Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

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Salar de Uyuni was the next big trip & one that most backpackers include as a "must do" when in the region. We went with a company called Colque Tours & left from San Pedro. It consists of 3 days in a 4 wheel drive with about 6 or 7 people, driving across the Andes mountains. The landscape changes dramatically over the course of the journey...from barren rocky landscape to arid desert-like planes. Along the way we stopped at the various lakes along the way...which are different colours depending on the natural minerals found in the area. The mountains were beautiful colours of red, orange & yellow depending on the amount of sulphur deposits....Lago Blanco was white from the borax & Lago Verde was green from the copper & Lago Colorado, white & red from the combination of borax & iron. I hope I´ve explained correctly. They are beautiful & places that the Bolivians take a lot of pride in!!

We weren´t long across the Bolivian border when we encountered our first technical hitch. No it wasn´t customs....Bolivian officials have be the most time-efficient border officials going!! Rather it was the jeep. Not to worry though cause our guide knew all the tricks & after the first 2 & only glitches, I had full confidence in our guide Dora. With a name like that I should have know he´d be a gem......because you couldn´t have a more reliable setter than our own dear Dory!! The starter of the jeep needed a bit of persuasion at times to begin & it took a few goes before it would grumble into life......parking on the hill was a guaranteed winner. And when we had a punture he was under the jeep in no time...... with it repaired before we had time to take a wonder around the desert & snap our surroundings.

The first night we stayed at a hostel....basic I don´t mind but it was fiercely cold. In addition to the 2-3 heavy wool blankets, I had a sleeping bag; and t-shirts and bottoms.......enough to intimadate any saleswoman by my selection of wares!! Even so, unless my face was buried deep in the layers, I was at risk of losing the one feature that is purely beautiful to the bitter cold...my dear face...hehehe...... yeah we all survived the night......photos will prove...or maybe disprove!!! the survival of my revered face!! The roof was merely a bit of plastic that was tied down precariously.......somehow it remained intact when we awoke the next morning, despite the wind doing its best to wip it up into the sky!!

The second day was another day in the jeep....stopping here & there for photos of the changing landscape, flamingoes, rocks that were shaped like trees & for the fellas to water the desert at every opportunity!! Unfortunately for the girls, it was more a case of bearing tight the muscles of the pelvic floor.....coverage for the female to squat is what you´d expect in a desert landscape......scarce....so when we did happen upon a toilet, it was like finding an oasis in a desert!! Relief. The second night was much more comfortable, with no major extremes of temperature......& not forgetting the addition of a shower.......always welcome.

The third day was probably the most impressive & really what people come to experience......the Salar de Uyuni. The salar is a massive salt flat....I think it measures around 12000km squared in total & it was formed when a prehistorice salt-lake dried up. What remains now is an expanse of white land......it looks like a hunongous snow-field from the distance but the tell-tale sign is that the mountains are still their normal colour. The salt on the ground reaches about a meter in depth at some points, with a raised white hexagonal pattern on the ground everywhere like in Blockbusters. The photos are amazing but it doesn´t fully capture its splendour. Because its difficult to see shadows on the white salt canvas, you can take cool photos that create an optical illusion....will try put some up soon. So after getting to the salar for sunrise we went to an "island" in the salar that houses a forest of cacti. Again the views all around were spectacular. Finally we stopped at the salt-hotel. It´s now a museum made from salt......closed down because their waste-disposal management was less-than-satisfactory.....as in before long, the salt wasn´t going to look so gleaming!!! It was constructed from blocks of salt.....& whilst this one is only a museum now; on the edge of the salar there are a number of salt hotels in construction for tourists......so that you will be able to say that you slept in a house of salt in the near future.

Arrival in Uyuni was like arriving in a one-horse town.....it seemed like something form the cowboy movies........all the women dressed in the traditional attire. This consists of a bowler hat, a big puffy skirt reaching just below the knee -blown up by petticoats, and a woollen cardigan or jumper beneath an apron usually. To keep the legs warm they often have thick woollen tights and sandals. Their hair is always in 2 plaits......reaching as far as the bottom and usually as black as coal. The women carry their things on their back, wrapped in a multicoloured blanket that is cleverly wound into a satchel. Alternatively, a baby could be found propped up in here too....so be careful as you jostle by!! Most of the streets here are like dustbowls......there are a few paved streets but it isn´t the type of place you want to stay too long. So within a few hours of our sight-seeing we caught the next bus out of town that night. Thank goodness.

Up to now, most people you meet tell you to watch your stuff in Bolivia & Peru...not that we hadn´t been beforehand but everyone talks of being extra-vigilant......sleeping with one eye closed, one eye open on bus trips with your bags tied to you. After the first night I could well understand where that came from. We took the bus from Uyuni to Sucre that night......the roads are pretty bumpy & the buses are much more basic compared to in other SA countries so far......particularly the ones that depart from Uyuni. Thankfully I´m not very tall.....cause leg-room was nothing to boast about. On arrival in Potosi early the next morning......about 2am....our bus stopped & all the locals; mammy, daddy & baby...looked to be bedding down for the night in our stationary bus. We were to change bus here......somewhere.....but our bus was yet to arrive. So after an hour or so.....our driver brought us to another bus....although at this stage there were a few about....all of them with men hanging out the door screaming "Sucre, Sucre, Sucre". Yep that´s where I was heading but the one we had a ticket for apparently didn´t think our ticket was for his bus. So after a few minutes of wondering what was going on, we were permitted to get on the bus. Well it looked like an immigration bus- as if people were travelling with all their worldly belongings on board......then 4 of us gringos got on & there didn´t look to be even room for one of us, and the smell....urine mixed with body odour. After snaking our way to the back of the bus, stepping over drowsy bodies & squeezing in between 2 locals.....the lady lay her son on the floor to sleep for the night.....giving me the seat.....I slept ok. It was an experience. And when the bus stopped to let others off, we were there watching the hold to make sure our bags didn´t go where they weren´t supposed to go!! Since then we´ve had much more comfortable bus trips.......but that was one that I´ll remember for a while......Grace tells me that while we were changing buses that some poor man was being mugged. You can see how things could get messy at that hour of the night. So thankfully all ended well...... we got to Sucre & didn´t get left behind.

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