Salar de Uyuni S american style

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15/06/09
Woke up after not such a good nights sleep, the bed being concave and offering no support at all, oh how I miss the holiday Inn! Went to town again and had another meal at Dumbo’s it is good food at a reasonable price. Emma and Lisa went looking for a way to get to Rio for the 27th but did not have much lack, the prices being $325 lack excl tax. I suggest they just take buses old Paraguay as I had found a flight for them for £136 it taxes direct to Rio. Not sure what they will do.
Went to the bus station to get a bus to the Salar de Unni that was meant to leave at 7 but this is S. America and toning is worse than Africa as there is always tomorrow. Met a girl from Brasil and a guy from London Fernanda and Adam, Adam was on a 2 week trip lo s America and so was hoping every thing ran on time so as of make the most of his time.
We booked lo go to Uyuni for 70 Bolivia and asked if the bus had hailing and TV etc all of which we were told it did. We had booked the last 4 seats which were on the second lead right at the front which we thought would give us extra leg room, it did in a way but not what we thought. Apon arrival at our seats the first thing we noticed was that the window could not be closed completely but infrared we stuffed some plastic bag into the gap and settled down for the 10 hr trip. It all started off well, but after about 2 hrs we realised there was no heating, fortunately I had my sleeping hag but most people didn’t and in my bay I was just warm enough ‘can’t imagine how cold if was for those only with blankets. At the end when we armed in Unni the ice inside the boss on the windows was at least 2 mm thick, but fortunately I had managed to get some sleep.
Arrived off the but wearing only my summer longs and my fleece I found the temp of -5 cent just a little fresh. The travel agencies rep’s at the has could only offer us $80 per person and so we went in search of a better price.
We started walking lo town from the bus terminus and it was on this walk that we met Rick and Jannis from Germany, two guys who had been volunteering in Bolivia and Chile for nearly a year and two of the funniest guys I have ever met.

As we were now 6 with Emma and Lisa and we knew that the other took 6 people we set off with the bargaining power of 6 and after many heated discussions with tour agencies are settled for the one where the guy told us the facts and was also a good deal at $71, which we were later to find out was nearly $20 to $40 less than what others had paid by booking in advance!
This deal was set at about 930 and the tour did not shoot till 11 at which time we would be united with our trusty Toyota land Cruiser and fortunately not a Land Rover as the roads we were to take would definitely have left some casualties to anything not Japanese!
We were also told that at might on the flats get very Chilly so off I went in search of something to keep me warm, I ended up with a poncho made from alpacha wool, very nice and my bargaining skills are getting better too, started at 150 bolivia got it down to 105.
At 1120 our driver arrived in a nice black diesel land Cruiser and one set off for the saltpans to try and get the infamous photos where you appear to be floating above the salt. On the way we stopped at the steam train graveyard. It was a shame to see all those once wonderful locomotives rotting slowly in the desert. Apparently the graveyard was started in the 1850’s when their time was up they were abandoned. Lush they could talk, I’m sure the stones would be fabulous, about the boom and bust of the early mining in South America. I was happy that we had a good driver and vehicle cos even though we were last to leave our driver seemed to know all the shortcuts and one were never last. It may have had something lo do with the copious amounts of coca leaves he consumed!
Our first major stop was an island approx in the middle of the self flats the name of which fails me, however from the top the view is fantastic.
We were there till about 30 min before sunset and then are set off to see the sunset from an open area on the pan.
We then headed to our first overnight, we had a choice of either driving further and getting up later or stopping sooner, we opted for the early finish after not getting much sleep on the bus!
Expecting to be in a dorm all 6 of us our driver/ guide came up trumps and it was 3 guys in one room and 3 girls in another the shower along with the low temp’s made my mind up and bathing became a distant memory. Our dinner took quite some time but was well worth the wail as we chomped through about 2kg’s of biscuits while we waited and drank some tea. First we had kinwa soup which is made tram a grain similar to sorghum then we had roast chicken with the potatoes having been roasted in the fat of the chicken, I ended up with the carcass which I loved!
Went lo bed thankful again that I had my sleeping bag and after the guide had said sunrise was at 530 I set my alarm and drifted off in the hat made from salt bricks.

16/06/09

Woke up at 530 got dressed, got Camera and went outside in freezing weather only to see that sunrise was some time off. Back to bed and waited, at about 630 people started emerging and liras informed sunrise was at 650 am, so the joke was on me I did not find it Funny ! In the end I missed sunrise and had some coffee and hot chocolate instead.
Headed off again at 8 we were now off the salt that and in the desert which was beautiful and I could imagine Phil and Lolly in their land rover just enjoying the senery.
Today we were going to see the famous rock tree created by the wind and rain over hundreds of gears. We were also to see some lagoons that consisted mainly of borax salt which is apparently used in cleaning. Some of the lagoons had valuable minerals and they were being mined in a fashion. The last night of our stay was on a Lagoon at 4900 m and it was here that we were warned the temp could go to -30 deg c. Again I was fortunate to have a sleeping bag but the girls had none and ended up using 14! blankets to keep warm.
Again are had some great food but after eating all the nice biscuits that day before we had to be content with crackers. Went to sleep and was actually hot despite the cold, I must be the only one?

17/06/09
Woke after a fairly good nights sleep and went to the loo, only to find that there had been no water to flush and 30 people using them had made them impossible to use !! we were fortunately only going about 2 hrs drive to some hot springs and then one more lagoon before our trip back lo Salar de Anne the town. The hot springs were fabulous, however we only had 30 min before we were lo have breakfast and canyon with our trip and so it was with reluctance that I got out and went to have breakfast and I am glad I did cos Martin, Anna and Arthur who did Machu Pitchu were just having their breakfast and I would have missed them and their contact details. Turns out they had been to the Pampas for 3 days that why we did not catch them.
After we had had breakfast we headed to lagoona Verde and it was here-that our guide told us we would only make it back to town by 8 or 9 which was because we had taken so much time doing everything else. With some translations from Nick and jannis we were able to jolly him along and we arrived at 620 which was enough time to make the bus to Sucre.
Unfortunately we were too late to get the big buses as they were all full but some Israeli girls told us about another bus and we got the last few seats on a smaller bus. H was when we were told it might take 8hrs that we got a little annoyed as it was meant to take 6. The seals were also rather used but at 25 Bolivia we really could not complain except for the zero heat again. We stopped once for a 15 min break but still made it in 6 hrs to Potosi.
We then got a taxi with the israelli girls to Sucre for 40 bolivia each.
The driver appeared to be high on coca leaves but drove slowly and we arrived at Sucre at 430 am to find that the hostels were too expensive or closed.
So we sat in plaza de Mayo in the centre and wailed till things opened. The city was completely dead no cars or people.

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Comments

[Hugo/Don /Sel]

Sounds good !
The boys like the not showering and biking bits ! Sleeping on very uncomfortable (and often late ! ) buses brings back memories for me. I can't imagine anyway more laid back than Africa with their 'poli poli '. Machu P. sounds fantastic and the photos look really good. Washing in resturants was a little trick we often did. We are off to France next week (fingers crossed ) not quite as as exciting but probally just as complicated with Simon and the boys in tow. Best of luck with next bit of your journey . Sel .