100 [Days] of [Amplitude]

Well, we've been on the road for 100 days now and in that time we've learned and accomplished relatively little. However, our seemingly futile and still-aimless travels are not a complete loss. We seem to be slowly learning some bizarre dialects of Spanish and we hope to find some volunteer work shortly. So, after 100 days, lets take a quick tally.



Cities visited without potable water: Three

Backpacking water filter used: Twice in town. Five times hiking.

Argentina/Chile border crossings: 9

Empanadas eaten: Can you count the stars in the sky?

Nights in our tent: 21

Bouts of gastronomic hyper-motility: Three

Times hitch-hiked: 11

Women seen plucking their beard hairs in public: Two

But now things have changed. We're in Bolivia. The first-world lifestyles of Argentina and Chile have gone. Water is less potable. Empanadas are filled with nothing but chicken bones. Women have ceased to pluck their beards. Negative as these things seem, there has been a dramatic reduction in our daily sums, creating a huge positive trade-off. What was $80/day in Argentina is now $20/day (for two people, mind you). Our private double room in this brand new hostel in Tupiza, Boliva is $10/night. Empanadas were $1/piece in Argentina, here they are $0.15/piece.

Does this mean we will attempt a less rugged lifestyle? Oh heavens yes. Will our sense of adventure be weakened because of this? Ha! Just because it's a private room with hot showers, doesn't mean it wont give you a disease. But rest assured, we will still attempt to cut as many corners as possible. There will still be nights in the tent, however probably not the within-city-limits-stealth-camping nights. And surely we won't reach the desperation we did in Chile, when we considered doing the unthinkable but were reluctantly dissuaded by the Chilean Sanitary Authority...