Vamos a Bolivia — Tupiza, Bolivia
We arrived in La Quiaca very early in the morning, probably about 7am and it was freezing!! The sleep on the bus was good, just a bit short really. We followed some other travellers, who had asked which way to walk to the border and since it was only about a 10 minute walk, we decided not to pay for a taxi. We arrived at the border and there was already a big line, mainly because a bus of performers had arrived shortly before us. Eventually the line went down and we were able to get our exit stamps for Argentina and our entry stamps for Bolivia. Yes, another country on the list! On the other side it was another 10 minute walk to the bus station and we scuffled along with our big bags, tired from standing in the queue for over an hour. We managed to find a cash point on the way, to make sure we had Bolivianos on us and made our way to the bus stop. There were lots of people trying to get us to buy tickets to get on their buses, but I decided to have a look for the best price and most suitable departure time. In the end, I got us some tickets for $3 for two of us to travel for two hours. Incredible! This country is so cheap. In the meantime I had left Chris with the bags and people kept coming up to him asking if he wanted to go "to ******" - Chris was really confused by this, because he did need the toilet, but didn't know why all this people were so concerned. In actual fact, they were asking him if he wanted to go to "Tupiza" (but the "z" is pronounced as a soft "s" sound), which was in fact our next destination. The bus journey was a quick one and we managed to get some chicken pies, three of them, for $0.60, which was another bargain! I love this country. We arrived and headed straight to our hostel, which was set on the foot of some huge mountains and in general the scenery in Tupiza is just astonishing! The room was gorgeous and we were happy to have a hot shower again, then we just relaxed for a bit. The hotel owner told us about some of the tours they organise and they also offered the one we wanted - a four day trip from Tupiza through amazing lagoons and other great sights to Uyuni and the salt flats there. He offered us a great price and the only thing left to do was to find out who else would be in the 4x4 with us for the next four days. They offered a laundry service, so we dropped off a huge bag and went to explore the little town. There wasn't much by the main square, but I got a couple of snaps of some nice old buildings and then we found our lunch venue. This was a small cafe with lots of locals and you could get a three course meal - salad buffet, a hearty soup with lots of rice and vegetables, which was delicious and for the main course a choice of beef or chicken. We both ordered the chicken, which was spicy and so juicy and tender. As well as the chicken and rice, there was also something that resembled cooked mushrooms in sour cream, but when we tried it, it was more like a starchy vegetable, something like a black potato. All this food cost us $2.15 per person and it was so tasty and so filling, we couldn't believe it! In the afternoon Chris had a snooze and I packed some bags, organised some more hostels for the future and then we went on a nice walk through the town. We grabbed a beer and chatted for hours, which was really nice. What we like in particular about Bolivia is that everyone is so incredibly friendly, people always try to help you and we don't get that impression of being harassed to buy souvenirs, because we are tourists. Also, most of the kids are fascinated by the tourists and run up to you to say "Hola". They are so cute!! It was dinner time and the wind had picked up so much! Poor Chris had gone out in a single and shorts, so he was pretty cold and we just found a local restaurant for dinner. It was a BBQ grill place and we ordered a plate of meat, which comes with a salad to start and then potate and rice pudding (odd) with the meat. The lady recommended a wine for us, but it turned out to be pretty sweet and not too pleasant. Still, we couldn't complain, because once again it was so cheap. We headed back and I had a really bad headache, I think it was the altitude, since we were at 3000m and perhaps the lack of sleep as well. So we had a nice sleep and then another early start.