The girls, Stevo and I arrived in Tarija on another awkwardly timed bus. We got in at 3am. We were armed with the address of a hostel owned by the daughter of the owner of our previous place in Tupiza. Unfortunately once we found it, it was totally shut down and a sign stated that the ´hours of attention´ were 10am-4pm. We took out the guide book and headed for our second option. We walked to where we thought the building should be but as we did so the street numbers totally changed. We walked up and down the same road three times with no luck finding the hostel. At around 5am, after around two hours of walking around, we spotted a cab and got in, giving him the name of the hostel. Turns out the street numbers in Tarija change based on whether you are east or west of the main square, and so we had been looking on totally the wrong side of the city. Finally we got to the hostel and were shown to the dorm.

The girls had very little time in Tarija, so we were up early again to make sure we could do something that day. We got ourselves to a travel agent and booked onto a wine tasting tour for the next day. That first day, we headed to a town called San Lorenzo on a local collectivo (a small bus that fit around fourteen people on it). The bus took around thirty minutes to arrive and once there we strolled around the tiny town in thirty minutes or so. We hadn´t thought through our timing and had arrived just as the siesta started, so nothing was really open. We grabbed some popsicles and sat in the square for an hour or so, soaking in the sun and chatting. Finally, we got a bus back to Tarija and strolled around the town there, including a visit to the dinosaur museum, which turned out to be quite a disappointment, although we did see a pretty freaky skeleton in a glass box.

We found a nice wine store and bought a few bottles which we planned to take up to a view point and drink whilst watching the sunset. We didn´t have a bottle opener, but the guy at the store gave us his and said we could bring it back the next day. It was this kind of thing that really made me love this part of the world. He had no idea who we were or where we were staying, and although it wasn´t an expensive thing to lend us, it was still very kind and trusting of him to assume we´d return it (which we did of course!). We headed to the viewpoint, but unfortunately it had been closed for some kind of maintenance work. Instead, we headed back to the balcony of the hostel, stuck some music on and enjoyed the bottles.

Stevo had been feeling really unwell as the day progressed and so he headed to bed before we had started on the wine. Myself and the two girls went for dinner, with Tess already feeling quite drunk. For some inexplicable reason, we decided to buy another bottle of wine at dinner and this tipped her over the edge. She went to the bathroom and a fair amount of time had passed so Nicky went to check on her, only to find that she had fallen asleep in the toilet. That seemed to be a good point to call it a night. Once Tess was awake, we headed back to the hostel for some much needed sleep before out wine tour the following day.

The tour left at around 11am and was scheduled to hit three wineries. Stevo was still feeling absolutely awful and looked like a zombie, but having paid for the tour he didn´t want to miss out. The first place we hit was called Solar del Campo, a brand that I had tried previously in Sucre. The tour was all in Spanish but I was able to understand and translate most of it for the others. It was interesting to learn about the whole process in terms of the volumes, the temperatures, the storage times, the effects of using different barrels etc. Afterwards, we were given four quite large tastings (Malbec, Cabernet, Tannat and a mix of Malbec-Cabernet-Tannat) and we were all feeling the effects. The wine was accompanied by some really nice goats cheese, regular cheese, crackers, breadsticks, Serrano ham etc. One of the guides showed us an interesting trick with the cheese and ham. He places it in his mouth and chewed whilst holding his nose. Then, while the stuff was still in his mouth, he sipped some of the wine and before he swallowed, he released his nose. I tried this and the explosion of flavour that you get is incredible.

Next, we headed to a place called Casa Real, where the main product was Singani, the Bolivian national drink. When the stuff is first produced, it has an alcohol content of 80%. This is then reduced to 40% by adding water. We tried Singani in two forms. First, straight, with no mixer. It was pretty foul if I´m honest. Stevo had started to feel worse and worse so skipped on this. However, the next drink we had was a Chuflay. This is the national cocktail of Bolivia, consisting of Singani, lemon and ginger ale. This was amazing. The Bolivian equivalent of Pimms on a summer day. The final stop we made was to an artisan winery. This was a little further out of the city and in some beautiful countryside. We tried 4-5 different wines, including a nice port. I really enjoyed a very sweet white that we tried and bought a bottle for just BOL 25 ($3.50). We had some lunch here consisting of some local dishes (Falso Conejo and Picant de Pollo) before heading back to Tarija.

The girls had checked out of the hostel and had a bus at 3am, heading to Salta, Argentina. We met an English couple in the hostel and headed to a steak place that they had been to. We walked for around 15minutes to get there and later realised that it was just a minute from the hostel if we had gone the other direction. The food was interesting. Stevo, having recovered and gotten his appetite back was keen to eat a lot, and so was I, so we decided to get an Argentinian mixed grill. Unfortunately, we didn´t quite realise what this entailed. So, when we got our food, we were happy with the couple of bits of steak, but everything else looked like something out of a nightmare - intestines, pig´s tail and blood sausage. Big fail.

We waited with the girls until 3am and then headed back to the hostel for some sleep. Wednesday was quite a chilled out day, with the two of us trying to sort out internet etc. We also moved hostel, to a cheaper place across the road. This was run by a family, including the slightly senile grandparents. When we checked in the grandmother said she would get her daughter, but got distracted by a TV on her way out of the reception and stood there watching it for 5 minutes before realising she was supposed to be doing something. The old man seemed to be quite suspicious of us, giving us both dirty looks.

On Thursday we decided to hire some bikes and cycle out to a town around 15km away. First though, we had to pick up laundry, which meant cycling into the town. This was quite a terrifying experience as Bolivian drivers tend not to be the best. Within about 25 minutes of us setting off on our actual route, Stevo managed to puncture a tyre whilst coming down off a pavement. We stopped while he sorted it out with the toolkit the tour agency had given us. We kept riding, taking in the surroundings and the amazing weather. Parts of the route were quite tough, being uphill, but it was all worth it for the mountainous background and surrounding fields. After around 2 1/2 hours of cycling, we reached a restaurant that had been recommended and had a burger each with a Chuflay.

We then cycled on to a small pool where we were able to climb some rocks and get to a viewpoint. We had been told that there was a dirt path that we could take as a shortcut to get back towards the town. When we left the restaurant we took what we thought was the dirt path, only to find that we had ridden out to somebody´s farm. We were chased by a few dogs and had to manoevre past a couple of quite angry looking cows before we realised and so had to turn back and do it all again. Finally, we found the path and managed to get ourselves back pretty quickly as it was mainly downhill coasting on the way back. That night, the angry old man from the hostel made an appearance. I was brushing my teeth in front of an outdoor mirror and sink, when he appeared around the corner. He stood staring at me for a good 30 seconds without saying anything. I finally looked at him and said ´Hola´. He chose not to respond and stared at me for another 15 seconds or so before turning around and leaving. Very weird.

The weekend was pretty relaxed for Stevo and I. On the Friday we woke up late and hit the local zoo. It was pretty awful and with the entry being just BOL 1, I wasn´t surprised. They seemed to have a lot of the same animals (vultures, leopards and pumas) but in different places. Most of the animals seemed to have some strange OCD, particularly the big cats, which strolled non-stop back and forth around their cages in exactly the same pattern. It was quite sad to see and so we soon left. Back at the hostel, the old man did exactly the same things again, staring at me while I brushed my teeth, without saying a word. Finally, when I said ´Hola´, he asked when we were going to leave. Charming.

Stevo and I went out for a few drinks that evening and hit a club on Saturday, where Stevo got dragged off by a very drunk Bolivian girl, who he had to get away from in the end. Just before we had left the hostel, I had had a very pleasant surprise - someone had walked past our room as I stood in the doorway talking to Stevo, and it turned out to be Stefi, the Swiss girl from the couple I had travelled with in Nicaragua. I couldn´t believe it - Robyn, her boyfriend emerged from their room to come and say hello. We were all in shock as they had been in Panama when I was way ahead in Ecuador, and so we thought we wouldn´t have the chance to travel together again, despite having the same route. They were leaving for Salta that night at 3am, and so I´d be catching up with them in the next couple of days. I was really pleased with this as I had really enjoyed my travelling with the two of them.

Stevo had decided to join me for a while in Argentina, and so on Sunday we grabbed a 3am bus to get into Salta. I was quite sad to be leaving Bolivia, but at that point I was also ready for something new. Bring on Argentina.