Blogs from Uyuni, Potosí Department, Bolivia, South America

There's an old legend, that Jesus once turned water into wine. Seeing is believing, goes the other old saw. Road-trip into a small, north-Argentinian town in search of a local version of Rio de Janeiro's famed carnival, fiesta, frolic and fun. Another bandied hack flickers its tongue: beware of what you ask for. The trumpets blare, rumpety-pumpety drums beat and beat, others triple and thrum, oboes move air, charangos twang and trill, and violins fill the empty spaces with cumbian drive and rhythm. And the wine flows. Free wine! 'No such thing as a free lunch?' Maybe. Free wine! Seeing is believing. The country's wine-bearing regions run mostly along the eastern base of the Andes Mountains, in areas of ample sunshine and enough snowmelt for good irrigation. From the south, Neuquen (in northern Patagonia), northwards some ... read more

From Puno in Peru we took a bus along the Titikaka lake, including a crossing of a small strait, across the border to Bolivia, with again beautiful landscapes of the Andes peaks and volcanoes. We ended up in La Paz, again at around 4000 meters above sea level, with perfect sunny blue skies during the day and crystal clear and cold nights. La Paz was quite a pleasant surprise, being a combination of a modern city with a very strong indigenous presence and feel, with a very touristy ghetto like city centre though. We spent a few days wandering around the city with the snowy peaks as a continuous backdrop and visiting the enormous local bi-weekly market at the El Alto, the highest major metropolis in the world, with an average elevation of 4,150 meters above ... read more

Aussitôt arrivés, nous posons notre sac à l'auberge et fonçons tout droit vers le bureau d'une agence pour réserver notre escapade dans le fameux désert de sel (merci Alice et Quentin pour le précieux conseil ?). Le rendez-vous est pris, nous partons le lendemain matin pour 3 jours loin de tout, direction la frontière du Chili à travers d'immenses étendues et sans douche sur notre route (on sera prévenus!) SALAR D'UYUNI - tour 4x4, 3 jours et 2 nuits Départ : Uyuni, ?? Arrivée : San Pedro de Atacama, ?? À bord : une bande de 5 aventuriers dont nous faisons partie et Diego, notre chauffeur/guide bolivien pour le périple. JOUR 1 Cementerio de trenes Quelques minutes de route et c'est déjà temps de faire notre première étape. Sur place, des dizaines de trains fantômes laissés ... read more

BOLIVIA: Following the Dakar Rally Part 1...Into the Unknown. We get dropped in this dust blown town called Uyuni...the hotel didn't even expect us. What's gone wrong? Our private tour of Bolivia has been beyond expectations so far. But the following morning we get the shock of our lives. Now it's my turn to say "Thank you, thank you, thank you." 'Cause we're following the Dakar Rally...the World's premier endurance motor race. The race that had to evacuate Africa because of terrorists. Our guide the quirky Janet with her wicked sense of humour. Our driver is Valerio...the guy who surveyed the Bolivian Section of the Dakar Rally route by motorbike...far out...the guy who set the course...karoomba! How lucky are we? Buckle up, strap down, satnav right, hang on tight. Ain't no tourists where we're going. ****** ... read more

‘Salt plane, Salt plane. Yay, we’re going on a salt plane!’ Nathan was even more excited than I was about going to Uyuni to see the salt flats, and that is saying something. It had something to do with a misunderstanding though. He thought the salt plane was our means of transport and not the destination. We was wrong about that. I think the mode of transport must have been a spaceship, because where we landed seemed like another planet. The space ships, which looked like buses, took us from sunny Copacobana on the shore of Lake Titicaca to La Paz first. We have seen Quito and Lima already and from what I’d heard, La Paz would be even less appealing to us. So we were fortunate enough to get on an overnight bus that departed ... read more