Bolivia = Disease (Yay for the first world!!)

So I think it´s safe to say that pretty much the whole time I was in Bolivia I was sick. And also that everyone I met who was travelling there was also at some point sick. Hence the title. After LaPaz we headed down to do a tour of the Salaar de Uyuni, which is the largest salt flat in the world. It was pretty crazy standing on what seemed like an endless sea of white. The first night we stayed in a hotel that was made of salt, which was pretty posh. But the second night we were pretty much sleeping in a concentration camp! Our driver for the tour hated us, or so it seemed, when he made us get up earlier than all the other people, and refused to stop for us to take pictures. His wife, who happened to be the cook, had what sounded like a nasty case of bronchitis, which made us all feel pretty stoked to eat. There was also the incident of the bag of raw smelly chicken that was under my feet in the car. Yum!

My sickness after the mountain climb got worse and worse, to the point where i was pretty much constantly coughing. Also, I am amazed by the amount of snot that the human body can produce, but it just kept coming. Something from the food, maybe the salmonella chicken, also gave me an awesome case of diahrrea, so I pretty much felt like I was dying. One morning I had this intense pain in my side, I think from coughing so much, but I started worrying that maybe I had appendicitis and would have to have surgery in a sketchy Bolivian hospital, and would get an infection and die alone and dirty... then one of my friends gave me some Valium and I felt much better for the rest of the day!

The last day of the tour we went in these amazing hot springs in a lagoon in the middle of the desert, it was so beautiful. (Our driver, who hated us, wanted to just drive by them and not let us go swimming). We didn´t have bathing suits, so a couple friends and I thought it would be a good idea to go skinny dipping. We were some of the first people there, so it was no big deal. However, by the time we had to get out there were probably around 100 people either in or standing around the pool! So that was a little exciting trying to get out! My one friend very smoothly got a towel around herself only to trip and fall over as she was stepping out...

After the salaar tour, a couple of us went into Chile to a town called San Pedro de Atacama. If anyone ever asks you if you want to go there, say no! It was really hot and deserty and tourist central. In one day we spent on food what would have lasted for over a week in Bolivia! (Although this food was parasite-free, which was a bonus). So my friend Lindsey and I really wanted to get out of the desert and get over to Argentina where it´s green and friendly and we could actually afford to eat. But there are only 2 buses a week that go from San Pedro to Argentina, and, of course, it was sold out until Friday (which was 5 days later). We decided there was no way we could stay in San Pedro for 5 days, both in terms of money and sanity. So we had to look for other means of transportation...

Disclaimer: Mom and any other motherly type figures, if reading on from this point, please be aware that I am currently alive and in good health and do not plan on doing anything else dangerous ever again in my life!

We decided our only means of survival would be to hitch hike. Not many cars drive the desert road from San Pedro to Salta, and there aren´t really any towns in between. So we went to the parking lot where all of the international truckers have to stop to clear customs, and asked every trucker we saw if they were going to Argentina. Day one was unsuccessful, but the second day, the first trucker, Leo, who we talked to agreed to give us a ride. Then one of the border guards gave us a big bag of cookies. Things were looking good!

Leo was really nice, and he also liked to sing Chilean love songs while he was driving, so it was pretty cool. Although his truck had been having troubles and we were driving on average around 30km/h. All of the switches and buttons on his dash board were in English, so he was getting us to translate what they meant. My personal favorite was when he asked what the flashing red button that said "engine warning" meant. But for the most part keeping the speed low the truck seemed to be surviving.

Then we had to go through more customs and Leo had bad papers and couldn´t continue. We got a ride with one of his fellow truckers, but who we were pretty sure hated us because earlier he had asked Leo if one of us could ride with him to keep him awake but we said no. It got dark, and we had really no idea where we were (well, somewhere in Argentina) or where our driver was planning on going. At one point we were pretty much off-roading in his 18-wheeler on this really sketchy road under a bridge and we were afraid maybe he was going to drop us off there. Or sell us to his friends. But it all turned out okay... he dropped us off at a hotel in a town pretty close to our destination, and we felt pretty awesome cause we had just hitch hiked over 500km across two countries!

Now I´m in Salta Argentina, and though I´ve only been in this country for 24 hours I am already in love with the place. It´s clean, organized, parasite-free (so far) and the people are really friendly. I guess maybe spending 4 months in "dirty"(?) countries is making me really appreciate things here, welcome to the first world! I´m really excited to spend approximately the next month in this beautiful country! Heading to Buenos Aires in a couple of days, and then down to Patagonia!!!

Chao

Kate