Tarija

Dave and I changed our plans, and instead of heading to Salar de Uyuni this past weekend, we decided to check out Tarija instead. Tarija is one of Bolivia's largest cities known for it's laid-back character, and is located in the Southern most tip of the country, close to the Argentine border. Since the bus ride/flota to Tarija would have been 26 hours long, and Dave had to work on Monday, we decided to treat ourselves, and take an hour long flight instead. We arrived on Friday evening and happily settled in to our hotel room right on the main plaza and enjoyed some local wine and dinner on the plaza. 

Saturday morning we toured the city, trying out some local salteñas, coffee, the Tarija speciality, saice, which is a ground beef (?), potatoes and peas stew at the market and arranging a wine tour for the afternoon. After lunch we met our guide, Julio, at our hotel and we were off to the first winery, El Potro. After enjoying ourselves at the small family own boutique winery, we hopped in the car and were on our way to Las Duelas, a wine shop that is also a cooperative for local small wineries. But, in true Bolivian style, our tour was impeded. As we were driving on the highway, we noticed quite the traffic jam ahead, and spectators lining the other side of the highway, as if waiting for something. We got out of the car and Julio informed us that it was the Tarija cycling team that was biking 80 km. ¡Tour de Tarija! For what seemed to be an hour we watched and cheered as the cyclists passed on their way to Tarija's city center. Most were well suited in biking outfits  but there were some who were wearing sandals and no helmet; we couldn't really figure out how they made the team, but we cheered anyway. An hour or so behind schedule, we arrived at Las Duelas and were able to squeeze in our tour and enjoy some wine and singani (a potent distilled white grape alcohol) before they closed. We had one more tour on the list, that Juilo was sure would still be open, Casa Vieja. We drove farther out into the country and we came across our second bloqueo, this one was man made, piles of stones and large dead branches/shrubbery in the road, impassable. Julio asked a local man for another route, and we took a dirt road down to the river and hit another dead end. We all decided that we were satisfied with the day and should just head back to Tarija. We spent all of Sunday relaxing in the plaza, reading and eating. 

In other news from Cochabamba, Tuesday, September 14th is Cochabamba's 200th anniversary! Most offices are closed Monday and Tuesday, giving Cochabambinos a nice long weekend filled with celebrations and parades! The parades, similar to those we saw in Ecuador, are made up mostly of school marching bands and their classmates. ¡Feliz anniversario Cochabamba!

"Winter" has officially ended in Bolivia, and we are moving into spring. The days are slowly but surely, getting a little bit longer, and buds are appearing on once dormant trees and bushes. It doesn't sound like the weather will change too much, according to Bolivians, it will finally get warm, but according to us, it will be getting a little hotter. We have asked around and it seems as though the rainy season will not start until January, which is great timing for us, but flying out of Cochabamba this weekend, it was apparent how dry the landscape was. Spring showers?