For the full complement of photos
corresponding to this blog entry, use the following link to the set of photos
in my Flickr pages:
The land in the south of Bolivia and
the north of Argentina is ´cowboy country´ with myriads of earth colours,
canyons, stony riverbeds and hills carved into unusual pointed shapes and
grooves by the rains across millennia. Often, the sedimentary rocks are spread
in sandwiches of colours – even within the same hillside, creating a stunning
artist´s palette on a grand scale. Tupiza fits this description to a tee and
what better way to get into the whole ´cowboy country´ feeling than by going on
a two day horse riding tour.
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On Horseback:
Tim & Guide Saul En-Route to Los Cañones |
Courtesy of my hard working horse,
Manty, I explored the river valleys to the south of Tupiza (Roi San Juan del Oro
and Rio Tupiza). Another tourist, Juliette from France, and I were guided by
Saul. As is the case in much of Bolivia, the children often work during the day
and go to school in the evening. So Saul, at only fifteen years old, would
sometimes have long days. While this system of working and schooling for the
young folk is undoubtedly useful for family economics, I am not sure whether
Bolivia is going to match the development of future intellects that may be
achieved by other South American countries with more conventional schooling
hours.
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| A Rich Spread of Reds & Browns Inside Los Cañones |
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| Natural Sculptures Inside Los Cañones |
During our tour, the first place of
interest was Los Cañones which was the first opportunity to get close to the
craggy shapes in the red and oxide coloured earth. The ´curtains´ of earth were
even taller at the lunch stop by Rio San Juan del Oro at Toroyoj. We continued
upstream and crossed the river many times where the flat riverbeds were the
perfect place to gallop. I previously had just a few hours of experience of riding
and normally would not choose to pass hours on a horse, but soon realised what
fun it was with the adrenaline rush of riding a horse at full speed.
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| ´Curtains´ of Rock in Toroyoj by Rio San Juan del Oro |
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| Saul Leads the Way by Rio San Juan del Oro |
As we got higher up the valley of
Rio San Juan del Oro, the scenery and the breadth of the natural colour palette
got better and better. Our accommodation was in the village of Espicaya which is
nestled below the cliffs of cream coloured hills. I climbed one of these early the next morning for commanding views of the river valley and surrounding
area. While the hills look solid from a distance, they are in fact made up of
sedimentary rock filled with stones. The sedimentary rock is in fact
so soft it is almost like dry earth. As a result, everything is prone to
crumbling and giving way easily – as I found to my cost with a fall,
ripping the skin on both legs.
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Espicaya Nestled Against the Rocky Hills of
the Rio San Juan del Oro Valley |
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| River Valley Vista from Cerro (Hill) Above Espicaya |
Before returning to Tupiza there was
time to visit Puerta del Diablo (Devil´s Door) – a gap between two rectangular
rocks, as well as Valle de los Machos. On the way up to this valley, some clouds were looking a
little threatening, but I thought that they would just about skirt past us.
Alas not and a brief but dramatic storm ensued with some lightening striking
some hills very close by and hail the size of chick peas. That size of hail
hurts so we stopped and tried to shelter and to stop the horses freaking out.
The sun soon returned and we enjoyed the visual spectacle of Valle de los
Machos before heading back to Tupiza.
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