I know that it has been a long time since I have updated everyone on our travels and I am sorry for this...but it is because we have been so busy and I haven't had time. I last left you with our amazing tour of Sucre and surrounds; after that we caught a bus to nearby Potosi, which is the highest city in the world!!! Yes that is true...I have now been to the highest city in the world. Potosi is famous for their silver mines and you can do tours in the mines, but since we were only there for 1 night we didn't really have time and I wasn't that keen anyways. Actually now that I am thinking about it, I'm pretty sure that we spent the whole time trying to decide what kind of Salt Flat tour we were going to do because it all depended on where we would start from. In the end we decided to start from a place called Uyuni....as was the most popular and we thought we found a nice tour company...but more on that in a little while. So the next morning we got a taxi to take us to the bus terminal, but when I said that we were going to Uyuni he took us to the bus stop on the side of the road...it looked a little dodgy so we asked him to take us to the terminal that we arrived at the previous day. We got there and he tried to overcharge us, we went into the bus terminal and there was only one counter selling tickets to Uyuni, which was weird. When I asked what gate the bus leaves from after buying out]r tickets the lady told me that the bus doesn't leave from that terminal and that we had to take a taxi to where it did leave from. So in we got and I had that fleeting feeling that we were going to end up where the taxi stopped in the first place...low and behold that was exactly where it took us, so we had to pay the taxi again and we got on the dodgiest looking bus ever...all our stuff was on the top of the bus and there was even a bed up there. But it made it to Uyuni; only god knows how, the road was so bumpy!
Uyuni is like a big dirt hole! We had been told that it wasn't anything special, but we quite liked it. We had to walk around for ages to try to find the travel agency and there was a street market and people parading and everything...quite a good atmosphere. We finally found the place and booked our tour for the next 3 days ending in San Pedro de Atacama. Then when we were using the internet at a cafe we ran into Chris and Nadine, Amy's friends again they had just finished their tour and said it ws good. They were heading back up Bolivia and into the jungle, so this is the last time we will bump into them. The salt flat tour started the next day and I'm not really going to talk about it much here becuase in a nutshell, it was a bit of a disaster. But not to worry...we saw some amazing things that just blew our minds and that is what I am going to remember about the trip; not the bad parts.
We arrived in San Pedro de Atacama in the early afternoon and I instantly fell in love with the place. It is so relaxed, just like being on the beach at home...I love it! We found a hostel and then just wandered around the town for a bit. It is only small and full of artesian type people, just my kind of place. We booked a sandboarding tour for the next day that I was so exicted about, had some of the best food that we've had in a long time and met some Aussie girls that were staying in our dorm. The next day was very productive, we did all the things that we had been putting off....Amy changed her flight, we booked Rio for New Years, and we sent some well overdue emails. We also booked the bus to the next destination, Salta in Argentina. The sandboarding was in the afternoon and it was so much fun. I don't really know what I was expecting but it was just like snow boarding only on sand instead of snow...and it didn't hurt as much when you fell on your face. The only hard part was walking up the hill to go down...it was a massive sand dune! But totally worth the fun you had on the way down, it was a real rush. The guides were really cool too, one even looked like Orlando Bloom (lucky us)! We sandboarded until just before the sunset then went to the Valley of the Moon to watch the sun set over the Atacama desert...it was incredible and one of the best days that I have had in 7 months!! That night we went out to dinner with the Aussie girls and then had drinks at a cool place that cooks its food with solar powered panels. The guys were some of the ones that were at sandboarding that day and they told us to come to a party out in the desert...so we did. It was really fun, they were teaching us local dances...one was kind of like salsa but a little different. We got home about 3am and had a bus at 9am so only a little sleep was had that night...but it was all good we slept a little on the bus the next day.
Salta is pretty nice...not really what I was expecting at all. It's back to civilization with big buildings and lot of cars. And the people here don't really look indigenous at all...they look more European. The bus got in a little late and we were meant to get picked up at the bus station by the hostel people, but I guess they got sick of waiting because there was no one there. Because we had just arrived from Chile, we had no Argentenian money and the ATM was empty so we had to ask a taxi to take us to an ATM then the hostel. It all worked out fine and the hostel was nice. The next day we explored Salta a little...the plaza is really nice. There are heaps of big churches here and really nice old colonial buildings. We went to the museum of high altitude archaeology and it had frozen mummies on display. It was a really good exhbit and I was fascinated by it all. They always sacrificed children, but to the Inca they didn't see it as a sacrifice so not really as sad as you think. And all the bodies are usually found at the top of a volcano...they really loved their mountains here and worshipped them with reverence. It's fascinating to someone like me who doesn't really know that much about Andean archaeology....sorry if I am boring all of you.
After the museum we walked to the market....not really the most exciting place on earth. Then we went to the bus station and got tickets to Buenos Aires for the following day. Its a 21 hour bus ride and a little expensive, but what can you do ay. Actually i'm in the bus right now writing this entry so time has not been wasted. Anyways, after buying bus tickets we went for a ride on the Teleferico which is like a gondola up a mountain to overlook the city. It was so nice and the sun was setting and there were beautiful gardens up the top...very enjoyable. Amy and I were having a great time and we were saying how much we were loving life at the moment. The ride back down was nice and we walked back through a huge park with a lake in it. There were ducks and people in paddle boats; it was really sweet. The next day we wasted away the morning reading books in the park under the shade of a nice big tree. It was really relaxing and I enjoyed every second of it. We caught the bus at 3pm that afternoon and are arriving in BA at 1pm the next afternoon.
Buenos Aires is amazing. It is such a big city and there are so many people...something that we are not used to. I don't really feel like a tourist here...kind of blend in more. The hostal we are staying at is really fun...it's more like a hotel for young people. We are staying on the 7th floor but dont really have a view of the city, but its ok because the hostel is on a walkway/bouluvard thing and theres everything we need a few steps away. The night we arrived in BA we went on a Crazy Train that took us all over the city. First we went to a place where the served pizza and sushi...it was amazing, I haven't eaten it in so long and I really miss it! Then we got taken to a club called Asia right on the waterfront and we danced the night away. Now most people that know me know that I can't stay up very late...that plus the fact that the people here do not go out until midnight was cause for concern, but you will be very happy to know that I stayed up until 8:30am before going to bed. I don't know how I did it, but it must have been the BA spirit or something. It was a very fun night had by all! Tomorrow I think we will explore the city a little because we are yet to do so...there are heaps of monuments and buildings and churches to see here in BA so I think we'll have a very good day. Then it's off to Iguazu falls to see the amazing waterfalls that so many tourists flock to see, then onto Brazil. I had a brief encounter with Portugese last night also and I think i'm in trouble....it's nothing like Spanish, sounds more like French and I can't understand a word! Oh well, we'll see how that goes...
Oh and you might be wondering why I decided to call this blog 'Amy and her ojos'...well theres a pretty funny story about that. It seems that people here are fascinated by Amy's eyes (ojos in Spanish). Everywhere we go people are like "wow your eyes are so beautiful!" It is the funniest thing because they just stare so deeply into her eyes that its really confronting and arkward! Most of the people here have brown or green eyes so blue must be quite exotic...I have to admit though, Amy does have beautiful eyes so no wonder people are so mesmerized!
