In to Bolivia

We got up very early to get on the bus to the border with plans to walk across into Bolivia and then find some way of getting to tupiza. Quite a few people from our hostel were heading the same way so we all went to the bus station together. Before getting into the bus an Israeli couple who was with us got pickpocketex and lost everything.. Money, bus tickets and all. We felt really bad for them as they were stuck with nothing but had to get on the bus because we had our tickets. After 7 hours we made it to the boarder, which is between 3500 and 4000 m high. Lots of people were feeling the altitude but I was feeling ok. Some friends who were crossing th boarder just after us got quite sick and decided to go to the doctor.. Who sent them to the pharmacy to get their own syringes filled with mystery medication, which they had to get injected in to their butts. They don't speak any spanish so they said they had no idea what it was, but it ended up knocking them out for 12 hours or so and then they felt better ( minus not being able to sit down very comfortably for a day or so) needless to say they got stuck at this little border town for a night, and I'm really glad I haven't gotten altitude sickness so far! The waits at the boarder were really long, standing in the hot sun with all of your bags for hours, when we finally got through we found out that that was only the line to get out of Argentina, and now we had to go through customs to get into Bolivia! Turns out they don't really care too much who goes into Bolivia since the boarder guy didn't even read the papers we filled out or look at us.. Just threw a stamp on some paper, gave us another tiny piece of paper not to loose and sent us on our way. We decided to find a cab to the train station and got ripped off (of course) after arriving at the station our cab drier. Decided that his price was per person, not for the ride and got really angry when we started to argue with him. We decided it wasn't worth it and gave him the money. The train ride to Tupiza was like stepping back I. Time.. I don't know what year the train was built but it certainly was not modern.. We bought the upper class which came complete with a really loud fan and even louder love songs from the 80's and 90's! It was a good experience!
Tupiza is like stepping into the wild west, with giant cacti and canyons, and lots of dust! Internet is scarce and very slow, which is a bit of a culture shock after Argentina. Here are tons of indigenous people here, and they don't sem very interested in interacting with tourists at all. I'm also surprised that they don't really barter here much.. When you try they usually just get angry and tell you to get lost. The town is quite small... Enough so that when our altitude sick friends. Sent us an email saying they were going to eat pizza all we had to do was look in every resturaunt until we found them about 15 minutes later. On st. Patricks day we wanted to have a party, but it turns out no one in a tiny town in bolivia is interested in an irish holiday. There was no where to go and nowhere open to buy booze even! The hospital across the street from our hostel seemed to be having the biggest party around, complete with marching bands that would parade around every half hour or so.. We couldn't quite figure out what was going on, but im learning that random marching bands are the nirm in Bolivia! The next day, Sandro and I decided to try to go for a hike so we wandered through town to some really poor areas until we found a hill to climb, it was a little eye opening to see how some people live with so little. We climbed up to the top of a hill above town with a beautiful view and were planning on going farther until a thunderstorm ruined our plans. It is amazing how quickly roads turn into rivers when the rain comes! We were soaked but made it back to our hostel in time for the sun to start shining. Our hostel is connected with a hotel, so we can go use the pool there, which is quite nice compared to the standards in The rest of the town! After a relaxing afternoon we went for dinner to a place that had a huge menu, but really only madaa few items that they felt like making. We had to order several times before the waitress was satisfied that what we chose was easy enough to make! E also met a blind partially deaf traveller who has been to 58 countries and has published a book about his travels. I don't remember his name, but it's pretty impressive that he's able to do all that when I find it really hard Because my Spanish isn't very good! From here we are booking a 4 day tour through sw Bolivia finishing in uyuni.
Ps. I'm writing this on my phone so sorry if it's really hard tomread! I can't always see what I'm writing.