From the sublime to the ridiculous

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I have never been asked to picture the flamingo´s natural habitat. Had I been, I would probably have given him a large expanse of water, sun-dappled and gently rippling amidst lush greenery, lianas hanging from the trees and the air alive with birdsong. I would never have placed him on a large expanse of salt, seemingly dropped from the air into hundreds of square miles of inhospitable desert. Nevertheless, this was where we found them in their hundreds on day 2 of our 4 day jeep tour from the Tupiza Quebradas to Salar De Uyuni. Against the sand-coloured rocks, sand-coloured grass and sand-coloured sand (with apologies to Mr Pratchett for that - probably inaccurate - bit of plagiarism) the flamingos stood out, quite literally, like sore thumbs, and waded around with their necks hunched up as though they were well aware of how ridiculous they looked and were really quite embarassed about the whole thing.

Margrethe and I were sharing a jeep with Ellie, from Staffordshire, Daniella and Eva, from Uruguay, Alberto, our guide, and Lucia, his mother and our (fantastic) chef.

By the end of day 2, the trip already ranked pretty highly amongst my best experiences so far. The ever changing landscape meant that while one moment we were looking down on canyons, the next the ground had risen up into rolling hills, before changing to sand dunes and then endless, barren desert, punctuated by brilliantly blue lagunas and blindlingly white salars. Snow-capped mountains reached for the sky on our right, volcanoes on our left - there were hot springs (finally a chance to get the bikini out!) and mountain streams topped with a layer of ice an inch thick. We saw llama and deer grazing on the brush, gazing up incuriously as we passed, or scrambling wildly out of the road as Alberto bore down on them, horn blaring. We stopped (and stayed) in tiny villages miles from anywhere, their mud bricks and straw roofs contrasting starkly with the window glass and solar panels. Villagers ranged from shy to suspicious to wildly excited (photo! photo! una mas! una mas!) to merchandising )you buy hat, socks, bracelet. you have chocolate?). On our first night, myself and Daniela gatecrashed a music performance being staged by village children, who had learnt to play the instruments at school. It was fantastic.

On the second night I forgot the cardinal rule about drinking at altitude (namely - don´t) and woke up somewhat worse for wear the following morning (at the positively luxurious time of 7am). It didn´t help that the cold and lack of oxygen (we were staying at 4200m) had kept me awake for most of the night, alternately gasping for air and trying to curl myself up into an even tighter ball. Unfortunately the two are mutually exclusive - bury your head beneath 4 layers of blankets and it´s not very easy to breathe. However, after a couple of Lucia´s pancakes and a cup of tea I was right as rain, and we spent another very enjoyable day flamingo-spotting, before drawing up to our hostel for that night, which was made entirely out of salt - from the bricks to the tables and chairs to the beds to the floor - and was very impressive.

The fourth morning brought the much-championed finale to the trip - getting up at 5am and driving onto the salt plains to watch the sun come up. It was magical. There aren´t really any words to describe the salt plains, so I won´t try. You´ll have to wait for the photos (which are coming, i promise! even if not until I get home to fast, free internet). The entire trip was a wonderful experience and I am sad that it´s over. But Bolivia has a wealth of features that we have yet to explore!

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