Sucre to Potosi and on to Tupiza

Yesterday we tried once again to get a dental appointment but once we got to the office shortly after 9 it was still closed. So we headed back to our spot at the park to have breakfast. Once we were ready to head back to Potosi we made one more swing by the dental office since it was so close to where we were parked - but still not open. Guess we wait until maybe Mendoza to see a dentist.

When we got back to Potosi - since the other road going to Tupiza was much longer so had to return to Potosi, we go to the propane outlet and actually got our tank filled!!  It probably only took about an hour but at least we are good to go now for awhile. Dwayne first emptied the 20gal tank into Vanna's tank so it is full and now we have a full 20gal tank going into Argentina. Not sure what problems we will have there 😬 haven't read anything yet in Overlander. But guess no different then when we were travelling in Europe. There we had to have a different adapter for most countries. I think we had a problem once we got to Spain that we didn't have the right adapter. But we must have found some place to fill up the tank, because I know we did't buy another adapter. Not sure if we could have bought different adapters to use in South America.

After we got the tank filled we head to a gas station that is suppose to have water. Once we got there the station was very busy and we couldn't get to the tap. We'll try again tomorrow morning hoping it won't be so busy.

Cerro Rico - the mountain where all the silver has been removed but cooperatives exist for the miners 

Since we were on the highway and close to the parking spot near a school that we tried to get to a couple of days ago, we'll try it again. Now that we don't have to go up any steep hills since it's only 1.5km away from the highway.

So we turn off the highway and are driving on concrete roads - that's always nice :)  But it doesn't last long before we on are a dirt road. As we continue we see the road that we are to follow going straight up and it's all rocks!! No way are we going to try and go over that!  Instead we turn left and get to a big open flat area that is being used for mining - or was used.  We don't see anyone around so we park.  Later a truck comes in and off loads some bags so I go over and ask if we can park here tonight.  He said I need to talk to someone in the building. OK, so I walk over and call out since there is no "office" just a big building. Eventually a girl calls out from a window above. I ask about parking up in the open area and she babbled something back and said we should just park along the side of this building. Not a very flat spot to park but I really don't feel like us trying different routes to get to the school parking area.

This is the road maps.me took us to to get to the school parking spot - don't think old Vanna can climb that hill!

So we move to the spot and Dwayne has to put down lots of wood to drive up on since the frontend is really low. He eventually also uses the jacks to get us pretty level.  So now time to make supper - Friday night - must be pizza night!! There are probably at least 5 dogs around the Vanna. Looking for scrapes of food we might give them I guess. This may not be good for tonight when we are sleeping!!

And I was right!! Those damn dogs continually barked ALL night!! Why???? It's not like people are walking by here since there are no houses nearby. 😡😡 There is one dog that just barks a couple of times, stops then barks again, continually!!! Don't they get sore throats from barking and want to quit?!!

Anyways leaving this morning and heading to Tupiza, this is supposedly where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were killed by the Bolivian army. Yet the story goes that they must have been hiding and were not killed because it wasn't long after that there were sightings of them back in the US. We're also going to stop in Cholila, Argentina where they tried to live a normal life but wasn't long before they were out robbing payroll trains in SA and running from the law.

Sights along the way from Potosi to Tupiza - cacti and argan trees

These red flowers are just opening and later open to huge flowers

Lots of odd shaped cacti here

As we get closer to Tupiza the rocks start get red

As it turned out we didn't quite make it to Tupiza. We found a nice quiet spot along a dry river bed to spend the night. I really didn't want to stay in Tupiza overnight and having to listen to barking dogs again. We got to the spot shortly after 3 so we enjoyed a few hours of reading before dinner.  Around 6:30  a lady and her son along with a huge herd of sheep and goats came walking by on their way home for the night. And that was all the excitement we had LOL!!! We watched as they tried to get the berries from the argan tree. It's weird because argan trees in Morocco are used to make argan oil to use for dipping bread in and the oil is also used in different cosmetics, shampoos etc. I can't find anything online that states that these trees are used for anything. Argan trees are indigenous to Morocco.

Enjoying the shade of an argan tree

The dry river bed

Our spot for the night

Goats being herd home for the night

Dogs that herd these goats are pretty smart. One dog kept barking at Vanna until the herd was well past us. Then a couple of dogs were up near the highway which runs thru the middle of the picture and stayed there to ensure no goats tried to climb the hill to the highway. The owner just walked along the highway edge while the dogs did the herding

Later at night before we went to bed we went outside to look at the stars. OMG they were amazing!! The Milky Way was so bright since we had no street lights around. Wow wish my camera could have taken a picture of that! Lots of other stars and constellations but didn't know what they were.

When we got up it was the best night for a long time! No street lights, no cars driving by starting at 5am and not one barking dog!! If we would have had cell service out here we would have stayed another day but we have places to see and be so gotta get back on the road! Without cell service I can't do any research on what's coming up :)

We get to Tupiza just after 10am and drive to the Sunday market so see what's different ;) ;)  We did stop to have a deep fry dough - guess what we would call and Elephant ear at the exhibition. Not sure if they still make them though 😂  It was good with a little icing sugar. But the drink that cam with it was not that great - warm apple sauce a little watered down and some kind of mashed berry on top. Anyways the treat came to 5Bol ea ($1) We then found a DVD vendor so stopped and picked out 10 movies, hoping most will work 😉 only 2Bol ea

Even have a pedestrian bridge to cross the river into Tupiza

Haven't seen so many tuktuks for quite awhile

Deep fried dough 😋

Kept walking along the stalls and then saw a nice big half fish on the bbq - so stopped and bought that to have later for lunch 20Bol ($4)

Fish being bbq'd on coals

Orange coloured corn

We decide that the fish should be taken back to Vanna if we continue to walk around. But once we looked down the street and saw it's pretty well all vegetable and fruits we decide to check out the rest of the town. We did stop and pick up some more grapes - 1kg for 6Bol ($1.20) So cheap!!

I find the directions to go to a viewpoint and we head over there, some of the road is actually driving thru the dry driver bed.  But unfortunately it doesn't really go up very high. We would have to find the path and climb up and I'm not wanting to do that in today's heat! We're actually wearing shorts and t-shirts, something we haven't done for quite sometime. Not sure what the temp is but it has to be at least 25C. We're more use to 18-20C.  It's a nice change but then again to hot to hike.  And since those shots and taking the pills my leg is feeling great! Not sure how it would do hiking but walking is fine :)

This is the area we will be spending tonight

Our afternoon was spent beside this "river" in the shade of our awning - first time out since Christmas day when it was blown over the roof! MacGyver got it fixed! :)

Actually saw a sign in Tupiza showing the gas prices for locals and foreigners😛

I also checked into where Butch and Sundance were killed but it's in a small town about 65km away on a very narrow looking road!! I thought I read that Tupiza was where it happened!! What they will say to entice you to visit a town!

So that is our time in Bolivia. Not a lot to see here, plus gas is pretty expensive for South America! Hope it's cheaper in Argentina.

Since it's Sunday and the border could be busy with weekend buses we are going to stay just outside of Tupiza in a nice quiet spot and will cross over to Argentina tomorrow morning. That way banks and shops for internet will also be open.

Next blog will be from Argentina! 💃