“The open road is a beckoning, a strangeness, a place where a man can lose himself."
Over six months on the road now and still loving it! On the one hand I feel like have been doing this forever, I can't imagine living any other kind of life, but on the other, six months is a pretty good chunk of time, and I feel like I have just arrived considering how much more there is to see.
After arriving in Salta, a large town in Argentina, we decided to stay in a hostel since two out of the three of us only had hammocks and it was raining everyday. We became friends with the owners (a very young couple) and ended up having an Argentinian BBQ with them one night. The steaks really are as good as they say, and, like always here, we only started to eat at midnight. From there we (still with the two crazy French guys), hitchhiked our way down to a lake. There was no one there, and we were able to cross (there was a part where the water only went up to mid stomach) and sleep on an island. After that we made our way down to another town farther south. By then the French guy without a tent had bought one, so we were able to stay in campings again. For my birthday, the guys did an Argentinean BBQ (in the pouring rain) and we drank Argentinean wine all night. A few days later we started out on a day trip that we thought was an easy hike to a waterfall, but ended up being an all day very hard excursion that involved crossing a river over a dozen times (very strong current, water up past my chest), and very dangerous climbs with nothing underneath. Unfortunately, on one of the river crossing I slipped pretty bad while jumping onto a rock and ended up spraining my knee, so I never made it to the waterfall.
I decided from there to head back up to Bolivia as the French guys continued down, so I spent two straight days on the bus (unfortunately hitchhiking alone is not a smart plan). An hour away from my destination here in Bolivia, we got stopped because the miners were on strike, again. By this time it was 22h, and we ended up spending the night in the bus waiting and hoping that they would let up, which of course, they didn't. In the morning at about 6h as the sun began to rise, everyone (there were kilometers of busses and trucks stuck on both sides) came out to see what was going on. Along with thousands of others, we walked over two hours to cross to the other side where some of the busses were turning around to give up. Finally, over twelve hours after I should have arrived, I made it to Oruro. The day after I arrived here, February tenth, I woke up to fire crackers (here they sound like gun shots) and music, the kind you hear in a parade. Sure enough, there was a parade that lasted over five hours and involved just about everyone you could think of. There was the army (sadly have no pictures from this part cause we were packed so tightly I couldn't reach into my bag to grab my camera), scouts, fruit sellers, miners, students, and everyone in-between. I later found out that it was Oruro's birthday, hence the big celebration. Also, all this week there has been an ongoing water fight all over the city. Every kid and student has a water bottle or water gun (as well as spray soap), and it seems like just about everyone participates. The first few days I was safe, but after that I guess a target appeared on my head since I was getting sprayed, with water and soap, constantly. This is all in preparation for carnival, which is a huge celebration here... One of the biggest in the world!
Since I haven't had wifi, I am posting this, which was written a few weeks ago, as well as my newest entry.
Showing posts with label Argentina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Argentina. Show all posts
February 23, 2012
February 1, 2012
The largest salt flat in the world and the adventures of a hitchhiker
"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving."
After leaving Sucre, I spent a few days in a small cowboy town in southern Bolivia. While walking around this funny town, I met up with a French couple and French guy I had spent the time in Sucre with, so, when they left to visit the famous Salar de Uyuni, I followed along. In our 4X4 it was us, and a Belgian, which made for a very good group. It was a four day trip through the desert (at 5,000m), and then through a part of the largest salt flat in the world (sadly, because it's the rainy season, we didn't get to go all the way through). The salt flat is literally as it sounds, an immense area covered with salt. In the dry season, it is blindingly white, while in the rainy season, it turns into a lake in parts. We also spent the night in a hotel made solely of salt, everything from the bed, to the chairs, to the walls. It was definitely one of the most stunning things I have seen.
After catching a bus at 3h (I don't know why their busses can't be at more convenient times), we arrived at the border (with Chile) in the morning, where we saw corruption at work as always in Bolivia. To leave, they were asking 15 bolivianos, about two dollars, which isn't much for us, but if a hundred people pass, that's two hundred dollars (more than most people there make in a month). Sure, we could spare the money, but knowing it was free, we politely but firmly refused. When the guy insisted, we asked for a receipt, which obviously didn't exist. He let us through saying he would mark on his computer (that was off) that we had not paid. Yeah right. After a few more hours of waiting, we passed into Chile. Overall it took over five hours to do that one small km. From there we entered into the driest desert in the world. There was literally nothing, no towns, no animals, no vegetation, just desert and blue sky. I spent most of my time in a hammock during the day since it was too hot to venture out, but in the morning and night it was cool and we were able to explore a bit the vast desert around us. We (the French and I) were staying in a camping, something that exists all through Argentina and Chile. It is literally a campground in or just outside the city, that is much cheaper than the outrageously expensive hostels. It was also a nice change, and I plan on always staying in campings while in this part of the continent.
On the day we left Chile (the rest of that country will be for next trip), we left at six in order to be the first at the boarder since we wanted to hitchhike with a trucker. They turned us away from entering and getting stamped since we didn't have any transportation arranged (and the next village, or life what so ever was more than 200km away through the desert), but luckily we were able to find one to take us so we turned right around and hopped in with him. Normally when you take a truck it takes twice as long, but with our driver, it was twice as fast! We arrived about 150km from our destination, and tried to catch another ride to Salta that night with no luck (no one was going that way). To catch a ride, I had a sign saying Salta and I would jump aroundand follow every car that past. Though we had no luck, everyone waved and laughed when they saw us, and I had a great time doing it. We were right in front of people selling bread and donuts, and apparently they found us amusing as well because they gave us free food every hour. The also let us set up our hammocks for the night in their stand, but while we were doing that, someone came out of their house and invited us to eat with them, and camp out in their back yard. In that first day here in Argentina, we saw just how different the people here are. In the Andean countries, the people could care less that you are there, and many are rude. Here on the other hand, when you take out a map, you have someone right there beside you asking if you need help, and after helping you, they walk you part of the way as well. It is definitely a nice change.
After camping the night in someone backyard, we decided we liked the area and ended up camping close to a lake the next night. After that, we successfully hitchhiked out to Salta, were we are currency staying (I'm still with the French). Pretty soon we will hitchhike on out to, well, that's the thing about hitchhiking, you never quite know where you will end up!
After leaving Sucre, I spent a few days in a small cowboy town in southern Bolivia. While walking around this funny town, I met up with a French couple and French guy I had spent the time in Sucre with, so, when they left to visit the famous Salar de Uyuni, I followed along. In our 4X4 it was us, and a Belgian, which made for a very good group. It was a four day trip through the desert (at 5,000m), and then through a part of the largest salt flat in the world (sadly, because it's the rainy season, we didn't get to go all the way through). The salt flat is literally as it sounds, an immense area covered with salt. In the dry season, it is blindingly white, while in the rainy season, it turns into a lake in parts. We also spent the night in a hotel made solely of salt, everything from the bed, to the chairs, to the walls. It was definitely one of the most stunning things I have seen.
After catching a bus at 3h (I don't know why their busses can't be at more convenient times), we arrived at the border (with Chile) in the morning, where we saw corruption at work as always in Bolivia. To leave, they were asking 15 bolivianos, about two dollars, which isn't much for us, but if a hundred people pass, that's two hundred dollars (more than most people there make in a month). Sure, we could spare the money, but knowing it was free, we politely but firmly refused. When the guy insisted, we asked for a receipt, which obviously didn't exist. He let us through saying he would mark on his computer (that was off) that we had not paid. Yeah right. After a few more hours of waiting, we passed into Chile. Overall it took over five hours to do that one small km. From there we entered into the driest desert in the world. There was literally nothing, no towns, no animals, no vegetation, just desert and blue sky. I spent most of my time in a hammock during the day since it was too hot to venture out, but in the morning and night it was cool and we were able to explore a bit the vast desert around us. We (the French and I) were staying in a camping, something that exists all through Argentina and Chile. It is literally a campground in or just outside the city, that is much cheaper than the outrageously expensive hostels. It was also a nice change, and I plan on always staying in campings while in this part of the continent.
On the day we left Chile (the rest of that country will be for next trip), we left at six in order to be the first at the boarder since we wanted to hitchhike with a trucker. They turned us away from entering and getting stamped since we didn't have any transportation arranged (and the next village, or life what so ever was more than 200km away through the desert), but luckily we were able to find one to take us so we turned right around and hopped in with him. Normally when you take a truck it takes twice as long, but with our driver, it was twice as fast! We arrived about 150km from our destination, and tried to catch another ride to Salta that night with no luck (no one was going that way). To catch a ride, I had a sign saying Salta and I would jump aroundand follow every car that past. Though we had no luck, everyone waved and laughed when they saw us, and I had a great time doing it. We were right in front of people selling bread and donuts, and apparently they found us amusing as well because they gave us free food every hour. The also let us set up our hammocks for the night in their stand, but while we were doing that, someone came out of their house and invited us to eat with them, and camp out in their back yard. In that first day here in Argentina, we saw just how different the people here are. In the Andean countries, the people could care less that you are there, and many are rude. Here on the other hand, when you take out a map, you have someone right there beside you asking if you need help, and after helping you, they walk you part of the way as well. It is definitely a nice change.
After camping the night in someone backyard, we decided we liked the area and ended up camping close to a lake the next night. After that, we successfully hitchhiked out to Salta, were we are currency staying (I'm still with the French). Pretty soon we will hitchhike on out to, well, that's the thing about hitchhiking, you never quite know where you will end up!
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