Dedicated to Ms. Steph Lee

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Bolivia had a strong aversion to us using USB ports so we couldn't upload any photos for the last few weeks. So, we'll try to backtrack and recollect our last week or so in Bolivia since we've recently crossed into Argentina and it's like a whole new world. Please check back for videos dedicated to Steph Lee--we haven't been able to upload them yet. We need to buy a new jumpdrive as ours has filled up.

The bus ride from Potosì to Uyuni was perhaps our best yet. There was a group of 5 Argentinian girls and 3 Argentinian guys, both groups armed with guitars and good vibes. Most of the ride consisted in passing the mate gourd around, sharing snacks and having an epic sing-a-long. The bus broke down (no surprise) at one point, but by then we just took this to mean--time to have a bathroom break and a gaze at the stars. We asked our new South American friends to show us the Southern Cross and we did a little waltz under the wide bright sky. We got into Uyuni,¨a one horse town¨ as John calls it, at about 2am and found a cheap room with no problems.

Uyuni is the kind of place most people pass through very quickly. They arrange a tour to the Salt Flats (Salar de Uyuni) and get out of dodge. So, obviously, we stayed 3 nights total. The best restaurant in town (and we consider ourselves experts after so much time in such a small town) is Minuteman Pizza. Chris, the Bostonian owner, was the best ex-pat, American or otherwise, we have encountered thus far. Really laid back and nice, just trying to raise his sons with his Bolivian wife. We got the sense he doesn't see many Americans there because he seemed to take a shine to us. He gave us a free apple pie. Then again, we did go there 3 times...

This blog is dedicated to Ms. Stephanie Lee because she expressed so much interest in the salt flats. We got ourselves an economical tour with driver Don Juan (he doesn't drink and is very tranquilo we were told--apparently drunk tour drivers are a very real concern) and 3 lovely Argentinian girls. Carolina, Carla and Sol are all physical education teachers in Buenos Aires. We can hardly express how sweet, fun and full of personality these chicas are.

Well, we set off in our Land Cruiser for the train cemetary and then the salt flats. The former is pretty interesting for 20 minutes and the latter is just breathtaking. There is just nothing else like it. Basically there was an ancient sea in that part of Bolivia and when it dried up thousands and thousands of years ago it left what is in some parts up to 2 meters of salt. This is processed and sold for consumption but mostly you just see kilometers and kilometers of blindingly white salt.

Fun factoid--Quinua grows at between 3000 and 4000 meters. We saw it growing for the first time just as we were exiting the salt flats. We've eaten a lot of quinua on this trip. Quinua soup, quinua granola, quinua in bread and now quinua empanadas!

In the early evening we arrived at our hostel. We had some mate with the girls and hung out with the llamas. Then we had dinner. This is where the story takes a turn, folks. Josie started feeling very Delhi Belly after dinner and soon after began to vomit...all night long. John followed suit soon after and into the morning. Food Poisoning! This part of the blog is not dedicated to Steph. The next morning, John kept having to ask Don Juan to stop the truck for sick breaks. Eventually, we decided to have him drop us off at a tiny pueblo (no horse town, but plenty of llamas) where we slept for 17 hours and ate nothing. The next morning we felt weak but a lot better. We walked around the pueblo, communed with the llamas and even saw two white flamingos. It was no Laguna Colorada, plethora of pink flamingos, hot springs, geysers and volcanos, but it was what we had. Don Juan and the girls picked us up at lunchtime along with a French guy named Michel who drank half a bottle of wine at lunch. We steered clear of the eggs that we thought did us wrong (since we're vegetarians we were the only ones who ate fried eggs the night before).

We're not going to get into the ugliness of our encounter with Fàtima of the tour company upon returning to Uyuni. Let's just say that Josie got to use all her rapid Spanish and John wrote a note in her book that she'll probably tear out.

The next morning we took a 6am bus to Tupiza--land of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid...

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Photos

1, 2, 3...
Not a mirage, we´re actually levitating

At the Salt Island
The salt coast...you can almost imagine the waves hitting this place

Handle with care...
...or maybe, do not try this at home

Comments

[travislyon]

cool
random post. i love the jumping picture :-)

[Erin]

Would you call that a jump?
No offense John, but I'm pretty sure you have the least amount of air in that photo - you may be able to constitute that as a hop, or a skip, but never a jump. Love you!

[steph]

Happy happy happy!
I'm not happy about the food poisoning, but I"m soooo happy about the pics and to hear about Uyuni! Of course I'm also ecstatic to have a blog dedicated to me---- wooooo--eeeee! :) Glad you met some fun people though cuz places like that should be a gathering of nice people.