. Ana got sprayed by a local high school kid in the face with some shaving cream. The cream got in her eye and I was about to go kick his ass. I was so pissed. Ana felt like crying. Man we were worn to the end. I said let´s just relax. Were in there city and it´s part of all of it. But that really showed how physically and emotionally beat we were. It didn´t help that we had eaten really bad the last few days and almost nothing really that day.

We walked down the dark streets and avoided the idiots as best we could. We found a little pizza place and ate dinner there. The pizza was good and was cooked by an old lady with a little gas oven. It was so weird. Her little cosutume and oven. She looked like a little irish lepracon. So funny that these are real everyday cloths. So old school. The younger kids wear more modern cloths but the older traditional people don´t.

We sleep good that night despite the drums and partying all night outside our hotel.



Day 39
Woke up today very rested. It was really nice to feel rested. I feel like we are back on track and not so emotional. At times the day before we both just wanted to go home. But were better now.

Were going to schedule our 3 day tour of the area. 60 american dollars and it includes the ride, food, and lodging. The lodging sounds pretty simple but should be fine. I hope it doesn´t get to cold. The guy said it might over the next few days. We´ll need all our warm gear for the trip.

We had a great lunch at the plaza. Omlette with vegitables. They also had pancakes! I didn´t get them but I was suprised to see them. I think I´m going to like the diet down here much more. They seem to have tortillas and more basic food like vegitables and fruit. If I have to eat another sandwhich with cheese and ham I´m going to go postal.

More to come.
t*