Chile and back to Argentina again...then on to Bolivia!

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Aloha! We seem to have been speeding around recently so thought it was time for another update!

On our last day in Chile, we decided to take a day trip to the coastal town of Vina del Mar, which is around 2 hours away from Santiago. Seems weird that we can travel across the entire of a country in 2 hours!! It was a lovely wee village, with a long sandy beach (although sadly lacking the soft white sand we'd got used to in Rio!) and a cute market that we spent ages wandering through. Overall it seems like a really nice holiday destination for Chileans, although I think we´d all agree that one day was plenty!

That night we caught an overnight coach over the Andes to Mendoza, back in Argentina. Since it was pitch black, the view didn´t exactly compare to our first experience of it.... a screaming child constantly alternating between kicking and hugging you didn´t exactly help either!! Arriving in Mendoza early morning, we made our way to our hostel - a small family-run place - which was a bit of a change from the ´best hostel in the world´ we´d just come from! It was nice though, and even had a pool, albeit miniscule!!

We spent the next day and a half exploring Mendoza on foot, the boys had already stayed for a night before travelling to Santiago so knew a little bit about where to go, etc. Like most of Argentina, the shops close for around 6 hours during the middle of the day (for siesta), which can be really annoying but allowed us to see more of the lovely parks and markets surrounding the pretty pedestrianised main streets. Although annoyingly I had to spend most of the second day touring the police stations for the third time to report my lost camera...

After another 20 hour bus journey, we arrived in Salta (in the north of Argentina) on the evening of the 11th. One of my life ambitions has always been to go bungee jumping, so when I read about the large variety of extreme sports that can be done near Salta, it seemed like the perfect opportunity! Unfortunately though, we only had time to stay in Salta for one day, so it was the following day or never. Thankfully, after getting up at 7.30am, I managed to book a bungee-jumping excursion for 3pm. Emily had decided to join me in an attempt to overcome her fear of heights, and Josh had been dithering too much so I just went ahead and booked it for him hehe! At 3pm we set off in our camouflage jeep, Helen and Hugh accompanying us for moral support (and to act as photographers obviously...), for the 1.5 hour journey to the lake. Surprisingly I wasn't too nervous, not compared to the others anyways I don´t think!

When we arrived, we were quickly briefed, then strapped up tightly and pockets emptied! Josh wanted to go first, so up he went to the ´jumping platform´ which was a large white metal structure attached to the bridge - apparently 40m above the lake. Watching him do it made me feel better - I wouldn't have been expecting to hit the water if I hadn´t seen him!! Stepping up to the edge, I decided to be brave and look down - bad idea!!! But the rope I was attached to seemed to already be pulling me over the edge, so I just took a deep breath and let myself fall over the edge..........wow!!!!!!! My heart seemed to completely stop as I fell through what felt like forever...free-falling straight towards the water. Before I had smashed through the water by the teensiest amount, and the rope had pulled me straight back towards where I had just come from. I bounced along for a good wee while, feeling absolutely incredible, and found out later that my body had bent into all kinds of unknown shapes - hadn't even noticed!! I felt so exhilarated afterwards and wanted to do it again straight away - amazing feeling! There's some great photos so I hope I can steal some soon!!

That bungee jump was definately one of the highlights of travelling so far, and will take some beating!!

That night, once we had calmed down slightly, we caught the coach to La Quiaca, a small village in the very north of Argentina. We were really wanting to go straight to Uyuni, where our tour of Salar de Uyuni (the Salt Lakes) was due to start, but unfortunately no buses go that far. So we got stuck in La Quiaca, the quietest place on this earth...plus it was a sunday....oh me!! First thing the next morning we crossed the border to Bolivia - on foot! Originally we tried to cross this bridge that seemed to be swarming with ants....not literally ants, but millions of little old ladies with long black braids in their hair, with pom poms on the end, all wearing brightly coloured knee-length skirts and cowboy hats, and carrying tons of beer on their backs!!!! Not surprisingly, we quickly realised we were in the wrong place and found the familiar long line of backpackers waiting to cross the border.

Villazon is such a cute wee village, and 100% typical of Bolivia! We were shocked at how cheap everything is, I guess we've been away from Paraguay for too long! After a long search (2 weeks long to be accurate..) Josh and Hugh eventually found the ultimate hat - woolly with llamas on it of course!! I´m not sure if it´s left Josh´s head since...

One of the things we'd been looking forward to for months was the tour of Salar de Uyuni. I won't go into them now, but if only you knew the hundreds of problems we came across while booking the tour!!! At one point it looked like we had the perfect 4 day tour planned out....but then came across another hundred problems. Even getting to the village of Uyuni seemed impossible at one point! We eventually found ourselves in Tupiza, a town not tooooo far from Uyuni, and which offered tours of the Salt Lakes from a number of companies. But, shock horror, everything was booked up! Just when we felt like giving up, we hit a stroke of luck as our hostel offered us a 2-day tour, beginning in 2 days time. Hallelujah! And later that night, they offered it to us for the very next day....although it meant that we couldn´t get any laundry done so we´d stink for the next 3 days....our luck was in for once!

I´m now sitting in Uyuni at last, having just finished the tour and patiently waiting for our coach to La Paz (capital of Bolivia...) at 8pm tonight. Have seen the most amazing sights today! We spent yesterday travelling by jeep through the hills to San Cristobal, a village right on the edge of Salar de Uyuni. It was certainly an experience and a half - not the comfiest method of transport in the world - but the views really were so pretty for the entire journey, couldn´t get bored of them! One minute it seemed like we were rising and falling over mountains at the rate of knots, then all of a sudden we were driving through the plains with nothing to see as far as the eye could see.....nothing but red. Although I don´t have a camera anymore, thankfully I can still steal photos (=P).

Last night we stayed in a hotel entirely made of salt....!! It really was; some of us who were either brave enough or stupid enough verified that by licking the walls!! Certainly the most basic place we´ve encountered so far...so much so that the toilet literally was a hole in the floor....loverly!! Our tour was accompanied by a driver and a cook (possibly his mummy), while the accommodation wasn´t exactly top class, the food was really nice! Our first meal even consisted of llama meat in a big maize ball!!!

We´d been promised that on the second day of the tour, we would get up at 4am and be taken to see the sunrise. I´m not sure if this is unfortunate or not, but we were told we were leaving at 8am, with no mention of the sunrise. We did get up at 5.30am however, and saw some lovely colours filling the sky! After a look around the stalls we eventually left at almost 9am, and set off for the salt lakes themselves. We could see the white mass of salt from miles away....and when we arrived, it really is hard to find words to describe the sight before us. All I can describe it as is glittering white land as far as the eye can see, and hundreds of miles still, covered with a paper thin layer of cool blue water. I really felt honoured to be able to witness such a sight, no matter how popular the same tour is, you still feel in a completely different world from everything. It was such a contrast to the red sand and cacti which filled the barren plains we had seen only a few hours ago; like I said, worlds apart. I hope between us we´ve managed to capture some photos which give true justice to the salt plains - although maybe not the incredible feeling!!

We´ve got one more major attraction before Helen and I head home - Machu Picchu. That is if we ever manage to get there; knowing our bad luck!!!

As I write this it´s exactly 2 weeks until Scottishness...although I´m gonna miss travelling soooooo much and know this is certainly not my last travelling experience, I really can´t wait to see everyone again, and get back to proper food of course!! You all know what a fusspot I was before I left, well I can´t say that I´ve been converted to a food nutcase or anything, but I´m certainly a lot better than I was 😊 - I guess it comes from having nothing to eat except llama!!!

Lots of love, see you all real sooooooon,

Lisa xXxXx

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