Rumor has it that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid fought their last gunbattle about 40 kilometers north of this tiny tumbleweed of a Bolivian town. I think it’s one of the coolest places we visited. It just had this kind of mellow, ground down, rough around the edges sort of vibe going on.

A lot of the walls in town were painted with these old advertisements that had started to deteriorate from all the sand and the sun.

We happened to be there on the town’s birthday so there was a big celebration. People were firing these really primitive looking fireworks. They were hand held and made a really loud bang when they made loud bang. This little girl didn’t like the noise. I can’t say I did either.

This bike just looked kind of classic to me.

We rode some horses through the badlands. I think you kind of have to when you’re in such a wild west kind of place. It was fun but more bumpy than I thought it would be. Not a good activity if you have a camera bag and a camera around your neck.

Boliva is a lot more rugged than its neighbors. The roads are mostly packed dirt paths through the desert, the towns look like sets from a wild west movie and the women walk around in bowler hats and brightly colored ponchos.

We got an impromptu tour of some of the smaller towns when we made our way to lower altitudes after our desert adventure went a bit awry.

This women is walking in front of a church in a tiny middle of nowhere town that was built entirely by a mining company that came into to take advantage of the resources in the surrounding countryside. The church was originally on a hill but they moved it brick by brick and reassembled it after the town sprouted up.

This is a dusty car on the street in Uyuni. According to our guidebook the town exists almost solely on revenue from tourists. It was a strange ghostly kind of desert nowhere town that looked like something out of another place in time.

This is a cup of tea made from the same leaves that they make cocaine from. The tea doesn’t get you high or anything but it does give you a little energy and take the edge off if you’re hungry.

This is a pile of plastic bottles I saw behind a little shack restaurant on the edge of the salt flats that we ate in. I always wonder what countries without potable water do with all the plastic trash they generate.

This is the bus that I spent half of my birthday on. The front says Mercedes but I just don’t think I can believe it. Desert dust seeped in through the cracks in the windows and the little TV blared Bolivian pop ballads so loud that they were distorting. It rattled my bones all the way from Uyuni to Tupiza but I guess I really can’t complain for $8.

This is a little creature that we dubbed Dread Dogg. It’s a sad little long haired stray that after too much time in the desert has started to go a bit rasta.

And lastly, my Spanish sucks so I have no idea what this says. Do you?

A little over a week ago Patrick and I managed to make it through a three day jeep tour of the Bolivian desert. We braved brain crushing altitude, ice cold nights and long long bumpy “roads.”

During the excursion we spent a day on the sun bleached plains of the Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat.

It was bright white, blinding, and as one might imagine… very very salty.

We also saw a train graveyard, some lagunas and a geyser field.

We weathered the 27 hour busride here in champion style. The only downside was a team of defecating babies that were seated in the two rows behind us.

None the less we´re here and it´s dry and sunny and my face is pink and my skin is dusty.

Here are some pictures that I took yesterday

Is a port town about 2 hours east of Santiago. A lot of people told me that it was really nice here, I think I still believe those people despite my personal experience. Let’s weigh it out.

Cons:
Its been cold. Its been grey. Its been rainy. We got robbed.

Pros:
The food has been pretty good. We met some nice people who helped us fumble through our bad Spanish. Our hostel is cheap and familial.

Hmm. I think if I had visited Valparaiso in the summertime my opinion would be completely different. In the cold gray weather the colorful houses and bright graffiti murals seem to clash with the grey sky and the cool air. I can imagine this place being a little tropical paradise when the sun is shining but for now I just kind of wanna curl up in my hostel bed.

Whine whine. We’re jumping on a bus tonight and taking a 27 hour ride north to San Pedro de Atacama where cooler climates and more appropriate vistas are supposed to prevail. We’ll see.

For now here are some boring pictures I took of the town today:

I dunno if that’s how you say it because if I’ve discovered anything about myself on this trip so far it’s that I should have paid more attention during Spanish class back in college. Mi espanol es muy mal…

But, despite the cold weather South America or Chile to be exact is pretty wonderful. I’ve been shooting a lot with the little Olympus SLR that I picked up in New York so I don’t have much to show in the way of photos but I can tell you that it’s been scenic and enriching and satisfying and all those other good things.

Here’s a few things to look at.

I walked a lot yesterday. Up hills, through, alleys, through parks, through a spice market and a mosque. I saw a shop that sold deer antlers with giant knives imbedded in the end, I saw dead fish, I ate baklava, I drank orange juice, I saw too many hardware stores and not enough grit, I got lost and then found again, I almost fell asleep on the ferry, I worried about thunder and rain and gear damage, I battled to stay awake during class, I talked shit, I hung out, I drank beer and today… I’ll probably do it all over again.

Since I’ve been in Istanbul it’s been a series of late late nights. No complaints, none at all.

Went to an opening at Istanbul Modern yesterday. Weird, semi-creepy video art, free terrible wine (makes me rethink all the bad things I said about Sula), delicious free frozen yogurt.

Went to a party at the beautiful home of one of the workshop participants who lives in the city. Walked around the Euro side. Smoked hookah fought to stay awake. Spent way too much money on street food and Effes.

Don’t regret a bit of it. Not even a smidge.

Here’s some evidence:

Delhi to Moscow to Istanbul. I made it without incident or inconvenience save for an hour and a half of urban hiking that I had to endure when I couldn’t get past the language barrier while I trudged around looking for my hostel.

The city is beautiful though. Sea breezes and sunshine. Water taxis and delicious street food. Fresh squeezed orange juice everywhere and it only costs a lira. If I could just speak Turkish this place would be pretty much ideal.

Here are some frames I grabbed yesterday while trying to get my bearings in this massive city.