Day 96 - (June 18) - Argentina / Bolivia border - La Quiaca/Villazon

Day 96 - (June 18) Argentina / Bolivia Border - La Quiaca/Villazon

Midnight the 18 began an epic journey and the second worse (behind Kazangula in Africa) border crossing. I decided that I would travel north with the 3 kiwis and the scot. So we caught the midnight bus up to La Quiaca. It was a 7 or so hour journey from Salta to the Argentine border town of La Quiaca. It was a pretty uneventful ride but we got to La Quiaca and it was FREEZING!! Literally, I think it was below freezing as the creeks and things were still iced.

By the time we got to La Quiaca we had three more (an Aussie and a Belgian couple) team up with us. So now we knew for sure, we added a few more to our wolfpack. All of us wolves running around the desert together. We had to walk only "300 meters" but in reality it seemed like a milre, in the pitch black, freezing cold through a town that was more than once described to me as the worst place on earth to stay... and that was the good side of the border!

We had to wait at the border for a bit for it to open and then got our exit stamps and walked through to the Bolivian side. Everyone else had I fairly easy... being American I had a tough time...Thanks W and the rest of our wonderful political machine that changed our immigration laws a little while ago!! I had to pay $135 US to get into Bolivia... that probably more than most Bolivians make in a year! Unfortunately I didnt have exact change and the border didn't have change... so they told me to go to a FX place next door. They didn't have small US bills so they gave me Bolivianos for my USD... Usually thats no big deal, because borders will take entrance in USD or local... of course not here though... When I got back to the border he only wanted USD... after a brief discussion and some aggressive negotiations... he accepted Bolivianos... but he took 1,000 as opposed to the approximate 945 it would have been... Oh well.

Finally across the border we all set out to find an ATM and the bus... As we found the train was running on Friday (it only runs a few days a week....). We all got a bit of cash and then negotiated a discount for the bus to Uyuni (where the salt flats are). We added another two people to our group and continued on. Unfortunately the bus was an interesting affair. We bought extra seats for our bags, which was a good call since at the end everything in the hold was covered in dust!!

The bus was about one notch above a school bus, but the windows wouldn't open... So it got hot... and dusty as all the roads were dirt with more ruts than a plowed field. It was going to be about an 8 hr ride (after a 7 hr overnight bus). But what can you do. However eventually the bus got so crowded there were kids sleeping in the aisle, people standing and then to top it off... a lady with a small baby and a baby goat - yes a baby goat, sat down next to me... that really made the last three or four hours of the journey real fun...

We got into Uyuni lat in the afternoon, found a hostel and got some food. We drove through Tupiza as well. All of these towns are like something out of the wild west. Butch Cassidy was actually chased to Tupiza and killed!! The streets are dusty and dirty, the buildings all look like crap. Its about as frontier as anything as I have ever seen. The landscape was dry and mostly barren. Really pretty mountains but nothing out there. This area might atually be worse than anything I saw in Africa!!