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Published: February 27th 2007
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Salt Flats
He just never listens! So we struggled through the overnight bus from Potosi to Uyuni (by struggled i mean taking 2 sleeping tablets and crashing out for the entire 8 hour nightmare), and arrived at around 1am. Our grand plan was to get around 6 hours sleep, arise bright and early, and book a tour to start that morning at 10am. And we pulled it off with aplomb!
We met 2 american lads on the bus ride (Seth and Andrew) and we used their desire for a bargain, and their excellent Spanish, to get us the most incredible price for the a Salt Plains tour in the history of Salt Plains tours. $50 for 3 days, 2 nights, with all food, accommodation and transport was a deal to be reckoned with and i´d be very interested to see if anyone who has done this before has got a better price. Then again, the food on the tour was shite so we got what we paid for.
We left that morning, with 6 of us (2 additional Frenchies came along for the ride) crammed into a jeep, with a driver and cook also. The Salt Flats were astonishing - they were just so vast
Salt Flats
Llama Rodeo 2007 and with a layer of water on the surface of them, everything reflected off them giving the most amazing effects. I had hoped for alot when going there, and they delivered! The photos tell the picture.
We had been told that we would be staying at the Salt Hotel that night, lie #72 told by a Bolivian tour operator. The Salt Hotel is a hotel made entirely of salt. Who would have thought. I know this as we drove past it at around 4pm, and then continued to drive for another 2 hours before arriving at our Salt Hotel, made from mud and clay. Sensational! We had bought alot of booze for the trip so we decided the best way to get over our dissapointment at not being at the salt hotel was to drink. Well, that was my idea anyway and i went to bed quite tipsy, whilst everyone else revelled in their sobriety.
The next day involved cruising around the lakes. There are numerous lakes dotted around the area, all a different colour (green, red, blue, white) caused by the minerals that are deposited in them. In these lagoons live flamingos (first time i had seen
Salt Flats
Moments before it spat on me - jokes. one out of a zoo - after seeing 1000 of them the excitement did wear off), and llamas graze around the outskirts. This is where the food started to get paid, with spam and salad on the menu for lunch. Delicious. This nights accommodation was far worse than the first, with the 6 of us in a dorm room with one of the worst beds i have ever been on. Instead of springs, under my 5cm thick mattress was two sheets of corrugated iron. Once again, we decided the only way to fix this was to get really inebriated so we would just pass out. Not a good idea at 4600m above sea level. I found many willing partners this time, including some people from other tour groups etc. Luckily for me, as there was a 5am wake up for the next day, i got incredibly drunk incredibly early (us McGowens cant hold our booze) and was in bed by 11pm. The others were up until the wee hours of the morning and although we were all incredibly hungover, at least i had had 6 hours sleep (5:45hrs actually if you count when i had to jump out of bed
and run to the loo, which was basically a hole in the ground. Foul!)
So the last day saw us on the road at 5:30am, all sporting terrific hangovers and craving our first destination - the hot springs. And they delivered. Chilling out in natural hot water was the perfect way to semi-cure the headaches and nausea, however our breakfast of bread and cake quickly brought it back. We also checked out some geysers which were stunning, and a few more lakes. After this though, it was the long drive back, taking around 10 hours or so, passing much more boring scenery than we had seen in the first 2 days.
It was a great trip all in all, even with the shitty food and copious driving. I would recommend it to anyone coming down this way, although most people do it anyway. We returned at around 6:30pm, and had to jump straight on an 8:00pm bus for Oruro, which we were still trying to make for Carnival. We eventually managed to get on the bus, after having numerous stressful moments trying to locate it, and sat down ready for 10 hours of pure pain. I took 2
Salt Flats
Yes - it´s a tree made out of rock. sleeping tablets..................the story will follow, after the next commercial break.
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Sally
non-member comment
awesome photography
Absolutely rate the pringles shot, wicked photograph. what a pair of hotties