Down to the warm lands, and then Adios, Bolivia!

Hello, and best of the season to everyone.

My departure from my temporary home of Sucre went smoothly, even tearlessly, and I enjoyed my last 10 days in Bolivia with quite a road trip. I've now cross the border now into Peru, where I'm planning to hit a couple of the worlds top hiking destinations in the last __ weeks before I come home.

My first stop was sleepy Samaipata, a laid back town with some cool ruins to check out. I got in early on the overnight bus, and got a little sleep. unfortunately I woke up to the first big rain of the season - kindof dampening my plans of wandering in the hills. The downpour really did complete my environmental culture shock - after nearly three months high and dry in Sucre, where cacti and sparse fungus constitute vegetation and rain fell about once a month, the switch to mid-altitude forest and seven hour rainstorms was a big one.

Lets just say I did a lot of reading.

I woke the second day to rain yet again (it's the rainy season now?) and again, my plans were foiled. The famous Inca ruin of El Fuerte was on the agenda, but being only accessible by a dirt road (which apparently turns to a muddy quicksand impassable for trucks) and too far to hike in, I had to give it a miss. I decided to loop back out of my way, to Vallegrande, on a Che Guevara pilgrimage.

Vallegrande is the spot where the revolutionary/global symbol met his end at the hands of an American-trained ulta-right-wing military unit. Well, they actually caught and killed him at La Higuera, a tiny, remote (inaccessible in the rain) community about 30 km from Vallegrande. I´ve read a book on his Bolivian mission, and a quick visit to the Che Museum was a good brush-up on the last few months of his life. After his execution, however, his body was brought to Vallegrande and displayed, proving to the world that he was finally gone. I paid a visit to the laundry room where the famous and haunting photos of Che dead with his eyes open were taken. This room (part of the hospital complex) is preserved as a memorial site, and is now covered in messages, written in sharpie pen and sometimes carved, from people all over the world who have been moved by Che in some way and have come to Vallegrande to pay him tribute.

The Laundry

Normally the idea of grafitti at a historic site would be weird, but in this case it works, and the effect is quite powerful.

After his Chewas displayed and photographed, his body, and the bodies of several of his comrades who were also executed dissapeared. Despite constant requests and inquires by the Cuban government and the Guevara family, the bodies remained hidden for 30 years. Then, in 1997, a now-elderly retired Bolivian army officer announced that the bodies were buried behind the small municpal airport. The remains were removed (Che's remains were taken to Santa Clara, Cuba, where they now rest), but the spot is still preserved as mausoleum. I paid this a visit, which proved a bit exciting as the tourism office which lends out the key was closed and the twelve-foot high cemetery fence needed to be climbed.

I spent a few days in Vallegrande, and when I wasn't visiting the Che sites, I went for a few little hikes in the hills - the area around Vallegrande is beautiful, and the rain had gone and the climate was beautiful.

The Vallegrande from a hilltop

Next I was back on the bus for a bit of a long tear. My time in Bolivia was quickly winding down, and I still had some things I wanted to do. Mainly, sweaty, buggy, muggy Amazon things. Starting on a Monday morning, I bussed through Santa Cruz (Bolivia's biggest city and stylish, hip metropolitan center - with my dirty clothes and dirtier hair I did not fit in, even on a six hour layover), and caught a night bus out to Trinidad, in the western Amazon. My original plan was to check out Trinidad for jungle boat trips or things of that nature, but with my time running short, I figured Bolivia's Amazonian capital, Rurrenabaque, would be a more likely place to tag on a tour. So, after stretching my legs after the 12 hour overnighter, I bought a ticket for Rurre (also 12 hours) for about 45 minutes later. After the Man vs Bus saga, unbelievably long bus-rides back to back barely phase me. The ride was actually kindof fun - Amazon rainforest and Pampas rolling by on either side, I saw really neat trees, capybaras (big swamp rodents), and about 37 million different kinds of birds. I arrived in Rurre, pretty beat, and after a shower was out like a light.

The next day I got up fairly early (it was about 30 degrees at 6:30), and went to sniff around for a jungle trip to hop on, probably for the next day. What I didn't realize however, was that because I was so early I had plenty of time to get on one that day - which is exactly what I did. An hour or so later I was on a little boat headed up the Beni River (a big tributary of the Amazon) and into the jungle!

Into the jungle!

The jungle tour was great. Boat ride all morning, then an all afternoon hike, then a night walk. The next morning (the night was spent mainly fearing bug-bite induced paralysis and things that went bump in the night) we went for another big hike, this time in the pouring rain, which cleared up in time for the boat ride. Eveything about the tour was great, the guide, a born and bred jungle man, was a wealth of knowledge, constantly stopping to show us everything from cures for rhumetism to natural mosquito repellent to hallucenigenic drugs. He even made a waterbottle holder from a fan palm frond, and whipped up some bright red war paint from a green leaf (of which there were billions).

Tarzan sighting!

A Jaguar Christmas dinner, 2007

Really neat above-ground roots

Home Tree?

Despite the humidty and the bugs, I really enjoyed my time out in the jungle, and wished I could have had a few more days here. Another huge highlight came on the boat-ride home, when we stopped in to see the Macaws - the famous blue and red jungle parrots.

Homes in the cliff, who'd have thought?

These birds are beautiful, but they make a constant racket that is about as pleasant as Yoko Ono B-side

It was really nice to take a quick loop down into the jungle. The heat and abundance of wildlife was a great way to break up my solo portion of this adventure, which has been mountain dominated. I definitely plan to get back to this point of the world at some point.

Orepedula nests doing their thing.

After a good long shower and a night in Rurrenabaque (which I spent catching up with some friends that Lisa and I made in Colombia, and happened to be in Rurre at the same time) I dove into my longest bus yet - 22 hours (all dirt road) up to La Paz. Even to a backside as accustomed to endurance busing as mine, this was a slog.

I managed to stumble through the 4000 meter high chaos that is La Paz, into a hotel, and straight for a nap. La Paz is one of the most interesting cities I've ever seen. Like many cities, it has a glitzy center with modern highrises and playcenters for the rich and famous, surrounded, after a not-so-wide buffer zone, by lower income neighbourhoods, and, eventually, slums. In most cities, when you're in the center, you're completely oblivious to the outskirts and what goes on there. La Paz is built in the center of a steep-walled canyons, so the slums literally climb the walls just oustide downtown, and are visible from absolutely everywhere in the city.

La Parada - the glam strip, with real La Paz in the distance

From the other side of the city (I hoofed it around pretty good in La Paz)

An interesting city to wander around in, La Paz is also the best place on the contintent for high-quality and decently priced textiles and handicrafts, so lets just say my present shopping is finito. After a few days, it was time (and I mean legally time, Canadians are issued 90 days a year, and I left on day 90 - which was fun with the border guys) to jump on the bus and say goodbye to Bolivia. It was hard to leave an amazing country after so long, Bolivia is one of my favourites, and I'll never forget the friends and experiences I've made and had here. Huge thanks to all my friends in Sucre - you guys rock and really were great to live with while on the road.

View from the bus heading towards the border, pretty fitting last view of Bolivia.

Across the border I got back into Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Known amongst backpackers as a bit of a hole - more a trading town with an industrial hustle, but an annoyingly aggressive tourism scene based around access to Titicaca, the worlds highest lake. A huge draw on the lake are the Uros, floating Islands made of reeds that have been inhabited for thousands of years. The word out is that these are pretty touristy, but I decided to visit them anyways due to some encouragement from my father (who visited them when he was in South America like 87 years ago or something) and from every Japanese person I've met on my trip. Among the Japanese these islands are of a legendary status almost unequaled.

The Uros people on their floating island.

It's really floating! Craziness.

A tiny garden and a traditional boat in the sunshine.

 The Uros people adopted their floating lifestyle over two thousand years ago, to distant themselves from more aggressive groups. This proved useful when the Inca invaded, and then again later with the conquistadores, and the Uros have managed to maintain some of their traditional culture and customs through the years.

Tourism is now a big threat, with mainland based agencies packing people in by the boatload. Despite wandering down to the harbour and buying a ride on a locals water-taxi, I still couldn't escape the tour groups, and it was all pretty overwhelming. All in all it was neat to see the islands, but also served as a blunt awakening to the tourism infrastructure and sheer volume of foreigners in Peru, which far surpasses those in Bolivia.

After another night in Puno I jumped on the bus north, to Cuzco, the former Inca capital and now a definite stop on every backpacker circuit. Here again the volume of tourists has overwhelmed me, as well as the range activities that don't really interest me: Cuzco is the unrivaled capital of the party trail, and the amount of North American-style restaurants, bars, and clubs here is staggering. To each their own.

I have managed to get a trek together though, so tomorrow I am off to the mountains for a few days. Choquequiroa is a (as of now) relatively unknown trek through high jungle and rough mountain ridges that culminates in impressive Inca ruins that supposedly rival their more famous neighbour, Macchu Pichu (which I plan to check out after this trek). So thats that, the first leg of the last leg of my trip. I am having a great adventure, and the thought in my heart that this leg ends at home is starting to feel good, and helping me appreciate every minute.


This blog hasn't been spell-checked, and I've still got some things to sort out for my trek, so it'll have to do in rough form.

Thanks for reading (this will be on of the last), as always,

Take care everyone!

Tor

The Life in Sucre

Hello everyone!

Happy October, you are now well into Fall (Spring for me, which means more heat and more rain), and I hope it is treating everyone well. Many of you just had Thanksgiving Dinner this weekend - I hope you enjoyed it. It was my first Thanksgiving out of the country, and I missed mashed potatoes like they were a family member. I am thankful  for all of you.

I have settled and found a community and environment here in Sucre that I love. I do have some sad (but also exciting) news: my time here is coming to an end! Yes, I finally have a plane ticket home. In the interest of surprise, the date of the flight will not be disclosed here, as I am keeping everyone, parents and Lisa included, in the dark on this one. Dramatic surprise arrivals on multiple doorsteps, how could I resist?

My plan (loose as always) is to leave Sucre tomorrow, and travel for X ammount of time and see a little more of this great continent, and end up in Lima, from where I fly home....

So in the coming X ammount of time, there should be a few action packed travel blogs, so look forward to that. In the meantime, I thought I'd give an update on what I've been up to here in Sucre, with Condortrekkers and the wonderful people I've gotten to know. The last month or so has been a little blog-sparse, mainly due to the fact that my camera, a cheap, ancient point-and-shoot that served us valiantly after Lisa's was stolen in El Salvador, finally bit the dust completely. The decision to by a new one has torn at my budget conciousness (all travel savy-ness aside, it's going to be a close call whether or not I can afford food until my flight), but finally, I broke down and got one. How often are you in South America?

A big highlight of September was the Virgen de Guadelupe festival - a HUGE 4-day religious festival that rivals Semana Santa (Easter Week) and Carnival and blows Christmas out of the water. Basically parades, bands, and dancing from Thursday morning until Sunday night, with Saturday melting down to all out mayhem. The fireworks lit in downtown Victoria on Canada Day over the duration of my life will almost equal one hours worth here, during the festival (that's 24 hours a day folks). Also permitted (encouraged) is the consumption of just about anything you can possibly imagine to eat or drink, all sold in staggering quantities on the city streets. Well, the ones that aren't completely overun with parades and other chaos. You may not think it possible to survive for four days on a diet of fried street snacks and beer, but many of Sucre's young people did exactly that. I of course was a pillar of responsibility and enjoyed the fare in utmost moderation. ...

A functional camera would probably have been a bonus, but to be honest, with the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds and the frequently malfunctioning fireworks (as in exploding while still on the ground) I would have been a nervous wreck.

Another positive of the festival was that it brought and kept tons of travellers in the city, which meant lots of treks for us. A few days after the festival I headed out on a 4-day trek (our best one, but more on that later) with a whopping 13 guests. The trek was a blast, but somewhere towards the tail-end I picked up a bacteria that could have come from the water but more likely came straight from hell.

I got back into Sucre and could hardly leave my bed for days. The graphic symptoms of Latin American mystery sickness (that knocked both Lis and I around a few times over our adventure) were all back in full force, and didn't let up for almost a week. I started to come around and feel better, and even went out for a short, 1-night hike. But the damage was done: in under a week, I'd lost 9 pounds.

Fortunately, the three most commonly available foods in Sucre are papas rellenas (mashed potatoes formed into a ball around a hardboiled egg, cheese, or meat), corazon (yep, heart!), and chorizo sausage sandwiches - fairly conducive to putting weight back on. I was back on the mend and after a week or so was pretty much back to normal. Maybe still a little leaner.

Once I was back on my feet, I got a another really cool oppourtunity - to attend a Bolivian wedding! This was a really neat experience for me, by far the most religious event I've ever attended (no kiss for the bride and groom while still in the chapel, and a figure-8 chain around their necks for the duration of the ceremony... yikes!). The ceremony was very long, and the priest hardly mentioned the people getting married - you'd have thought it was Jesus's wedding. Despite the incredibly formal religious themes, there were still some unique aspects that are truly South American: the party for the next wedding could be heard chatting outside, and a big fluffy dog was wandering around inside the church, for the duration. We got invited by Lydia, the office manager, here at Condortrekkers, which is strange if you think about it - imagine if your cousin invited a bunch of people she worked with who you'd never met before to you're wedding? That's Bolivia, the culture here is incredbily open and welcoming like that. After the ceremony we all relocated to a banquet hall, where usual wedding business insued: dancing, drinks, food, etc. A good time was had by all.
In the past few weeks I've also had some great visits to the guardaria (daycare) that we support here in Sucre. The kids there are absolutely amazing. Any shyness (or fear of my hair - which is becoming somewhat of a spectacle) dissapears in about four seconds, and you are converted into a human jungle gym whether you like it or not!

Monkeying around at the guardaria

The kids are very sweet - so eager to play and show you their colouring and toys, even though they've never met you and have no guarantee of ever seeing you again.

Each child demanded to be lifted to the roof about three times

Quite worn out, and having a rest with two little amigas

As long as you're ok with being covered in a colourful array of snot and drool (thats what showers are for, yea?) then the guardaria is an absolute blast. It is really great to hang out with little people who just ooze happiness - despite not having very much in life.

 

With profits from treks, Condortrekkers completely funds the food program at the guardaria (the center is responsible for feeding the children while they're there), a really great project. Visiting the center further solidifies my pride in volunteering with Condortrekkers, seeing the programs we support has been really wonderfuly for me, the best part of the experience for me by far.

Last week I headed out on another trek, once again our incredible four day mountain experience. This time I headed out armed with a new camera, and I managed to get some good shots.

The first day starts with a pretty good hike along a ridge (3800m) with amazing views down into the valley below.

High and dry in the Cordillera de los Frailes

The rock formations are stunning as well.


Transplanted and eroded sediment layers

 We take mid-morning break at really neat pre-Inca rock paintings. Dated at over 2000 years, these always make an awesome visit.

Most sources hypothesize that the figures here represent a large gathering - a celebration of some sort.

By the afternoon we've descended down off the mountain to a beautiful river, which we follow for the rest of the afternoon.

The second day we rise early, and after a good breakfast are off again, following the river through the hills all morning, before taking lunch a really neat waterfall.

Since its the only shower we get for 4 days, most partake

 After lunch we begin the tough climb up into the Crater of Maragua, past small farms and peaceful pastures.

Entering the Crater, we're reminded by the dogs, horses, cows, donkeys, and piggies that the Jal'q people aren't the only ones who feel at home in the crater!

Fast asleep in the afternoon sun!

The humble, quiet communties in Maragua always impress everyone on the treks, as we wrap up our second day.

With Christianity often trumped by traditional Andean religions, churches like this (built by missionaries) see only limited use

After nice big plates of spaghetti (sauce made from scratch by the volunteers!) and a good sleep in the town of Irupampa, we rise early again, making our way across and out of the crater before the sun gets too fierce. We pass dozens of kids on their way to school, who stop long enough to try and sell us fossils and woven bracelets.

The crater in the morning light.

After leaving the crater we make our way over rugged mountains, heading towards the famous dinosaur footprints!

Me on the trail

The footprints, the best of which were formed by terapods in the Cretacious period, are really cool, and fully awaken the dinosaur-obsessed boy who lives deep inside me.

After the prints we make our way towards the mountains, where we stop for lunch at the majestically set school in Humaca.

Escuela Humaca with the Cordillera looming behind

This is a rural Bolivian school, so of course, a foreigners vs local kids soccer game is absolutely mandatory.

Definitely more accustomed to the altitude, the kids mopped the floor with us!

Running for a loose ball

After lunch we work our way down into another valley, towards the Rio Pico Mayu. The mountain scenery is at its finest here, and its hard to concentrate on the trail at your feet with the views to choose from in every direction.

The final night camp on the edge of the river, just meters from natural hotsprings pools. While the late-night soak is pretty heavenly for the sore muscles, I think the sunrise view on the ridge above is my favourite part - defintely worth poking my head out the tent at 5:30 for!

Our campiste in the morning light

The last day features a bit of a sleep-in, very popular after three consecutive early mornings, before the gruelling camion (truck) ride back to Sucre. The camion can take up to 5 hours, during which time you're in the back of a flatbed truck with unsettling ammounts of people, goats, dogs, chickens, etc.

Probably the nicest bus station in Latin America?...

The trek went perfectly, the local guide David and I worked great together, the clients and weather were awesome, and everything went smoothly.

Since then I've been back in Sucre, helping send out and bring in the other treks, and promote Condortrekkers in town here. Sadly, the sun is setting on my time here in Sucre. My Bolivian visa expires in a few weeks, and my funds are dwindling. I am leaving Sucre tomorrow night, for the mid-altitude laid back hide-away of Samaipata, where I'll relax and check out some Inca ruins for a day or two. From there my road is east and north, to, wait for it, the Amazon!

I won't have tons of time, and my plans are not solid, but may include a five day trip on a transport boat on the river, or a night jungle tour. My time is short (which is just as well, because so is my supply of malaria medicine) and my plans will have to be flexible because we're on the edge of the wet season and road conditions can change in a matter of hours, but I hope to get a little taste of the jungle after my months high and dry up in the mountains.

From the Amazon I'll head west again, to La Paz, from where I'll be in striking distance of Peru, the land of my mysterious flight back to Canada.....

I am sad to leave Sucre but excited to get back on the road again. I know I'll see some amazing things, and the experience will be bittersweet - this will be the last journey of this adventure for me, but the end of the road is home, where many of you await.

Take care everyone!

Love Torrance

Road Trip!

Hello again, I hope all is well with everyone as the summer begins to wind down.

As my first since his passing, I would like to dedicate this post to the memory of Jack Layton, whose perpetual courage and passion were as inspirational and unique to me as the experiences I have had and continue to have on this adventure.

.........

Setting off early from Sucre last week, Dominic (a jolly Quebecer and fellow Condortrekkers volunteer) and I set out for Potosi, the highest city in the world, and one of the most important cities in the Colonial Spanish Empire. From there we headed west to tour the legendary Southwest Circuit, one of South America's gems. The landscapes we traveled through were absolutely incredible, and my goal for this blog is to let the pictures do the talking, and muck things up with my descriptions as little as possible.

It felt good to get moving again, for the first time since the Man Vs Bus saga of late July. It had been a while since I'd been on the road, and even longer since I'd traveled with a partner. At 6"5, Dominic is definitely a little more complicated to travel with than Lis, who could, when necessary, ride buses for hours on my lap, on a pile of parcels, in the overhead compartment, etc. (just kidding about the overhead compartment).

We arrived in Potosi mid-morning, and spent the day just farting (I mean that literally - the altitude makes your bowels do horrible, unforgivable things) around the city. Potosi is built next to one of the largest silver deposits in the world. The silver from the Cerro Rico was processed in Potosi's own mint, which was the source of currency for the entire Spanish Empire for several hundred years.

The most famous tourist attraction is the mining tour: people enter the mines with guides and see men toiling in the worst working conditions that exist on earth today. The experience is touted as powerful and life changing, but we opted against it. Every miner who works under the Cerro Rico dies within 15 years of starting, and after some of the poverty and hardship I have seen in the past months, I couldn't bring myself to go and see that many dying men. Fortunately Potosi is a pleasant city to explore on foot, stopping often of course, to catch your breath.

Pleasant Potosi, sitting at the foot of the Cerro Rico

Potosi's rooftops and the mountains beyond

  We did pay (pun fully intended) a visit to the Casa de Moneda - the mint - which has been inactive for the last few decades and is now a museum. The museum was one of the neatest I have visited on this trip, filled with exhibits and information on the history of the mines and the mint in particular, and on Spanish colonialism and indigenous oppression in general.

A serious coin

Silver pressing contraptions

 The old minting machinery was especially cool - my Grandfather would have been in absolute heaven.

More minting equipment

After a relaxing afternoon and my first llama dinner (and probably my last, by the way) we caught the night bus west, to tranquil and beautiful Tupiza.

Tupiza from the Mirador

 Tupiza, the gate to the Southwest Circuit, is known as Bolivia's wild west (wicky wicky wild wild west - that's for you, Gary) for it's cowboy swagger and rugged, dusty surroundings. In fact, the area just outside Tupiza was the site of filming for the cowboy classic, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Naturally, a horseback ride - the second of the trip, and my life - was in order.

The Sundance Kid himself

 The ride was really great, I did feel like a bit of a cowboy. The highlight (lowlight?) occured when a pack of eight stray dogs charged us from out of nowhere. My horse reared, but I somehow avoided a heart attack and stayed in the saddle. Next, the horses jumped clear over gnashing teeth and ran off through the riverbed at what can only be described as a breakneck sprint. Aside from being scared out of my mind, I found myself laughing, and even managed to keep my feet in the stirrups. Just like in the movies, the good guys got away, and we actually rode off into the sunset (for real).

We'd booked our four-day tour pre-horse adventure, and so had a relaxing evening and an early night. The next day we were up early, and out on the first leg of our tour. At this point I'm really going to hand it over to the pictures, which don't do this experience full justice, but do a better job than I can.

Gravity-defying rock pillars, just outside Tupiza

Eroded spikes gathered together and stretching for kilometers

The elusive and skiddish Vicuna (wild llamas)

Chiuasca, the biggest, busiest town we saw for 4 days

¿Como te llamas?

  A full day of driving brought us to our tiny, rustic accommodation in a small llama-raising village. Our guide and cook were excellent, the jeep was comfortable, and the power of the Andes was starting to sink in. Pretty worn out, our evening was limited to dinner, tea, and trying not to freeze to death.

The next day we were up early, and off north, into even more dramatic landscapes.

Classic Andes

Flamingos doing their thing at 4300 meters

Laguna Verde calmly producing baking soda like its getting paid for it

El Desierto de Salvador Dali

Geysers, 5000 meters above sea level, 200 degrees Celsius: extreme

 

The second night's accomodations (muy naturale amigos)

  The second night we slept at 4400 (14,500 feet for Dad and other cavemen who still use imperial) and were thoroughly cold. Six heavy wool blankets barely kept me warm, and I drank hot tea pretty much non-stop for hours.

After another early rise and a short drive we soaked up the morning sun at the unreal Laguna Colorado.

Laguna Colorado, absolutely surreal, coloured brilliant pink/red by powerful algae
(and probably blood and witchcraft too)

Pink flamingos on a pink lake - Barbie would be most pleased

The weird rock tree

The cordillera across the plains

Laguna Amarillo, one of dozens of Borax producing lakes (what's Borax for again?)

The flamingos seem fond of it, whatever it is

 We stopped for lunch on the edge of one of the day's many deserts, and Dominic and I leapt at the chance to stretch our Jeep-cramped legs (sympathize with him more than me) with a climb up rocky hill.

I look a bit too cool for my liking in this picture, bit it's a good one of the mountains

One of our four polite lunch guests

Petrified lava and a semi-active volcano

 By the end of the day we'd reached the edge of the Salaar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat and the grand finale of the Southwest Circuit. We stayed in a salt hotel (rustic as the rest though, don't be mistaken) and watched the sunset over the desert.

Our salty accommodations, on the edge of the Salaar

I'm quite excited, my room is made of salt!

The next morning we rose well before dawn to catch first light in the middle of the desert.

Stunning sunrise over the Salaar

Absolute emptiness

Cactus on Isla Inca Huasi

Wandering about

Ninja encounter

Due to its empty, flat endlessness, Salaar de Uyuni has become quite well known for its silly relation/perspective pictures. Obviously, I felt a strong need to partake in these sorts of shenanigans.

Without further adeu:

Which came first, the Torrance or the egg?

Snack time

Uyuni has a serious giant problem, a real hassle

Decepticons everyone!

A rare Bilbo Baggins sighting

We monkeyed around and enjoyed the hot sun, the white floor, and the blue, blue sky for several hours, before piling into the jeep one last time and heading out of the Salaar.

The team

We had lunch on the edge of the salt flats, then headed into Uyuni, where the tour ended. I am now back at my temporary home in Sucre, and am itching to get out on a trek. This road trip was a great little side-trip during my volunteer stint, and I am happy to have gotten out and seen more of Bolivia. I hope to get really involved here in the next few weeks, and contribute as much as I can to the community here in Sucre.

I hope you´ve all enjoyed this post: many of the things I see and experience are hard to describe, but, as always, I do my best.

Take care, and send your best wishes to Lisa, who starts her Masters at UBC in a matter of weeks!

Until next time, thanks for reading!


Tor