Salty Fun on the Salt Flats
Trip Start
Feb 09, 2010
1
16
85
Trip End
Jan 22, 2011
Uyuni, Bolivia
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
We got up bright and early on Easter Monday morning ready to be picked up from our hostel at 7:30. We were a bit panicked at first when some unsavouries in our hostel seemed to be packing up to leave as well but luckily they were headed off with a different tour company - phew! (Seriously, this group of boys we've seen everywhere along the way but resolutely they don't talk to us and we don't talk to them....quite funny really!). We were first in our company - Colque Tours - bus and drove round some other hostels in San Pedro, picking up the other people. There turned out to be 17 people on our tour in total - a Dutch couple, a German couple, a French couple and their friend, four English guys, the three of us and the three guys we'd booked with in the first place. Everyone seemed nice enough and we headed to the Chilean migration office just outside San Pedro where we'd been chucked off the bus when we arrived. Queueing up at immigration took absolutely forever as there were two bus loads of people in front of us - thankfully though the Chileans are a bit more thorough when you're going into their country instead of out so we didn't have to have our bags checked or anything. From there we headed to the Bolivian border which was nothing more than a shack in the middle of the desert. We got our passports stamped, got into two groups of six and one 5 and headed off into the desert in our jeeps. Well, that's wha the other two groups managed to do - as for us, our 4WD ground to a halt about 10m from the Bolivian border as it had run out of fuel. Already. Very reassuring! No matter though, there was loads of spare fuel on the top of the car (along with our bags!!) so Carlos (our Bolivian driver) refilled the tanks and finally we were off!
The bulk of the three days is pretty much sitting in the car, looking out of the window at the amazing views. Our first stop was breakfast - actually just a roll with a slice of cheese in it. After we'd paid to get into the national park we stopped at a lake which was the most beautiful blue-green colour I've ever seen. Not sure exactly why it was that colour....maybe something to do with the amount of minerals in the ground or something? That was one downside to the trip - having a Bolivian tour guide who spoke little or no English. It meant that we didn't really get a gauge on what things were except for 'oh that's a nice lake' or 'wow, those mountains are beautiful'. After the 'nice lake' we stopped at some natural hot springs which were as hot as a bath. As much as I wanted to go in I didn't because of the faff with swimming costumes and nowhere to change and getting dry afterwards etc....too much hassle! I did dip my toes in though and it was lovely - David got in completely and said it was fantastic. I'm a little envious as I hate to miss out but oh well, next time! We also stopped at some geysers which were little more than bubbling mud which smelt disgusting so we didn't stop there for long, making a group decision to head on. We stopped at various other places along the way, most beautiful views and lakes filled with flamingoes! It was a shame they were so far away though as I didn't manage to get any decent photos of them - but I got enough scenic ones to last a lifetime!
At about 4pm we got to our accomodation for the night which was basically just bricks without heating or electricity or running water. It was pretty basic but definitely an experience to stay there, I'm glad it was only for one night though! We arrived pretty early in the afternoon we thought as there was actually nothing to do except sit around and talk - most of the group went for a walk to see sunset but Scott and I stayed behind with friends Simon and Tony. We spent about three hours playing a game given to us by Nienke, the Dutch girl on the trip, called Cockroach Poker which is the simplest but most fun game ever and involves bluffing to each other about which insect you have. We thought it must have been the altitude but we all found this game HILARIOUS and when the others came back they found the four of us rolling around whooping when someone thought a spider was a scorpion or when Tony referred to a bat as an 'medieval rabbit'. Good times in the middle of nowhere I must say. Dinner followed at about 7pm and we had soup and spaghetti bolognese with accompanying wine and Pisco Sour (an alcoholic delicacy in Bolivia) - it was a nice meal with the group getting to know each other better but we were all pretty tired from the early morning and altitude so most people headed straight to bed. It was a cold night but not too bad because of the HUGE heavy blankets which were provided - a bit too heavy and suffocating if you ask me but I didn't freeze so I shouldn't complain.
Day 2 started with another early morning as we were up by about 7 and on the road again. The day passed with quite a lot more driving than the first day but the scenery was still as amazing as before. We stopped for lunch in a town in the middle of nowhere and were served llama meat which I thought tasted OK but certainly nothing special. We were then told we could do what we wanted for 40 minutes which led to blank stares from everyone as there wasn't actually anything to do at all! We ended up chattering away to each other for a while and then heading off again. The landscape during the day changed from stark red deserts to more green field-land valleys populated by farmers, worn down shacks and llamas. By this point we all had our 'seats' in the 4WD as well - Scott and I being in the very back so nattering away to each other when not looking out of the window. David spent a lot of time in the front seat which had the benefit of being able to look out of the windscreen but the drawback of being in charge of the music selection - a big responsibility! Unfortunately there were quite varying music tastes in our vehicle but after a few false-starts we did manage to find some common ground for the remainder of the trip. After stopping at a ghost town, a small town and a whole load of places far away from anything else we ended up at our accomodation for the second night which had one massive improvement on the place we stayed the night before - HOT SHOWERS!! We all dashed straight in and had a quick warm shower which felt SO nice after being so dusty for two whole days - we had to be quick though as there was only so much water and, of course, no one wanted to be the one the water went cold on! Once again we had dinner altogether and played a few games of Cockroach Poker and even managed a beer before wearily heading to bed. We spent about an hour before going to sleep discussing possible variations of Cockroach Poker, including an X-Rated version which we all agreed would be as popular as it would be hilarious which Scott and I seriously plan on getting patented/copyrighted when we get home. What followed was perhaps one of the best sleeps I've had on the trip so far. Lovely. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
The third day of the trip was definitely the highlight and pretty much what everyone goes on the trip for - the salt flats! I got up early and went to watch the sunrise across the white expanse, it was great to watch but my eyes hurt afterwards as I'd not been wearing my sunnies! I took some photos but then remembered how boring sunrise/sunset photos can be so stuck with just watching. Again we had breakfast then headed off across the salt. It was a very strange experience, there just being white as far as the eye can see in each direction - like a completely different world! Especially when we were the only thing in sight and no one else around! We made quite a few stops during the day as everyone wanted to make the most of being there and take lots of famous 'perspective' photos that people have done when on the flats. Getting good shots actually turned out more stressful than fun because you've got to line everything up so exactly but practice soon made....maybe not perfect, but pretty close! We had a lovely group of people who were all helping each other out so everyone had some great photos to look back on. We came up with lots of ideas, some better than others, but definitely have photos which bend the mind and wouldn't be possible without that absolutely pancake-flat environment. We got a good mixture of photos of the three of us and with the bigger group as well which was good.
All too soon it was time to head off and, again we had a couple of stops on the way, such as a salt musuem and train graveyard, but everyone's main aim for the day (aside from the cool photos of course) was to get to our destination in Bolivia, Uyuni as quickly as possible so that we could all catch our connecting buses or trains to our various destinations around Bolivia. Uyuni is notorious for being, for want of a better word, a 'total shithole' so no one wanted to stick around there any longer than they had to! We rolled into the town around 1pm and it certainly lived up to expectation and wasn't anything more than a dull town with not much going for it. The group of us headed straight to the bus station after dropping our bags at the Colque offices and booked the first bus to La Paz....at 8pm. We had a looooooong wait doing pretty much nothing and I was feeling pretty unwell after having some food disagree with me so it was a fairly miserable six hours for me especially. One good thing was that there was 8 of us all going to La Paz so it wasn't just the three of us killing time. Eventually 8 came around and we got on the bus to La Paz, eager to get to a bustling city after spending 3 full days in the middle of some of the craziest landscapes I've ever seen....
Comments
Love the photos Zoe - must have been great fun setting them up!!
And some people don't find sunrise/set photos boring - so long as they're good!
Keep safe and Skype soon, lotsaluv Dad
Love the blog Zoe, still as exciting as ever catching up with your adventures.
Give my love to my boy and Scott
Love you all
Love the photos, Zoe! And @Dad Jeanes: I thought you'd comment on the sunset pictures!