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Volcano outside San Pedro.
Half of it belongs to Chile and half to Bolivia.We rise early as our minibus to the Bolivian border departs at 8am. On the minibus, we meet Ian and Clare who will be our travelling companions for the next three days.
The minibus makes the short journey to the Chilean border, where our passports are stamped and we are allowed to continue without any hassle. The minibus continues onwards towards Bolivian immigration. Once through this, and having paid the small fee to enter the country, we are taken to a building and given breakfast, which is the usual fare of bread, jam and tea. Fortunately there is hot water with the option of milk, rather than just a cup of hot milk and a teabag, which is customary.
After breakfast, our minibus driver points out a red Toyota Landcruiser that he says is ours for the next three days, then the driver Santuku introduces himself. He speaks no English but is warm and welcoming.
We set off on the long trip that will take us up through the northern Atacama desert and eventually to the Salar de Uyuni - the Uyuni saltflats. This is described in the guidebooks as "the great Bolivian roadtrip" and as you can
imagine, is a journey of immense visual beauty and variety. You will forgive us, therefore, if we let the photos do most of the talking.
Briefly, our journey on the first day takes us past the green and white lakes, on to a hot spring where we enjoy a brief soak and past some remarkable geysers at which Santuku is keen to remind us not to fall in as they are 200 degrees inside. We also see many wild llamas. At first we are quite exited by this, and ask Santuku to pause while we photograph them, but he explains that we will see many of them by the end of the trip. In mid afternoon we arrive at the red lake, which is populated by flamingoes and alongside which we stay for the evening. The accomodation is basic, but the staff are lovely and prepare us a lovely meal of spaghetti and tomato sauce. However, the temperature is so cold (-15 to -20) that we cannot stay up past 19:30 and retire to our beds to try to get warm. Nic has hired two extra thick sleeping bags which she puts inside each other and then adds her
own and four heavy blankets. Ian finds extra blankets and tucks them tightly under his mattress, but then discovers that he can't move once inside. The cold makes the night an unpleasant one and we are glad when the morning arrives.
We warm ourselves with numerous cups of tea, then get back into the 4x4 for a long day of travelling. We stop at some interesting rocks that have been shaped by the wind over the centuries. One of the more famous ones is shaped like a tree. The scenery gradually changes from the desert of the day before, to a more green landscape as we move further north.
During the course of the morning we are flagged down by some wokers who are standing by their broken down truck. The battery is flat and they need a tow so they can get the engine going again. They tell us that they have been stranded all night without food. Around the truck we can see parched earth where they had lit fires to tryto keep warm. We duly give them a tow and the engine starts. We drive away amazed that they have survived the night considering how
cold we were under all our blankets.
At lunchtime we arrive in Santuku's home village, where a lovely lunch is awaiting us. After this, we walk around the village, taking in the lovely sqaure and church, while Santuku visits his wife. Before we set off he drops her off in a nearby field, presumably where she works, before we continue our journey.
After a long afternoon, during which Nic is the first to spot the saltflats on the horizon, we arrive at our accomodation for the night. This is of a much better standard than our first evening, as it is owned by the company whom we are travelling with. When we arrive, we discover that the manager has not turned on the water or the electricity with the result that the toilet in our room will not flush. Nic decides that she will use the bathroom in one of the spare rooms instead but the manager soon cottons on to this and locks all the other bedrooms. He fails to realise that Nic is still in one of them and she is forced to yell at the top of her voice until I hear her and come
to her rescue. As she is climbing out of the window into the corridor the manager arrives and gives us a real dressing down in Spanish. We protest that there is no water yet and he eventually turns it on.
There is the luxury of a TV and DVD player, and despite the manager's assurance that all the films are in English, we find that only one of them, The Untouchables, actually is. So we settle down to watch it and reflect that a bit of R&R is most welcome after two days in a 4x4.
The next morning we travel through the saltflats, which is the real highlight of the trip. Hopefully, the pictures show what a breathtaking place it is. We also visit an island populated by enormous cacti, some of which are twelve metres tall. We also pass by the salt hotel, which as the name suggests is constructed (entirely) from salt. Finally we pass through the mining filds, where the salt is shovelled onto trucks and taken away for processing. Eventually we arrive in Uyuni and just have time to visit the nearby train graveyard before the trip finishes.
We have been informed
by other travellers that Uyuni is not worth staying in for long, so we book our bus tickets to Potosi for the next morning. The main highlight of Uyuni for us is the local indoor market where Nic buys a Poncho (it is still freezing), some alpaca wool socks and a beautiful rug for our bedroom at home from a lovely guy who can't do enough to help us.
The bus to Potosi turns out to be a unpleasant journey. Only 5% of the roads in Bolivia are paved, so most of the time we are being thrown around as the bus makes it's way up steep mountain passes and around blind corners. At most corners the driver leans on the horn to advise any oncoming vehicles of his presence. Nic's experience is also not helped by the gentleman in the seat in front of her, as he reclines his seat so far that his head is practically in her lap and she jokes about being able to give him an Indian head massage.
That said, the scenery on the journey is beautiful. Eventually we stop for lunch and most of us disappear behind the nearest wall for
a comfort break as there do not appear to be any toilets. Nic asks me to stand by her to afford a modicum of privacy, but soon emits a shriek as three people unnoticed by me walk straight by on the road.
In mid-afternoon we arrive in Potosi, where Ian and I set out to book our coach tickets to La Paz and a mine tour. Potosi used to be a rich city at the time of the Spanish colonistation as the mountains on which the town sits are full of metal deposits. Silver was the main metal that was mined, but eventually the supply dried up and now the mines are run by co-operatives who mine for less precious metals.
Our tickets booked, the three of us set out for dinner. We select a place recommended in the guide book called Chaplin's, as it has vegetarian options for Nic. It takes a while to find it and several locals are called upon to direct us. When we finally get there, the waiter mixes up the order and accidentally gives Nic a chicken burger and Ian the vege burger. The mistake is only realised once she has taken
a mouthful and naturally she is somewhat upset. The waiter is extremely apologetic and brings the correct replacements and a free beer.
The following morning Ian and I go on the mine tour, which is excellent as it takes place in a working mine and you walk in and amongst the mine workers. The underground journey is preceded by a visit to the miners market, where we buy gifts for the miners including coca leaves, cigarettes, dynamite, fuses and ammonium nitrate. Ian and I have pre-agreed with our guide Fredi that we need to be back at our hostel for 12pm so we can watch England v. Trinidad and Tobago, and good to his word he delivers us back to the surface so the minibus can take us back into town. While Ian and I are underground, Nic befriends a local girl, Laura, and learns a lot about her through drawing little pictures in Nic's notebook including the fact that she is one of eight children.
After watching England struggle to a 2-0 win, we spend the afternoon doing a few errands before catching a taxi to the bus station for our overnight journey to La Paz. This
is an interesting experience, firstly because our bags are lowered on pulleys to the coaches below and secondly because once we are on board we discover that the toilet is locked. I protest to the driver's assistant who seems to think I am being unreasonable, but shortly afterwards the bus stops so I can jump off and go by the side of the road in the pitch black.
The rest of the journey is an utter misery as it is freezing cold and there is a draught coming through the window. Nic sorely regrets leaving her woollen poncho in her big bag in the hold. We arrive in La Paz feeling sorry for ourselves, but are happy that we have a hotel booked as it is the first offical day of our three week tour that will take us out of Bolivia and through Peru.
We are disappointed to find that we are only spending one night in La Paz and therefore will be unable to do the 'Road of Death' the next day. This is a bicycle journey down one of the most dangerous mountain roads in the world and something we have been looking forward to.
We promise ourselves that we will return to do this on another trip.
We meet our group for the first time. They have already been travelling on another trip through Brazil, so know each other well by now. They all make us feel welcome. That evening Nicola and I explore the local markets and seek out some bargains. We also take the chance to send another box of stuff home so we won't have to carry it through Peru.
The next morning we get on an 8am bus bound for Copacabana on the coast of Lake Titicaca. There we have lunch before boarding another bus that will take us over the Peruvian border and on to Puno.
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Alec
non-member comment
I didn't think it could get better!
You must only just have completed this journal: I switched from one computer to another in a different room - and this wasn't on in the first room: that feels like being with you while you upload it! Obviously I've done no more than just skim this, but it's a stark contrast between what the text and the photos offer - misery of extreme cold on the one hand, grandeur of scenery and extraordinary mining shots on the other. Tremendous. Oh, and the Road of Death - I think I'm relieved you didn't have time for that!