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Published: November 3rd 2006
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Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
Matt the missionary gets to work We've done loads since we last updated the blog, so here is a quick run down for you. After reading back over our blog entries, I realised every one has reference to Matthew either throwing up or pooing himself! I would like to say that me writing this one will avoid that, however...
From Tupiza (Bolivia) we booked a four day tour to Salar de Uyni, the largest area of salt plains in the world. It has to be the strangest, but most amazing place we have ever seen. It looks more like the surface of Mars than a desert. In the national park we saw volcanoes, geazers, hot springs, strange rock formations and more alpacas and llamas than I care to mention! Our driver was a Bolivian 50-something who asked us to call him ´Schumacher´in reference to his driving skills and each day put on full racing overalls to chauffeur us about! Each night we stayed in a different ´village´ (although they were more like ghost towns). One of the funniest sights was stumbleling across a basket ball court with two indigenous women, decked out in traditional full layered skirts and bowler hats, shooting some hoops! The best bit
Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
Shooting hoops, Bolivian style was they then completely thrashed Matt and one of the other other guys in our group. The trip was fantasic, but after four days in the back of a 4x4 on bumpy dust roads my arse had had enough! The last thing we wanted to do then, was spend one more day crossing the desert to get to Chile. But worse still, we had to share the car with Jurgen, an 80 year old deaf German. He was painfully rude and called me ´handicapped´ (very un PC) because I am vegetarian! As you can imagine I was keen to swap emails with him, defenitely be keeping in touch!
The pain of the journey was well worth it, we ended up in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. We spent a couple of days chilling out and recovering and visited the Valley of the Moon for sunset. You've never seen colours like it, the photos just don't do it justice.
Next stop was La Serena. Not much more to say there. You could have been in any English sea-side town...
We then moved on to Mendoza, Argentina. It´s a great city and there is loads to do. I think
Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
Our driver and guide who went by the name of ´Schumacher´ that Matt was feeling a little old compared to the youngsters staying in our hostel, so he decided to roll back the years by signing up for paragliding. Not to be out done, I put my name down too. I went first, I thought I was going to change my mind when we reached the top of the mountain and it dawned on me that we had to just run off the edge, but before I could tell my guide I wanted to take the truck down a gust of wind had filled our chute and the guide was screaming 'run´ in my ear! Just as I started to relax and enjoy myself, fear struck again, I had forgotten to ask how we landed. I soon found out. Instead of the nice soft sandy patch that we were aiming for, we found ourselves heading for an alternative spot. As I looked down all I could see were rocks getting closer and closer, before I knew it my feet hit the floor and I landed smack on my bum! It was absolutly fantastic (apart from the landing obviously) and I would definatly do it again. I am not so sure about
Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
Warming ourselves up in the hot springs Matt though. As he landed I could see his face, a little green. I turned to Tess(the girl we met a few weeks back) and said 'Oh my God, I know that look, he´s gonna be sick!´, and he was. Apparently his guide had been talking to Matt on the way down, but he was getting no response, Matt was busy trying to keep his breakfast down. As soon as his feet hit the floor, it was helmet off and he was running for a safe place to vom! And yet again, another blog mentioning Matt´s weak constitution.
After such an adrenalin filled morning, we decided to take it easy the following day, so a group of us hired some bikes and did some wine tasing round the local wineries (70 per cent of Argentinian wine is produced in Mendoza). It was a great day, which ended up with me, a little lightheaded, being tailed by the police. As Matt mentioned in a pervious blog, I´m not the most comfortable on a bike and proceded to fall off right in front of them! That night for Tess´birthday a group of us went out for our first Argentinian steak (a
Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
One of the many fantastic geazers veggie nightmare). I´ve never seen anything like what was dished up on Matt´s plate, it looked like road kill. All the gags were coming out, ´I don´t know whether to eat it or ride it... A good vet could have this back on its feet...´ Matt was on a roll. It was enormous and he could only eat a third of the bloody mess (it cost under 3 quid).
From Mendoza we took a night bus to Buenos Aries. Matt convinced me to go to a Boca Juniors match with him in return for some Tango lessons. The football was great, I´m still waiting for the lessons...
We managed to see a fair bit of the city, including the famous balcony where Evita waved to her adoring fans, and the La Boca region - a colourful place where artists display their work and people dance the Tango in the street! That night we had dinner and watched a Tango show. It was great, and after seeing the way the dancers move, it´s probably best we missed out on the lessons!
We are now in El Calafarte, Pategonia. Tomorrow we are taking a catamaran to see the glaciers
Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
Gathering round the heater in 5-star luxury... and Friday we visit The Moreno Glacier - Can´t wait!
Hope you enjoy the photos, see you soon,
Susie and Matt
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Janice
non-member comment
Blog and photos
Thanks to both of you for providing me with such great entertainment on a freezing cold (although very sunny) Friday morning. I almost choked on my Weetabix more than once! The way the two of you write makes me feel as if I'm actually there (although I'm very glad I'm not - I'm much too fond of my home comforts!) and the photos are fantastic. Can't wait to see you both and hear all about your adventures 'in the flesh'. Better meet up at your mum's though, what with my flat being on the fifth floor - don't want anyone throwing up over the balcony, do we Matt? Have a safe journey home. See you next week! Lots of love, (Aunty) Janice xxx