The Butch Cassidy - Sundance Kid ride in Tupiza
Trip Start
Jan 26, 2000
1
14
30
Trip End
Jun 14, 2000
Tupiza,
Bolivia
Friday, April 14, 2000
After 3 hours on a horse my bum was in serious pain, but for some reason instead of taking the next day to relax, I signed up for a two day ride following the same route as the famous bandits took before they were shot. Sometimes I think I'll never learn.
Next morning we departed, the trail started by passing through red rock canyons, cactus and scrub like bushes, all I needed was a gun and a cowboy hat and nobody would have been able to distinguish be from John Wayne! My horse had some strange Spanish name which of course I instantly forgot, so I christened him Speedy, for obvious reasons, for the duration of my trek. He was certainly a horse with character and attitude and he appeared to enjoy running off on small jaunts away from the others in our group before returning to the main pack. I, of course, didn't have any control over Speedy so we came to a compromise, not a very good one, that he could do whatever he wanted as long as I returned to Tupiza in one piece.
By 3pm what I used to call my backside had become numb with pain and when we arrived at a small village, which was a full 3 hours from our final destination we all got together for a small meeting. My riding partners, Amanda and Claire together with myself decided enough was enough and after spotting a small store which sold beer there was no way we were going to go any further that day. A few hours and a couple of beers later we decided to lead our horses through town (none of us were in a fit state to ride) and take our beds and the one and only guest house. We arrived just as it was getting dark to find the guest house closed! We couldn't believe it, our guide soon had us walking back through town where he kept asking the locals question only to be answered with no and shakes of the head. Things were looking pretty desperate until eventually one family took pity on us and invited us into their home. The evening turned out to be fabulous, better than any hotel could offer. We got to try lots of local food specialties, including an excellent drink called Api, this drink was made with maize(as was nearly every other dish we tried), cinnamon, lemon, sugar and it had a consistency of jelly. Although all the food was very different to what I was used to at home, I did find it very tasty.
When bed time arrived we removed the dinning table and out came a big pile of animal skins and blankets. In the end all 8 of us slept in a room no bigger than 3m x 8m. The next morning we were awoken at 5am by the children crying(I think they were concerned at having to spend the night with a bunch of gringos) and after a breakfast of fried corn bread we got back on our horses for our return to Tupiza. It was another beautiful day, but we didn't hang around for too long, we were all feeling the affects of the previous day and and by 1pm we were back for a huge 'almuerzo' and a well deserved beer. Lunch is the main meal of the day in Bolivia and there were plenty of places offering a 4 course meal of soup, salad & cold cut, fruit salad and a main course which consists of chicken, fried parsnips, potatoes, beetroot all for just $1.20.
