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Published: April 10th 2009
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HOla,
So we left for our 3 day tour of the salt flats and lagoons high i the mountains today, april 5th. We are in toyota land cruisers, 6 per jeep. And trust me these babies are not up to my standards ! So off we went around 11am, and arrive an hour later at the salt flats. these are the worlds biggest slat flats, they are really amazing. But unfortunately they do remind me of Antarctica, all the white, its like looking out at the sea ice again,,,, NOoooooo, haha. So after a few stops driving across the salt flats we continue on. Well the road, if you call it that is nothing more than dirt trails at best. These trails are ruff! Its an extremely bumpy ride. So on we go. We basically are just navigating through the andes mountains on trails. Our next destination is the lagoons high up in the mountains, but first we have to stop for the night. Well the place we are sleeping is made of salt bricks, and a salt floor. It is what you would call,,, basic.... 6 of us in one room. This tour is not for luxury thats for
sure, it really roughing it out here. So the second day we head out around 8am heading for the lagoons and flamingos. This is where we really start to see some amazing scenery in the bolivian Andes mountains. The route we take heads west towards the chile border. So all day is up and down, really rough roads, bouncing us around like rag dolls. There are always other jeeps broken down, flat tires, or broken bits all over. When we booked this tour they tell you right up front you may break down, get stuck, but it shouldn't take too long to get you picked up by another jeep, i know that makes me feel better,, haha. So we are going to 4 lagoons today, all with flamingos in them. This whole day the scenery gets better and better, as we go higher and higher. BY the end of this day we have reached 15,000 feet elevation ! This is the highest i have ever been. Our room for this night is also above 15,000 feet. Neither C or i have had any real negative effects from the altitude yet, so thats good. At this altitude you cant help but
notice how high you are. I thought Colorado and 10 or 11000 feet was high and took your breath away,, hahaha 15000 really makes you work to walk. So day 2 ends, we see 4 lagoons, all just amazing, pink flamingos, great blue skies, and snow capped mountains all around us. So night 2 is in another incredibly small village, and once again 6 of us in a room. By now we know our jeep buddy's pretty well , haha. And of all the bad luck, i am the only guy in the group, 5 women and me..haha. its rough. And, Well there is another whole story about our group and this other jeeps group, kinda amusing, but kinda not, anyway it better left for when i get back, not for a public travel log. These places we are staying are very basic, power by generator, no showers, well no nothing really, just beds. They do feed us, usually chicken or pasta noodles, again very basic. So day 3 we wake at 4am to leave by 4.30 and make it to this summit by sunrise. So off we go in the dark, as the light finally starts to show i
turned my little gps on and we were just about at 16,000 feel elevation ! holy crap ! So after a bit we do peak over 16000! MInd you the prior night and this morning it is really cold, not freezing but darn close. So we arrive to see the sunrise at a hot springs, people were going in the hot springs, steam pouring off their bodies, and off the water, as the sun rose over the mountains.. WOW, this was worth the price of admission alone. C and i decided not to swim, i actually woke with a headache, pretty bad, probably from the altitude. One of our group members gave me some coca leaves to chew, they supposedly help with altitude problems. So i did it, and they actually worked, headache did go away by sunrise, but i wasnt in the mood to go in the water. And blablabla i dont want to hear it, i jumped in the antarctic ocean mid winter, so i earned my stripes already, haha. So after the sunrise it was off to the chile border to drop off half our group. People choose different tours, some choose to go to the border,
and then other jeeps take them into chile and that direction, but C and i have already been that way. So we get to the border, talk about middle of no where! Drop our load, and off we go, back to uyuni. We have to drive all day to get back to uyuni, about 8 hours of driving. Its a long day, up at 4am, and finally reach uyuni at 6.30pm. Well once back we find out they were able to book us on the overnight bus to la paz, 10 hour ride, leaves at 8pm. So we grab our bags, go grab a proper dinner (pizza!) And off to the bus station for our trip. Now its been 3 days, no shower, and keep in mind this whole trip is basically in a desert, dust always in the air, our hair covered in it, same clothes for 3 days in this, and no shower,, oh boy, now on the bus for 10 hours, of which the first 6 hours are dirt roads, so more dust and very bumpy. Well we did it, we arrived in la paz at around 7am on april 8th, got a taxi to our hotel
that we booked ahead, and luckily we were able to check right in, took showers and then a nap, wheeew. been a long 5 days. NOw we can relax a bit here, we plan on staying in la paz for 4 or 5 days. We are still above 10,000 feet, lap paz is around 12,500 feet, the highest capital city in the world. Anyway time to rest.
Ohh and about the pics, keep in mind most of the monitors i use suck, they are dark, or colors all messed up, so i cant really tell if i am choosing good or bad pics, i am just trying to show a range of what we saw and did. We have already took over 2000 pics total, so all you family and friends will still have to suffer through my pics when i return, hopefully i have some good ones in there.
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