Back from the wild

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Just back in Uyuni after nearly 4 days in the middle of nowhere. The salt flats were amazing, but I was more impressed by the rest of the scenery. I didn't realise there would be geysers and mud pools around here, and the llamas and flamingos are beautiful too, of course. The Salvador Dali desert really reminded me of Dali's paintings. I still haven't taken a shower yet, as we don't have a hotel room---we are taking the night train to Oruro at midnight, and will then return to La Paz by bus.

This is the first time I have had internet access in days. Apparently, our flat is now sold, and my boyfriend and I have 6 weeks to move out. I don't return to New Zealand till mid-November, so he will have to pick a new place for us by himself! Mega-stress. What would have happened if he had gone travelling wth me? I feel somewhat guilty about holidaying in South America.

I have now found the perfect solution to my roommate problems. I put my earplugs in at night, so she can watch as much TV as she wants, then in the morning, after she has done all her exercises and showered, she wakes me up at a pre-arranged time. It's great, as I can now get a full night's sleep, have a personalised alarm with no snooze button, and never have to wait for the shower! My gripes with my tour guide have yet to be resolved though, as he has been doing worse than to give us no information. He is completely disinterested in the places we are visiting, and makes up answers to the questions we ask. He told us we were above 5000m when we were on Fish Island, when the sign at the entrance clearly showed we were below 4000m, and has made up names for the lagoons we were seeing. When we arrived at Villa Alota yesterday, he told us we were at San Cristobal! It is unbelievable, but true: we know more than our tour guide.

This tour guide also managed to lose our local payment for the tour (including the $US 450 cash I had been guarding closely since I left NZ). Somebody must be about to retire with the thousands of USD they have managed to take. The guide was keeping the money in his bumbag (I guess I wasn't the only one who thought that was asking for trouble) and was apparently tackled from behind by two men in Potosi, who took off with it. It is ridiculous to put tour guides in danger by making them carry such large amounts of money, just as it is ridiculous for us to carry around all this cash before the tour. I think the concept of local payment is only there so that tours can be advertised at a cheaper price (local payments are units of cash to be given to the tour leader upon arrival, and is usually only found in fine print in the brochures). They say it is because many hotels, etc. will only accept cash, but surely that cash can be withdrawn from the bank account of the tour company before arrival at the hotel?

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