tupiza to uyuni- salar de uyuni

soooo..finally after 3 days we made it
here come the pictures
we just arrived this mornig in la paz after a horrible overnight bus drive which ended up in a squeezed big toe...nicks toe...so we are just off to the doctor and hopefully everything is ok and not broken
and hopefullly we can do a jungle tour ...yeah yeah
but for today we will explore la paz- slowly because we are on more than 3000 m height :)
mad love
nick and helli

our ride needs a wash
a lost bus?
Nick
Helli
Giant ivonne, tiny helli
Totally planned
just taking a walk
just taking a drive
play time.
condor rock climbing..weeeeooooh,
The pwer


click
jump click
helli click experiment
weeeeeoooooooooooooooooh
pantomine " uranus"

It sounds like repeating. But what we have seen the last days was incredible, amazing, beautiful …. words of expression like weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeoooh … man where to start.

Start with crossing the border to bolivia and our whole world seemed to change. You stand on the argentinian side and you are still in some kind of luxury, once we crossed the bridge women are tiny wrinkly and are wearing charlie chaplin hats, the roads unpaved, heapz of little mercados – markets. Bolivia is certianly different. Yoou woudnt believe how tiny these old ladies are and what they can carry. Click click click click.so many click moments. Every little bit is new and unexpected. AND it is rain season. So since we nearly crossed the border. Rain, Every day around afternoon , late evening. ..be prepaired J

Our first night was quite lets say…luxurous….the triple room turned out to be a family room with huuuuuuuuuuuuge double bed and big single bed…right now we are in a lets say not soooo clean hostel. Difference between day and night, anyways, it is bolvia. We should not close our eyes, It is one of the poorest countrys of south america. And ofcourse it s just like heaven to dine out and have proper meals for 1 or 2 euros, drinks and cocktails for the same. Or freshly made juice for an unbelievable fuckin 30 euro cent or 60 nz cent. 7 people can have drinks and beers for 32 euros. It s good for the wallet. But on the other hand there are many luxuries you do not have, Like no toliet paper, no flushes, toilet seats , brushes and air freshener etc That s just how it is.

And new fruits and food. Finally. All kinds. From maracuja to tumba to we don’t know what it was called -but tasted yum. And lama. We hadnt had lama yet. But we will. And tamarilla or similar. Yeah . yeah. Food tasting. In the market. Straight from the old wrinkly lady who was just about to fall into the food with her face because she felt asleep PLUS she cooks together with some pigeons. We best don’t look for cleanliness + have diarharria pills. J (helli says: I can feel the food right now in my belly and he is grumpy with me, but the sausage and fruits today were just yum, not the indefinable chewy meat rice dish from tonight )

So what have we done. We have been on a 4 day tour through the south eastern part of Bolivia, from tupiza to uyuni. A long detour over 4 days including lagoons, volcano’s, deserts, rock valleys, simple accommodations, flamingos, high altitudes and the consequences, bumpy roads, new food etc etc.

We came to tupiza a week ago and since helli has never been on a horse, in fact, she doesn’t really like to be close to horses…(a not so nice experience back in Austria)….anyways…we did horseback riding. And it was awwwwwwwwwwwwesooome . so basically what happened. A 15 year old boy took us from the hotel to his house. Asked if we have done horseback riding before-nope-doesent matter-We jumped on the horse. That’s it. No introducing. No holding of the horse. (helli says: der einfach gesagt. Rauf da. Und lso gings. ) but or horses knew exactly what to do and where to go and to stop. Galloping is just weeeeooohhh….its smooth and so fast. It s some kind of adrenaline kick. You wouldn’t believe. But trotting hurts. A lot. Our bumps were hrutng for the rest of the day and the next day. Which we spent in our 4 wheel drive car on bumpy roads. And these roads didn’t make it any better, not at all. Hellis back was killing her.

During the tour we climbed up to 5000 m. and you wouldn’t believe how hard and tiresome it is to have a piss in 5000 m height. We, or I helli was out of breath. We basically spent 4 days in a car. Getting out of the car. Taking pictures. Went back into the car. And moved on the bumpy road. But we have seen. Maaaan. The salar de uyuni. The biggest salt flat in the world. Incredible. Although we weren’t able to go through since it is rain season and of course it rained and rained and rained at nights. So we only could enter for a bit. But worth it. I mean. The pictures I guess show what we mean. So when we were in the desert, it was covered with water coz the water cannot run anywhere with all the salt underneath. That is why we experienced the desert with reflections and not the perspective illusions. But so beautiful. And also the flamingos. And the red lagoon. Every time when we look at the pictures, we just realizing how much we have seen already.

But bolivia is a bit cheeky. Helli thinks. The wrinkly ladies who trying to rip u off with one boliviano, or in saying we will see this and this but never did, or the lady from the hostel or the special prices at the markets….” quanto cuesta? “ “ hmmm, 7 boliviano” (helli bought 2 bananas and 2 peaches. And she told me the prizes without weighting the stuff J suspicious, but I mean we are talking about 70 cent)

Oooohhh, we ‘ve been at the bar for more than 4 hours and the pictures still uploading. All just for u guys J hehe but we area but tired now.