Tozer Honeymoon - Week 6 & 7: Into Bolivia, and the Salt Flats Tour

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Hello everyone

Sorry for the delay in this update, shortly after the last one we left Argentina and entered Bolivia. Internet access here ranges from "extremely slow" to "non-existant", so we´ve had to wait until reaching the capital to post an update.

We started week 6 in Salta, a small Argentinian town with connections to the border. From there we made our way up to Bolivia in what was by Argentian standards a horrible bus. We now know that by Bolivian standards, it was a luxury.

The second we crossed the border into Bolivia, everything around us - the people, the food, the roads, the architecture and the smell - changed. We spent one day in the border town of Villazón and then caught the "only-train-in-Bolivia" up to Uyuni, where the Salt Flat tours begin.

The Salt Flats are one of the strangest places on earth, managing in 3 days to be like the Arctic, the Sahara, an African wildlife reserve and the surface of Mars. Don´t take my word for it.... check out the photos.

People had warned us about the roads in Bolivia. On the tour we finally got to experience it first hand. There isn´t really a problem with the roads here, the problem is that there are no roads here. Most of them are marked out by a set of 4x4 tracks - you just drive on the same rubble that the car before you chose. The bumping and rattling never stops, it´s like driving around in a paint mixing machine.

En route we started to notice that nothing in Bolivia has been finished. If there is a proper road it will only be tarmacked for 20 feet, the buildings have complete first floors with only half a second floor and all around the sparsely populated south of the country there are solitary pylons and phone masts with no power cables connecting them. They just seem to be for decoration.

We left the Salt Flats battered and wind burnt, and made our way up to La Paz. Unable to face anymore rattling road time, we took the "only-train-in-Bolivia" as far north as we could. The update on our bus journey from there will follow sooner than this one did!

Love

David & Hanna

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Photos

Salta Church
There wasn´t much going on in Salta, although in retrospect the food and wine is missed! The most interesting building there was this church, a mix of old colonial and modern development.

Jurassic Park IV
Pretty much the first thing we saw in Bolivia was this nightmare tetanus fairground fiasco. No children seemed keen to ride.

Bolivian Craftmanship
The first thing we noticed about our hostel room was the impecable attention to health and safety. In true Bolivian style this shower didn´t look totally finished, unless the intention was to rain down hot electrical death on the gringo beneath.

Salt Flat Tour Begins
Here we are at the start of the tour. The next three days would be spent being smashed into the windows, seats, doors and roof of the inside of this jeep.

The Train Graveyard
The first stop was a massive collection of old steam trains in the middle of nowhere. These have been rusting here for over half a century, much to the chagrin of the locals. Only over the last 15 years, when tourists wanted to take photos of them, have they decided they don´t want them removed.

Jump Shots On Tour! #4
You asked for more Jump Shots (well Dave Lea did...) so you are getting them. Here we´re on one of the actual salt flats, an endlessly wide sea of solid salt crystals 8 metres deep.

Jump Shots On Tour! #5
The strange atmosphere at the Salt Flats is heightened by a strange new jump.... The Hover Shot.

Fish Island
In the centre of the Sea of Salt there stands a small island with 2 cafes on. It´s covered in giant cacti that are up to 1000 years old.

Alice in Saltyland
Strange things afoot in the Salt Flats....

Tour Day 2
We start the second day of the tour in an entirely new landscape, full of llamas. There doesn´t seem to be anyone looking after them, or any farms nearby, but we´re told these are farmed. Apparently the owner will come out here in a few days and find them all.

Still Day 2, Landscape #245
As the day rolls on the landscape becomes more Martian. Igneous rocks are everywhere, tinkling like ceramics under your feet, while volcanos loom on every horizon.

Mingos!
In the afternoon we drove over one of a thousand ridges, and suddenly there was a large lake full of Flamingos. Our guide explained that they are called Flamencos in Spanish. When flamingos mate, they all get together in a lake and do a crazy dance together, stamping their feet and flapping their wings - this is where the crazy human foot stamping dance Flamenco gets its name!

Still Day 2, Landscape #463
Then we emerged into a sand desert of epic proportions. Every different enviroment stretched as far as the eye could see... the whole day seemed impossible.

The Red Lake
Day 2 ended with a trip to the Red Lake. This is full of red zoo plankton which gives the lake and - once eaten - the flamingos their colour. It´s here that the flamingos come and do their crazy stomping search for a mate, but sadly that won´t happen for a few months.

Day 3, Geezer!
Day 3 started at 4:30am with a trip to a volcanically active area. It was freezing in the desert before the sun came out, but luckily Hanna met a lovely geyser who warmed up her hands. Ha ha.

Bubbling Sulphur Lakes
This was a very odd place... holes in the ground full of boiling water in the middle of a freezing desert, with the thick stench of sulphur in the air. Apparently lots of people have died mucking around and falling into the water here.... at least according to our guide. We were suitably paranoid, and survived.

Idyllic Paradise Cliché #6 - Hot Springs
While the sun was starting to come up, we arrived at a natural hot spring. This puddle in the middle of the desert was hotter than a bath, and it was amazing to stick our feet in and get the blood flowing again. Sadly we didn´t know it was on the tour though, so we didn´t have our bathers with us.

Cholitas
Here on the final stop of our tour we managed to sneak a photo of some of the indiginous women of Bolivia - the Cholitas. They are extremely distinctive, wearing bowler hats jauntily perched on top of long plaits that stretch down to their giant starched skirts. I say we managed to sneak a picture as you can´t just snap one whenever you like. Cholitas are also extremely fiery.... as you will see in the next update.