Getting High in a Jeep

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I decided to take a 3 day jeep trip from San Pedro across Salar De Uyuni to Uyuni in Bolivia, and what an amazing trip it turned out to be.

We departed at 8am in a bus to take us through Chillean border control and then Bolivian border control. We ended up waiting for about 2 hrs on the Chillean side, as the border guards seemed to have decided that everyone else in the queue would go in front of us. Once we were through that it was about an hours ride to the Bolivian border control - or as it was in reality one man with a stamp in a hut on top of a mountain. We then transferred over to jeeps ready for the real journey to begin.
Before we knew it we were in the desert. It wasn´t long before we reached our first destination - a frozen lake high in the mountains - have no idea as to what it is called, as our guide/driver spoke no English, and at best we had one person in our group who could understand bits of what he said!!
We then continued on winding our way through ever narrowing and ever climbing tracks. Our next stop was the Laguna Verde, which is a stunning lagoon with a distinct aquamarine colour from the various minerals deposited there.

Next stop was Sol de Manana, where there were geysers ans sulphur springs , all at the lowly height of 4950m above sea level- by this point all of us in the jeep were beginning to feel the altitude and were starting to doze off- not good, but I think the smell of sulphur was enough to get everone awake again!

Next stop was Laguna Colorado, and our destination for our first nights sleep. The lagoon was spectacular in that the water was red in colur, but it was very difficult to catch it on camera by the time of day we got there.
The place that we stopped at on the edge of Laguna Colorado was something else - something out of a Dicken´s novel that is - it was the bleakest building you have ever seen, with dilapidated beds in multiple dormortaries. On top of that the overnight temperatures drop to about minus 20 C, and there is no heating!!

The second day was a far more uninteresting affair ( for our jeep - although the other one had 2 punctures). We spent most of it travelling mainly across deserts and mountains over 4000m up. It is sad to say that although the scenery was spectacular, we had become sort of desensitised to it,´oh another mountain, oh another lagoon etc´

Our stopover for the second night was in a Salt Hotel ( does exactly what is says on the tin - it is made out of salt), which I suppose had a bit of a novelty value, and was certainly a tad warmer than the previous nights accommodation.

The third and final day was spent driving across the salt flats and stopping off at an island in the middle of it that is an Inca settlement, that has 1000´s of cactus´s growing out of it - all a bit surreal.
We finally arrived in Uyuni in the afternoon, after stopping for lunch at a salt mine.

So it was a fun 3 days, and now I´m having a bit of a break in Uyuni until Wednesday, when I am getting the train up to Oruro.

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Photos

Bolivian Border Control
Hi Tech Border Crossing

Laguna Verde
This lagoon is at 5000m ASL, and in the background is Volcan Licancbur

Comments

[Phil]

Not Too Bumpy Then!
Looking at that barren featureless vista you have just traversed suggests that the hemmies got away with a murdering then. I thought you would have been in steaming jungle, not in ice fields and salt flats. Whoooee! How come you get to travel in the off-roader with all the girls then? Nice sun tan!!! (8-O)

[trevskii]

Hemmies
Unfortunately the salt flats were only the last day / the first 2 days were a very bumpy ride, it was a good job we were in a half decent jeep. It was just luck of the draw getting the girls ... honest!!!

[Mum]

Getting High!
Were you and your travelling companions the only wild life to be seen in this place? What did you get high on?!! A Bolivian Red!! Didn`t they tell you that Laguna Colorado was a wine lake! Once again, lovely pics. Enjoy your trip by train to Oruro, perhaps it will be more comfortable than the jeep. Love Mumx