Blogs from Potosí Department, Bolivia, South America - page 11

With an 8:30am pick up and only a 15 minute drive from San Pedro to the border, it wasn't long until we had said goodbye to Chile for the final time and hello to Bolivia. With the Bolivian border being little more than a garden shed with a flag, it was a pleasant five minute border crossing (unlike the 4 hrs Chile/Argentina crossing). Once we passed the border, it was then time to change from minibus to 4x4, which we would be travelling across the arid Bolivian desert in over the next three days. With images in our head of being stuck on a three day tour with a bunch of Argentinians or even worse...Germans, it came as a pleasant surprise when we discovered our 4x4 buddies were two Aussies and an English girl. However, with ... read more

It’s easy to describe our three day trip to Salar de Uyuni with one word: a-ma-zing. Probably you have never even heard of such a place (unless you are reading our blog to get information about it), and we hadn’t either, until we were planning for this trip. Now that we have seen it, it’s hard to believe Salar de Uyuni is not world famous- it should be. And after all, most of it is only salt. Salt, and a few flamingo filled lagoons in all colors of the rainbow, of course. And oh yea, some geysirs and thermal pools as well. To reach this wonderful place we took a night bus from La Paz to the desert town of Uyuni. It was a rough ride with several hundred kilometers of bumpy unpaved road, so again ... read more

Thursday 20 June to Sunday 23 June The trip to La Quiaca (Argentina) took around 2.5 hours through more arid landscapes, spotted with Stipa Grass (or Needle Grass) and a few parched looking bushes. La Quiaca itself was very plain – made up of straight roads, residential property, restaurants, a bus station and truck parks. I got the impression it existed predominantly as a border town. Finding a taxi, I took the short journey across the bridge to the Bolivian border. Despite warnings it could take a while to get through passport control, I crossed into Villazon (Bolivia) about 10 minutes later – simplez! The next priority was changing some money and searching out the bus station to travel on to Tupiza. Bolivia felt immediately different to what I’d left behind. It seemed more authentic and ... read more

Well, after nearly 3 years since this trip, I've decided it's about time I finished this blog! (And many more besides!) The inspiration for me finally restarting, came from Sita & Miri, two lovely ladies I met during my time in South America & who are currently back there exploring once again! Now where were we? Ahh San Pedro de Atacama....... Day 1 October 12, 2013 My 3 day adventure began with a pick up at my hostel by minibus at about 8.30am in the morning, where I joined a group of 7 others from around the world, namely: Anna Maria (Brasil), Fabio (Brasil), Kristina & Andreas (Germany), Diederik (The Netherlands via UK), Emma & Lovisa (Sweden). From San Pedro we drove out into the desert towards the Bolivian Border, with a short stop at Chilean ... read more

C'est à 4 heures du matin que nous arrivons entiers mais épuisés à Tupiza. Après une grasse matinée, nous passons l'après midi à faire le tour des agences pour réserver le tour salar d'Uyuni/sud Lipez. Mais avant ça, une journée triathlon nous attends autour de Tupiza. Au programme, Jeep, équitation et descente en vélo. Nous partons de Tupiza aux alentours de 9h pour explorer les environs. Nous profitons de cette matinée pour découvrir canyons, montagnes et rios. Le midi nous déjeunons dans une très belle clairière au bord d'un village. Après nous être relaxés dans ce cadre agréable, nous retournons en ville où nos chevaux nous attendent pour partir en balade à travers des paysages rocailleux et désertiques. Nous trottons jusqu'à un canyon avant de faire demi-tour pour entamer la dernière étape de la journée: grosse ... read more