La Celebridad de Tupiza

Donde estoy? Porque Bolivia? Que es la fecha? Where am I? Why Bolivia? What day is it? These thoughts swirled through my head early Sunday morning.

Oh right, my 21st birthday. In a third world country. In the middle of nowhere. A town with no wifi.

Certainly not conventional, but it ended up being one of the best days of my study abroad experience. Starting with a traditional Bolivian breakfast of bread, coffee, and milk, my lovely roommates surprised me with white chocolate m&ms! Oh the joy!

Notice GIANT water (less than 1 USD)

A Tupiza tourist staple is montar los caballos horseback riding, less than 15 USD with tip for three hours. After walking to the edge of town, we met our 15 year-old tour guide for an exhilarating few hours.

I have always ridden Western, not English saddles. English are much more difficult to ride (there is no horn), but that is Bolivians ride. After getting settled, my speckled horse and I were really getting along. I was seeing amazing scenery and a beautiful sky.

Of course my camera died, so I was taking pics with my iPhone when suddenly my horse goes from a nice walk, to a trot. I pull in the reins. He starts cantering. In one hand I am clutching my iPhone, the other clutching the English saddle (remember, no horn) and reins. I'm literally flying on the horse as my life flashes before my eyes. One wrong landing, and I'd be a a dry, rocky riverbed half dead. After 15 seconds of terror, I yank as hard as humanly possible and the horse slows. I was in one piece-iPhone, purse, sweater, body. I thought my heart was going to explode from my chest as I said "No quiero correr nunca mas I DO NOT want to run, ever again." I then ask our guide why my horse didn't stop when I pulled in the reins. Apparently in Bolivia the stop message is the "shhh" noise, not pulling on the reins. Would have been great to know at the beginning of our trip.

Caballito y yo

We pull up to Canon del Inca, part of the Inca Trail. The Incan trail extends through Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador, not just in Macchu Picchu. The Inca's had great taste; it was tremendously beautiful.

Yes, I did it. Throw what you know.

I named my horse Caballito Horsie at this point to rebuilding our relationship. Though he started running for no reason three times, I did the "shhh" to stop him. Our guide thought my no running rule was quite funny.

We had a late lunch to feed our starving bellies. This meant Sangria as a celebration and a veggie omelet. The sangria was a perfect first legal drink.

Trago de Cumpleanos Birthday Drink

We had heard about a local end of Carnaval party in the nearby Yuracuma. So at 8pm we caught a quick bus there.

Few lights, loud music, the only extranjeros foreigners. What seemed like a strange mix ended up being a fantastic night. Wandering through the dusty toad, a man yelled out if we wanted wine.  Por supuesto! Well of course! He let us taste, gave us free food, and then we bought the bottle (3.50 USD). This guy, Nelson, found out it was my birthday and toasted us several times. He then took us to the dance floor, a dusty fenced off area.

Birthday drinks from Nelson

Heads whipped. Eyes bugged. I clutched my glass of wine in the corner, waiting for Nelson to lead us. The sea of people parted for us four, whispers in the air, with an occasional male yelling out to us. Gracias pelo rubio y piel blanca Thanks blonde hair and white skin. We hung over in the corner, chilling to the music, when a ton of Bolivian men came over, begging us to dance. When in Tupiza, right? I learned how to dance Tupiza style to the cumbia music.

People fought to dance with me. People wanted photos with me. I thought they were taking multiple photos, but really they were in fact videotaping me. I'm guessing I'm all over Bolivia Facebook and YouTube.

This man was extremely creepy and extremely obsessed.

 Life as a novelty item was stressful. My main dance partner was absolutely crazy, I have never been twirled so much on my life. But what an exhilaration. We were immersed in the Tupiza culture like most never can be. Young girls stood near by, giggling as I tried to keep up.

ABBA?!? A string of American songs started playing, causing extreme delight. We made a dance circle, dropped it low, and showed off our moves. The DJ even gave us a shout out! We made friends instantly.

We spent the rest of the party dancing cumbia. One older, tipsy woman taught me moves, and then said in Spanish "you got it girl."

Remembering our early morning, left la bit before midnight (much to our partners' distress). Nelson dropped us off, said goodbye, and we headed back to our hostel.

We happened upon a true cultural event. The feelings I had that night can't be described: it was an extremely unique and special immersion. Quite an amazing 21st birthday party.

Highlights
-Barbara Streisand song playing at the party
-Seeing a Bolivian wearing a hipster scarf