How to choose an Agency for the Salar - Responsibly

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I thought that as part of our travels, I would occasionally pen down some thoughts for would be travellers or those already on the road out there....

In one of the guidebooks, it is written that it is hard to recommend agencies given the explosion in competition in Uyuni. That is not far from the truth considering how the numbers have grown from about 40 in 2004 to the current 65 or so agencies. As we traversed through the salt plains, desert and climbed high altitudes to get to the various sights, the terrain is not only rough on the 4WD (our bums are literally bummed out! Pressure sores could have developed if we weren´t let out at intervals!), they are tough on the driver who has to concentrate hard on the rough terrain while the passengers rest and they do this for between 5 and 12 hours per day for nearly 365 days a year. With this in mind, these are the recommended questions to ask when booking with an agency, even if it means paying a little more (a 3 or 4 day trip is about the cost of a pair of branded jeans in some countries...):

1) How many passengers will there be? The max should be 6 adults. Read on as I explain why.

2) Is the driver the mr-do-it-all? Choose an agency that can arrange for a separate person to be the cook and preferably reserve driver. Imagine you have just driven from Singapore to KL on the old roads (Rich: San showing her age here! You youngsters will not remember this!) and then be asked to prepare dinner for a group of passengers, wake them up in the morning at 4am, etc. etc. How tired would you be after 3 days of this?

3) Where do the driver and cook sleep at night? Decent accommodation means decent rest.

4) Does the agency have a commitment of minimum standards which include not only the service to the tourists but help to the communities who´s back yard is being showcased and consideration for the environment? Bolivia still consistently experiences the attitude of ´out of sight out of mind´ which means that rubbish is disposed of indiscriminately e.g. from car windows, into a pristine environment. The irony being that a lot of rubbish related to such a trip is from us tourists, from egg boxes to plastic bottles.

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How you can help in general as you are travelling:

1) Bring your own water filter (we used one called Aquapure Traveller or water purification drops to minimise on the bottles you purchase. Imagine, the number of 2 litre bottles used by 300 toursits (in peak season) per day... you do the math...

2) Have your own little rubbish bag and dispose it in bins at the end of the journey.

3) Squeeze bottles to minimise rubbish space. Its too easy to just throw an uncompressed bottle full of air into the bin.

4) Toilet paper usage - In all the stop sites which do not have toilet facilities (majority don´t), it is inevitable that you have to goanswer nature's call in the open. There was a lot of discarded toilet paper at stop sites. At the very least, try not to use paper for a number 1 and if it is used carry this paper away with you. Paper does eventually disintegrate but in those freezing temperatures, your paper will still be there in 5 years time .... it's littering, it's selfish and it's a real eye sore...

Have a great 2007!
The not-so-holy, San

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Comments

[Jules]

Yucks
What happens if I get diarrhea? Do I still need to bring the paper along with me? ;-)