Our way to nowhere

I love traveling. I know it doesn’t sound original, but I do. My last trip was around Bolivia. I decided to leave my home country, Spain, and move in Argentina, my father’s home country. I don’t know why, but I did. I felt the need to explore Southamerica, so I started going north. I came here thinking about south, but I finally went up. The north of the south, I thought.

I undertook the trip going to Jujuy, Argentina. It was Carnaval. Locals drink for one week, forget about work and dance wearing ancestral costumes. Foreigners only drink and forget about work. I remember Purmamarca. The town rests at the foot of a magic mountain: La Montaña de los Siete Colores. Supposedly it has seven colors. I am sure there were more. I stayed in a camping located in the top of a hill. I don’t remember the name. Just walk through the main street and lose yourself under the sun. Waste patience carrying your bag, and you will be there.

After a few days in the middle of nowhere, I crossed the borderline with Bolivia. I wanted to go in Uyuni directly, but fortunately, I missed the train. That’s the reason why I stayed in Tupiza. Everything was red, dry and rough. I realized is a good place to go for nothing. To let time and nature teach us how vertiginous is our daily life.

Then, Uyuni. Some people take a tour from the town to the Salar. In my experience, the cheapest thing is taking a regular bus for 15 bolivianos and stop in some random point. Is not only because is 100 bolivianos less, but also because you feel nobody is controlling your steps. And that feels good. Even is a really touristic place, it’s worth it. ¡It’s a salty desert!.

The next step: La Paz. The city where the old and the new confluence. Some people go in touristic hostels to have party and get drunk with other tourists. Don’t do that. Go, drink a bear. But don’t stay. It’s better to find a quiet place where it’s easy to rest and wake up in a good mood to discover La Paz with its altitud and its changes.

I finished my trip in La Isla del Sol, between Bolivia and Perú. There is a beach in a country that has not coast. There is a sea-lake almost 3 km higher than real sea. With a tent, the only necessary thing is to set it in the sand and join some group of people that are playing guitars. Go by boat from Copabacaba and stay for a while, laying down in the beach and looking at up how the deep night starts to cover your head, and listening to the cords resounding somewhere.