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Published: September 6th 2006
Fox
this came really close to the land cruiser and our driver fed it chicken!today we were worken up by our driver who came into the room saying (in spanish) come on wake up why are you sleeping, its time for breakfast, come on get up in a very strange voice!
we got up and had a breakfast of scrambled egg and bread with a hot drink and a banana before we were told it was time to go and we needed to be ready quickly. our bags were again strapped onto the top of the land cruisers.
its hard to remember what order exactly we saw everything in as we saw lots of lagoons both on the second day and the third day of the trip. we saw lakes which had tinges of different colours in them, red and green. we also saw lots of flamingos on some of the lakes. they all seemed to fly away whenever katie went closer to take a photo of them! we also saw wild vicuna round the lakes. just before we stopped for lunch on the second day we saw a fox. they are tame in the fact they know that the tourists leave food so come up close to the land cruisers. our driver
Volcano
this is on the border between bolivia and chile got out and left a piece of chicken for it, which it came and got, then went off to bury. the two days were spent driving along none existant roads and they were really really bumpy. our driver kept going different ways to the other driver so we dont know which was taking the better track. Bryan was in the other land cruiser and he did manage to smash the window next to him, still not quite sure how! anyway that made it much easier to identify the others land cruiser from all the others as it had a piece of blue tarp taped over where the window should have been!!!
we then headed further out into the desert area and it was amazing to look out and see the changes in the landscapes. we saw lots of really cool mountains including the mountain of seven colours. this doesn't come out as well on the photos as it did looking at it! the seven colours are supposed to be white, black, yellow, orange, red, brown, and green (we think!)
the place we stayed at the second night was next to a lake with an amazing red colour, this apparently
Gill and Heath
beautiful lagoon behind had something to do with the mud, but caz couldn't work out the translation and Bryan was no use at all!!! the place was more basic than the previous night and we were split into two rooms. our car got there first so we were all in one room and the rest in another room with Bryan (or supposed to be with bryan but he left and went to sleep somewhere else!). the dining area here was in almost a corridor and the windows were cracked and some had holes in meaning it was very cold! we again sat having hot drinks and playing cards to pass the time. we also opened the bottle of sprite we had been carrying since we went to ilha grande and hadn't yet had an opportunity to drink!!! kim had gone to bed as she wasn;t feeling well so we let her know what was for tea (soup with spaghetti to follow) and she had decided to come out and maybe eat some pasta. our driver and the cook however had other ideas and they both went into the room, turned the light on and jabbered some spanish at her. apparently they were saying
Flamingos
their flying as katie walked near and they all kept flying away from her! the sick one must eat, but she didn't know, just that she was expected to get up! kim also had a bit of sprite, and still had some in her cup when the cook came with coca tea for her. she tipped out the contents of the cup into her tray thinking it was water and was amazed when it fizzed! kim then got told off and told not to drink that rubbish!!!
the toilets here were really horrible!!! there were just two toilets for everyone who was staying there and they were bad before we had even got there! they didn't flush but there was a pail and a barrel of water which you had to use to flush them! the floor was a big puddle and we didn't like to think what of, we just all made sure we rolled up our trousers and tucked in our laces so nothing could trail in it!!! we would have prefered to wee outside as we thought it would have been far cleaner, but it was far to cold to even think about!!! we were told by our driver that it went down to minus 15 celsius! we were only
Lots of Flamingos
this is just to show to simon that we can manage to take a photo of lots of flamingos when he cant! given 3 blankets here so we all decided to get in our sleeping bags as we were told it would be colder than the night before. me and heath again slept in vest tops and trousers while katie and caz slept wearing all their clothes (about 7 layers) and there coats! i woke up in the night and found my blankets had fallen off anyway and i hadn't realised, but i put them back on and went back to sleep. we were again woken in the morning by the driver and we all got up and packed, ready to go before eating breakfast which was boiled eggs and bread.
the first thing we saw was a the hot gyesers.
we went up to 5000m above sea level for a brief period of time before going down to 4870m where we got out and walked around. there were jets of steam coming out of the earth, our driver showed us one of these and put his foot in the flow to make the it show up better. standing near the jets was lovely as it was so cold outside but they did smell of sulphur which wasn't so good. nearby
Vicuna
these are wild vicuna, they have the most expensive wool in the world! there were also pits of mud which were boiling away. looks really cool and slime like as it bubbles!
we then drove on and stopped at a place with lots of rocks, one shaped like a rock tree. we took photos and got back into the cars. we stopped at more lagoons and then our final two stops were at places with huge rocks. at the first one we got out and decided to climb up one of the rocks, lead by tim we all got up and took photos of kim and nic who had stayed down, then we managed to persuade kim to come up and join us. the view was really good and it was cold but as the sun was shining it felt quite warm. the last place we got out and sat down on some rocks. kim lay down and then jo lay on top of her, sqishing her into the rock (i'll add the photo from my phone when i get homw and have the cable!). we then started the long drive home, luckly after a while we reached a road, of some sort anyway, which meant the ride wasn't quite so bumpy!
we had met a woman on a bike on day one which i forgot to put in the previous blog. she was on one of the tracks we drove down, in the middle of nowhere on the way to the volcano. she was pulling a little trailer with all her stuff in, like tents and things, she asked the way from our driver and he told her it was 40km away and she said that would take her two days. we think she was absolutly insane, to go out and decide to ride a bike down the bumpiest dustiest tracks on her own! she must have almost choked with the cloud of dust produced whenever a car went past her!
we reach uyuni and back to the same pizza restaurant which was also a hostel. Bryan organised a room for us so we could get ready and have a shower if we wanted before our night train that night. he did then shut us all out the room so he could have first shower!!! we had showers in shifts while we left some people in the restaurant as it is always so busy, if we didn't saty sitting at
Coloured lagoon
saw lots of lagoons, this one has a hint of green the table it would disappear. we ate more pizza before it was time to go and get on the train.
the train looked not quite as nice as the previous one in some ways but we were each given a blanket and pillow which was good!!! we were also given a cheese and ham sandwich. the rest of the people in the carriage we were in all seemed to be english and a lot of them were travelling in a group together. they had rechristened the chese and ham sandwich a chamwich which we all thought was really cool!!! they really are everywhere, if you are given a meal on anything then its a chamwich, you cant get away from them!
we were also given a proper china cup and got to choose from a selection of drinks, before a guy came along and filled up the cup with hot sweet water. the tv was then turned on with some music playing and the lights turned off so we could go to sleep.
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Dave D
non-member comment
Hullo girls! Hope you are having a great time. It certainly looks like you are. I have one small request - please can you knit me some socks out of wild vicuna - I've always wanted some of them. Take care now, Dave.