Blogs from Uyuni, Potosí Department, Bolivia, South America

We only spent about a week in Chile as it was so expensive, and after La Serena we headed straight to San Pedro de Atacama to meet our friends for a 4x4 tour. We were a bit worried about the tour as we´d heard mixed reviews, but all accommodation and food was included which sounded good. The next morning we were picked up at 7.45 and driven to the Bolivian border in a mini bus, we thought it would be a pretty long drive but about an hour later we arrived to a tiny hut in the middle of the desert which was apparently migration! We quickly got our passports stamped, were given a sandwich and some tea, and the 6 of us were transferred to our own private 4x4. We weren´t too sure of the ... read more

We have finally made it into Bolivia. After roughly 3 weeks in Argentina we´re now getting stuck in to the hardcore travelling. Our first stop was Villazon, a town on the border that fuses with the Argentinean town of La Quiaca. Here we did nothing. We immediately caught our first Bolivian bus to Tupiza. The bus was actually alright. We were expecting to find ourselves on some rickety old deathtrap with no wheels or engine, powered by llamas eating coca leaves but it was actually a proper bus. Don´t let this experience fool you though, looking at the buses here in Uyuni it´s obvious that the bad reputation they get is completely and utterly deserved. They look crap. Anyway we arrived in Tupiza, which is a town renowned for being like something out of a western ... read more

28 février 2012 Je suis toujours avec les deux chilien, les deux brésilien et l´australienne à Uyuni. On se lance aujourd´hui dans une expédition au creux de la cordillière des Andes en 4X4. On passe de villages perdus en villages encore plus perdus, là où les enfants tombent sans pleurer, là où les enfants morvent plus qu´ils sourient. Les chiens jappent parfois à notre passage mais le plus souvent, ils ne font que traverser les rues poussièreuses en bouettant. Le soleil brûle et le vent souffle chaud. On s´éloigne des villages miniers de "Vila Vila" et de "San Cristobal". Ce seront les derniers villages qu´on verra de la journée. On entre dans une plaine aride où les rares plantations de quenoa s´efforcent de pousser. Les autruches (mais pourquoi y-a-t-il des autruches sauvages en Bolivie?) s´enfuient à ... read more

26 février 2012 Le départ de La Paz est imminent. En route vers Uyuni, au sud de la Bolivie. Bus delux avec toilette. 12 heures de route. Aie aie aie. Je dois me préparer mentalement et physiquement. Pour se faire, je me prend d abord une tasse de café pour me cafféiner l esprit. Je le bois d un trait tellement il est infect. Je suis certain qu un tel poison pourrait aisément débloquer un drain. Bon. Je suis déshydraté maintenant. Rien de mieux donc que de se caler une bouteille d eau et de s éclater les papilles avec un coca-cola a 1 bolivianos (14 cennes). Tout cela, 1 heure avant le départ a 19h00. Je fais la file avec les globe-trotters de tout acabit. Lorsque j entre dans la navette, surprise! Pas de chiottes. ... read more

Welcome to Bolivia, the worlds best views and worst toilets!! We started in a mini van of 12 people at 8am and were driven to the chile/Bolivia border where as always we waited for almost 2 hours just to be stamped out of chile. We then made it to the Bolivian border which for once was fast and painless. We were given breakfast here then we were divided up into two groups of 6 and sent to our jeeps! In our jeep we had a german couple and a Swiss couple, lucky for us the Swiss spoke perfect Spanish as our driver didn't know any English. He was super cute and his name was clementine and he had no teeth! The german guy looked like David guetta and the Swiss guy looked like a barrister from ... read more

Up early for the start of breakfast at 7.30 am. There was a change in the itinerary due to new regulations regarding foreign trucks crossing the desert so the bus did not leave until 10.00ish but that was dependant on how fragile some people might be due to the excesses of the night before! We took the opportunity to wander round the Market in Uyuni (which in the warm morning sunlight suddenly became a rather nice little town with a totally different feel from the night before) and went to the Internet cafe to update a few more days of our blog. However, there was insufficient time to complete all entries before we had to return to the hotel to load our things onto the bus. Another interesting drive on the edge of the desert with ... read more

Had a very good breakfast including pancakes with maple syrup and freshly-made bread (which makes a change!) At 10.30am we were collected from our hotel and we all piled into four Toyota land cruisers and were driven 30 minutes down dirt tracks to a little village selling tourist wares and where salt is brought in from the Flats to be dried. We were then given a demonstration of how the salt was dried by some enterprising little kid of about 12 who showed us the process and then blocked the exit with the aid of a spade and would only let people out on the basis of a small payment. Quite entrepreneurial! There was a salt museum with bits made out of salt (a salt llama and other objects/animals which Ed didn't bother to look at. ... read more

The sweaty 24 hour bus journey into the Atacama desert was minus a TV or reclining seat, but I was still content to be travelling onwards. The bus arrived in a tiny place which looked like something out of a Western. San Pedro is about four blocks squared, and full of tourists wanting to experience the desert or take a tour to Bolivia. I booked onto a three day tour finishing at Uyuni in Bolivia, realising that this was the first time I´d be put into a group with strangers, and hoping that they would be good strangers. After succesfully getting through border control without any mention of a Yellow Fever Certificate, I met my group; another 25 year old girl from Holland, a Spanish couple and a German couple. Us girls got on well, the ... read more