March 27, 2011
It is interesting how subtle the messages we receive often are. Then we decide to ignore it, because the image or the thought was so faint and gentle. Not like a sledge hammer right infront of our face, where it would be hard to discard.
In my case, I got scared of what I had seen, what I should be doing next. Instead, I decided to run, telling myself, I am not ready for it or I don´t know how to go about it, or whatever other excuses served to justify my actions.
Over time I even felt let down and disappointed, wondering why I was not receiving clear guidance on what is next.
My travels led to La Paz, Bolivia and beyond. Riding the World´s most dangerous road or the La Cumbre, as it is referred to, on a mountain bike. It was fun, but my heart was not really in it. I felt moody. In addition, I had chalked up some judgements about Bolivia and Bolivians. Something that was said by a Peruvian friend about Bolivians, which I had bought into without ever questioning it´s validity.
Of course, the Universe gives us what we think about and it delivered. My inter actions with Bolivians were not very enjoyable. Most seemed to be short and to the point. In turn, I slid deeper into the murky waters of judgement and feeling disgruntled, but I continued south through Bolivia.
In Sucre, the beautiful white city, at the edge of the Altiplano desert, I got hit by an allergy for several days. To make things worse, this was followed by intestinal upset. I kept slugging on to the next adventure in the Uyuni Salt Flats, thinking, I will be through Bolivia soon enough as this place obviously does not agree with me. Still I wondered, how this country could be so challenging to me, considering how pleasantly I had sailed through so many different countries in the past.
The day before I left on a 3 day Jeep tour through the Uyuni Salt Flats and Altiplano, a gentle thought kept nudging my mind. You could change your thoughts and attitude. By now I had already been sick for a week, I was willing to do whatever to make this go away. I sat for a while in Uyuni to investigate my past thoughts, what had been going on in my psyche and had to admit it was time for a change in attitude.
Although I still struggeled through 2 days of stomach cramps, I started to enjoy all that Bolivia had to offer.
The Salt Flats and the high Altiplano are incredible. I had never seen anything like it. We could see hundreds of miles. A Volcano, that looked very nearby, was 100 km
away. The mirror images of mountains and clouds were so perfect, that at one point I got Vertigo for a moment and almost fell over. The colors were the most brilliant blues, whites, greens and red contrasted to the stark sandy landscape at between 4000and 5000 meters altitude. Laguna Colorada, the nesting ground of Chilenan, Andean and James Flamingos, was filled with thousands of them. Our guide told us up to 20,000 Flamingos arrive there for the mating and breeding season. The accommodations at 5000 meters were rustic, but very adequate, but there is no heating anywhere. Israel, our guide, sweetheart that he was, had brought warm water bottles for us to lay under the covers, so the beds would be nice and warm by the time we slipped in. The nights out in the desert were equally spectacular, with millions of stars and the Milkyway stretching over the far horizon. It did get very chilly and the wind never seems to abide. On the third morning we arose at 4:30 am in order to arrive at the hotsprings by sunrise. Wow..!! Soaking in the thermal waters, watching the sun come up, illuminating the stark landscape bit by bit, was amazing. Nobody spoke, as the magic of nature presented it`s daily show. We were very fortunate over the 3 days with beautiful blue skies and sunshine all the way to the Chilenan border and back, until we returned to Uyuni where it rained.
My stomach problems had vanished, I could eat again and I had had a marvellous time with my travel companions, our guide Israel and driver Victor and all the people along the route.
At this point I was ready to say good-bye to the windy Altiplano and head for lower ground, where it was warm. Getting there was an adventure. The dirt roads were wet and soggy. We traveled for hours without comming by any village or sign of human habitat. There had been reports that people got stuck with buses for many hours, due to the heavy rainfalls everywhere.
Our bus was old and clunky and so was our driver, but he was magic behind the wheel. How he got through the river crossings and by the flooded areas, edging within inches over the abyss, I don´t know, but I did send him a lot of love, praying for him to be guided.
Bolivia is a very rocky place. We came through valleys with incredible rock faces,
changing colors from a soft yellow to deep red or almost dark blue in places.
At other sections the earth was just strewn with large, medium and small boulders everywhere. The road leading down to Tupiza cruised through amazing red rock formations, natural arches, towers and cones. The area is like Bryce Canyon and Sedona mixed together, spread over a large terrain with a beautiful river flowing through it.
This is also the area where Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid hung out and met their maker eventually.
Tupiza is a nice little town at a mere 2950 meters. It was hot and sunny, exactly what I had been hoping for. The perfect weather and surrounding for gentle hikes and soaking up the sun before continuing south to Argentina.
