Our bus from Purmamarca to Chile involved climbing from about 6000 feet to a little over 12000 feet in just about an hour. The rapid increase in altitude caused extreme nausea and the best way to soothe the pain is to partake in the local tradition of chewing coca leaves. The effects of the leaves keep you from having splitting headaches as well as becoming so nautious that you would have to throw up, on a bus with no bathrooms. The reccomendation of chewing coca leaves for altitude sickness first came from our Spanish tutor in Buenos Aires that assured us that it would be the only way we could travel at these altitudes without having time to acclimate.
We decided to go straight on to Calama instead of stopping in San Pedro, which is just a tourist town with expensive tours to view the dessert which we all saw on the way in to Chile. We decided to go to Calama, which is a shitty industrial town, but we all needed to buy some things that we wouldn´t have been able to get in San Pedro…..Tapes for video camera, tripod for sunsets, another sleeping bag…..and some other neccesities before heading into Bolivia where we weren´t sure we would be able to get anything we needed.
I am still behind on the blog, but the next city I get to Im going to do some serious cathching up, as well as a post or two from a friend we met along the way who keeps a pretty thourough journal.
until next time….
Z-force,
Have been loving reading the posts! I wrote you a long e-mail this weekend. Hopefully you received it by now. Mom and Dad are still in Cuba, I’m working away. Not much to report on this front. Hope you got all the provisions you needed in Chile and have made it successfully to Bolivia! Can’t wait to hear more…
Love you and miss you!
Jess
z,
awesome stories! sounds like you all are really covering ground and having a great time. the town with the “hills of seven colors” sounds beautiful. i can’t wait to see your pics of sunrise there. enjoy your time in chile:)
xo nikki
Zman,
Heard you are in Bolivia now and out of the Amazon. Can’t wait to catch up on your latest adventures! All the photos are great as well.
S
Earthquake….heard there was a major earthquake in N. Chile felt all the way to La Paz in Bolivia. Did you feel it all all? Any problems?
You’re tough, I don’t think I coulda handled that bus ride… but I guess that doesn’t say much ha. I ran into Howell and some of your other firends in Athens after the Auburn game this past weekend. Everybody misses you!