February 13th-Cafayate, Argentina-Wine Country

Hit 2 bodegas in Cafayate today. A very nice trip and a good group. And the scenery on the way out was stunning.

We also had some time to explore the town after lunch, so I rented a bicycle for an hour and toured around the area a bit.

February 12th-Jujuy, Argentina

So I booked a trip for today and tomorrow from Salta. Today I head to Jujuy, pronounced hooey-hooey. It´s the province north and had some very interesting towns and scenery. Similar to Utah and New Mexico but with bigger mountains.

Tomorrow is Bodega tour in the southern wine country.

February 11th-Salta-Finding a Hostel

So I booked myself into a hostel that came recommended on Hostelworld.com, a great site. I was not dissapointed. A very nice, affordable place with friendly staff and a swimming pool. Sweet.

Spent the day relaxing by the pool, with one excursion out to ride the tram to the top of the hill and get a view of the city.

Then I returned to find we were having an Asado, or a BBQ. Which turned out to be a great party. Fantastic beef, pork, and Llama (Sorry Dolly). And a very fun group. We ate by the pool and spent the night drinking wine, playing pool, and listening to music.

February 9th and 10th- Recovery Days in Salta, Argentina

So I spent 2 days taking antibiotics, eating soup, and rehydrating. Fortunately my room has TV, and I was able to find some English movies to watch. Ghostbusters was a favorite.

Feeling better little by little. Looking forward to striking out into town soon, and looking for a hostel so I can meet some people and start socializing again.

February 7th and 8th- Potosi Bolivia to Salta Argentina

I caught the night bus from Potosi Bolivia toward the Argentine border. I managed to make it to the border by Sunday afternoon and crossed with relative ease.

The next trick was to find a bus that would take me to Salta that day. Which was important since the small border town of Aguas Blancas, had no hotels, so if i couldn´t find a bus i would have to cross back into Bolivia to find a place to stay. Which also sucks because I only get 3 entries into Bolivia per year on my visa.

Well, I managed to find a bus that would take me out that evening, so I decided to celebrate with a piece of pizza that a girl was selling by the bus. This is where the story gets interesting.

I hopped on the bus, one of those nice double decker jobs, and within a hour I could tell that my stomach wasn´t happy. I´ve had that many times before while traveling, but this was feeling more ominous.

Warning*** This next part is pretty graphic, but I don´t know how else to tell it, so read at your own risk.

So I was on the top deck and feeling pretty ill. Fortunately the bus had a bathroom, so I grabbed my lexan bottle and headed downstairs to hit the bathroom. I figured the bottle might save me if I didn´t make it.

So I got to the bathroom and the door was locked. I could hear someone washing up. Before they finished I hurled into the bottle and discovered that the contents of my stomach were about 3 times the capacity of the bottle. So I created a fountain of puke which soaked all my clothes and pretty much the entire entry area of the bus.

Normally, throwing up doesn´t really bother me all that much, but this time I had the added complication of having torn the muscles in my side in my fall last week in Bolivia. So every heave was met with the tearing of muscle tissue and a sort of battle between my stomach which wanted everything out and my muscles which were convulsing and ordering the stomach to stop.

So by the time the person came out of the bathroom. I was in the fetal position in about 2 inches of puke in the entryway of the bus. But heah.....only 5 hours to go.

So the bus driver, who very much wanted to just drop me off somewhere....anywhere....in Bolivia, stopped at the next gas station to get me some supplies to clean up the mess.

So for the next 5 hours it was pretty much the same. Running to the bathroom every hour to purge.

So I finally made it to Salta and after walking around in the night and the rain for an hour (can I catch a break here?), I finally found a hostel, bought some gatorade and water, and started on my meds.

February 13th- is anyone reading this

I wanted to get a quick fix on whether anyone is following along on the blog. i´ve been posting pics to facebook as well but without the text.

So if you enjoy the verbage and this way of following along, comment to this post or send me an email, so i can decide whether to keep posting or just send pics to fb.

Thanks,

Scott

February 5th and 6th-Potosi, Bolivia

I spent yesterday wandering around town and getting my blog updated. Also grabbed a seat on the night bus to Tarija for tonight. Full recline sleeper for $11. 12 hour bus ride.

Tarija is the last major city before I hit the Argentine border.

I had planned to head north to Sucre, but I´m really enjoying Potosi. Potosi is the highest city of it´s size in the world. The elevation is over 4000m or 13,000 feet.

It used to be one of the wealthiest cities in the world a hundred years or so ago when the silver mine was still producing silver. So it has very ornate buildings that are crumbling.

So you can look back in time and imagine the prosperity and culture that once existed. But now it has slipped backwards toward the poverty that is typical in other Bolivian cities.

An example is my $3 per night hotel which has terra cotta roofing which has deteriorated and is now being gradually replaced by tin. See pic on Feb 3rd post.