Magical Land of Bolivia

From the moment we crossed into the Bolivian border in our overnight bus, everything became magically more beautiful. Paraguay dry Chaco became Bolivia´s lush forests. The three of us were just so happy.

Then… border crossing. Imagine a gross, fat guy calling Nicole ¨nena¨ (baby) over and over again, getting sick pleasure out of screwing with the only two Americans on the bus (while the rest of the world gets to get into Bolivia for free, American pay $135 each!). Somehow , however, between changing from guaranis to bolivianos to dollars from this sketchy guy, we came up $50 short. We were about to be sent back to Paraguay (nooooo!!!!!). Luckily, there were some amazingly nice Swedish and Spanish travelers who completely bailed us out. We can´t wait to pass on the good karma!

So we return to our bus, complete with visa, Nicole grossed out, but so happy to be officially in! We continued to be glued to our windows, enjoying the views and the nice Bolivian people. We saw pigeon eggs being sold! Soon we arrived in Santa Cruz, a wonderful little city filled with many interesting characters. On our first night, the three of us completely splurged on a little café facing the town´s buzzing plaza—a wonderful restaurant that became our home—complete with drinks, delicious meals and dessert. It was about $8 each!!!! We just pretty much kept saying ï love bolvia!!!¨´ over and over. We then strolled down ´´ice cream street´´ a calle happening with familes and six ice cream shops!!! So much fun!! The whole town was alive. The next day we went back to the little café to plan out Bolivia, after eating a delicious lunch at a delightfully cheap local restaurant. The day just flew by!! There is just so much to do in Bolivia. To keep us extra entertained, right outside our window was a crazy indigenous girl, who pretty much just stared at Sarah for three hours after when caught her taking a picture. The thing was, she was crazy! She smiled at everyone, waving her bare breasts around. She finally left, only after coming next to the window and staring at Sarah a bit more. There was also map guy, who enthusiastically showed us old pictures of South America for two days, in hopes we would buy one. We loved him. After sitting and eating, we went and sat and ate at two other places, got ice cream, then sat and drank some tea at other place. We were so happy.

The following day, we returned to Café 24, had some yummy omelets (with our now favorite green special sauce). We planned some more, and in the afternoon took a 4 hour taxi ride to the gorgeous town of Samaipata, with the nicest taxi driver in the world, Bladamir (!!!). We had a made a reservation at apparently sketchy hostel and town, so he drove all over finding us what can only be described as paraiso…. Posadas del Sol. For a little less than $9 a night, we get our own house, complete with kitchen, a magical garden overlooking the Bolivian highlands, the best breakfast in Bolivia, and a super cool owner from… Texas!!! The breakfast includes burritos!!! And no lie, some of the best salsa that has ever touched Nicole´s lips. The following day, the town had a delightful misty rain all day, so the three of us set out on a nice walk with our rain jackets, oohing at the town´s awesomeness, and making a best friend with the friendliest stray dog, Blad. He followed us all the way up in our mini-hike, but then was barked away by some mean dogs when we entered an herbal garden/store wonderland. We then ventured to the local market to get some fruits and veggies from the somewhat sad looking indigenous women, and went to our home to cook some delicious stew. The next sunny day, we all woke up at 7am, pumped. We ate again, the worlds best breakfast, and set off for out 20 km hike to the top of a mountain to visit pre Incan ruins!! Stacen believes alien landing fields, of course. The hike was hard, all uphill, but worth it. The ruins were very cool, and the view breath taking. We returned around 6pm, sun-burnt tired, and feeling so accomplished. Amazingly, we found out that Stacen had been invited to a medical school interview in NYC !!!!! He will be heading back to US in a few weeks!! After the excitement, we finished our stew, played some cards, and went off to a very deep sleep. Soon we leave for the magical Salar de Uyuni…