Blogs from Uyuni, Potosí Department, Bolivia, South America - page 13

Uyuni est une petite ville sympa. C´est bien d´y rester une nuit mais autrement je pense qu´on s´ennuirait assez facilement. Bref, ca nous a donne un premier gout de la vie en Bolivie. Le soir on est d´ailleurs sortis boire un verre, histoire de se relaxer apres ces 3 jours de desert! (ce qui explique les photos dans le bar). Uyuni is a nice little town even though there isn´t much to do there. At least it gave a first impression of a small Bolivian town. In the evening we went to have a few drinks at the "Extreme fun bar" (how touristy is that?) to socialise a bit better then in the desert.... read more

Notre deuxieme sést passe principalement sur la route. Le premier arret le matin fut a l´arbre de pierre (El Arbol de Piedra), un rocher qui ressemble a un arbre pertifie. Les autres formations rocheuses autour etaient tout aussi etonnantes. Puis on est passe par 4 lacs: Laguna Honda, Laguna Hedionda, Laguna Shiarkota et Laguna Negra. Le dernier est interessant car tres different des autres (tres profond et dangereux car il y a un courant sous-marin qui aspire tout ce qui y passe au milieu). Sans oublier les rocs qui ressemblent a des champignons autour du Laguna Negra. Puis, on a vu le volcan Ollague, toujours en activite. Finalement, on s´est arretes a un hotel de sel a 3650 metres. L´hotel est construit en sel (murs, meubles et le sol est recouvert de sel - pas pratique ... read more

At midnight on the 9th May we took a bus from Salta to La Quiaca in Argentina, the border town with Bolivia. After waiting for half an hour for the Bolivian border to open (it´s an hour behind Argentina) we passed into Bolivia and could see an instant difference between the 2 countries, although both were absolutely freezing at 8am and about 3400m! The women give it away as so many wear the tradional many layered skirt, tights, sandals, shawl or blanket round their shoulders and of course the bowler hat! We had decided to make Tupiza our first stop and after 2 and a half hours on a jam packed bus travelling on bumpy, dusty roads we arrived. The town centre is very small but it´s lovely, hardly any traffic, market stall after market stall ... read more

Our next adventure. We took ANOTHER overnight bus (god how we hate them) to Uyuni from La Paz. It was the bus ride from hell. The first three or four hours were on bitumen but then we hit a gravel road - full of corrugations! The whole bus rattled and every tiny crack seeped dust into the interior of the bus choking us. By the time we finally arrived at 7:30am in the morning (surprisingly having slept some - thank you nurofen), with a new fine layer of dust, we were rattled to the bones and couldn´t wait to get off. We really pitied the poor tourists who were planning to return on that bus to La Paz. On arrival in Uyuni we were hit by tour operators from all sides trying to sell their tour ... read more

Here we are in Salar de Uyuni. There's lots of salt and it's very white!! ... read more