On Top of the World

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From San Pedro we climbed to 4000 meters onto the Altiplano, crossing the border from Chile to Bolivia. Most people were feeling pretty crap with the altitude, headaches and lack of energy. The simple task of getting off the truck to go for a bush pee was quite an effort.

We had picked up a guide for the Altiplano at the Bolivian border. It was necessary as there were no roads, just tracks left by other vehicles, and no signs. We stopped first at Lago Blanco (White Lake) and then at Lago Verde (Green Lake). The Lake is green because of the Magnesium and Arsenic in the water.

We had to climb to over 5000 meters to get the truck stamped into Bolivia. Then we came back down a bit. We visited a thermal pool and geysers before we arrived at Lago Colorada. This lake was pink and populated with lots of flamingoes. It is so very picturesque.

We had been threatened with a bush camp, but with the temperatures likely to drop to -10 or more we wanted to avoid that. We made it to a refugio after dark. Pieter was quite sick in bed with the altitude. The owners of the refugio made Coca tea as that is known to help with the symptoms. The refugio was very basic but it was warm and we were all please with it.

The next day we continued to Uyuni. The guide took us to a place where the rock formations looked like different things: a man, a parrot, a lion, a condor, that kind of thing. The roads to Uyuni had recently been graded so the we made it to our hotel about 1pm, giving us the afternoon to wander around Uyuni. We were so surprised with how much we enjoyed Uyuni. It has a wonderful market and lots of nice food on the street. Quite a small town, population around 10,000, and gets a lot of tourist but that hasn't ruined it.

Next day we bundled into 4 Toyota jeeps and went to the salt plains. Before we got the plains we stopped at the railway graveyard. Lots of rusty old engines, it was really cool. Then we went to Colchani, a town on the edge of the plains where they process the salt. Bit of a toursit trap but a nice stop. Then we went onto the plains, driving through water that had collected over the salt in places. We stopped where workers had made piles of salt ready for collection. We drove for ages over the salt. There are 12,000 square km of salt plains so you could drive for hours over the bright white surface. We stopped for funny photos. After that we went to cactus island (Isla Incahuasi). In the middle of the salt this bit of land rises up as an island does from the ocean. First we had lunch there, that the tour provided, it was chicken, pasta, salad and potatoes. They also had Coca tea which we are developing a taste for. Pieter had a walk over the island with wonderful views of the beaches and the cactuses. On the way back to Uyuni we stopped at the Salt Hotel, which is made of salt. Our final stop was at the edge of the plain to watch the sunset which was spectacular.

Back in Uyuni we went out for dinner with Jacqui and Tina (from Denmark). We went to a local restaurant. Raewyn had llama steak and Pieter had sausages. With that was rice, chips and salad. Including drinks we paid less than US$1 each. The place was very rough with dogs begging at your table but it had real atmosphere.

We love Bolivia so far, people are nice and relaxed, and there are lots of cute llamas.

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