Tuesday April 24, around 7 a.m. we left Salta to drive to Tupiza in Bolivia. The drive was stunning. We drove through the valley bottom and varied scenery including stunning rock formations which in parts looked like the pipes of a church organ and in other parts like a large leopard´s paws, and up to the beautiful multi-coloured Gorge of the Quebrada de Humahuaca, then on to the bleak but beautiful Altiplano landscapes to La Quiaca where we crossed the border into Bolivia. One of the other tour companies drove through the border while we were waiting for clearance and was attacked by an unasuming little Bolivian man who pounded on the sides of the Truck, screaming something in Spanish, as the Truck drove off from the control point. Even before leaving the border, we noticed a huge difference in the people, culture, and poverty levels and felt that we would see more people like this little due to the lack of available medical services. The people became much more indigenous - Quechua 30%, Mestizo (mixed white and Amerindian ancestry 30%, Aymara 25%, and white 15%. Many of the Aymara woman still wear the traditional dress of bowler hat, full brightly coloured skirts, and a shawl with thick stockings and sandals. The little villages we passed had houses built out of mud bricks and thatched or tin rooves. It felt as if we had travelled back in time about 60 years.
We arrived in Tupiza late in the day and took a bumpy, narrow, and windy dirt road up to El Toroyoj where we pitched our tents in the dark and had a camp fire and dinner. Arriving in the dark we did not appreciate the beauty of the site, but the next morning we woke up to a stunning view of knife shaped rock formations towering around the grassy valley where we had pitched our tents by the side of a river. Due to the altitude - we were at 2990 plus meters above sea level - many of us were suffering a little from altitude sickness - i.e. mild headache, dizziness or light headedness, slightly nautious, and very out of breath with any form of activity. So, it was an early night and not much drinking!
The next day, Ray, Robin, Nikki, Amelia, Shannon, and I set off on a ¨triatlon¨which combined bikes, jeeps and a horse ride to tour the impressive sites around Tupiza. I cannot find words to express the beauty of the desert like landscape with its mountains of red, brown, grey and green, the spectacular rock formations, canyons, and at this time of the year, dried river beds. We first drove in a jeep up a steep mountain on a narrow gravel road to El Sillar, a saddle between two mountains, overlooking the Valley of the Moon. At the top, we abandoned the jeep and rode down the steep mountaineous dirt road on mountain bikes. This gave us an opportunity to see the spectacular scenery, and feel its immenseness as we struggled to control our speed, and prevent our bikes from slipping off the edge to the valley below. Next, we had lunch under a tree beside some farm fields. Its amazing that even in this dry, arid area, farmers are able to produce a variety of vegetables which are stacked in sacks at the side of the road and picked up by small trucks to be taken to the market in Tupiza. Our next activity included a horseback ride in the Quebrada de Palmira and the Valle de los Machos. We rode up a dry river bed passing the Puerta del Diablo, a large vertical slab of rock known as the Devil´s Door, to the Valley of the Males with its huge pinnacles of rock resembling phallic symbols. At the end of this valley, we came to the Inca Canyon which was apparently an Inca Cemetry hundreds of years ago. Then it was back to town around 5 p.m. and a visit to the local market in Tupiza to buy food for dinner. Ray was on Cook Group and he did most of the buying along with Claire and Shannon - but it was quite an experience visiting the market and conversing with the sellers to buy llama, or steak, or chicken and vegetables for 24 people.
Tupiza, population about 20,000, lies in a fertile valley of the Rio Tupiza and had a really nice atmosphere and was very pleasant. The area surrounding Tupiza is part of the territory travelled by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and where they were killed and buried.
We arrived in Tupiza late in the day and took a bumpy, narrow, and windy dirt road up to El Toroyoj where we pitched our tents in the dark and had a camp fire and dinner. Arriving in the dark we did not appreciate the beauty of the site, but the next morning we woke up to a stunning view of knife shaped rock formations towering around the grassy valley where we had pitched our tents by the side of a river. Due to the altitude - we were at 2990 plus meters above sea level - many of us were suffering a little from altitude sickness - i.e. mild headache, dizziness or light headedness, slightly nautious, and very out of breath with any form of activity. So, it was an early night and not much drinking!
The next day, Ray, Robin, Nikki, Amelia, Shannon, and I set off on a ¨triatlon¨which combined bikes, jeeps and a horse ride to tour the impressive sites around Tupiza. I cannot find words to express the beauty of the desert like landscape with its mountains of red, brown, grey and green, the spectacular rock formations, canyons, and at this time of the year, dried river beds. We first drove in a jeep up a steep mountain on a narrow gravel road to El Sillar, a saddle between two mountains, overlooking the Valley of the Moon. At the top, we abandoned the jeep and rode down the steep mountaineous dirt road on mountain bikes. This gave us an opportunity to see the spectacular scenery, and feel its immenseness as we struggled to control our speed, and prevent our bikes from slipping off the edge to the valley below. Next, we had lunch under a tree beside some farm fields. Its amazing that even in this dry, arid area, farmers are able to produce a variety of vegetables which are stacked in sacks at the side of the road and picked up by small trucks to be taken to the market in Tupiza. Our next activity included a horseback ride in the Quebrada de Palmira and the Valle de los Machos. We rode up a dry river bed passing the Puerta del Diablo, a large vertical slab of rock known as the Devil´s Door, to the Valley of the Males with its huge pinnacles of rock resembling phallic symbols. At the end of this valley, we came to the Inca Canyon which was apparently an Inca Cemetry hundreds of years ago. Then it was back to town around 5 p.m. and a visit to the local market in Tupiza to buy food for dinner. Ray was on Cook Group and he did most of the buying along with Claire and Shannon - but it was quite an experience visiting the market and conversing with the sellers to buy llama, or steak, or chicken and vegetables for 24 people.
Tupiza, population about 20,000, lies in a fertile valley of the Rio Tupiza and had a really nice atmosphere and was very pleasant. The area surrounding Tupiza is part of the territory travelled by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and where they were killed and buried.
No comments:
Post a Comment