A lot to catch up on! Chile, Bolivia and Peru

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Ok so this post will cover a lot, first Atacama to Uyuni. Then Uyuni to La Paz, La Paz to Copacabana and Isla del Sol, and on to Puno

Monday 27th April - Leaving Atacama

We (Ellie and myself) were up early, packed and waiting outside the hostel before sunrise, before breakfast waiting on the bus to pick us up. By now I should have realised that its South America and nothing is ever on time, except buses from the bus stations! We got onto our shuttle and were on the way to the border, leaving Chile, then back on the shuttle and drove to the Bolivia border. I still strongly feel that the exit of one country and the entry of the other should be right beside each other, ideally in the same building, not at least a 40 minute drive apart from each other, but back to my adventure, After getting our entry stamps into Bolivia high up in the mountains, we had breakfast before getting split into our 4x4's for our 3 day trip crossing the Uyuni salt flat. We were very lucky with the group we got, 3 friendly fella's and another girl who spoke both English and Spanish, which as the driver and the fella's spoke mostly Spanish, she was able to translate the bits we didn't understand. The first stop was at Laguna Blanca (White Lagoon), where the mountains reflected in the clear still freezing water so nicely. After some photos it was on to Laguna Verde (Green Lagoon), at the foot of the inactive volcano Licancabur, it's the arsenic among other chemicals and sediments that causes the green colour. The next stop was a quick photo op with the Dali Desert in the background, before getting out at the thermal springs for a quick dip in the hot water. That night we stayed at Laguna Colorada (Coloured Lagoon) where after a late lunch we (Ellie, Sofia and me) walked to the huge wall of Borax (a component used in the manufacture of glass that is exported by Bolivia) and then we walked to the other side of the lagoon to see the 1000's of flamingoes. I had been told that the accommodation was very basic and freezing cold, but I have stayed in worse dorms in hostels!. OK so the 6 beds squished into the room left very little room to move, but it was warm and the food was excellent, though hunger does make everything taste better!. I had a slight headache and found it a bit hard to breath but the Coca tea did help a bit.

The next morning after another tastey meal, it was on to the Stone Tree, where after a photo we climbed on some rocks before getting back into our 4x4. We visited the Altiplanicas lagoons, some we got out at and walked around and others we saw from the jeep. We stopped for lunch at a lagoon full of flamingoes. That afternoon was a lot of driving, but the view from the windows of the coloured hills, the flat sands and the chat in the jeep passed the time. We drove through a river and saw a cute rodent, kinda like a rabbit, to whom Leo tried to give a cookie. We stopped at a volcanic area, where the lava rocks were visible and the volcanoes Tomasamil and Ollague were in the background. We were driving along by the train tracks for a while when the driver stopped and we got out and took photos lieing on the tracks. That night we stayed in a salt hotel. I had never seen one before, the bricks and the "cement" were all salt as were the tables. We even had hot water!, well we had hot water for 3 hours and it was terrible pressure, but still it was better than a cold shower.

The third morning was an early start as we needed to be on the salt flat for sunrise, as we drove along the huge expanse of flat white salt started to be seen. We stopped for a little bit watched the sun rise and took some photos, before heading to Isla Incahuasi, to have breakfast and look at all the cacti. I found one shaped like a rabbit! With the sun up the white of the salt was almost blinding. We were driving for a while, the drivers use the landmarks, such as mountains to navigate as compasses don't work with all the salt. When we stopped it was to take some more jumping photos, and also to try some trick photos with a wine bottle. Once we had our jeans and trousers covered in salt residue, (it leaves white patches but it does wash out!) we got back into the jeep, and drove on to see another salt hotel and the monument for the Dakar race, as well as mounds of salt that was going to be exported. The last stop was at the train cemetery, where the trains were left to rust away, after some climbing and lunch we were dropped back into Uyuni.

Hmmmm Uyuni, well it's an interesting place, I understand why we were told to leave as soon as we got there, but honestly its not that bad. The is an amazing pizza restaurant called Minute man, which is well worth tasting. Ellie and me got the bus to La Paz that night. That ends the summary of crossing the border, ok so the bus to La Paz.

Hmmm, well there are not many paved roads in bolivia, or in south america, but none have been like the 2 hours of roller coaster type road we had leaving Uyuni, our driver was going fast but I swear we left the road and we airborn before bumping back down, and this was a big coach bus. After the 2 hours it seemed to get more smooth and I fell into an uneasy sleep. Arriving in La Paz at 6.30am we checked into our hostel climbed 5 flights of stairs with our backpacks, and had a well deserved nap, before going back down stairs for a yummy breakfast of eggs and dulce de leche, not together!. We only had 24hrs in La Paz, so we didn't get to explore to much, but I saw the witches market, (no Halloween witches or caldron's, just some plants and when you look closely dead llama babies hanging up) We also took the red teleferico (like a cable car) up over the city and the huge graveyard, with 3 or 4 story graves, it looked like an apartment complex at first, to the high hill where we had a view over the city. There are markets everywhere selling everything, car parts, lights, tourist things, food, anything you want or think you might want. However as the market stalls are on the path this does mean walking on the road with the crazy cars. The next moring it was on to Copacabana. We wernt able to book a hostel before leaving La Paz, but we thought it was due to the poor internet, we were in for a surprise!



First going from La Paz to Copacabana involved taking a boat, the people on little boats and the buses and cars on rafts, I did think that the buses might sink, but everyone and everything got across safely. When we arrived in Copa, there was a festival taking place and we ended up walking up and down the hills before finding an over priced hostel room, in the middle of the festival parade route, after dropping our bags we went to look at the festival. So many people, costumes and bands, people dancing in high heels, heavy costumes stopping for a beer when it got to much. The festival went on for 4 days and 3 nights! (friday till monday evening) On Saturday we headed to Isla del Sol. We followed a small child up the hill until I couldn't walk or breath any more, we were only half way up! Luckily this is where the hostel he was taking us to was. We caught our breath again then headed back down to the restaurants we had passed for a late lunch. On the way back up we walked up some more even steps, with no donkey traffic and a little waterfall/river by the path. I went back to the hostel for a bit while Ellie climbed higher to explore some more. I watched the sun set and the full moon over the lake and the moon island. Then climbed slowly (with lots of breaks, thanks Ellie!) to a pizza place for dinner. Going back down was much easier! The following morning we climbed to the top of the island to get some breakfast, and then started the island trek. Most people seem to get the boat from the south of the island (where most of the hostels are) to the north, and then walk back. We decided to walk from South to North and if we were too tired to get the boat back. After we bought the trail ticket (make sure you get the seller to put the date on it!) I saw there was 2 trails making a circuit, so we started on the higher trail in the morning and by lunch time we were at the north of the island. I had to stop after the steep up hill but even then we managed the loop in a little over 8hrs. At the north end there are Inka ruins that we climbed around in for a bit before starting back. We got to the south of the island and the restaurants just at sun set, where we had a well deserved sit and a nice dinner. The following day we headed back to Copa and treated our selves to a lovely hostel and a suite room! The festival was still going on, the people were no longer wearing their costumes and some needed sleep badly! Breakfast on our last morning in Copa was in an Irish restaurant, that had lovely fresh soda bread and the best hot chocolate I have ever tasted, its called the Eagle and the condor. We left Copa and Bolivia for Puno Peru.

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