It is freezing when we leave Potosi, we even have to slide inside our sleeping bags because it is so cold in the bus (the bus company told us the bus would be heated, but as usual that is not true… we are starting to get used to these lies).

After a couple of hours, the landscape changes and becomes a lot drier as we descend in altitude.

5 hours drive total to get to Tupiza (without counting the multiple stops in the middle of the road to pick up and drop off passengers).

The city of Tupiza itself isn’t incredible, probably the less pretty city we have seen in Bolivia.

But what really surprises us is the number of Italian restaurants in this small city. Would this be the only South American city colonized by Italians?

Besides that, the city is surrounded by desertic red mountains, it feels like the American far west here.

We stayed only one full day in Tupiza, before heading out on a 4 day trip to visit the South Lipez and the Salar de Uyuni. We took advantage of this day to go horseback riding in the desert around Tupiza.

Immediately as we arrive, we went to confirm our 4 day trip with the travel agency. We also made a reservation to go horseback riding the next day.

As there is literally nothing but Italian restaurants in this town, we decided to go eat a pizza right by our hostel.

The next day, after a delicious breakfast, we leave for a 3 hour horseback ride in the canyons around Tupiza.

A nice surprise awaits us, as it will be only the both of us during this tour, with a guide of course.

When we arrive, we put on the equipment and the guide even gives us some cowboy hats!

The guide then presents us to our horses. Maider’s is called Roñero, and Matt never understood the name of his…

There we go on our horses towards the Canyon del Inca. The landscapes are stunning.

These red mountains resemble the Grand Canyon and the scenery is amazing.

But Matt’s horse doesn’t seem to want to work today (who can blame him, we are Sunday after all), and Matt is far behind Maider and the guide. The guide has to come get Matt, and does something to the horses behind… Whatever he did it worked, because now the horse is galloping towards Maider. You should have seen Matt’s face, we wasn’t prepared at all and had to hold tight not to fall off. Maider of course was laughing her ass off!

Along the way we pass the Puerto del Diablo, where we stop to take some pictures at the mirador.

The landscape is incredible and it looks like we are in the middle of the far west.

We then pass the Valle de los Machos,

before finally arriving at the Canyon del Inca.

At the Canyon we take another break so we can walk a little deeper inside the canyon.

After a little rock climbing we are in the middle of the canyon and once again the scenery is breathtaking.

The final leg of the trip is pretty smooth… until Maider’s horse decided to attack Matt’s horse! Apparently Matt’s horse arrived in the stables only 3 months ago, whereas Maider’s has been there for many years. So he decided to show him who the boss was. OK guys, your lame little rivalry you can keep it for the stables! That would have caused a lot less stress for Matt.

After the tour we headed back to the city and dropped by the travel agency to reconfirm and more importantly pay for our 4 day trip. And by chance we ran into the person who will be our guide during this trip. We are glad to see that he is super nice and we are sure we will have a great time with him. We don’t know yet who will be in the tour with us, apparently two other women. We will see in the morning!

Thankfully the central market is still open, so we can grab lunch there and don’t have to settle for another overpriced Italian meal…

Contrary to the day before, where the city seemed dead, there are tons of people in the streets.

We are the day before Bolivia’s independence day (August 6). And the students in all the schools of the city are parading in the streets. The next day it will be the military parade.

We stopped and watched the kids parading. We love these south American parades, the people here are really into these!

Once the parade was over, we went to the mirador that offers a nice point of view on the city.

Once at the top we realize that this city is larger than we thought. The view on the surrounding mountains is very pretty.

For our last night in Tupiza, before our long awaited trip in the South Lipez and the Salar de Uyuni, we got Italian food once again! But pasta this time!

The next day we leave at 7:30 am. Excitement is building up!