Bumps, falls and massive meals

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Foolishly...... we decided that taking the 13 hour overnight bus from La Paz to Uyuni would save us a night's accomodation. Only, the road was unsealed and so studded with rocks and potholes that it felt like we were riding inside a jack hammer.

We arrived at Uyuni at 3am and in our severely sleep deprived state, were easy prey for the local tout who took us to the nearest hotel and sold us a 3 day desert jeep excursion leaving in a few hours. We awoke the next morning to find our trip delayed one day by some late withdrawals and promptly went back to bed. One of the better things to do in a town consisting of a few dusty streets and surrounded by desert in every direction.

The desert surrounding Uyuni is, however, intoxicatingly surreal. Bizarre sights dance across the eyeballs, like visceral delacacies in a vast visual feast so oppulent... Salvador Dali himself could dine for months.

For entree, the worlds largest salt flats, gleaming white and stretching to the horizon in every direction. In the middle of this utterly white salt flat rises an island covered with cacti some thousands of years old.

Cactus and salt flat

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The Island with the hundreds of cacti, some over 1,000 years old. Surrounded by salt flat.

In other places enormous plains strewn with oddly shaped boulders crowned by the rising cones of volcanoes give a sense of exploring another planet. There are lakes of intense colours formed by marine life or volcanic elements, vivid hues of greens and blues, reds, yellows and whites. Most bizarre of all, in the midst of these remote desolate deserts at, remember close to 5,000m above sea level, live thousands of pink flamingos, wading in the shallows of the colourful lakes. And did I mention the fissures venting clouds of steam, the natural hot springs, the mountain ranges whose layered reds and browns look like some vast marble cake?

Yup, it was amazing all right. Of course all of this was traversed over the course of three days in rusty 1984 4-wheel drive over the bumpy, rock ridden roads, our driver seemed hell bent on leaving every other vehicle in a cloud of dust. We had no chance to wash in the evenings so layers of dust settled on top of each other into a permenant crust of itchy grime.

We were fortunate to travel with an excellent group of people, a young Aussie couple who seemed to have

Arbol de Piedra

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A much photographed rock said to look like a tree. Here's our photograph.

planned their trip around the idea that they fit in as many extremely long bus journeys into as short a time as possible and two American guys with crazy hair and employing a curious language that resembled English. It was a very good bonding experience, particularly the idea to combine a $3 bottle of rum with rapid fire card games - until the next morning, when it seemed like a terrible idea.

Anyway. Visually spectacular. Fantastic time. We returned to Uyuni, caught the overnight train, then the very first available bus and 5 days later, deep in Argentine territory had our first shower in 5 days. THE BEST SHOWER IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.

SW

Ahhh, Argentina. If I didn't call Australia home, Argentina would be it. I won't have a bad word spoken about this country. Nope, I won't hear of it. Everything about this divine land is first class, but with third class prices which means you can have a champagne lifestyle on a lemonade budget.

The difference was noticeable as soon as we crossed the border from Bolivia into Argentina. The bus arrived & departed on time, the seats were plush and reclined, and there was even a functioning toilet on board (unheard of in Bolivia). After weeks at altitude, dust, grime and unpredictable weather we felt as if we'd arrived in some green, lush paradise full of hearty delicious meals, extremely courteous locals and modern infrastructure. The Argentinians speak Spanish much faster than their northern neighbours so we had difficulty readjusting to the accents, but everyone we've met has been so accommodating and kind that language issues are not a big deal.

Our first stop in Argentina was Salta, a hot and happening city with colonial architecture and pretty parks. By luck, we checked into the same hostel as our crazy American friends and shared tales of how (logistically) hard it was to leave Bolivia and how wonderfully refreshing it was to be back in Argentina. Salta was a logical stopping point for travellers leaving Bolivia making their way to Buenos Aires or onto Chile but this was as far as we wanted to stay on the gringo trail so we said speedy goodbyes and have now set an itinerary off the well worn backpacker's path.

Over the following days we explored Resistencia, Corrientes and Puerto Iguazu (Iguazu Falls). Resistencia and Corrientes are both cities in northern Argentina, without any feel of tourism about them. We didn't see any other backpackers in either city and felt like locals ourselves, just doing the local thing like eating kilos, yes kilos, of ice cream, taking a shower every second hour - making up for missed showers - and overdosing on the generous proportions of food. Basically, we've been chilling out and putting on whatever weight we'd lost whilst in Bolivia.

Resistencia is famous for its 300+ sculptures placed all over the city, most of them of notable ancient Italians like Christopher Columbus, Leonardo da Vinci etc. Corrientes was quite a flashy town with a gorgeous riverside boulevarde where gorgeous people were jogging in intense midday heat. We've noticed that Argentinians, or at least the folks in the north, are extremely body conscious and the women wear clothing so tight it looks sprayed on. It is not surprising then that Argentina has a very high incidence of bulimia and anorexia, made even more tragic because of the availability of rich, abundant food on offer. But perhaps it also had something to do with the crazy heat and humidity, with the mercury hitting the high 30's every day we were there, although the clothing wasn't so much skimpy as it was tight - tight jeans, tight tops.

Then onto Iguazu Falls - one word - incredible. It's a world heritage site nestled in a large national park, overlapping Argentina, Brazil and to a smaller degree, Paraguay. Its not the world's largest falls but by far the most impressive, according to the brochures at Iguazu Falls about Iguazu Falls. It is so large the crash of the water is deafening and with a heavy mist of water in every direction, you can't help but get drenched. Good clean fun.

I spent a big part of our first day in the national park worrying about jaguars because of a jaguar attack in previous years but as it turned out, the mosquitoes were public enemy numero uno. We also saw tucans - the most beautiful, bright and brilliant looking bird with its gold and yellow beak and intense blue eyes, clouds of beautifully patterned butterflies and hundreds of lizards, and bizarre rodents.

We caught a boat ride to San Martin island, a small island at the base of the Falls on the Argentinian side, where we were able to swim for about 10 metres. Apparently tourists in the past have been swept by the strong current and drowned so there's a permanent guard watching how far out people were swimming. The Falls should be seen on both sides, the Argentinian side for sheer access to the water and San Martin island, and then the Brazilian side for a fantastic overall view of the Falls.

Which we did... that is, we've border hopped into Brazil, the land of sun, surf and samba...!!!! See you all next time, from Brasil :-)

TD

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