We arrived early at Uyuni, in the South of Bolivia, to begin a four-day tour of the Salar de Uyuni (Salt flats) and surrounding areas. Our jeep comprised a spanish-speaking driver (fine by me, as allowed me to practice my spanish), the Danish pair, a New Zealand girl and her English fiancee, and another Australian girl from....Warrandyte!!!! (for those who dont know, that is a whole 10 minute`s drive from my house in Australia).
We set out across the blindingly white salt plains in the jeep at 8:30am. Our first stop was Isla de Pescadores, an `island` in the middle of a vast white salt flat, which is covered in giant Cacti! I have never seen such huge cacti! Some reached to 10metres high, and were aged at roughly 1000 years!
Following this, we stopped off to do what had enticed me to visit the salt flats in the first place; Take photos of optical illusions. Given the vast, flat, crystal white terrain, it is impossible to perceive depth, so you can creat amazing optical illusions on camera. For example, standing on the top of a coke bottle, or standing in the hand of another person who is 10x your size! It is hard to explain in words, but the pictures will make it clearer.....when I eventually upload them!
We then left the salt flats, and headed through bumpy, hilly terrain, to our first overnight stop; San Juan. This small town, standing alone in the middle of harsh inhabitable terrain did not have a lot to offer, so we bought some beer from the local shop, and sat down to a pre-sunset drink. The beer comes in 1 litre bottles here, and given the altitude, it only took such a bottle for Kate to become a little tipsy! We all had a great night, sitting around, laughing and chatting, then hit the pillows, exhausted, for a good night`s sleep.
The following morning, we were up in and in the jeep by 8am, to continue our trek towards the Chilean border. Today was the `lake` day. We visited four amazing lakes, dotted throughout the rugged landscape. The first featured more flamingos than I have ever seen before, and I spent a good half an hour just trying to creep up and get as close to a flamingo as possible! (They are rather shy!).
The following lake also featured flamingos, but more interestingly, the lake was an amazing red colour, which is apparently caused by bacteria (algae) in the water. We stopped off for lunch, and I had a fight with the `toilet` man over the price of the toilet. He tried to charge us 5 bolivianos (5x regular price) to use a toilet in the middle of nowhere! We eventually refused, and marched off up the hill to find our own toilet spot. He actually began chasing us, yelling something in spanish, but he realised it was futile, and gave up, leaving us to `go` behind the rocky mountain in peace!
After lunch, we visited another few picturesque lakes, some also featuring giant llamas lazing by the water`s edge, co-habiting witht the flamingos and other bird species. These llamas were extremely woolly (necessary given the altitude), and double the size of those seen in Peru).
We eventually reached our overnight stop, a dumpy `hotel`in the middle of nowhere at an altitude of 4,500m above sea level. Once the wind picked up at night, it was FREEZING. But unfortunately, there was little to do, and no electricity, so we lit some candles, bought some mroe beer off the locals, and sat down as a group to what was another great night of laughter and chatter. Maybe electricity should be cut off on certain evenings in our society, as doing so is brilliant for social interaction! There is something to be said for the days of candlelit, TV-free dinners and gatherings!
The final day, we rose at 4:30am, and were in the jeep and on the `road` by 5am. Given the altitude of 4,500-4,900 metres, the hour of the morning, and the strong winds, it was RIDICULOUSLY FREEZING. I personally have never felt cold like it! However, it turned out to be a day of amazing sights, so I was able to overlook the discomfort. First we visited some incredible blowholes (geysers), then we arrived at the hot springs, our breakfast stop. Given the feezing temperatures, and the fact the natural hotsprings are a cosy 37C, I was the first one in my bikini, and in the closest hotpool! It must have looked quite funny, a figure running to the pool in a bikini when the outside tempertaure was about 0 degrees celcius!
Following this, we visited Laguna Verde, a huge tranquil lake that appears a brilliant green colour, due to the wind and reflection of the light. Once again, the scenery made for some great photos. This was our last stop before the gruelling 9-hour jeep trip back to Uyuni. Unfortunately, the group Ipod (provided by English guy) ran out of steam, so it was a rather long and tedious trip. However, it gave me a good opportunity to catch up on some reading, and work on my spanish.
We arrived back in Uyuni at 6pm, two hours before our bus was due to leave for the return trip to La Paz. However, when we went to pick up the tickets, we found that due to road blocks and strikes in La Paz, our bus had been unable to make it to Uyuni to pick us up. This is not good news when youre in Bolivia, and have a pre-paid ticket! However, we were assured we would get a refund upon our return to La Paz, and so had to settle for buying another ticket with another company. We boarded the rather basic and crowded bus at 8pm, and began our nocturnal journey back to La Paz.
