Another sunrise, first FREEZING morning!

Dude, we made it! For all the people that said we wouldn´t get into Bolivia... suck it!

So yesterday we hit Tucuman, like I blogged about in the previous post, then that night we headed out on the bus for the border town, La Quiaca. There seems to be a recurring theme on these buses, and it is that a kid next to me or in front of me is always throwing up! I used to get really grossed out by puke, but that faded a little bit once I got to college and started doing it a lot.. but when it´s everywhere, it´s kind of like stepping over dog shit in the street, no big whoop. But still, gross!

Back tracking a little bit, at the last night in Mendoza at our amazing hostel, Kendra and I had decided to have a quiet night since we were set to wake up early for the bikes and wine tour the next day. We were in bed by midnight, amidst the drunken rambling of the Irish and American kids hanging out in front of our door. Fell asleep like a rock but around 3.30 we woke up because everyone was fighting-like MTV show style-for about an hour and a half. It was pretty hilarious so I wasn´t really bothered by it at all, until it dragged on and one girl shoved me. I was sooo ready to get all Jersey Shore, but whatever. It ended with one guy passing out in a chair and peeing on himself, and everyone else thrown all around the hostel in different parts. It was funny but sad at the same time, but it did restore my faith in reality TV because before that, I didn´t really believe grown ass people could act like such animals. Anyway, that was our last night in Mendoza. Then we had that overnight bus after the bike tour. The tour wore me out so I slept like a rock on that bus. Then the few hours in Tucuman, then the overnight bus which brought us to La Quiaca early this morning. That one didn´t give me or Kendra much chance to sleep. So we rolled in, already in a different world in one of the farthest Northern reaches of Argentina, caught a taxi to the border checkpoint, and signed out of Argentina for good. Then all the little people with backpacks walk to the Bolivia side, and if you´re from the US you pay a decently hefty fee and fill out some paperwork to enter, and bam you´re in. Only thing is, they need a photocopy of your passport, or a picture of you. I was lucky enough to be carrying a few pictures of myself that my roomy had sent me. One was from Halloween when I dressed the part of Samantha from Sex and the City. Another was my face on a different body, with a hysterical outfit and a great haircut. hmmm what to do. Then I did actually find one normal one, that I really liked, of me Michael and Drew from one of the Christmas parties, so I had to give that up. They laughed, but I kind of wished that I would have had to give them one of the others.

So then we took the bus from Villazon, Bolivia´s border town, to Tupiza, which was absolutely incredible. The scenery is out of this world. Started out as desolate mountains and sand, then cactus plants started popping up, then the mountains evolved from blank walls of rock into forest covered peaks. There is a river bed, which is dry for the season, and a lot of really amazing colors to see. I was dead tired and wanted to sleep but couldn´t keep my eyes shut in case I missed something. All this is while driving down a road that is currently being paved, maybe repaved, so a lot of the trip was this huge, double decker bus, bouncing around the desert. Awesome. Then we came up to this tunnel that cut through two mountains, and it was miraculous that the driver didn´t hit the sides! It was like the tunnel was made to perfectly fit this bus and nothing more. The rocks in there looked like those Disney World fake rocks, they were so clean and precisely cut. So a little more breathtaking scenery over about 3 hours, I think, and then we landed in Tupiza. Feels just like it should. I guess we´re about 3000 meters above the sea, so what, 9000 feet... you can feel it a tiny bit, like I have to walk slow because I feel like I might pass out. So we walked out of the bus station, with no idea what this town held in store for us, only knowing that we want to see the salt flats, the Salares de Uyuni, named for the town about 4 hours north of here, but within reach nonetheless. So the long and short of it, we signed up for a four day tour, starting here, ending in Uyuni, where we´ll stop by some tiny villages, swim in some thermal springs, see two volcanoes, one of which is active and smoking, geisers, desert, lagunes of all colors, and salt flats. If my excitement dial went from one to ten, I´d be at eleven.

So anyway, I´m off the map for the next four days. No nothing. Hopefully I can pick up a couple more disposable cameras before this trek, but that´s looking a little doubtful. I tried to buy contact solution but the lady at the pharmacy told me ´not in this town´. So in the worst case, I´ll end up with crusty eyes and no pictures, but it really won´t matter because just being here, feeling Bolivia, it´s like breathing in a whole new adventure. I was ready to leave Argentina, and now I´m really happy to be here. As usual, it´s hard to put it into words, but the vibes here are so different from everywhere else. The people are really cool, really slow, quiet... it´s definitely a break from the pace of Buenos Aires. There are a lot of people milling around right now, but it´s just so quiet and chill! All the women are bundled up with so much wool thrown over their shoulders, the top hats, the mountains in the distance... it´s like every book or movie made the place out to be. But it´s only going to get better.

Funny twist of fate again. I met this cool chick from San Francisco in Iguazu, and now she´s staying in the exact same hostel as me here. That was over 2 months ago, how random! Especially considering Kenj and I ended up at this hostel because a girl chased us down the street and asked us if we would stay there. Funny.

Alright, well I have a lot of feelings right now, hence the long entry. But I still can´t say how freaking excited I am for this 4 day thing and for the rest of the awesomeness that this country and Peru have in store. All of this high altitude excitement is kind of making my head spin though. They say to walk slowly, eat a little, and sleep all by your little self while you get used to the altitude. No fun. I ate a massive lunch today and couldn´t have felt better. I am heeding the other two pieces of advice though, not happily! But I´m excited to really get into the country, chewing coca leaves, freezing, treking, and pretending to be tough.