Posts Tagged ‘villazon’
Culture shock Bolivia
We arrived in the cold morning hours at the Argentinian border town La Quiaca and the night has been horrible, screaming children in the bus, so no sleep for us all (we hooked up into a group of 5) It was freezing cold! The border crossing went without any problems, and we headed to the train station to buy onward tickets to Uyuni, which meant a 30 minute walk including the backpacks across the town. Bolivia is one hour ahead of Argentina, the train was supposed to leave at 0330pm and it was 0700am. Almost another 8 hours to kill.
We headed back into the town, (by now already a group of 8 groggy backpackers) and located the only open cafe at this time which was right across the bus terminal (I had troubles identifiying this as a bus terminal though) for breakfast. After having a delicious coffee and a sandwich, I found some time to have a stroll around the small town (Villazon) Just transfer yourself 200 years back in time and the description would fit.. Many women wearing the traditional Bolivian dress, noone speaking english (not that I would have expected it), horses used as a transportation, straying dogs, and the only supermercado meant a couple of schacks behind the bus station. On the other hand, a couple of the newest offroaders passed the road. Otherwise, this eerie village doesn’t hold one’s attention for long except for that is, having a first impression of Bolivia.
The first hours in the train showed a nice and unbeliveable Bolivian landscape, no trees, some cactuses, the colour brown dominant in the deserted landscape, as we were already high up at the plateu (altiplano) at around 2000 above sea level. However, the concept of garbage recycling hasn’t arrived yet in Bolivia as rubbish was spread all over the place, especially when coming close to a city. I was all dusty, I felt like having a flim of dust overall. We arrived around midnight in Uyuni and I opted for a splurge ($10 hotel including heaters, and with a room just for myself, wow..) I have caught the cold and am having fever and at least little bit of comfort should lessen the symptoms. Being at 3600 meter above sea level probably won’t help getting better soon as well. The temperatures here can range from anything, -20 during the nighttime at the saltlake to plus 25 (around noon in the border village) I will look out for a one to two day trip to Salar de Uyuni and not for a 3-4 day one as the most of the people do, as time and my health is an issue. I think I could not handle currently -20 during the nighttime!
