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Published: December 6th 2009
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We had another good nights sleep apart from the sudden turning on of the lights at 1am to wake everyone up for a toilet stop (what if you don’t need a wee?!) We arrived early into Potosi, a cold wet and high Potosi (the world’s highest city in fact!) Still feeling a little sleepy we got a taxi to the main square and then promptly got one back to the bus station as we realized nothing was open at 6.00am and more to the point had no plans of actually staying in Potosi. We waited for a coffee shop to open at 7.30am and had some breaki and some warming drinks and then booked our bus ticket out of Potosi leaving at 10am. The bus ride was the bumpiest ride I have ever been on in my entire life and held on to the edge of my seat for dear life as we crawled up and over mud tracks over the mountains for 6 hours with a bus load of smelly passengers (me being one of them!)
Upon arrival into Uyuni and very grateful to be off the bus we checked into the Hostal Avienda and paid a few of
the 28 companies offering salt plain tours a visit. With stories of food poisoning and drunk drivers we were keen to get a good company. We settled with a company called Red Planet. The salt plains tour was brilliant, we thought that we would just see the salt flats and a couple of other areas of interest, but in fact we got a lot more. The first day included a visit to a train cemetery where you were free to climb over old rusty trains. We saw a salt factory where they make 100kgs of salt a day and the flats were they get salt from. It was a massive salt lake stretching as far as the eye could see. The next stop of the day was to an island that was home to 100´s of cacti, many of which were 100´s of years old. We climbed to the top of the island and got an amazing view unlike either of us had ever seen before. After our desent we took some amusing photos on the salt flats. Later I practiced a bit of Parkour and soon had the guide (Oscar) joining in jumping over salt tables. I’m sure you
can begin to see an emerging pattern here being salt, so of course that evening was spent in a salt hotel, yes the beds, floors, walls and ceilings were all made of salt! Even the air tasted of salt. The evening was spent drinking wine and playing cards with our own tour group and Andreas a crazy Brazilian and Julian a crazy Frenchman!
We awoke at 5.20 the next morning to watch the sun rise, it was a beautiful sight and we wee joined by a friendly dog who became my new best friend. When we left him to go back inside he was quite happily knawing on a sheep’s leg!
We drove to our first port of call with sounds of Empire of the Sun, a great way to start the day. The scenery on the second day was again very spectacular and different from the day before. We saw llamas rolling in the sand, a large semi-dormant volcano with steam ejecting out of one side and some funny green stuff growing on the rocks, I can’t remember what it was called but when you tapped it sounded hollow but it was very hard and strong. After
lunch we visited the Stinky Lagoon which was full of flamingos all haply eating from the lagoon, a truly spectacular site. About an hour further south we stopped at some large volcanic rocks which due to erosion from wind and sand were shaped in odd shapes. We climbed onto a mushroom shaped rock but were nearly blown off as the wind was so strong. The final visit of the day was to the Red Lagoon which got its name from the red algae living in the water.
We had another good evening at a hostel enjoying more card games and playing at being a DJ on Bowks´ iPod.
An even earlier 4am start was required the next morning to get to the geisers for sunrise. The geisers appeared to have a lunar landscape, giant craters with bubbling liquids and steam coming out. It was great to watch the power of nature although we couldn’t hang around for too long as they smelt so bad! Last stop was a relaxing dip in some natural hot springs then driving to the Chilean border to finish the tour and say our goodbyes to the group. We both had a fantastic time
with a great group and a guide whose knowledge and enthusiasm really helped top make the trip a memorable one.
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