Advertisement
Published: March 31st 2008
Edit Blog Post
We crossed from the Argentinian town of La Quiaca to the Bolivian town of Villazon in one of our easiest border crossings so far. In fact, many people were just walking across without even stopping at the immigration police, but we figured it was best to go the official way! Border towns can sometimes be intimidating but Villazon was fine, and after going for a quick drink we hopped on a bus to take us a few hours north to Tupiza, our base for the next few days.
Tha majority of travellers stay in Tupiza just a day or two before setting off on a Salar de Uyuni excursion or moving on to new towns. However, we found that the town appealed to us and gave a gentle introduction to Bolivia, so we stayed for longer (4 nights in total). Our time in Tupiza was mostly taken up with hiking, discovering bizzare rock formations and eating lots of pizza, garlic bread and stuffed olives. Indeed, this last pleasure was particularly unexpected in South America´s poorest country, but we were happy to try it out and weren´t disappointed! The hiking was particularly fun as not many other gringos seem to walk
in the area, so it was just us and a few farmers and pigs we passed on the way. We were able to explore various canyons, climb and scramble up rocks and generally have fun days out. The only problem was that most afternoons brought rain and thunderstorms, but we were usually back in town by then and able to shelter in the hotel playing table tennis!
After a few days of relaxing in Tupiza it was time to move on and we booked onto a bus going to Uyuni. After reading stories of this bus journey on the internet we were a bit concerned that it was going to be one of those "nightmare Bolivian bus journeys" travellers so often hear about. However, despite it being an ancient bus, on winding gravel roads it all went surprisingly well and we arrived in just under 7 hours with ourselves and our bags intact.
We liked the town of Uyuni a lot. It very much exists as a gringo hang-out which of course means that you lose some of the local feel, but this does mean good food, good hotels and plenty of easily available tourist information. Our main
reason for coming to Uyuni was to visit the incredible Salar de Uyuni salt flat and we opted to visit on a day tour. Our day started at 10:30am when we were collected by our friendly driver and guide Santos (from "Andean Salt Expeditions") who took us to our first stop, the Train Cemetery. The train system in Bolivia has sadly fallen into decline after initial large scale investment 100 years ago or so. This has meant that lots of trains have simply been abandoned and Uyuni is
the place to see them. Quite bizarre but fun to wander around the different trains, climbing in and out of engine rooms.
From the trains we moved on over very bumpy roads to the small town of Colchani on the edge of the salt flat. Here we visited a small salt "factory" where a co-operative works to collect the salt, dry it, refine it and pack it ready to sell in shops across Bolivia. The techniques were basic to say the least and clearly these people work in difficult conditions. Barry bought a small llama made of salt and we moved on.
As Bolivia is at the end of the
rainy season, the first part of the salt flat was still quite wet and we had to watch where we put our feet for fear of wet shoes. This was made up for though by the amazing reflections given by the still water. We stopped at small pyramids of salt which have been collected together to dry in the sun, ready to go to the factory. From there we drove further into the salt flat to briefly visit a "salt hotel" and then drive another 80km to a spot near the centre of the salt flat, where the Island of Incahuasi sits rising from the white surrounding it. It is a bizarre experience to see the difference between the sparkling white of the salt and the green/brown island covered in cacti.
After exploring the island and climbing to it´s "summit" (3,740m) we returned to the jeep where our guide produced a good lunch of llama steak with quinoa and salad. The food in Bolivia has so far exceeded expectations, and I hope this will continue! After eating we wandered onto the salt flats to take more pictures before starting the long journey back to Uyuni. On the way we
stopped a few times to be able to take photos as the sun began to set over the salt flats. A truly spectacular place and this is one day of our trip that I will never forget.
Back in Uyuni we decided to stay an extra day to relax. We walked out to the train cemetery again to do some more exploring, but this meant having to walk through some rather dirty areas of town. The one real problem we have noticed in Bolivia is that there seems to be no decent rubbish disposal system. Instead, people tend to just wander a few minutes into the countryside and throw their rubbish there. This wouldn´t be so bad if we didn´t then see kids walking through these dumps next to pigs and dogs scavenging. Not very pleasant and brings you back to reality from the holiday "high".
Next stop, Potosi...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.526s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 32; qc: 121; dbt: 0.2849s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.4mb
barrygahan
Barry
More fantastic pictures..
Isn't that fantastic dancing on the Sprite bottle?