Unexpectedly Bolivia!!

Hola Hola Hola!!! So after spending 3 months in Argentina and Chile Scott and I decided we wanted to look for a little culture, a little bit of something different, and save a little $$ ... so we decided to head to Bolivia!!!  We had heard so many great things about this small, poor country so we thought... porque no? Vamos!

After our bus ride through northern Argentina we crossed the border and embarked on a crazy, dirty, magical adventure.  The scenery was so unique and changed constantly.  We went from the border to a town called Tupiza where we stayed one night before heading out on a three night four day tour from Tupiza to Uyuni.  We would be in a 4x4 jeep offroading *not hard to do in bolivia because 90 percent of the roads are dirt*... anyways!  We met our two new car companions, Tess and Timi and left with no expectations of what was in store for us for the next four days.  All we had was some information from the company and a list of places we would stop.  *http://www.latorretours-tupiza.com*

We saw amazing sights from beautiful lakes of varying colors, llamas, flamingos, amazing sunrises and sunsets, natural hot springs.. and much much more.  We particularly enjoyed the two flat tires & dead battery that our driver fixes in the middle of the trip.. lets be honest though, he did it in about 5 minutes while we enjoyed the scenery.  Not too bad.

Our accommodations left a little more to be desired.  They were by far the most rustic places we have stayed.  Besides the fact that it was literally freezing in Bolivia (who knew??) and we were staying in places with no heat and no hot water it was an amazing experience.  I have to say after backpacking for four months we have become a little more tolerant about these things... although I do still dream about pillow top mattresses and duvets. just kidding.. kinda.  Check out some of the pics we took along the way.....

Crazy rock formations

Giddyup!

Llamas!!

Our wheels for the tour

Bolivia is a crazy place, it has such vast, different landscapes.

Not too bad a spot...

Still not warm. Check out the peat moss growing in the river...surrounded by desert. Cool

One way to get warm ... Natural hot springs in the middle of no where...heaven

Hey there buddy

Laguna Verde

Outside our hotel for the night... rustic is an understatement

Stunning

Timi, Tess, Scott and I ... Why not do piggy backs for the pic

We were definitely the only ones out there

Love

Amazing animals

The last morning we made it to the Uyuni Salt Flats, which are the largest salt flats in the world (10,582 sq kilometers!).  We happened to do the tour during the full moon also, which was just an unreal experience.  Right before the sunrise we had views of both the moon and the sun rising... breath taking, really.  We then spent hours playing on the flats, running around, taking pictures and just being silly... I guess thats what happens when youve been in a car for 4 days and you wake up at 4:30am ....

Sunrise and FULL MOON! 

Scott riding a llama made of salt.. typical

Salt, Full Moon and Flags... it was a mystical place

Seriously all salt.. and yes it tastes delicious!

Heres where things got weird... Yoga on Scotts head...

Watch out, little people!

Once it hits your lips it tastes so good!!

Running, Running, Running

That can`t be comfortable

After spending four days in the dirt we decided to head to a nicer city to refresh and get our bearings... We spent three days in Sucre.  It is a beautiful, white washed town with amazing architecture and food.  We spent the days wandering around and trying to adjust to the altitude.  At this point we were pretty accustomed to chewing coca leaves which made a huge difference in the altitude... and no, coca leaves are not the same as cocaine.  Here are a few pictures from our time here....

Really people?!!!

Beautiful convent in Sucre

From Sucre we took a night bus to La Paz and spent the day meandering around the city.  Personally, it wasn`t our favorite but we managed to enjoy it for what it was.

From there we took a four hour bus on the scariest "road" ever to a little village called Sorata!  It was pouring rain, muddy and scary as all hell.  We arrived to a crazy crazy scene, apparently there was a huge festival going on in town.  SURPRISE!!  This meant that we had no where to stay and everyone was drunk so we had no way to get anywhere else.  We found an ecolodge on the river that had a room available *probably because it was a 20 min walk uphill to town from the hotel*... but it was perfect!  We caught up on some sleep and enjoyed a little peace and quiet.

The next day we hiked 2 1/2 hours on the extremely muddy dirt road (trying not to get run over or fall off the cliff) to the neighboring town and watched the party.  It was amazing.  Everyone from the town and many people from La Paz were dressed in authentic Bolivian indigenous garb and were dancing and singing.  We felt *slightly* out of place but that didnt stop us from having fun! (We were the only gringos at the entire festival, literally the only ones).  The next day we went to the continuation of the festival in town (yes, it`s a four day festival...why don`t we have these?) and were greeted with the same scene but everyone was trashed.  Everyone wanted to dance with us.  Needless to say we shared a few beers, a few dances and many laughs.  We had such a great time and we were so pleasantly surprised with how welcoming everyone was.

This is the world's safest road...imagine arriving at night, during the dark, when it is pouring rain!

Sorata

On our way to the partyyy

All feathers... so beautiful

The festival we hiked to

More dancing

The San Pedro de Pascua festival was amazing. Check out the band, then check out the people watching. Couldn't be more different. Scott still looks normal though. Kinda.

This guy is sober, really

Part of the festival

...and as we were leaving, we discovered this amazing mountain range hiding behind the clouds... can it get any better??

After Sorota we hitched our way to Lake Titicaca to end our time in Bolivia.  After weeks of freezing cold weather we were ready for the beach and the sun!! Before we got on our wonderful 30 hour bus ride to Lima... no fun!... we spent a day at the lake. The views were stunning from our room and the seafood was delicious!

Welcome to Lake Titicaca

The view from our room.. thanks for the beautiful views, Bolivia!