Travelling in Bolivia is very cheap. I was lucky in my first couple of weeks here to be travelling with someone else, and splitting some of the costs. As a result, it was only costing around US$15 per day to get around, eat, and sleep. This was good since I wasn´t making progress nearly as quickly as I´d intended. I was in Potosi for two days more than I´d expected, though the miners festival was a once in a lifetime experience that I don´t regret (I do wish I had felt better for it though). Now I was headed to Sucre, another bigtime gringo stopping point. Sucre, like Potosi, is an UNESCO World Heritage site thanks to its city plan. All the buildings are white in color with clay tile roofs. It makes for a nice look. I wasn´t too interested in it, though, and was happy to stop for a day and pass on.

This was where Dave was headed back west to catch a flight in La Paz, and I was continuing east to points unknown. Our first day in town, we hiked out to one of the main attractions. A huge limestone wall covered in thousands and thousands of dinosaur tracks. Our guide was able to point out T-Rex, triceritops, and a twin pair of brontosaurus tracks headed up the wal.

It was very impressive, and is the largest single site of dino tracks in the world. Either the mud was really good here or it was a very active dino location. Either way, it was worth the trip.

That night we ran into three British guys we´d met in Potosi and gathered for a drink out at the local Gringo bar (motto: "Not just for gringos", not joking). We had a great, relaxing evening chatting with gringos of all nationalities and I decided one more day couldn´t hurt. Luckily, I also wasn´t too worried about time as the hotel was costing me US$2 per night and at that cost I could afford to wait a while and rest up. After two more nights at the gringo bar, I said ciao to Dave and headed west to the tiny town of Samaipata.

I expected Samaipata to be overrun with gringos as well because it was quiet, quaint, and a great center for excursions to the surrounding area. There is a huge national park close by as well as a magnificent Pre-Inca ruin which draws comparisons to Macchu Picchu. Instead, the town was dead. I loved it. My little hotel had a terrific roof terrace which looked out over the plaza and the four or five streets of the town. Very relaxing.

I wasn´t up for heading to the National Park, as I had my eyes set on a park much more remote and difficult to access (i.e. no people). Instead, I was in Samaipata to see the ruins, so I headed out on foot. El Fuerte is a carved configuration of unknown purpose (thought to be a fort) resting high on a mountain top.

It´s pretty impressive and definitely bizzare. There is a set of deep parallel lines carved along the middle of the rock which have inspired some to hypothesize it is a landing base for UFO´s.

I´m not prepared to go quite that far, but it definitely had some strange qualities, and it certainly must have taken a ton of work to finish, as the size of the place was impressive.

After a day of exploring, I dropped down from the mountain and caught the next bus to Santa Cruz, officially leaving the Andean region of Bolivia. I could breathe easy once again.