Wonderland

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So the group i joined was Mark an Irish guy working behind the bar in Loki hostel and lives in Oz, then the was Anna a German girl and two Canadian sisters Carly and Nic. We checked out various agencies and plumped for one called wonderland and we gave Ripley's a wide berth after hearing not so good reports back about them.

The price for the tour was 85 dollars and we were promised the earth and well when we got on the tour it fell short, so we left our bags at the office and went round the local market and then grabbed breakkie at minuteman cafe and i had some amazing pancakes, we chatted and eventually the tour drew along and we jumped into a Toyota land cruiser and it wasn't the one promised, however im use to bullshit now in South America.

We could have had an English guide but it was 60 dollars each and Anna had good spanish so she said we would translate, as it was our driver did not say very much for the whole three days and so not much to translate.

Before heading off i had got myself some new sun glasses, we then headed off to the first point of intrest which was the train cemetery and this is were all the wrecked trains were taken after the Boliva and Chile war of the 1800"s and we took the usual touristy pictures and our driver was saying vamos and trying to speed us up and we then headed to a salt processing town and found out how they processed it and sent it to Chile or Northern Bolivia and we all brought a salt shot glass and Mark used hos later that in the evening and it broke...lol. We had been warned prior to the tour that the jeep drivers try and rush you through everything.

We jumped back in the jeep and headed back towards the town and the salt flats and we eventually got there and its amazing and so flat and the sky so blue and we had bought props to so some funny salt flat piccys like all the other tourists do...lol.

So we then has fun trying to get the perspective right and get some pictures done and again we were being rushed away by the driver to go to the next point which us the isla pescado or fish island, it is suppose to look like a fish.

On the way we saw smoke and assumed that this was due to maybe a jeeps engine blowing and as we got closer we took a picture of the flames and as we got closer we realized the horror of the situation, basically two jeeps had collied and were in flames, the jeeps carry fuel and gas on top as they are away from petrol stations and have to cook and so both vehicles were in full flame.

The one was one survior laying on the ground and we later found out 14 people had died, we could not work out how it had happened as the flats are flat and you can see for miles. We asked our driver to go as the was nothing we could do and the was no point staying there.

We drove on and we discussed it a little and then we tried to forget it and put it to the back of our heads and we got to fish island and the was a 15 bolivano entrance fee, as ever if they can make a buck they will...lol, we then went and tried to get some more weird and wonderful pictures and Anna being german and an architect was very fussy on getting the pictures just right....lol, we took piss out of her preciseness through the tour. We did stuff like jumping over an ipod and Mark pretending to have sex with Barbie etc.

We then went for lunch and i was presented with rice and a few veggies and its like what would it take to make an omelette?, i eventually got some cheese with it, but it was that salty that i nearly gagged on it. We then went for a walk around the island and the island is amazing as its full of cactus and fossilized coral and is in the middle of a salt flat with nothing for miles.

I used the bathroom were the had shiney new taps and they did not worl, what a surprise for boliva....lol.

The driver hurried us up again and Anna connected her ipod up to the in car system so no bad boliva music to listen to...lol, Our driver occasionally would point stuff out and say volcano and nothing more, like how old it was and when it last erupted and the cook sat up front with him and they never once chatted to each other.

We saw a salt flat hotel which is now on show as it was made illegal and closed as a hotel, we then stopped for more piccys and then got to our hostel for the night which was made from salt and the beds and everything. We had been promised hot showers by the tour company at this hostel and they had one shower which was a trickle and we had to pay 10 bolivanos etc for it, they don't miss a trick.

We then had dinner which was cold chips and egg for me and cold chips and chicken for the others and we then played some drinking games and before we knew it it was 2am and we had fnished 3 bottles of wine and three quarters of a bottle of wine, with the food not being so great it had been good that prior to leaving Unyi we had stocked up on sweets ans pringles.

Some tour companys are a much of a muchness and well its still potluck, but if you go to Unyi steer clear of Wonderland tours.

We were up at 7am after a patchy nights sleep and we were all a little hungover...lol, the second day of our tour and we saw amazing Laguna's with flamingos and various Lamas and the landscape had changed again and some of the lakes had sulfur and so were smelly, we chatted in the jeep again and went through skittles and pringles....all the major food groups covered and it was good to discover more about the groups travels and stuff back home etc.

We saw volcanoes and weird rock structures and had lunch near a lake which was nice, again the food was cold and rubbish and we then headed to the Red laguna and got to our hostel there and the second night we had been told by others was the coldest of the nights and we got there and it was freezing and no shower and basic bathrooms.

We got some more booze and after dinner we had some drinking games and in between i played cards with another group who were Irish girls, an Aussie i knew from Cusco and a danish couple and so i chatted to them too and they were all heading to Chile.

We all got pretty hamered and then went to bed and got woken at 5am.....ouch, it was chaos as our driver had told us nothing and we had not had great sleep as it had been freezing and we had all woren about 4 layers to bed.

My sunglasses got lost on the chaos and then we set off and first stop was by some volcanos and then we saw laguna blanco and then we stopped at thermal springs for a swim, it was really hot, but you had to get changed in minus 15 to get into it, we then had breakkie and then headed up to Laguna Verde and then dropped the gilrd at the bus for Chile as they were heading to Chile and me and Mark up the road back to Unyi and the bus back to La Paz. We said our goodbyes and sawpped email addys and wiched each other safe travels, we took on another girl in the jeep called Mel as her group had all left for Chile and she wanted company on the way back to Unyi.

Forgot to mention the is a 30 Bolivano park fee to pay aswell, they get you at all angles, on the way back we chatted to mel and the route back was similar to the way down so not many stops or piccys and an 8 hour ride back.

Mel is from the uk and is traveling south america for 10 months and then has a 2 year working holiday visa for New Zealand and does not want to go back to the UK, anyway we got quite philosophical in the jeep and chatted about traveling and personalities and stuff and it was a good chat. The driver without explanation randomly picked this local guy up and so we joked about that and then we stopped for lunch in this random town and eventually got back to Unyi and we said goodbye to mel as she was off to her hostel in Unyi and then to Potsoi the next day.

Before leaving Unyi we asked the agency woman to get us a bus ticket for when we got back, so we would get back to La paz, she charged 80 bolivanos and we got back and the guy in the office told us we had to pay extra as the tickets were now 120 as the was only one cama bus leaving town because of the accident and so the agency woman got us those tickets. We paid up and went and got pizza and a beer which Mark got, which was great of him.

We got to the bus terminal and the agency woman had ripped us off, all the busses were going and ours was not a cama, had no blankets and wasd the crappiest bus there.

After very little sleep i was back in La Paz and mark went to his room and he got me a spare staff bed for 40 mins and i had to wait till 1.30pm check out time to see if i could get a room, get a room, and so i watched movies till i could get a room and then i showered and watched more movies and pretty much stayed all day in the hostel and eat in the hostel and got blind drunk and went to bed about 1am.

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