Traveling south with my parents from Samaipata to Sucre to Potosí, including a crazy night bus story.

September 30, 12:48

At the moment we are in a truffi, a sort of shuttle bus, to Samaipata. Super excited, cause there wasn’t much to do in Santa Cruz and looking out the window, we are entering a really beautiful area of Bolivia. The traveling with my parents now really has started, it feels like. With all ours backpacks tied on top of the van and us inside looking out the window to see the first glimpses of a new country.

October 1, 19:55

Such a nice day! We started the day at a coffee farm with a tour and tasting. And for me also Spanish practice, cause we had a guide that could only speak Spanish, so I had to translate for my parents. Then we went to a collection of waterfalls, so beautiful! And afterwards, to a set of Inca ruins. Just a great balance today between nature and culture. And another good part was that we had a taxi driver for the day! He waited for us at every location to bring us to the next. Just great!

October 2, 15:41

We thought we’d go for a short walk around town to two viewpoints. I mean it kinda was, but the walk also was about 300 meters up. And then it just feels much longer. Still pretty but I am just so happy to be in a hammock right now. The good thing is, we already bought our dinner to go, so we don’t have to go back into town anymore, YAY!

I really have to change my travel pace and get more active. Since it’s the vacation of my parents and they have a limited amount of time here, we are doing way more than I am used to. And I totally get it, if it were the other way around I would do the same. I remember the energy I had when Simone and I started this trip. But after almost 8 months, you just get a bit tired. Or lazy, as my mom calls it. 🙃

October 3, 16:15

We just got back from a full day hike through the national park Amboró. I am so tired. My legs don’t want to move anymore. We walked almost 5 hours through the cloud forest with many, many huge fern trees. Super beautiful and a really nice hike, but I am just so tired right now. And tomorrow we’re gonna do ANOTHER hike: the Codo of the Andes. No rest for the wicked.

Fun fact: the red dots on the tree is a sign for a very high air quality. We were breathing premium air, yeah baby.

October 4, 20:30

And we’re finally in the bus! Oh my god what an adventure. I feel so bad for my parents. The past months the bus rides always went so smooth. It left on time, I got assigned the right seat, no further problems. But this time was different. We were supposed to go with a taxi to a different town where the bus would pick us up. When we arrived at the location for the taxi, the woman that was supposed to drive us, told us that she had no transportation. Somehow the car was gone and they couldn’t find another one. So she tried calling a bunch of people, while her son was driving around town on a motorbike to find one, all with no luck. About an hour later they finally managed to find someone willing to drive us. First, two other travellers and my mom left, while my dad and I waited for the car to return to pick us up. The car was back quite fast, so they definitely didn’t go to the other town. Apparently they were also calling with the bus company, cause the bus was waiting for us on the side of the road. So we enter the bus, relieved, only to find our seats to be taken. I went back to the chauffeur and told him there was no space, but then some people at the back of the bus started moving around and emptied the seats for us. One man sat down on the ground next to us. In between me and my parents. Pretty annoying and in my space, but I feel like I shouldn’t complain cause it’s worse for him. Later he at least got handed some blanket to sit on. Then another man in front of me started scrolling on instagram with the volume on 1000. And suddenly it felt like I’m in Peru again. I guess Bolivia is pretty similar. Anyways, we are finally seated in the night bus to Sucre.

October 5, 17:40

OMG OMG OMG, it was meeting the parents day. Mike has come to Sucre as well, to spend some time together and meet my parents. He bought us breakfast cause he knew we would arrive insanely early (04:00 in the night) and prepared his nice coffee, which is almost always way better than the coffee at the hostels. So good impressions were made. Although the nervousness shined through - my mom told me later. Then we spend the day together exploring Sucre, super nice! And now all four of us are at a viewpoint close to the city, waiting for the sunset, with a bottle of wine, cheese and nuts. The best way to end this day. I am really happy right now. It’s like different worlds collide and they’re all mine, how lucky.

October 6, 18:01

What a beautiful trail and great marketing from the tour company. We hiked a part of the Inca trail outside of Sucre with beautiful views over the mountains. Then during lunch we stopped at a ‘textile factory’. A whole company consisting of one woman weaving a small blanket, who only stated working when she noticed that we were gonna sit there for a while. My mom even brought extra money cause we thought she would be able to pick out something nice, like a type of weaved backpack we had seen before. Yep, great marketing. BUT great day and beautiful area nevertheless.

October 7, 21:10

I postponed it for as long as I could. But today I couldn’t any longer, cause I finally got the message: ‘the card is full’. So first I did what any other person would do: delete some photos. That way I could at least make some photos on top of the Church. But tonight the moment is finally here: I am transferring all the photos to a hard drive. Which I had bought in Ecuador, MONTHS ago. But you know, stuff only happens when there is a sense of urgency.
Anyways, we are in Potosí at the moment, after a very smooth bus ride, and it is such a nice city! Everybody raves about Sucre, but I feel like this city has a lot more character - it feels way more authentic. And the taxi driver, that brought us from the busstation to the hotel, agreed cause he called the people from Sucre: ‘Los Locos’.