In the trusty hands of Walter, our Bolivian driver, we we set off in a big 4 x 4 with 2 Germans and 2 Irish, none of us capable of speaking good enough Spanish to properly communicate with him. He was great, providing excellent food, briliant driving and he didn´t drink alcohol for the whole trip (we think). This is unusual it seems as even the best company on trip advisor has a 25% negative review from customers experiencing horrific alcohol induced erratic driving.
The trip started at the train graveyard, where abandoned steam trains have been left to rot. As water boils at 60 degrees C here (5000m above sea level) the trains would role back down the hill with a full load. Not ideal for efficient freight transport, even Bolivian style! Then we went on to the brilliant white salt flats, a Coral Island covered in enormous cacti, volcanoes, multi coloured lagoons with millions of pink flamingos, Geysers and at the end a very nice (hot) thermal bath. It´s warm (ish) during the day, but due to wind and altitude you really have to factor 50 your skin. Despite all protection we still burnt our noses. At night is another story, with freezing cold conditions and temperatures at -10!
We left the group at the Chillean border to go onto San Pedro de Atacama.
