04.10.08 - To Tupiza

Dusty Roads Through the Land of Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid

Leaving Uyuni brought mixed emotions.  We had a really good time in a local bar, which had the most friendly and hospitably proprietor yet encountered in South America, but the calendar pushed us onwards.  Tupiza was the next target and only a mere seven hour bus journey away.  The catch was that, by and large, the journey contained about four hours of "white knuckle" cliff driving on single track, with no bathroom breaks.  Angela, a fellow traveler met in Spain called this leg of the journey, "The scariest bus ride in the world."  ... an understandable statement.

Despite the cloudless, blue skies and penetrating radiant heat, water poured on the engines simply froze in place.  It is a strange sensation to be hot in the direct sunlight and then bone chillingly cold, in a matter of moments, after stepping into the shade.

Part of why our trip became so protracted was an hour plus lay over in some quaint little town between Uyuni and Tupiza.  (These may look like train tracks, but they are really the directions to the local WC, i.e. in and around the tracks is the WC, which took a little while to figure out.)

We killed the time by eating local food and wandering the length of main street.  In the primary town square, a strange erection to local miners combined with a defunct single engine airplane graced the plaza.  We couldn't figure out what the connection could be, but there you have it... installation modern art in minor Bolivian village.

This proved to be our first real exposure to native "country or campo" dress.  The women wear bowler hats, layered sweaters, stockings, and a form of flip-flops.  For a fashion statement, it all comes together and seems to work for them or at least captured our attention any way.

These older ladies in the town square were classic in their attire.

After the break, we headed over several passes and skirted many a gorge.  The bus passed within a few kilometers of where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were finally gunned down.  Countryside miles passed by like an extended Hollywood western set.  As long as you didn't pay attention to the cliff edges and the bus path along the narrow gage, all was well.

Finally we arrive in Tupiza to a find a moderately priced Hostel with a flowering tree, which at the time seemed like an oasis... but later just a big purple tree in a courtyard... haaa.

But we were most excited by the pool option, given the unrelenting heat of the day.  As it turned out, the pool was beyond freezing, so relaxing in chairs to enjoy the cooling of the desert evening proved to be a better option.