Right now as I currently blog we are blockaded in the town of Tupiza. No one in this pueblo of 20,000 people is allowed to leave as the roads are blocked. The only places open in town are a few restaurants and a couple of internet cafes. Furthermore the border is closed 2 hours south. So Kate , myself and about 45 other tourists are stuck here with no end in sight.... quite relaxing really.
No pressure to be anywhere, do anything, other than waste time watching bad Brazilian Soap operas. So what´s it all about this blockade thing?
The current one is about the quality of the road south to the border. The Bolivian government promised to pave it a few years ago but alas, nothing is yet to be done. So the townsfolk here got togethor and whacked a few stones on the road and began cooking up some barbecues to make it a bit of a day out...or week out as it seems to be turning into(lets hope it doesn´t turn out to be a month long strike). A few of the tourists here are beginning to get quite desperate as they are on 3 week holidays and have flights to catch quite a few thousand kilometres away in Brazil. Some are getting desperate enough to invent all sorts of plans of escaping the blockade. The Israelis are especially the most gung ho unsurprisingly. The idea gaining the most favour at the moment is renting a couple of horses and riding out of town, tilting our sombreros to the mountain gods on the way out. Butch and Sundance would be so proud. The only other option is a 15 km walk with packs in the desert to maybe find a vehichle on the other side which could take us to the next blockade 2 hours south where we could walk another 5 kms and maybe find a way to bribe the border guards to let us sneak thru the blockade. All sounds terribly exciting... but then again so does sitting around in our hotel room watching Brazilian soap operas.... I can´t believe how Fernando left his sick dying wife for her evil twin sister.
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