Heaven crumbled

I spent my first day in Tupiza, mostly online, because of the selling process. Then I met the potential buyer from La Paz, who had been all confused about what bike he was
going to see and to what price. He tried to get me to sell for 3100usd, but I said no. I went out for pizza with a big israeli group. They had to remind themselves often, but they
did put in an effort to stop speaking hebrew. Pizza in Tupiza is really good.
The next morning, I went to visit my danish friend, Anne Sofie, who had been sick for a week in Sucre. Unfortunately, she was leaving later on. Her hostel, San Refugio, is where I moved later on, as it costs 35 bolivianos, with a kitchen and pool access to the Mitru pool. I mostly did chores like bike maintenance with a mechanic who had the same bike, made a copy of my key, uploaded photos, arranged horseback riding, hung out with an israeli guy that I let try my bike for a bit. We watched the sunset with cookies and milk, then a bbc documentary about life and animals. How a octopus mother starves herself for her children to be safe in their eggs, really fascinates me.

I did the horseback riding through the same hostel, Valle Hermosa, where I was staying at because it was the hostel of my nice car company to Tupiza. I paid 200 bolivianos for 9 hours, but I got a horse that I didn`t like at first, that didn`t care for me. - Such a shame! The first part is very slow trotting in strong sun, yet the rain-weathered, red rock formations and caves are cool. He dropped us off to go exploring in the caverns, which was a treat for climbing enthusiasts. - just me, this time.
As my group was just a french couple(sorry, but french people are the least friendly people I meet. Most don`t even Try to speak to me), it was nice when we reached a river and a lovely resting place where other groups also were resting. We continued on with a few of them, and it was much more fun from then on! We were river crossing and galopping a lot. The sun wasn`t frying and the landscape was great. My horse turned out to have quite the personality. He would always want to be first, and pass by people on the right side, without regard for the spikey bushes I had to fight my way through. He was growing on me, though.
The riding seriously hurts your butt, so be warned. But do it!
Later, I went for a swim and some gnocchi with a nice chinese guy I met while horseback riding. Apparently there aren`t a lot of chinese backpackers, which makes him
kind of famous. Funny.

I think one of the main things that separate a tourist from a traveller is that the traveller goes to bed exhausted, while the tourist has every comfort perfectly planned. A traveller travels for too much time to be able to or desire it. And there also develops a lot of duties and tasks that comes along with it, especially with riding, though.

I didn`t stress this morning. It was a beautiful day and I was riding mostly on pavement. I was going to be in Argentina soon and eat steak in Tilcara, drink mate, eat too much dulce de leche, learn a new culture and be... happy. I got caught by surprise when they told me I needed the cedula to be in my name, and that I couldn`t enter Argentina, couldn`t sell my bike with papers, couldn`t do anything. They told me that I might get more than 1000usd for it, but not in this town. I was devastated, and it was nice that Sam was around for support. He was going out of his way to try and help and I thank you so much for that! In the end I had to stamp myself back into Bolivia, buy a ticket to Tijara, where you could sell a bike without a plate for much more, and find somewhere to put my luggage and the bike. I wasn`t up for riding the offroad to Tijara. I found a nice hotel with an old, sympathetic man that let me leave my things there. I then went to the internet cafe to brainstorm what I could do with Victor. He encouraged me to try again, and I am tonight. One`s supposed to be able to enter because I don`t need to import it when its argentinian. I`m gonna wait to the other people have gotten off their shifts and make it clear that the bike Is argentinian. Its risky to go late, but I`m not gonna drive far. Tomorrow, the same people might be working again.

Please, please, please!!

Btw: next to the bus station, a woman sells the best empanadas in the world.