Tupiza and the salt flats of Bolivia

South America » Bolivia » Potosí Department » Tupiza
April 5th 2007

Published: April 5th 2007

Edit Blog Post

Mark and Fran

Day 3

Gap advert anyone?

Massive culture shock crossing the border into Bolivia. The altitude
literally takes your breath away - over 3000 metres high. Interesting
first experience of Bolivian buses - apparently it doesn't matter that the
tyre has a huge hole in it we were told when we expressed concern. 20
minutes into the journey though the engine fell out of the bottom - that did
matter.

We sat on the side of the road for 3 hours in the middle of a desert
until a passing chicken bus took pity on us.
Met Lucy and Darren in a village called Tupiza, they were sickeningly
brown after their month in Brazil - Mark and I very much ill looking in
comparison. Went for a horseride to the Canon del Inca - no helmet, no
guidance, bucking horses but great fun. Also mountain biked down
through the mountain range El Sillar. Almost lost the bikes half way through when
we had to flee from a herd of goats and the vicous dog that was keeping an
eye on them. Scary stuff for us but great entertainmant for the locals
watching
....

High Altitude 4X4 jeep tour.4 days of amazing scenery passing through

Tupiza

remote traditional Bolivian villages, amazing rock formations, coloured lagoons full of pink
flamingoes and active volcanoes. Our guide Allesandro was a bit of a legend as
was our cook Giovanna who came up trumps with the Bolivian dishes - she even
threw in a bit of llama meat into the mix. Arrived at the salt flats on night 3 and stayed in the Salt Hotel. Yep, thats right - everything in it made purely of salt. Had a little lick
of the floor to test it out.... yum. The slat flats were pretty special
although we almost never made it onto them. Not all were as lucky as us with their
driver, a guide called Eddie from another jeep tour company thought he
would stay up drinking all night and was 2 hours late getting up in the
morning. Having missed the sun rise breakfast in the middle of the plains he had
promised his group, he thought he would take a little short cut and
managed to get the jeep well and truly stuck in the soft salt. Our jeep was
first on the scene and try as we might we couldnt push them out. Another jeep
tried to

Tupiza

come to the rescue by driving right up to the first, no surprises
when he also got stuck... A 50 man operation ensued, Bolivian style. A few
hours later and both had been saved although Eddies group were to be
disspainted again a mere 2 hours later when he ran out a petrol on the middle of
the flats, a good coulpe of hours walk from the nearest jeep.

Good times.The four of us had a great time though (most importantly), the slat
flats providing us with much photograpic entertainment as seen below...

Additional photos below

Photos: 34, Displayed: 23