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After an exceptionally freezing cold night bus from La Paz, we arrive at Uyuni at 6am. Its cold (very cold), so cold that the condensation on the inside of the bus windows was actually a thick layer of ice. We eventually find a hostel with room, check in and sleep til its warm enough to venture out.
Uyuni is small, really small and focused on a main dusty strip with a few restaurants and shops. Being a desert town its warm and sunny in the day and freezing the moment the sun goes down, the cold was something we would have to get used to over the next four days. The reason we were her was to see the famous salt lakes and lagoons, we had been told of 4 day jeep tours you could do and this sounded perfect, after finding a agency with an english guide we booked up for the following day.
Sorry about the lack of photos for this blog, ive searched this tiny town for a computer with a cd drive but its proved a frustrating exercise, however i did find a music man who has sold me a set of guitar strings, oh
i broke a string by the way. Ill upload photos as soon as possible, the scenery is the best so far.
Day 1
After finding out the engligh guide was "unavailable" due to illness we settle for a refund of the extra and leave our bags and guitar (now a string down after a terrible tuning accident) in the office. As we climb aboard our Toyata jeep we meet the three other travellers who will be coming with us, 2 Isreali guys and an Argentine/Isreali girl.
After a short drive and a few songs played through the ipod/tape converter (which becomes virtal later on to pass the long drives, although i dont care how much travelling is meant to broaden your mind i still frimly that the British have the best taste in music and always will, no Tanya Madonna Like a Virgin is not cool anymore) we arrive at The Train Cemetary. This place is weird. In the middle of the desert lies loads of abandoned trains, some since the 1930s when Bolivia used them to trade with Chile. Its really hard to explain the errieness of seeing these huge machines left to rust, hopefully i
captured some of the feeling in the pictures, i could have spent along time here wandering around the carcasses but we had to move on.
Driving in the jeep was surprisingly comfortable even when in the back 3 seats, the temperature did rise to a ridiculous level though especially when you couldnt open the windows as dust would fill the car and Marcello would not like that. Talking of "Marcello", he was our driver, apparently a professional but we feel he had disillusions of grand prix grandour because of the Volvo racing suit he had found, oh and his denim nike cap, we later question whether "Marcello" is who he seems when he doesnt answers to his name. We also had a female cook on board, total words spoken over the four days, 6-8 tops.
Next stop was the Valley of Rocks (the names get better trust me), this was a valley with some very strange shaped rocks and boulders, the contrasting sky and colour of the rocsk made it a surreal place and the silence added to atmosphere.
After stopping in a tint town for lunch, we push on to our resting place for the night.
This town again is small, but our early arrival and generally confusion over what we are going to do is eased when we spot a football pitch and ball in the dust. This could possibly be the best football pitch in the world, the moutains and setting sun mean this will be a game to remember. After 5 minutes half the towns kids have joined in rolling in the dust and smiling, best game ever. We finally get to sleep after a lesson in harmonica from a french man and some bad news about the next nights accomodation, its cold very cold apparently.
Day 2
We awake early and yes its cold, freezing cold, the water in the jeep is frozen and even a few cups of coffee doesnt help so its back to the football pitch for a kick about as Marcello warms up the beast.
First stop today was the geezers, the werent right. Out of nowhere came a huge area of bubbling, gurgling pits of a variey of coloured mud/clay/goo. I hope the photos capture the surrealness of this place, it was like they were alive (think of the ectoplasm running under New York
in Ghostbusters (without Ray or Egon) and youre very close), we proved they were alive by throwing some stones in only for a huge burst of goo to fly out and some goo shrapnel to land on Matts jumper, poor Matt it was very very hot apparently.
Next stop were the lagoons, ill shorten this to lagoons as each one was equally as beautiful and surreal as the next. There were 3 in total a green, white and red one, each called Green Lagoon etc. Its amazing that i had no idea of the natural beauty of Bolivia, this made these sights even more amazing. The lakes were so vivd in colour and the addition of copius amounts of Lama (climing my favourite animal ranking) and Flamigo (the gayest animal ever) only made it better.
After another long drive we arrive in our second home, and yes it was cold but not as bad as expected. The night was spent admiring the full moon, which was the largest ive ever seen, while playing Taki with the Isrealis. Taki is an excellent Isreali card game which ill be buying off eBay the moment i get home.
Day 3
A very rare special rabbit (for Gemma)
These rabbit type folk (with tails) were once very popular in these parts, but unfortunately they taste quite good so the locals ate them all.We awake late on day three and eat as the sun rises, then head out for a day of lagoons and volcanoes. The lagoonas are amazing again, and even though we had seen 3 alreadly each one was different and this one had flamigos close-up, queue a ridiculous amount of flamingo pictures, enough to make a flamigo montage i reckon.
We also stop in the Dali Desert so called as it loks as if it was penned by the surrealist himself, the higlight of this area was the Tree of Stones, it could have been based on Dalis work but was actually a naturally occuring tree shaped rock formation which defide gravity, many photos later and a definate shot for the album cover we depart.
We then head through the desert and across some very rough terrain to the active volcano. As steam pours from the top we sit and have lunch from a safe distance.
The remainder of the day is spent driving to our final destination, the salt lakes. We decide to drive for longer so we can stay on the outskirts of the 12,000km (squared) flat (half the size of Isreal ive heard)
and get up at 5am to get there for sunrise. Another night of Taki ensued this time involving very cheap Bolivian wine and some randomly acquired champagne, i lost several times.
Day 4
We awake as planned and its not as cold as i thought, that was until i left the luxary of our bedroom (complete with salt beds, they love salt round here) and go outside. We drive across the flats as the sky becomes a brighter orange and as the sunrise is imminent when we pull over. Its like being on the moon (i think), the salt flats (which i mainly associate with Thrust 2 and land speed records) are rock hard and such a bright white even before the sun has risen.
As the sun rises our shadows strech across the salt to the mountains in the distance, its an amazing sight and well worth the cold and lack of sleep. After taking as many photos as i can we board the jeep for the final stretch to Fish Island and the centre fof the flats.
As we pull up to the island the sun has risen and temperature is nearly bareable, due
to the flat land you take interesting photos of people standing on Coke bottles or coming out of a hat (you do this be putting the object on the floor and the person running into the distance), although quite entertaining i dont really fully get the joy gained from this, but the majority of the group pose like STA Travel posters for the next few hours while we walk around this amazing environment trying to take in exactly what it is and why there is an island with a forest of Cactai in the middle.
Unfortunately due to a combination of altitude and cold my camera dies so the next passage could all be lies, its not though.
After climbing the island and making an offering to mother nature (a one Euro coin and a fake $100 note) we get back in the jeep for a long drive over the perfect flats to the salt hotel, yes a hotel made of salt.
We pull up the Salt Hotel, its basically a building made of cubes of salt so im not to concerned about lack of camera, that was to change. We park up and walk towards the
building where a crowd has gathered, through the crowd i see spots of blood covering the floor leading to a lama with its throat slit and stomach punctured. We soon realise this was a sacrifice and the locals then remove the carcass which is expertly skinned while others make more offerings of coca leaves and dance around. In addition to this we find out a film crew is coming as the Land Rover G4 Challenge is passing through, that explains the 3 or 4 very good jeeps around.
As we walk back to the jeep the horizon becomes alive, about 50 identical Land Rovers flood into the foreground accompanied by a small but very agile helicoptor filming from above, it was a strange sight.
Luckily with one final shake my camera managed to take a final shot.
After lunch, we board the jeep for one last time, this time we get to ride on top, this almost matched the fear of Death Road as we flew over the white slat flats gripping onto the cord which held the fuel tanks on the roof in place, perfect way to end a surreal few days in an amazing setting.
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