Tupiza, Bolivia

Well I´m now in Bolivia.

I spent the last few days making it through Argentina. Mendoza was nice, it reminded me of Guadalajara (Mexico), both of them are big cities that are very nice to walk around in. I went to a restaurant for a big barbecue dinner. In Argentina they are called `Parillas` and this one was an all-you-can-eat, which here is a tenedor libre, literally translated as free fork. It was very good. I had a steak, then some pork chops, and then some beef ribs. Had a 3/8 bottle of local wine, and dessert. All for $5.

The next day I got on a bus for Salta, which is in the north west of Argentina. Unfortunately this meant I missed the Argentina-Nigeria game, which the bus driver and bus attendants were very disappointed about. The long distance buses in Argentina are very good, I was in a semi-cama which means it`s almost level to sleep. Plus they serve you dinner, snacks and breakfast, show movies, and play bingo. (Fortunately I didn´t win because two people tied and because they only had one prize the two people had to tell a joke to decide the winner, and my spanish isn´t that good yet.) We were stopped at a gas station when Argentina scored their only goal so that was good because we got to see it on TV.

Salta is a nice colonial town, unfortunately I have seen too many nice colonial towns to care. At night, watched game 7 of the Lakers-Kings game. Travel really has changed since I went on my big trip 5 years ago. It´s so easy now to keep in touch with email, read the Toronto news on the net, most places have satellite TV with all the US stations, there are ATMs everywhere. A lot of travellers now travel with digital cameras and download their pictures in internet cafes to wherever they have disk space.

Argentina really went crazy after their win. It was the same as when the Leafs won the second series. They haven´t really won anything yet but everyone was partying in the main plaza until daylight. It would be pretty crazy if they actually win the whole thing. Although this country does need something to cheer about I guess.

So from Salta I crossed the border at La Quiaca, and then made it up to Tupiza where I am now. Last night I was a bit affected by the altitude but I´m okay now. Tonight I am taking a train to Uyuni, I upgraded from the regular class to first class for a whopping $2. In Uyuni I´m hoping to take a jeep trek around the southwest corner of Bolivia for 4 days, there are some really cool natural sights to see.