With a Pinch of Salt - Part Two

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Tina Writes

Day three was kicked off in a similar style to previous days, bump starting the Land Cruiser at 6am, and off we went. More weird rock formations, lagoons and flamingos filled the morning before the tail-gate buffet on a salty plain. We were back in the bad seats. The back of the Land Cruiser had no leg room so became rather uncomfortable after a while, even for me with my wee Meccy legs. Poor Rob. It also meant each time we stopped we had to clamber out over the seats in front which had been pulled down. It was ok though. While driving through one of the slat flats we noticed a train in the distance coming toward us. Then we could make out the track which was literally in the middle of nowhere, it looked exactly like the bit in Polar Express when the train goes over the ice lake. We got a toot from the driver and a wave. The train was carrying about 25 wagons full of silver from the mines. We then drove over the track, Santos stopped in the middle and pretended the car had broken down. Again the day went from freezing with all the clothes we could wear to roasting and peeling off the layers. Even with factor 50 on, I got pretty burnt. We went to a Lagoon which had the most Flamingos so far and as there was a hotel built right on the banks, they didn’t run away as you approached as they had become accustomed to humans walking around. Ida had managed to find a Flamingo feather by the side of the water the day before so I went hunting but they were all bleached by the sun. I mentioned to Rob how I liked a part of the lagoon that was black as it made the Flamingos stand out much more, which is when he told me it made no difference to him as the Flamingos looked grey to him!! I felt so sorry for him because it was such a site to see with the pink. Poor colour blind Rob. Coincidently, just after he said this we seen a different species of Flamingo that were, indeed, grey.

We then went to a place that reminded me of Mars. The strange red rock formations sticking out the ground. They had been created by Volcano which we could see smoking a few miles away (I told it smoking is bad for you!). Later we visited a small village which on the outskirts, had a museum where 10 years ago archaeologists found skeletons buried within the coral rock formations from 1200 years ago. They had been open and their remains left inside for you to look at. It was freaky, I love that kind of thing but Rob’s not a big fan. That night we would stay in a rather interesting hostel, made entirely from Salt! The walls, the beds, the floor, the tables, the chairs. I had a wee lick of the wall, just to check. It was deffo salt.

Last day we were up at 5.15am for sunrise on the flats. It was still dark outside and the hostel only has electricity from 7pm to 10pm, so we had to use our head torches to get ready. The sunrise was amazing and we took some nice pics. We then headed to Fish Island (£5.60). This was a giant piece of coral (created when it was a sea) with millions of cacti. We walked up and round the island and back down where breakfast had been set out for us. We then headed into the Salar deUyuni, this was the flat that everyone came to see. The best for last. It was so hard not to think it was snow. We arrived at a part of the flats which had the fewest mountains in the background and this allowed us to take some ‘loco’ photos (see below). We then stopped at village where we could buy jumpers and hats etc made from llama wool, we managed to buy a new fridge magnet of a tiny llama made from llama wool. We have decided to collect a fridge magnet from each country we go to. We then had our last meal together. After this we went to train graveyard, where all the old engines have basically been dumped and left to wrought. We clambered around them and took some cool pics, hopefully Nathan will like them. We then headed to Uyuni, where we were dropped off, said our goodbyes to Santos and Lupi and hung out with the girls until our bus to Potosi, the highest city in the world.

A wee observation, as we go further north, the ruder and more unfriendly the locals become, quite strange. Also the buses in Bolivia suck, they smell and have no suspension, but for a 6 hour bus journey it costs less than £2 so can’t really complain.

We are in Potosi now and plan on heading to Sucre in a day or two.

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Comments

[Kirsten]

These pics are amazing. So envious of this trip. That's about the most alien looking place ever!

[clair]

rock rocks!
the first picture of Pinch of salt Part deux- looks like the back of a dancing stegasaurus!

[claire]

cooolll
Rebecca just said "why is that man eating another man for breakfast!!!!" hahahax