Topic: South America
We got to La Paz which is a experience in Its self, so why not go all the way. Down in the south of Bolivia is arid area of mountain and lakes that's meant to be pretty interesting. Whats another night on a Bus anyhow. We leave our poky hotel and lug our packs half an hour to the bus station. Normally I would catch a taxi but there is a parade on that has basically cut La Paz in half. As we cross the walkway above it we see, marching bands, giant bleeding Jesus's, acrobats, and fire breathers for as far as the eye can see. Looks like a good show but we have a bus to catch. Now I must say, I hate night busses. Unfortunately if you want to go to Uyuni there is no other option. This one is known as a full cama, which means bed, I hope it's not a marketing gimmick. The bus station is kaos which is pretty much situation normal in La Paz, I grab some drinks, pay the bus terminal tax, and wave my tickets in front of someone who looks vaguely interested. He grunts so I assume we must be in the right place. Buses come and go at our allotted time, none of them say Uyuni. There are a lot of people standing around including some other gringos, like Panteene, it won't happen straight away, but it will happen. Eventually our bus turns up, dump the bags, and get on board. The beds aren't flat, but there a bit like a business class airline seat, that's almost flat. Before the bus is out of La Paz I'm out of it.
The lights come on and it's the morning, well sort of. Uyuni is located on a plane 3700 meters asl, and at 5.30 am in the morning it's cold, the only thing missing are tumble weeds rolling down the main street. This pretty much set the tone for the rest of the trip. Morning expect ice and sub zero temps. The bus dumps us in the middle of the main street, there is not much open but there are plenty of touts about. I have actually done a bit of research on trips, and the 3 day one seems the go. They recommend checking out the vehicle, driver, getting a English speaking guide, and several other thing I have forgotten. Of course we did none of this, we found some one who looked as cold as we did and asked where the nearest coffee shop was. Turns out she was another tout but she took us a couple of blocks to the main square. Over coffee we had a look at her brochure, which basically said we can do any thing you want, warmed up we piled in to a 4wd back to the dodgy office to check things out. A quick trip description in Spanish, sounded good to me , but what would I know. A question about accommodation, no tents. Price Haggle, about $120US . Off to the ATM for some Bol's. Listo. Trip Starts at 11AM.
Into the Nissan Patrol, it's in reasonable nick, about 15 years old. Off to the train grave yard which is just out of town. Here we pick up another couple, so the count is 6 Spanish speakers, and Ted. Our driver, a bloke in his 30's, A young couple from Barcelona, and another young couple from Argentina. Ted and I go close to doubling the average age. The trains are left over from the mining bust in the 40's, lots of turistas, and old steam trains that have been stripped for scrap. It's then off to the Salt flats. The Salar de Uyuni is one of the flattest bit of land in the world, 10,000 kms2 and so flat they use it to calibrate satellite altimeters. It's a weird place, no animals, and white in every direction. There is the odd mountain top that pokes through covered with cactus every 30,km or so. It's not actually dry, It has a wet season in summer, and in places their is water on top of the salt, or just below. We do all the usual things. take selfies, get out the Godzilla models an use the perspective to make it look huge, head to the salt hotel for lunch. Our Driver is also our chef, and he brings a packed lunch for us every day. We take off across the flat and eventually come to one of the islands. It's very different to the salt flats, and covered in cactus. From the top you can get a perspective how big the place actually is.Our guide is great giving us all the stories, and history of the place. I generally condense this down to a couple of words and pass it on to Ted, if I think its relevant. Ted doesn't get much. Another couple of hours till our night spot across the lake.
I do remember our first night is Luxury and our second night is Basic. We have our own Yert, complete with hot shower, and beds with extra thick blankets on them. Dinner is the Bolivian favourite chicken and rice, in the comunal hall. Even better still it comes with a bottle of red, I order another, and Ted gets a beer. Our companions aren't big drinkers so I have to drink most of the other. Our Catalan couple have quite good English so even Ted feels included.
The next morning early start, freezing cold. We have finished the salt flat so from here on in I don't really know what to expect. From here we head into the mountains. Ted wants to see the flamingos, but he doesn't want to see the american tourists who keep on chasing them off before he can get a good photo.We stop at an Inca grave yard, then on to some lakes where we have lunch. Ted gets his photos. We are high here, somewhere between 4200 an 5000 meters. The white stuff in the pics is not salt it's ice. Other stuff is the Árbol de Piedra (Tree of Stone) which has been carved out of a boulder by the frigid wind. The scenery is wild and barren, great unending vistas of planes, lakes, and mountains. We get a flat tyre, and pitch in to change it as it's getting cold. By the time we get to our basic camp it's dark. The temp is way below zero. We eat a basic dinner of spag and retire to our dorm beds, lights out by 8.30.
Minus 6 on the car dash. No breakfast, and no daylight. We are off to the hottest joint around. First stop the geysers, nothing like a bit of steam to warm you up then on to the hot springs and breakfast. I have a bit of a love hate relationship with hot springs here. All the ones I have been to so far aren't really hot. It's still freezing but I get changed and jump in. It's hot, now all I have to do is get out. Thankfully breakfast is hot too and in a cafe. We stop by another couple of coloured lakes, get another flat, and stop for lunch below the tree line. We spend the rest of the day driving back to Uyuini. Somewhere along the line we stop at a church a mining company have moved brick by brick from the old town site. I've seen better and it's closed. I get phone reception and footy results. We have dinner with our new friends, and discuss the revolution. Back on to the Cama bus, for an overnighter to La Paz, followed buy an all day trip to Arequipa Peru. We get in at midnight after another two hour detour around another teachers strike No rest for the wicked.
