The Long Road to Argentina

When we finally got back to Uyuni after the Salar tour, we really, really wanted to get out of that city. Besides about 27 pizza shops and more tour companies than you can count, Uyuni doesn´t have much to offer. The night we got back we booked seats on the first bus heading out of Bolivia, leaving at 6:00am the next morning. For 80 Bolivianos ($11) we would spend 12 hours bumping down a single lane dirt switchbacked moutain road all the way to Villazón, the border town between Bolivia and Argentina. The switchbacks were tight. Very, very tight. There were times when I would watch the front tire come precariously close to the edge and hear the shifting and groan of the loose rocks that formed the boundary between life and death for us. I would hold my breath, and either we would creep by, or the bus driver would have to reverse in order to make the corner. I am impressed by those buses though...I saw that thing navigate creek crossings and take on terrain that looked fit for a 4 wheel drive jeep.

Early in the morning, a couple of Argentinian girls who were sitting in front of me got robbed. They had put their bag in the overhead storage area, and one of the many locals who was walking on and off the bus snatched it. In her bag she had her passport, camera, wallet, all her credit cards, everything that is near and dear to a traveler. All gone. She was an emotional mess.

Around 4pm we pulled into the other (semi) major town in southwest Bolivia, Tupiza. The bus driver had collected our tickets, which was weird. Usually they come through and tear off the stub, but this time he took the whole thing. Something fishy is going on... He then told us that the roads were too dangerous for the bus to continue on to the border, and we´d have to find another way. What!! We paid for the whole journey, the lady who sold us the tickets said we´d be to the border by 6pm!! The Argentinians went ballistic. And I´m glad they did. After a shouting match about how her family is worried, they don´t know where she is, she needs to get into her country, TONIGHT, blah blah...I will be eternally grateful for her tirade, because it got us (8 of us) packed into a teeny jeep, packs strapped to the top, and on our way to the border. We pulled in a little past 6.

Crossing the border was another mission. After waiting for 45 minutes for a scramble of Bolivians with hodge podge documents (true Bolivia style) to try to get exit stamps, a quick chunk chunk of the stamp got me out of that country (about time, too, there are only so many times I can take being ripped off and lied to before it´s too much). Getting into Argentina took another 2 hours, and one rain storm. After the line hadn´t moved for 1.5 hours, an Argentinian official came up and collected our passports. We just handed them over, watched him walk away, then thought, wait a second...that probably wasn´t very smart... But, it all worked out, after about 5 minutes he came back out, documents in hand, and we were through. Wandered around the border town a bit until we found the bus station. Luckily found an 11pm bus to Salta, our final destination. Layover in a small town from 330am to 6am, then another bus into Salta, where it was pouring rain. Finally checked into a hostel around 830am, a mere 28 hours after we set off from Uyuni. Haven´t really done much since then, just kind of hung out in Salta. Leaving tonight for Córdoba, pretty much just killing time until my parents come to visit on the 20th and I fly out to meet them in Ecuador.

For the mean time, I am just enjoying being out of Bolivia, and drinking tap water for the first time in a month and a half.