Salta to La Quiaca
Trip Start
Nov 29, 2007
1
39
115
Trip End
Jun 24, 2008
La Quiaca,
Argentina
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
We arrived at La Quiaca at 8am in the morning, we had gone full cama, at no extra cost, so at least we got a few hours sleep. From there we had to walk to the frontera, the border, and get stamped out of Argentina and walked over the bridge to Bolivia. You cant get a bus over the border like in other countries, you have to walk and get another bus on the other side. We had been told it can take ages, but I have to say it was pretty uneventful, even with Epi having to do an extra form and pay his $100 US!
Whilst we were in line we started talking to a couple of guys (Gary and Mícheál from Galway) that had been on our bus from Salta. Turns out they were on holiday and planning to go to Uyuni to do the Salt flat tour. We told them that we too were doing it but from Tupiza, which is actually nearer. We all got on great and before we knew it we had decided to travel to Tupiza together and try to book the Salt Flat tour together the next day, as we had both read that you need 6 people for the tour.
When we got through the border we all needed money so headed to the cash point, a very rare commodity in Bolivia it appears! Then we headed to the bus station, which was a little crazy! We find later that we are trying to get tickets for the bus we are stood right next and we miss it by about 10 minutes, the next one isn´t until 3pm and as we have gone back 2 hours it is now only about 7.30am, great!!!!
So we made our way to the train station at the other end of this desolate town.
The Frontera, Argentina and Bolivia before sunrise
It was a big fiesta yesterday and the town is deserted, apart from the bus and train station that is!It took 3 hours to get tickets for the train that leaves at 3.30pm for Tupiza, but I guess we had nothing else to do all day! The train tickets were the equivalent of 4 pounds for ejectivo (executive, 1st class)! Gary and I had gone off in the meantime to try and find some food for us, which was basically impossible. Nothing was open and what was open either had no change for our recently acquired $100 Bl or had nothing to sell!
We saw lots of people dancing in the streets and so many people all dressed up, we weren´t sure if this was for the fiesta or daily attire - turns out it is pretty much daily attire in this country, big skirts with lots of padding underneath, thick stockings, big woolly jumpers and colourful shawls and bowler hats - it looks fantastic, but I don´t know how they don´t faint in the heat, we were in shorts and t-shirts and were too hot!
We came back from our walk empty handed, but had a great chat along the way and got to know each other a little better! The altitude was starting to effect us all and breathing was much harder, so we chilled at the station for a bit.
It was a very long day, but finally we were getting on the train at Villazon and heading to Tupiza. The train was great, we had great seats and the views were just amazing. We also had a film and a little goody bag- but I have given up chocolate for lent, so Epi had mine!
The journey took 2 and a half hours and we arrived at Tupiza at 6pm ish!
The hotel that we had booked was really close to the train station so we went straight there and got booked in. It costs $16 US for a double en suite, including breakfast. We dumped our bags and went straight to Tupiza tours to find out more about the Salar de Uyuni tours. The woman there was great, she listened to all our dietary needs and told us in such detail about the tour and best of all we can go with just the 4 of us, so we booked. Four days and 3 nights, all meals, drinks, accommodation and everything included for $160 US each, amazing!
That night we went out for a very nice and cheap meal, it takes a long time to get your food here, so you have to order before you are hungry, but it is all freshly prepared and very, very nice.
Very excited about the tour, we all seem to get on great and have a similar sense of humour, so it should be a great 4 days.
