Salar de Uyuni to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

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Monday night we headed off on the night bus to Uyuni.....our tour company was supposed to pick us up from the hostel and transfer us to the bus station by 800 but by 8930 we were growing a bit concerned, and our hostel called the bus station to inform them we were on our way but would be a few minutes late. As it happens they were already boarding the bus when we called so it was a mad walk to the bus station, where we dumped our bags and checked in. The actual bus ride was definately one for the books, what was supposed to be 180 km unpaved roads and 560 paved, I am pretty sure it was the opposite, because from around 2 am to 7 we were offroading in a tour bus. Needless to say it was very hard to sleep and peoples things were falling from the overhead bins, and rolling around on the floor. Upon arrival into Uyuni, we were not met by our tour company and were waiting 30 minutes when she finally showed up......great start to a tour!

The tour started at 11, and so it gave us a little time to get some breakfast, have a shower, and get our exit stamps from bolivia for chile. Anyways, we headed out for the salar, and first stop was the train graveyard. Where literally trains have been dumped and left on the tracks rusting away to pieces. Pretty cool really. Day 1 was all salt flats day, where the earth is bright white and quite glaring. We stopped at a salt community to see how they harvest the salt, and then carried on to fish island. Originally the salar was just one big salt lake but after it dried it left all the salt deposits which in some sections was 3 meters deep.

Day 2, we headed off to one of the local active volcanoes, and also to the red lagoon to see hundreds of flamingos. We also saw tons of viccunas (small deer like animals) and a couple of desert foxes. Today was a lot of driving no longer on salt, but on sand and giant rocks. It is amazing that the whole trip we did not pop a tire at all, because some of the terrain we were driving over was pretty rough.

Thursday, we had to get up at 415 so that we could reach the geysers by sunrise. It was a cold ngiht in the desert, as it can get down to -20. And then naturally in the day time it is hot in the sun. Geysers were pretty cool and then we headed to a local hot springs where you could soak in the early morning. again still freezing cold. We crossed the border to Chile today and what a change in countries. Clearly Chile has tons of money and Bolivia none. We went straight from a crappy dirt road to all of a sudden nice paved, marked and sign posted highways. A nice change from bumping around. We arrived in San Pedro around 12, and manage to find a place to stay and booked our bus to Salta for Sunday. San Pedro is gorgeous and gets up to around 30 degreees in the day. HOT HOT HOT. We dropped I think aroudn 3000 m from bolivia to san pedro, so all of us have a bit more energy than we have had the last few weeks. Plus doing any form of exerxcise has become quite a bit easier. Yesterday we rented some bikes and headed out 3km through the desert to the local pool, and relaxed aroudn there for a few hours. Today James and I are going to go rent sand boards, and go do that on the local sand dunes. Should be fun. Off to Salta tomorrow, 12 hour bus ride, leaves at 1030. Anyways all is well, absolutely loved bolivia, gorgeous country, very safe, and tons of fun. Hope all is well.

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