After 5 days and 4 flats between Uyuni and Tupiza, I am ready to get out of this country. Don't get me wrong. Bolivia is an incredibly beautiful country, a geologists wet dream where every other hill is a different color, but I am tired of the shitty roads and the cold, I repeat COLD, nights. One morning, recently, I camped in a valley that was still above 13,000 feet. This was problematic because it takes longer for the sunshine to reach every corner of the valley and, hence, stays cold longer. It was so cold that the small streams in the valley froze solid. I tested the hardness of the ice by smashing rocks the size of my head to pieces on it. I was so happy to finally reach civilization again that I am staying in Tupiza for three days before I ride the final two or three days to the Argentinian border.
I am looking forward to riding on paved roads again in Argentina as I have recently discovered a couple of cracks in my third rear rim. I am also looking forward to the Argentinian barbeques as I have recently been partially starving myself as there are no places to buy food. I go to sleep at night salivating and fantasizing about food I want to cook and eat. The parrilladas await me. Sorry vegetarians, I am going to eat so much meat that yall might as well put me on a cholesterol I.V. drip. I already have friends and parrilladas waiting for me.
On a manliness scale of 1 to 10, a bike trip is probably somewhere between a 9 and 10 so I am not afraid to say that I love ballet. It is so funny how one's perspective can completely change over time. I remember when I was 9 and my mom tried to put me in ballet lessons. This experiment didn't last long as I steadfastly remained in the corner of the studio and refused to participate. I also remember my mom dragging me to see Gregory Hines and Mikhail Baryshnikof in the movie White Nights. As a kid this pissed me off but I had the unusual priviledge of seeing the movie for a second time last night. Dance movies are one of my guilty pleasures and I have a serious man-crush on Baryshnikof. His dancing seems to defy the laws of physics. Gregory Hines was no slouch but Baryshnikof is fucking spectacular. Most of the music in the movie is shit since it comes from the 80s (Yeah I know, it was the golden era of heavy metal and punk but the rest of the music is shit) but I was turned on to the music of Vladimir Vysotsky which is worth checking out. This is another reason I can't wait to get out of Bolivia. I need to indulge my high-speed broadband addiction and watch as many videos of Vysotsky and Baryshnikov as possible.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
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1 comment:
Hey! I like your comments. I wish you could stop by Mexico City one of these days and we could have a looong intersting conversationover a bottle of good mexican wine. I cannot promise ant $2 T-bone steaks, but Im sure you could enjoy some very good Arrachera tacos around this latitude.
Marco
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