Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid Country

After a marathon drive back through the desert to Uyuni we thought just for kicks we would get straight on an overnight cross country bus to the very southern town of Tupiza. So we treated ourselves to a hotel with a pool when we arrived. 

Tupiza is all about the outdoors, so going against my firm belief in dresses and high heels we went mountain biking and horse riding. The mountain biking was a fun adventure, we were driven to the very top of a very high and very picturesque mountain and then pointed downhill. And so we whizzed down at a speed far higher than either of us were comfortable with, passing surprised looking goats along the way, trying hard to take in the dramatic dark red landscape. When we reached the bottom, very shaken, we were promptly put on top of some pretty calm looking horses and sent onwards. Horse riding is important here, this is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid country. This is where the notorious bank and train robbers were ambushed and killed in a shoot out in the 1900's. Supposedly. It is beautiful cactus filled country, with brilliant red colour palattes and crazy weather systems. While we were out, but luckily before we were on bike or horse, a huge hail storm came through turning everything into white rushing torrents.

The horses were relaxed, our guide, a 16 year old local boy however, not so much. After a brief check as to our experience, to which G answered none, he kicked his horse with all his might and took off at a gallop taking  the rest of the startled horses with him. G was lucky to stay in the saddle, and was mightily pissed off when we did stop. That was more or less how the next 2 hours progressed, we'd get lulled into a false sense of calm, and then he'd take off at lightning speed across the canyon floor with a wicked grin on his face. Luckily G learned to hold on tight fast.

Butch Cassidy

The Sundance Kid