It’s All Just Honky Dory in Bolivia

Potosí, Bolivia

I’m really not sure what to write about at the moment. I’m enjoying Bolivia but I haven’t been able to put my thoughts and experiences of the last few days into words. So much seems the same but a quick look out the window tells me that Bolivia has its own culture and vibe that makes it different from anywhere else I’ve been. Just a case of writers block at the moment I guess.

I’m also getting tired of writing about a journey from one town to the next or something I had just seen. Just to keep up with where I’ve been and what I’m doing here’s a quick paraphrase of my activities, thoughts, and sights over the last few days.

Another American reciprocity fee paid for entry ($135), horseback riding in the red mountains near Tupiza, bowler caps, coca leaf filled cheeks, leathered and weathered faces, dust covered clothes, dusty dirt roads, dry bloody noses, frigidly cold nights and hot days, thin air, mountains, cacti, smell of grilled meat, adobe houses, painfully slow internet connections, arriving in Potosí at night with only 12 Bolivianos in my pocket, babies carried on mothers backs, long hair in braids, a return to peeing on the side of the road in public, unheated buses, cold toes, donkey’s, pigs, llamas and horses all wandering the streets, incredibly fizzy soda and beer (due to the altitude?), machismo in full force, scary thoughts – ‘My life is in the hands of this bus driver as he maneuvers down the side of a mountain with a shear drop-off’, inopportune bus schedules – ‘All buses arrive in town at 3:00 am? Really?’, Swiss card game- Hosenabe, salteñas! (oh so good), ‘Is it snowing out? Wasn’t it boiling hot yesterday?’, a private room with cable tv for $4.30. w00t!,

That pretty much sums up the last three days. Nothing much. So far, I’m just enjoying the journey in Bolivia.