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Published: June 29th 2007
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After and interesting and somewhat tedious 15 hour journey with a bus driver that was either stoned or drunk who liked diverting off the roads to make up his own route, we arrived in Uyuni. With half an hour to spare we met up with our salt lake expedition group. Luckily one of the girls in the group was canadian but lived in Peru and so spoke fluent spanish and was able to translate everything for us useless gals.
Strangley enough, the first place we were taken to was a train graveyard in the middle of the dessert. Poor trains, all rusty n abandoned, lol. Next was the bit we had all been waiting for....the salt lakes. Amazing!! The scenery was out of this world, strangest place ever! Looked like miles and miles of snow. With 12000 square kilometers of salt with beautiful mountains in the background it really was a stunning place to visit. We visited an island, Isla de Pescada, which was covered in strange alien rocks and humungous cacti, which enhanced the wierdness of the whole place. That night we stayed in a salt hotel. Helen had to stop Kate from eating the furniture.
Next
day we visited some lava fields with wierd bubbly rocks at the bottom of a smoking active volcano. We saw a variety of lakes inhabited by pink flamingos. Had the bumpiest ride ever in the 4x4 jeep to the dessert of the rock tree. Ever so often we had to stop so that the driver could dive into the engine with his feet waving around in the air, presumably to fix something (or maybe he just enjoyed doing it?). That night we stayed in a VERY cold basic dormitory next to Laguna Colorado, a very strange red lake. Judging by the dead flamingos littered around the lake, we guessed the water was perhaps a little toxic. Yikes! Around the lake the ground was the most bizarre thing on this earth! The consistency of mousse or fudge it was so wierd to walk on. Stand too still and you just start sinking, panic and run and you´re even worse off. Very scary and we could have been on Mars.
Overnight there had been a lot of snow, hence why it was so damn cold! We had a very early start to go visit some geysers. Them and the bubbling openings
of the volcano we were on. Couldn´t get too close as they were so hot and pretty dangerous. We visited some hot springs and then went on to see a bright green lake. Very unusal and according to Kate the colour of copper sulphate. Geek!
We dropped off one of our group members at the Chilean border. A bit dubious as we seemed to leave him in the middle of nowhere, and because of the weather the driver didn´t know if or when someone was going to pick him up. Hopefully he is still alive! We then headed back to Uyuni, via the valley of stones, which resembled all sorts of animal and face shapes. As soon as we arrived back in Uyuni we got on the overnight bus back to La Paz.
The morning we arrived in La Paz we joined a group about to venture the road of death. This is offically the world´s most dangerous road with 300-400 deaths each year prior to it being closed to traffic in 2004. We started off mountain biking in the clouds at 4700m above sea level. Optimistically, we thought the clouds would clear as we descended the mountain,
however this was not quite the case. The road is very dangerous in normal sunny weather, we had to master it with wet, slippy roads, poor visibility and the bitter cold. Fun! The experience was AMAZING though! Biking at phenomenal speeds inches from absolute sheer drops. SO so dangerous. In England theres no way anyone would be allowed to even attempt mountain biking down this road unless you were a properly experienced biker. It was both our first times mountain biking! Looking back, it would have been so so easy to slip up and go over the edge, especially in the vile weather. Oh well, at least we´ve been there, done that and got the t-shirt.
The next day we decided to have a much deserved relaxing day browsing around La Paz. We needed this day just to recover from the adrenaline rush the day before.
Our next stop was Potosi, the world´s highest city. A very cute little town, a contrast to La Paz as it was so quiet and pretty. Potosi is famous for its silver mines in Cerro Ricco (rich mountain). We went on a tour of the mines. Not a pleasant experience one, but
certainly an unforgettable one. The conditions were abismal, the air thick with silicon and arsenic dust. It´s not surprising that the average life expectancy of the miners is about 15 years. Our guide (a very cool guy) was an ex-miner. He began working at 8 years old, at 15 years he was given a lucky break when he was asked if he wanted a job showing tourists round the mines. Some of the kids we saw working in the horrible conditions of the mines were seriously young. Very disturbing to see. Climbing through to the different levels of the mine was an experience. It was hot and very difficult to breathe as we climbed hands and knees through the tiniest of gaps in the rock. By the end of tour, we had both lost our voices and were very glad to be back outside in the daylight and fresh air. Phew! We had an explosive finish to our tour, with the guide dynamiting a toy monkey. Poor thing!
Next stop Sucre the capital..........
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Sarah G-Love
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JEALOUS!!
Wow...this just looks so amazing. How much did this trip cost again? I want to do it ha