Sucre & The Salt Flats: The End of Bolivia

So, after a stomach twisting flight back from Rurrenabaque, we headed to a mining town called Oruru, from where we hoped to catch a train to Uyuni - the base for oganising tours to the Salt Flats. The train seemed the most comfortable option as the roads are unpredictable and unpaved! When we arrived in Oruru we headed straight to the train station to get some tickets only to be told that there was yet another blockade (%&"!) and there would be no train for three days. We were quite disappointed as we were looking forward to non-bus transportation, but headed to the bus station to get an overnight bus instead. When we got to the bus station there seemed to be no buses heading for Uyuni and it quickly became apparent that the blockade covered the road, as well. After some moaning, complaining, and almost changing our plans and heading for Chile instead, we decided to alter our route and get a night bus to Sucre. Sucre is another 'beautiful white-washed city', but we had originally decided to skip it as we had been so so many like this already! We were hoping to spend a few days here and then head to Uyuni once the Bolivians had decided to unblock the road!

Sucre was a pleasant city with a great climate of warm days and cool nights. We decided to make the most of the delay by chilling out, cooking some food and catching up on the blog! The city is beautiful, although we have seen our fair share of white washed cities on this trip, which meant we didn't do much 'churching'! The one excursion we did make was to Parque Cretacico, a park where you can see dinosaur footprints. It wasn't the highlight of our trip but it was funny as the mode of transport you use to get there is called the Dino truck, which appears to have been welded together by a maniac, with old computer chairs for seats! This was obviously amusing for the locals who laughed and pointed at us as we drove through the streets of Sucre on our way to the park! The park wasn't the best and they made us pay extra for a 'photo licence' so we could take pictures!

From Sucre we managed to take a long and bumpy bus ride to Uyuni - the driver took it easy most of the way but then suddenly put his foot down when it got dark and visibility was terrible! We rose early the next day to try and organise a tour of the Salt Flats for the same day, which was easy to do, as there were agencies desperate to fill their jeeps amd they swarmed all over us as we walked down the main street. So we booked with a company called Ripley and ended up with a Kiwi, a Dutch couple and an Israeli couple. The tour lasted 3 days and took us all the way across the Salt Flats and desert area down to San Pedro in Chile.

Day 1 - We left at around 11am and our first stop was a train cemetry out in the desert where lots of turn of the 20th century trains have been left to rust. We took some fun pictures and headed onto the salt flats. It didn't take too long before we were in what seemed like another world and a very white world at that! As far as the eye could see was a great expanse of white that had cracked to look like it was crazy paving! We made a number of stops to take the classic Salt Flats photos (toy dinosaurs positioned to look huge etc etc!) and had lunch at a salt hotel that has now closed down as it was having a negative impact on the environment. We also visited an 'island' in the salt that is covered in cacti and looks fantastic surrounded by the white.

In the evening, we stayed at a hotel that is made entirely of salt but is positioned off the flats in order to lessen the environmental impact! It was suprisingly cosy and we spent the evening playing cards and chatting before the generator was turned off around 10pm!

Day 2 - We arose fairly early at 7pm and left the salt flats and entered the desert for a day that contained a lot of driving along bumpy dirt tracks in the World's slowest jeep! We stopped at a number of striking lagoons at really high altitude! It was breathtaking to round a corner and see the Prussion blue lagoons covered in pink flamingos with huge volcanos towering behind. We had a picnic by one of the lagoons, which was lovely until a huge gust of wind covered the chicken and salad with dust!! We also saw the famous stone tree before finishing the day at the Colorado Lagoon, which was also stunning and covered with flamingos! The hostel on the second night was far more basic and it was absolutely freezing! After a quick dinner, we got into our sleeping bags and covered ourselves with any blankets we could find to try and keep warm! This was the coldest we have been yet on this trip!

Day 3 - We were dragged out of bed at 4:30am this morning as we had lots to cram in before the two of us were dropped at the Chilean border and everyone else headed back to Uyuni (a 10-12 hour jeep ride that we were glad to miss). Our first stop was at some natural sulphur geysers that shot hot steam into the air looked very spooky! We then headed for a thermal bath that looked out across another stunning lagoon complete with flamingos. It was so cold out of the water that it took us a few minutes to convince ourselves to strip off and jump in, but we were glad we did as the water was lovely and hot and it was very relaxing sat inside. Of course, it was fairly painful getting out! After a pancake breakfast and a few more sights we were dropped off at the border and jumped on the bus that would take us into a new country - Chile! The facilities at the border was basic, at best, with the toilet being a burnt out old bus that you needed to crouch behind - just like hundreds of other people judging by what they'd left behind!!

Once across the border, things changed completely and the bumpy, cracked, and generally terrible roads of Bolivia were replaced by silky smooth Chilean asphalt. After three days of being chucked around in a jeep this was heaven and the whole bus gave a cheer!

Bolivia had been a funny country to visit. The major things that we did there were really excellent - the Salt Flats, Rurrenabaque, and the Death Road, however everything inbetween was a little frustrating with unreliable buses, terrible roads, blockades, and dodgy food! The Bolivians really need to address the problem of littering in the country as so many of the beautiful sights are just covered in rubbish, this being especially bad around Lake Titicaca where we saw umpteen people chucking coke bottles and beer bottles into the lake rather than using the litter bins that were there. Thankfully, the remote location of the Salt Flats meant that it was pretty much litter free and the absolutely stunning views were perfect! Another positive of Bolivia is that it was very cheap and our money stretched further here than any other country we had visited.

Our first stop in Chile was to be San Pedro de Atacama - a touristy desert town - where we hoped to be able to enjoy some good food, and even some fine wine, after three days on the road!

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