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Published: December 18th 2007
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Mark and I had been looking forward to the Salar tour for months. We had expected it to be a highlight of our South American jaunt, and it really was. This entry will be a short one. There isn´t much to say as we spent three days with our jaws dropped in awe of this incredible place....
We had a nightmare of a bus journey from Potosi to Uyuni... it took 7 hours in the sweltering heat on an overcrowded bus with no opening windows (some locals stood in the aisle for the whole duration of the journey). Needless to say, we were relieved to arrive in Uyuni, (described by Lonely Planet as "a frigid, otherworldly town") and we checked into Hotel Tonito. We paid a fortune by Bolivian standards for the room but at that stage we were just glad to have a bed to crash out in. We spent that evening and the next day pigging out on pizza. There are two reasons why people come to Uyuni, 1. to organise a tour on the Salar and 2. to eat Minuteman pizza. This restaurant is famous all over South America and is on every gringo´s "must do" list.
In the words of Lonely Planet again, "the pizzas are as out of this world as the Salar itself". It didnt fail to disappoint and we relished the opportunity to scoff down pizzas two nights in a row!
After a day pottering around Uyuni, we headed off on our much awaited tour of the Salar de Uyuni. The Salar is the world's largest salt flat at 10,582 km² (4,085 square miles). We had a fantastic group, of a lesbian couple from Holland and a French couple. There were also a group of Irish guys who we had met in Potosi on our tour, but in another jeep. The crack was mighty! We spent the next 3 days travelling through the desert in jeeps. We spent our first night in a hostel made of salt which was beautiful. Our second night was spent at over 4,000m where it was -10 degrees outside. It was one of the coldest nights I have ever experienced. We were up at 4.30am on our last day to visit a geyser field and to bathe in beautiful thermal springs. The Salar is the most inhospitable and desolate places I have ever seen. But, I loved
it. It really is beautiful and you can only see this from the photos!
After an amazing three days on the Salar, we left Bolivia and crossed the border to Chile. After my bag was thoroughly searched by the Chilean authorities (Mark obviously doesn´t look like the drug smuggling type!), we arrived in the cute town of San Pedro de Atacama. CULTURE SHOCK! The prices suddenly soared, the people were not particularly friendly and spoke too fast for us to understand, the streets were quiet and clean, everywhere was very classy.... We felt so out of place in our filthy and over worn travelling clothes. We had been used to spending 1 euro on a 3 course lunch for the last 2 months and then suddenly we had to face spending 4 euro on a measly sandwich! We spent 3 days in San Pedro and only ate out once... the time had arrived to save money and cook for ourselves.
We really loved San Pedro de Atacama. It is a really classy and pretty town. All the buildings are made of adobe and are whitewashed. The weather was fantastic, which was really nice, after so much exposure to
harsh high altitude weather over the last few months. Gregory was to arrive the next day, so spirits were high! Our plan was to meet him at Calama airport, in the middle of the Atacama desert, and spend 2 more nights in San Pedro, sandboarding and exploring the Atacama (the driest desert in the world). We were then to head down south to the seaside town of La Serena which was to be our base for exploring the Elqui valley. Little did we know how headed for disaster this plan was!
We caught the bus to Calama to meet Gregory at the airport... we waited and waited but he never turned up. In hindsight I suppose it was a bit ambitious of us all to expect that he would arrive in Calama at all, (he had to book 4 flights to get there from Dublin). The panic started to set in and we were both running around the tiny airport trying to find him, but to no avail. We were told at the information desk that the plane had landed so we really didnt know what to do. Luckily, there was an internet equipped computer at the airport so
I logged on and had four emails waiting for me, from Dad and Gregory. I think Gregory's email summarises the disaster that was his journey to Chile:
"My God what a disaster! I´m sure you heard the whole story from dad,
suffice to say everything is going to shit, flight missed, bag in
Brazil and stuck in Santiago with little to no money! Trying to book
onto the same flight for tomorrow, can´t do it until tomorrow morning
so I´ll let you know when it´s booked. Hopefully the bag will arrive
from Sao paulo just in time to chuck it on board too but if not I´ll
just leave it and wear your clothes! Sorry about all this, must be
even more annoying for you. No need to go to Calama to pick me up
tomorrow I´ll go to the hostel and see you there. If - worst case
scenario - the flight is booked up by tomorrow I´ll hop on a bus first
thing and be there in 24 hours. Let me know what you think. I´m
staying at the holiday inn at the airport for tonight, hopefully
there´s internet there, none in the airport!"
A plan
B was formulated and we decided that we would skip the San Pedro part of the trip and we would meet in La Serena. Mark and I headed back to San Pedro for the night and caught a 16 hour bus to La Serena. Gregory waited around Santiago for a day for his bag, but it never arrived. It was probably still in Frankfurt at that stage. He boarded a bus to La Serena and met us there the following morning (2 days after the proposed meeting date!). Boy were we glad to see him! What a disaster! Anyway, things started to right from then on thankfully, and his bag was flown up to La Serena the next day...
A big shout out to all the parents for all the surprises and goodies sent over with Gregory! Very very much appreciated! Thank you so much.
Our next blog will be a guest entry from Gregory!
Mark has composed a poem over the last few weeks and we would like to sign off with it!...
An Ode To Solid Poo by Mark McMullan What is the matter with your surly friend
Who you left in charge of my rear end?
He has me wrapped around his little finger,
On the way to the toilet I cannot linger.
It's off to the toilet that I stumble,
With curses under my breath that I mumble.
In my throat I feel another lump,
As I realise I need another liquidy dump.
I have a distant memory of a log,
As I sit here on this stinking bog.
Andrex, Charmin and others too,
Could never wipe away all the poo.
No doubt you await another witty quip,
As I sit here to the sound of drip, drip, drip...
For the end of this poem the time has come,
As I have to go and wipe my bum.
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MichaelM.
non-member comment
Lunchtime
Dear God Mark after 3weeks without the internet and starved of Mark/Kate eloquence I open up today and read your poem. Out of which southside school were you weaned. Anyway great to be back reading your lblog or is it 'log'! yes Gregory's disastrous RyanAir like flight was well documented in Lahernahone.have to back to class Talk later