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Other entries in Tupiza

more moab!

ok, I know it's lame to keep relating everyplace I am to someplace back home, but wow, tupiza, bolivia is wonderful! to all my biking friends back home, if you go to bolivia, you MUST go to this town! canyon walls, red rocks, rivers, home of butch cassidy and the sundance kid (for real!) and one of those places where you can feel the good vibe as soon as you get there.

I'm traveling with Elia, a tatooed snowboarder from italy. like Guy, he speaks much better spanish than me and he's headed to salta, too. given the number of bus connections we need, I'm tagging along for a little transportation assistance. and for the convos about snow and powder and mountains and skiing - it almost makes me sick to think about what I'm missing!!!!

but a little about how we got here. we woke up at 5 to catch a bus out of Uyuri. after 2 hours, we get dropped of in Atocha and told to wait for 2 hours for the next bus. (if I was on my own, would my spanish be good enough to know this??) we hike up to el cruz blanco to chill and stare down at the town. the valley is full of mine taillings. people are riding burros. I can hear salsa music off in the distance (always there is music, like bali, but different music,of course). we hike back down and avoid the mean dogs - it dawns on me that there are only trails between the houses because no one has cars up here.

back at the station, it's time to go, but now instead of a bus, we're in a jeep. we claim our seats on one of the 2 benches in the back but before leaving, 12 more people get in. for real? this poor boy is squished between me and a quechua woman - he can't even lean back. we starting bouncing out of town (more washboard roads!!). I think this trip is about 5 hours....

we stop at a town - yes! someone will get off. but no, actually someone else is getting ON. and she has a good sized rear....where the heck will she wedge herself in? the poor boy gets booted out of his seat and has to sit on his dad's lap. whenever I feel uncomfortable, I look at him. or the scenery - it's fabulous - it's desert and canyons all the way to tupiza. we stop for lunch but I can't think of eating. I steal an idea from Elia and find a piece of cloth to make my first ¨found object¨ bracelet. I've been wanting to buy one but everything is so shiny and new, it never felt right. this one is perfect - it's a piece of cloth with bears and stars on it! I also found one of red & white to remind me of peru. this feels so right.

the bus ride finally ends, everytyhing is sore and covered in dust. after a fabulous hot shower, we head into town. at the market, I find a periodic table in spanish. later we stumble across an art show - a young guy painting not so good landscapes but pretty OK paintings of the female body. ha!

in another show of how random life is, we turn left, not right, and stumble into 2 artists selling their wares on the street. after a few minutes of convo, they invite us to their place. we drink locally made wine (a special variety served up before spending time in a barrel - SO good!), they give us crazy locally made food (including a honey that bees make on top of horse dung - I think I heard that right...) and turns out one guy is am amazing illustrator, 2 of them are tatoo artists and one girl was getting a brilliant tattoo that night. as if it could get better, they were playing the sweetest house music so I was in heaven. we stayed until the tatoo was done (wish I had my camera!) but finally had to go. I was so close to getting a tatoo myself - seriously, this guy's art was amazing.

the artist couple has a house in hmahuaca, argentina (tomorrow's destination) that we can stay in for free. excellent, such generosity. I made little pieces of art and left them stuck to the fly paper.

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