putre

Next stop: Putre

In the afternoon we took a bus from La Paz to Chile, to Putre. We had worked out our whole trip all the way to Iquique with a Bolivian bus company because they are so much cheaper than the Chilean ones. We had arranged to be dropped off in Putre, close to the border, then picked up from there the next day with the same bus.

We were supposed to arrive in Putre at 6 pm, but at that time we were still at the border. We spent 2 hours at Customs, due to some guy on our bus who had a suitcase full of porcelain. Also, once again the bus company had lied to us about having heating…

The bus driver dropped us off at the side of the highway around 9 pm. He said, “Putre’s down there” and drove off. OK, great. We were thinking, “what the hell?” There were no signs of civilization, it was dark, all we could see were one or two street lights in the distance, which we assumed to be Putre. No one had told us that the bus doesn’t actually stop IN Putre.

We began walking down the highway, although we had the impression that Putre was in the other direction. It was cold and we had no idea how far we would have to walk. Walking at this altitude (3500m), with a giant backpack, is not easy.

It looked like a long walk, we suspected that the road looped all around the valley and back to Putre, which is at the bottom. Later, we figured out that it is 6 or 7 kilometers. Luckily, I had my hand-powered flashlight along (thanks, Dale!) to ensure that we would be seen by drivers and not run over. Not that there were any drivers. Putre is in a National Park in the middle of nowhere and no cars were passing. At least the moon was very bright that night. Bright enough for us to see the snow-covered volcano in the distance and the deep gorge to our left.

We got a ride in a mini-van, the second car that passed. A rabbit ran into the headlights and our driver chased it for a while which sort of creeped me out. He asked where we need to go, which place we are staying at, and I told him. He dropped us off at a different place, saying it’s good. The room is over our budget, but when we see it, we take it anyway. After Bolivia, it’s very nice. Everything is brand new, the hotel must have just been built. We have our own bathroom and breakfast is included.