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Published: April 11th 2012
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Tupiza to Uuyni We (Alana, Paul, Ian and I) arrived at the boarder of Bolivia and Argentina extremely breathless and a little cold, we had started our ascent into Bolivia. Once our visas were sorted we caught the train to Tupiza, a small village that resembles the wild, wild west; red desert, cacti and men wearing cowboy hats. There wasn't too much to do in Tupiza except eat at the many delicious mexican/vegetarian restaurants and go horse riding. We did both. Alana, Paul, Ian and I set off with our 12 year old guide on a gorgeous afternoon. A short while after we left we could see a storm brewing in the distance. Regardless our guide took us to a canyon and shortly after it started raining. As the rain got progressively heavier our child-guide ran for cover leaving us 4 huddling under a tree. I started to hear a unusual noise and pointed this out to my fellow amigos 'Do you guys hear that? Sounds like water.' Seconds later a wall of muddy water came rushing down marooning our horses on one side and us on the other. More and more water kept rushing by making the horses
very jittery. Ian thought it would be a good idea to jump on his horse and ride off. Only to fall off down the creek. He sustained some injuires but servers him right for abandoning us. We made it out unscathed (except Ian) but very very cold. What an adventure! (Paul has re-writen 'The Man from Snowy River' that outlines the events of the afternoon. I will post soon!)
Salar Tour (A three day jeep tour from Tupiza to Uyuni)
Day 1: After a quick cold shower (to be our last for the next 5 days) we rugged up and ventured out, packs included, to meet our driver and cook for the trip. Neither Henry (dirver) or Augustina (cook) spoke a word of English and our Spanish left alot to be desired.
The morning was spent driving up mountians ohhhhing and ahhhhing at the view while chewing coca leaves to starve off the altitude sickness. I wasnt too impressed with them - they tasted like grass and made one side of my mouth go numb but both Henry and Augustina were munching on them like they were potato chips so we figured they must help. Our first
stop was some old ruins where Augustina magically prepared a delicious lunch of salad, corn friters (for the vegies) and Llama stewed in something red.
Back on the road again...another few hours of amazing scenery and lots of photos and SNOW! We all got a little excited..until we got bogged. Henry and the boys jumped out to push but without much luck. By this stage we had been in the car for around 7 hours and were all feeling a little weary. Luckily for us a car came and got us out only to get stuck its self another 20 minutes down the muddy road. A whole convoy of jeeps stopped to help. Alana was feeling horrible so we left her wimpering in the backseat while we all donned our warmest clothes and started heaving rocks under the wheels. The jeep eventually got out however the remainder of the drive was similiar: jeep gets bogged, everyone gets out, everyone gets muddy and cold. It was starting to get dark and our mood was slowly declining. In the end we drove for 13 hours through Treacherous Terrain all moaning and holding our heads. Once at our 'hostel' (a mud building
with suprisingly comfortable beds) we had tea and cookies promptly put our selves to bed.
Day 2: After a cosy nights sleep we were awoken by Henry 'Chicos chicos' and after a quick breakfast of bread and jam we vamosed. Action packed day:
• Thermal Pools
• Flemingoes
• Llamas
• Green, black and orange lagoons
• Dali desert; Something out of a dali painting. Snow capped mountians, red desert and odd shaped rocks all different sizes.
• Geysers; so smelly. sulfuric gasses coming out of holes in the earth.
Muchos photos and another delicious lunch. Weather was a real 'four seasons in one day' the day started sunny and warm(ish) then it started to rain which soon turned into snow then back to dry and dusty. We were 5000 m above sea level. After such an action packed day we had another very early night.
Day 3: Another early morning. Lots to see on the route north to Uyuni:
• Weird rock formations one that looked alot like homer simpson and another like a tree
• More coloured lagoons
• Spanish/English lessons with Henry
• Fried banana with our lunch. delish!
Uyuni was coverd in rubbish. A
very small town much like Tupiza but dirtier. We thought we would get showers here but were mistaken. A quick walk around town and a spot of shopping, dinner and then bed. Henry had informed us that we were to get up at 4am in the morning. I thought he was joking. No joke so straight to bed. We arrived on the Salar, the largest salt desert in the world with an area of1200km. It was FREEZING but very worth it when the sun started to rise. Lots of photos then off for breakfast in a hut in the middle of the Salar. Henry had bought props for us to take silly photos with lots of laughs and more photos (see photos) Back at our accom and still now shower we said a sad goodbye to Henry and Augustina and the 4 of us plus a french guy and sweedish girl headed off to book a bus to Potosi. Such an amazing tour and the best tour guide ever. Its hard to properly describe the scenery refer to the photos!
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