On top of the world.....

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Hello all from Bolivia - from Potosi - the highest city in the world - at an altitude of almost 4000 metres.

Im in a lovely hostal/hotel and free to write at length so grab Yyourself a cup of tea and nestle down as this is a long (but hopefully interesting) one. Here´s the latest installment since my last update from Salta in Northern Argentina.

16 October - Leaving Salta in the dark we drove West towards the great Andes and Chile. It was an arduous 12 hours in the truck to get to the Chilean border and into San Pedro de Atacama. The truck rumbled up and up with all of us under strict instructions to drink plenty of water as we ascended the mountains. These are harsh places and as we rose higher towards the clouds, breathing became harder and as the pressure decreased a slow foreboding ache descended on my head and sinuses. With all the water consumption - I was up to 4 litres before we hit 3000m - 30 minute pee stops were needed and to those of a delicate and private disposition look away now….

There is no dignity in overlanding - you grab some loo roll from the front of the truck, and squat behind a rock or bush at the side of the road. Boys, girls - it really doesn’t matter although there is one member of the group who seems to walk as far away as possible for a slash. Suffice to say, Im now familiar with many of my fellow traveller´s white bottoms!

At the highest point we reached today - 4000m I was at my worst in terms of the altitude impact. Initial giggly delirium turned to nausea and a crippling pressure in my head. Everyone was really struggling. We started to descend down into Chile as dusk was falling. However, San Pedro de Atacama (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Pedro_de_Atacama) in the dark seemed truly lovely - though bitterly cold once the sun had set. Low lying houses/buildings and unsealed roads. Cafes flickered with candlelight and log fires and after dinner (in a restaurant!! We didn’t have to set up a camp cook tonight. Hurrah!) , a small group of us though utterly exhausted form the long day decided to head out into the Atacama Desert for the stargazing (http://www.spaceobs.com/) with the enigmatic Frenchman Alain (who reminded me terribly of the lovely Horacio from BA). Quirky and witty he entertained us in lessons of the cosmos including the theory of relativity! I gazed up at Jupiter through his giant telescopes which made the planet, though light years away, appear the size of a cherry tomato. The black desert sky was flecked with stars and in the freezing darkness we learnt how to spot constellations and the physics of the earth´s movement. Suffice to say, this was a bit of a head fuck at 230am!!

Utterly glacial night in the tent but once the sun rose the tent became an inferno. I lay in til 11ish as many of those who didn’t stay up til the wee small hours star gazing went sandboarding this morning - sadly not an activity I relish. I have done it before and Im shite and trust me, you end up with sand in every orifice. Not so much an issue if you have a nice warm bath with bubbles to climb into but here in Chile the basic campsite showers are icy cold only…..go figure.

Instead we pottered round the town and by day San Pedro - the stepping stone into the Atacama desert is filled with the backpacking vibe. Bit disappointing really. It seemed so different in the dark. Its rustic and delightfully charming but exists solely for tourism - artisan shops selling the same boho wares, internet cafes and kiosks advertising éxpeditions´ far and wide. We negotiated a private 4x4 to take 5 of us out to the Valle de la Muerte (Valley of Death- http://images.google.com.bo/images?hl=es&um=1&sa=1&q=Valle+de+la+Muerte%2C+bolivia&btnG=Buscar+im%C3%A1genes&aq=null&oq=&start=0 ), 4kms west of the town. The landscape twists and folds into distorted pastel pinks with peaks and troughs. These mineral sculptures have been formed by the wind and rain after layers of sedimentary rock from 23million years ago were pushed and wrapped by the Earth´s crust, lifting the Andes and leaving the strat vertical. Giant sandunes lay amidst the twisted formations and we walked down through this geological curiosity. Being abit of a geological geek, I found it all rather exciting! Hehe

Back at camp we reconvened with the others and set off in the Dragoman Truck to Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon- http://images.google.com.bo/images?hl=es&source=hp&q=valle+de+la+luna+bolivia&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=-wDiSsqOMoOm8AbzzLjlAQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBAQsAQwAA ). Located on the Salt Mountain range bordering the Atacama Salt Flats, this is considered one of the most inhospitable corners of the Earth. Certainly its desolateness and absence of any life - all at 2550m above sea level is truly breathtaking. Armed with some fine Argentinean wine we climbed up the ridge to watch the sun go down and see the top of Volcan Licanbur at 5950m turn a fiery red.

19 October - We departed San Pedro just as dawn broke this morning having packed all our tents away in the early morning gloom and bitter cold. Today went as high as we can in South America….leaving Chile behind (allegedly having acclimatized) we climbed up to the Southern Altiplano of Bolivia - http://images.google.com.bo/images?hl=es&um=1&sa=1&q=bolivian+altiplano&aq=f&oq=&start=0 . It’s a barren plateau sitting on the roof of the world. Bleak windswept and devoid of any apparent animal life bar the occasional lone llama or alpaca herd. We drove up to the Bolivian checkpoint - a desolate outpost in the shadow of the volcano range we qued in the biting wind for our entry stamps.

First stop on the Altiplano was Laguna Verde at 4400m (http://images.google.com.bo/images?hl=es&um=1&sa=1&q=laguna+verde+bolivia&aq=5&oq=Laguna+Verde&start=0) . In a brown scrubby landscape lies this sparkling jade coloured soda lake - covering 17sqkm at the foot of the Volcan, its bright green turquoise luminescence is as a result of the complicated recipe of magnesium, calcium carbonate, lead and arsenic - not one for bathing in then!

Upwards we continued to climb through Pampa de Chalviri and a 5000metre high pass - on even higher to the checkpoint at Alpacheta - only a couple of hundred metres below Everest Base Camp. Yet due to the beating sun, there is no snow - just unremitting nothingness - windlashed and empty. Dropping to 4278m we came across the 60sqkm Laguna Colorado (http://images.google.com.bo/images?hl=es&um=1&sa=1&q=Laguna+Colorado&btnG=Buscar+im%C3%A1genes&aq=f&oq=&start=0) . Another lake whose name and colour derive from the microorganisms in it. The waters of the lake are salmon pink and the algae it it provides sustenance for the thousands of flamingoes that live there. A truly surreal site. The shores of the lake were littered with the carcasses of baby flamingoes flecked with white borax.

The air is so thin up here and you can travel for hours without seeing another soul except the odd 4x4. Out truck looks incongruous as it bounces along the unsealed bumpy tracks through the Altiplano. The road conditions are incredibly rough and dusty and as one of the group put it “its like you have been continuously arse raped for 7hrs on the trot”. Not sure how he knows what that feels like!! The suspension on the truck has taken a hell of a bashing in the wilds here.

After many hours in this unrelenting landscape we stopped at a Bolivian village called Ville Mar in the absolute middle of nowhere. Suddenly I am in a place as far removed from the Uk as seems possible. Bowler -hatted Bolivian women with their long licorice plaits herd up Alpacas and the village children shout to us “óla caramellos” whilst playing football on a dusty pitch in the shadows of the Altiplano Mountains. Truly memorable.

Night time air temperatures drop way below freezing here and it was relief that we bedded down in a ´refuge´ rather than the tents tonight. Refuge being a very simple building with no hot water……

A pre dawn start at 630am with my Group doing breakfast on the back of last night´s dinner - whoever organized the cooking rota obviously had masochistic tendencies. The truck water supply had frozen so we spent ages boiling village water to make porridge for 20!

Waving goodbye to the village children, we endured a further number of hours on the gritty ridgemarked road, rattling along through the southwestern remote corner of Bolivia to Uyuni- a railway junction founded at the turn of the century. Once an important gateway to Chile and Argentina the decline of the Bolivian railways impacted on the town terribly and its wide dust blown streets and relentless icy winds lend it a strange post apocalyptic feel. Traditional Bolivian dress is everywhere - im doing my darndest to try and get some photos online for you. The problem is I have sooo many and the connection is v slow to upload here. It literally takes hours….

The good news is that looking at the future itinerary the amount of camping we do drops considerably and we are staying in hostals - you cant imagine how joyous that feels! Today we headed out to the highest and largest saltlake in the world at an altitude of 3650m and covering 12000sqkms - the blindingly dazzling Salar de Uyuni - (http://images.google.com.bo/images?hl=es&source=hp&q=salar%20de%20uyuni&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi ) 4x4 cars took us to the tiny settlement of Colchai and then into the alabaster midst. Workers quarry the salt in the village and if there is demand, apparently 8 people can process 5000kgs of salt a day!

The brightness of the sun on the salt is mesmeric and I think without shades, a cap and sunscreen you would go mad due to the brightness. The jeeps took us 80kms into the plain to Isla del Pescado (http://images.google.com.bo/images?hl=es&um=1&sa=1&q=Isla+del+Pescado&aq=f&oq=&start=0 ) - an island studded with giant and ancient (up to 1000 yrs old) cacti with stunning views of the volcanos and mountains on the fringes of the Salar. Walking round the island was arduous - every step at this altitude is exhausting and to be honest I am really struggling with the altitude. I have a permanent headache and feel shattered much of the time. The 20 somethings (and indeed the Ecuadorian Guide) on the truck seem to take it in their stride combined with drinking hideous amounts… this evening they spent the night doing the 10 shot challenge in a revolting pub (called the Extreme Fun Pub) until they threw up. I was actually quite repulsed and had to leave the bar.

After another day of spine juddering on the roads, we reached Potosi - the highest city in the world (http://images.google.com.bo/images?hl=es&um=1&sa=1&q=potosi+&btnG=Buscar+im%C3%A1genes&aq=f&oq=&start=0)

Today I visited the silver mines (http://images.google.com.bo/images?hl=es&um=1&sa=1&q=potosi+silver+mine&aq=f&oq=&start=0 ) which was a sombering experience to go deep into the mountain of the Cerro Rico to watch children blast and hack at the rock for silver ….Known as the mouth of hell, it was quite horrific - only 5 of us out of the Group managed it . Breathing in noxious gases and seeing the quite appalling conditions the miners are working in was a very uncomfortable experience. They were so grateful for the gifts of dynamite, ammonium nitrate, cigarettes, coca leaves and biscuits you are obliged to give them as part of the ´tour´although not another tourist in sight.

These mines date from the 16th century and though closed as state operations in the 1980´s they are now run as cooperatives by small groups of miners. These men and children are draining every last vein of silver out of the giant 4824m mountain they are hacking away at. Potosi was one of the richest cities in the Americas and in 1987 UNESCO crowned it a world heritage site. Now, it is a tragic place with Bolivian families yearning to make money for themselves with the remaining minerals that lie in the rock.

I have now totally acclimatized to life on the road after my last update saying how much of a shock to the system it was. That said, it aint no picnic…. hours of driving on the jagged roads which jar your spine with every bump, breathing in the dust so your lungs feel suffused with it is quite wearing. Last night when we arrived and I was desperate for a shower to clear my hair of caked grime, I swore very loudly when the joys of the Bolivian ablutionary system were not conducive to a hot shower.

I am loving it though…. We journey to La Paz tomorrow and many of the polo princesses leave the group . 2 newbys arrive but we shrink in size to 12 people. Relationships and routines are established and it’s a question of sticking with the altitude and jumping at the chance to do one´s laundry when one can!

Hope this update hasn’t sent you to sleep - each day is filled with new sites and smells and I so want to capture that. I hope Autumn is London is not too taxing for yáll.

Its great to hear from you but sorry if I cant reply to all…today has been a luxury to have so much on-line time!

Han xx

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