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Picked up at 7:30 by a minibus to take us to the border crossing into Bolivia so we could begin our 3 day journey to the world's largest salt flat: 12,000 square km of the stuff in Uyuni. The passport stamp on the Chilean side of the border is actually about 70km away from the border - the Chileans were lazy and wanted to have the office in San Pedro. Once across the Bolivian border (where Chris was beginning to regret wearing shorts as it was blowing a gale and we'd climbed a fare bit in altitude from 2400m) we were met by our Bolivian driver Etsun and our companions for the next 3 days: Karen (a Chilean girl), Raphael (a Brazilian) and Gilles (an eccentric Frenchman who now lives in the Caribbean as he finds the French too stuck up). We soon stopped for breakfast and confirmed, as expected, that our driver spoke not a word of English, and that English was the third language of the other three. Taryn no doubt felt a little left out not knowing any Spanish (but also picked up a bit!) but Chris and I followed their conversations and often joined in to what
was a mixture of Spanish, French, English and a tiny bit of Portuguese. I was actually really glad to be in a non-English speaking group as it forced me to practice my Spanish and was on the whole a lot of fun due to misinterpretations of words, silly jokes made with our basic knowledge of each others' languages, and eccentric sign language necessary to help everyone understand each other. Also of course very interesting to meet people from different places. Outside the breakfast stop was Laguna Blanca - a few flamingos to coo over but too windy to admire for longer than 5 minutes.
Our second site on the "antiplano crossing" was the beautiful laguna verde, so names because of its vibrant green colour attributable to its arsenic content (among magnesium and lead). I made a joke in Spanish about how I had thought it was laguna negra (the black lake) - unthinkable and cringe-worthy if I had been in an English group but it drew laughs from our group. The lake was at 4,400m and the splitting headache that had been with me or the last few days showed no sign of letting up, but it turned out
to be such an amazing day (definitely a highlight) I didn't care.
Next we passed volcano Licancabur (5960m), which, if my Spanish translation is correct, has conditions so similar to Mars that NASA does experiments up there. Then to a natural thermal spring, which Taryn took a dip in but after our cold experience the day before Chris and I didn't dare. Luckily for Taryn it turned out to be about 40 degrees, although she spent a bit too long in there and looked like a tomato after. Lunch sorted her out though.
We then ascended to a stinky geyser field at a nausea inducing 5000m and saw some quite different geysers to the day before - just bubbling mud!
Our final stop was Laguna Colorada, at a more comfortable 4370m, but enough to make your pulse race even standing still. This was my highlight of the day. The lake is a magical vivid red colour, due to the beta-carotene content of its micro-algae (again, if my translation is up to scratch!) but the colour can only be seen when the sun is out. The lake was full of flamingos, sadly too far away for a good
photo, but it was really great to just stand and listen to their funny noises - almost like they were laughing. They were quite a rowdy bunch. We then spent about half an hour taking photos of llamas, so docile that you could be just a few feet away and they would be un-phased. They are just too cute! But not too cute to eat... yum!
We arrived at our refugio early, about 4ish, so refreshing after our long driving days with Kumuka. We were warned it would reach minus 15 Celsius overnight, with no heating and a drafty room (needless to say there was no shower and a toilet that you had to flush manually with a bucket of water). The base of the beds were concrete blocks, and at an altitude of 4600m I had a very sleepless night. Despite the temperature I was warm in my 3 layers on the bottom, 6 on top, scarf and beanie, sleeping bag and liner and 3 blankets. But my chest felt so tight it hurt to breathe, and my mouth so dry I had to drink a litre of water overnight and venture to the toilet a few times.
I was glad when our wake up call arrived with breakfast.
Chris's Corner Waking up in the desert encouraged me to don shorts for the day, however the wind and temperature at the altitudes we reached revealed to me this was a massive faux pas. I stuck with them all day but comforted myself in the fact I saw other English people freezing in skimpy dresses!
Reaching the dizzy heights of 5000m I felt the effects of altitude for the first time, I think brought on by the eggy stench of the sulphurous geysers. A small headache ensued, which for me is very unusual, but I assumed it would go away as we descended from our highest point.
I did feel much better when we went llama chasing in the afternoon, practising stalking up on them to get the perfect pictures. Returning to the 4X4 we discovered Etsun was repairing a puncture, luckily we had a spare tyre. Maybe the generous lunches were too much for the jeep.
At dinner I didn't feel quite right again and avoided eating too much... definitely not like me! I didn't stay up for long, and with not quite
Llamas!
One of many llama photos as many layers as Sophie headed for bed hoping I would feel better in the morning.
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Katie
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Very jealous!!
Hey guys, hope you're still having an amazing time! I'm getting so jealous reading your blog now as you're doing all the things I did, in fact I stayed in this same place (although in the desert there wasn't much choice of accommodation I guess!!) I hope you loved this desert crossing as much as I did, it was definitely one of my highlights! And so far it doesn't seem like you guys made the awful mistake of drinking 5 litres of red wine at that altitude.....disasterous lol!! Miss you xxx