Many travelers merely pass through Tupiza on a quick break from Argentina to Uyuni, but we realized early on that this picturesque town, known as Bolivia’s Wild West, was worth more than a stopover. It’s replete with hiking opportunities, gorgeous (albeit very dry) weather, stunning scenery, and also has the claim of Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid’s place of death, which actually took place 100k west of here in the middle of nowhere.
Also, the ride there took us through more jaw-dropping scenery in rural Bolivia which made it very worth taking the four hour trip from Uyuni during the daytime.
After settling in our hostel, the first morning introductory hike in Tupiza took us up the Mirador de La Cruz about 30 minutes for a really breathtaking view of the town of 25,000.
It included steep rock-cut steps and spray painted “stations of the cross.”
Until you were finally able to see the cross peering out at the top.
We did this hike from about 11-12 in the morning but we’re thinking sunset or a bit earlier may have been a little less heated. There’s no shade and you’re very exposed to the sun so you definitely need lots of water. But the view at the top made it very worth it.
After another Bolivian pilgrimage complete, Mandy heads back down the overlook.
We also tried to “hike” the Cerro de Elefante but we couldn’t find a trail and we only got chased by dogs. So, we just enjoyed the view and pretended to see the defined elephant in the rock.
The road to the elephant was full of unfriendly neighborhood dogs so we immediately picked up sticks and walked with rocks in our pockets. To be honest, we’re very over the dogs in Bolivia. 😬
At one point there was a sea of several cars and trucks that looked like they had been greeted with death by a severe flood that swept through. But mostly the city showed severe lack of drought….like the “river” that splits the town in two.
An eclectic building that looks like it was topped by chess pieces
Tupiza is a true tuki tuki town…the first we’d seen of its kind in Bolivia. One of the main streets in Tupiza featured a teetering globe, and a lot of dryness and dustiness everywhere you walked.
Some poignant street art…”vive tu vida antes de crear otra.” Live your life before creating another. Um, yes agreed.
Not the flashiest town sign, but an absolutely lovely center plaza.
Tupiza has a very decent vegetarian place we went to twice called “Green Planet” which had a menu del dia like all the others. It included a soup, main course of lentil patties and mashed yucca, and the cutest and sweetest ‘lil banana ever.
Our home for four nights at Hostel Butch Cassidy which included a private room and bath for $21 with a Mountain View.
And a decent breakfast every morning. We liked it a lot although the lady who owned it definitely charged “foreigner prices” at her adjoining store.
An adorable ticket seller at the bus station.
Day Hike in Tupiza
We absolutely loved independently hiking in Tupiza, which was at an elevation of 2580 meters, or 8464 feet. The weather was perfect, the rock formations extraordinary, and the canyon and red rock trails were incredibly reminiscent of the American Southwest, a place we’ve always loved hiking. The ~13k, 5 hour trail took us through three iconic sites: Puerta del Diablo, Valle de los Machos and Cañón del Inca. Plus, we got to enjoy it with our Dutch friends, Roos and Bob, who we traveled with for about a month.
We got to the trailhead near Puerta del Diablo a little after 8 am by taking a probably overpriced tuki tuki from the town (20 Bolivanos or about $2.80). This was the first time ever we’d experienced four people in a tuk tuk which was quite adventure in itself. 🤣
Trails around Tupiza are not very well-signposted, and it is often not clear where even start, so we gladly found the trail we wanted to do on Mapy.cz which held our hand through the whole journey.
Also make sure to take lots of water, some food and sunscreen because a bit of the trail is unshaded and you’ll likely be hiking in mid-day heat.
Almost as soon as we started the trail started showing off with some very unique shark fin looking blades, which we maneuvered up in a search for some petroglyphs which we never found.
But it didn’t matter because the scenery was already breathtaking.
Arriving to el Valle de Los Machos, an area of jagged spindly hoodoo spires, and other phallic-looking icons.
At this point on the trail, it was still pretty developed with wide and obvious walking paths.
Bob points out, it even had a baño!
But, as you enter the gorgeous Cañón del Inca, things start to get a little more intrepid.
For those less adventurous types, we’d recommend turning around at this point….
…because before long you’re scrambling and bouldering up to the trail’s peak at about 3352 meters before doing the exact same thing back down.
This lasted a good 45-60 minutes before we finally made it to the top.
It many places it felt like some of the Utah slot canyons we’ve done.
It was fun exposing our friends to this type of hiking who’d never really spent time in the desert. Along the way, we saw this paw print which looked way too big to be a regular dog, but certainly had us speculating.
Also on the way down, we ran into several obstacle course challenges including a wall that was at least 8 feet tall that we had to be very careful and creative about descending, but us badasses all made it happen 😂
However, towards the end we encountered a rock wall that was at least 12 feet in height. Fortunately, after a bit of searching, we found a path down off to the right.
The trail we did. As usual, Mapy saved the day!
Creepy Clown Circus
Wonder what locals do to celebrate Halloween in Bolivia?! We had a very weird time introducing Roos, Bob and our two other new Dutch friends from our hostel to the holiday at the “Circus Terror” which was probably one of the worst performances we’ve ever seen, despite the ad online making it look like Cirque de Soleil.
But, at least it only cost $4. 🤣
We were also the only gringos in the audience observing a lot of creepy clowns dropping hula hoops and juggle balls, clown-like cross dressers, indecipherable “deep and scary voice” Spanish, and Freddy Krueger twirling fire (the best part.) It was an absolutely bizarre…
