Crappy weather, screw staying here
Trip Start
Mar 09, 2007
1
148
169
Trip End
??? ??, 2008
San Salvador de Jujuy,
Argentina
Saturday, February 9, 2008
seen what I want to see in Bolivia now and am making haste to get to La
Cumbre, Argentina to start paragliding again. I have some ground to
cover and the idea is to start doing it as fast as possible.
The bus from Sucre to Tarija was kind of crappy. A flat tire and a
gear box problem (they seem to pull spare parts out of their ass down
here, its incredible how they always seem to have a spare of the broken
part) which cost us some time. There were some other gringos on the
bus so were were able to clan up together.
We arrived in the morning in Tarija in the wake of some rain. This
is an area known for its wine, so I dipped into town quickly to blow
the last of my Bolivianos on several bottles of wine. I bought all the
expensive reserve bottles because they were so damn cheap (the most
expensive bottle I could find was 15 bucks, but that's a lot for
Bolivians).
Since the weather wasn't too nice and there wasn't anything to do
except visit the wineries, we hopped on another bus to the border. By
the way the Bermejo/Aguas Blancas border crossing is a total joke and
kind of a mess. We found ourselves at last in Jujuy, Argentina. I had
the worst Argentinian steak that night, was wildly disappointed after
looking forward to one.
Not totally sure what the order would be, but Bolivia is in the top
three South American countries for me. Argentina is definitely #1, but
I really love Bolivia. Bolivia is awesome because it's almost the
opposite of Argentina. It's a totally different kind of adventure.
It's just a crazy, wild country (you can buy dynamite for 2 bucks!!!),
the things that are allowed to go on there just blow my mind. It's
amazing the country even runs. I like to refer to it as a 'cowboy
operation'. I feel like the whole thing is just thrown together last
minute by someone who might seem be the boss. One of the great parts
is that it still has a ton of great culture and indigenous influence.
I still can't get enough of the ladies with their little hats. Bolivia
also has some of the coolest and wildest terrain. It varies from
desert and salt flats, to amazonian jungle, to crazy high Andes peaks.
It's a beautiful country.
It felt good to be
back in Argentina because I felt like I could relax again. In Bolivia
you always have to be watching your stuff and always be on guard for
some scam or someone trying to run off with your stuff.
