Tupiza

June 6, 2025 to June 7, 2025

Friday the 6th of June 2025

Today we took another collectivo to speed our way to the Argentinian border. This time we coughed up three times what we paid the time before and got an entire minibus to ourselves.

The young driver (Yoni, 28 years old, 2 children, lives in Uyuni) disclosed much about himself while chatting to him but failed to inform us of his intentions to become a Formula One driver. Our journey to Tupiza was punctuated with shouts of "Mas despacio, por favor", the result of which meant much of the scenery was lost to me because my eyes were squeezed shut with fear.

We also need a long diversion, most of which was along a river bed holding not much more than a trickle of water, to pick up some illicit fuel to allow us to complete the journey.

We arrived in Tupiza at about midday, checked into the Hotel Mirtu and headed out for lunch at Restaurant Alamo.

The Alamo is a quirky restaurant with a decent menu.

Saturday the 7th of June 2025

After a good buffet breakfast we cycled off to the Puerta del Diablo and hiked a short way into the Valle de los Machos which leads to the Cañon del Inca, having to turn back earlier than we would have liked because we needed to get back to watch an important rugby match (the semi final of the United Rugby Championship involving my team, the Sharks from Durban, and Leigh's team, the Bulls from Pretoria). For the record the Bulls won and will meet Leinster in Dublin, Ireland for the final next week.

Near the Puerta del Diablo is a stone dyke supposedly holding some petroglyphs. We found a lot of graffiti but only a few scratches in the rock that may have been something more important. Unfortunately the internet has no images of what we should have been looking for so we are none the wiser.

Tomorrow we catch another collectivo. This time to Villazon on the Argentinian border.

Today's ride: 7 km (4 miles)
Total: 1,082 km (672 miles)

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