Blogs from Salar de Uyuni, Potosí Department, Bolivia, South America

The last blog was a long one, so i will keep this one brief, and beef it up with photo's... We are granted a sleep in until 6.30 on day 3, but it is still bitterly cold when we leave the homestay. Shortly after leaving we arrive at the Arbol de Piedra, the petrified forest. It is not a petrified forest, but a cluster of large volcanic rocks in the middle of the desert that had been spewed out by a volcano millions of years ago. Soon after we reach Laguna Hondas and find that is completely frozen over, even though it is 100's of metres wide. There are still some brave (or stupid) flamingos walking on the ice hoping that it will melt and provide them with a feed. Next is another lagoon, Laguna Negra, ... read more

Today was salt flats day - one of the things I have been looking forward to most! We took a 2 night 4x4 excursion, to see the salt flats and lagoons and desert etc. The first challenge was squeezing everything I needed into my daypack, but I got there in the end! The wether has been beautiful - clear blue skies, but very cold at night because we are so high up. We set out with 4 or 5 people in each 4x4. Our driver was called Roger and had some delightful Andean music that he played on a repeat loop....we are still singing it now! We headed first to a small town to pick up some souvenirs (mainly llama orientated!) and for a demonstration about how they process and package the salt which was really ... read more

Naktį kas valandą bėgioju į tualetą, bet ryte atsikėlęs jaučiuosi kurkas geraiu nei vakar ir ištiesų jaučiuosi pailsėjęs. Papusryčiavę laukiam dar porą valandų kol tvarkomas mūsų džipas kuris man nuo pirmų valandų nekelia didelio pasitikėjimo. Bet gamta graži, tad nieko prieš palaukti nedideliame kaimelyje. Džipas pataisomas iki patenkinamos būklės ir važiuojam iki pirmosios lagunos kur pirmą kartą pamatau laisvėje gyvenančius flamingus. Pabandom arčiau prie jų prieiti, bet jie nuskrenda. Vaizdai aplink fantastiški, aplink kalnai, augmenija labai nyki nes aukštis visur apie 4km. Aplankom dar kelias lagunas, bei mėgaujamės vaizdais pro džipo langą. Privažiuojam nacionalinio parko teritoriją, čia papildomai dar reik susimokėti apie 70 litų. Įvažiuojam į parką, ir visai čia pat apsistojam iki vakaro. Papietaujam, bet iki saulėlydžio dar ... read more

I was told I couldn't get to Bolivia from San Pedro because the salar was completely flooded AND strikes and protests were blocking entrance. But when I got to SP I was told that that was yesterday and its all good now. The salt desert was under a foot of water but it was still gorgeous. I could say a lot, but some things are more amazing than words can describe.... read more

We've been back almost 3 weeks now - been putting off finishing the blogs. But the story must be told! So at last it is time for the second installment of our Tupiza-Uyuni tour, this covers day 3 and 4. First stop of day 3 was the "arbol de piedra" (tree of stone). I think you can see where it gets its name: The stone tree was off limits for climbing, but all the surrounding rocks had some nice bouldering opportunities. The cold and high altitude were an issue though, my fingers and lungs were hurting after scrambling up a few rocks. The next hour or so of driving was pretty barren, save for a few vicuñas and emu things (whatever they are called). It... read more

Our 4 day, 3 night offroad tour was so epic it deserves two blogs. This is the first installment, covering days 1 and 2. The adventure started in Tupiza at 8am, where we met the other two travellers who would be sharing our vehicle for the next 4 days. It turned out they were a nice irish couple who were also on their honeymoon. The vehicle was a toyota landcruiser, and we later found out that every single tour agency all use landcruisers. They call them Jeeps though, so I will too. Our driver Mario spoke little english but he spoke very slow and simple Spanish that we were all able to understand. We were glad we saved the $20 each for the english speaking guide option. With the introductions made, we threw our big bags ... read more