Advertisement
Published: April 1st 2006
So after the inca trail we decided to have one more day in Cuzco to chill out before heading to Uyuni to do a tour of the salt plains of Bolivia. As usual our journey started off in style as we jammed our backpacks into a tiny fiat uno and headed off down the road, about 30 seconds later the boot popped and Jems backpack went rolling out into an oncoming car! Luckily the car managed to break in time otherwise the backpack could´ve caused some serious damage!
Not detered we got the backpack back in and headed off to Uyuni on another long bus journey. We managed to finally book a tour once we managed to change some money - note to travellers, there are no ATMs in Uyuni so get money beforehand.
Anyway we set out on our excursion which would take us back to San Pedro first stop the train cemetary then through the salt plains of Uyuni, past several fantastic lakes, past volcanoes, geysers and some hot springs.
Luckily our tour only had the three of us, the driver and the cook which meant we all got window seats and could enjoy the incredible
view. Personally i reckon the 4*4 couldn´t take any mopre weight after our backpacks went on the roof so they had to settle for just us!
The salt plains were incredible it looked like snow all around us , all you could see in any direction was the clear white salt meeting the blue horizon. As we drove on, the salt plain became a very shallow lake which i had much fun playing in. Unfortunately i was alone in my games as Jem cut her foot open (yes again!) and gina´s inca war wounds (blisters) were paining her!
After the salt plains the terrain changed to desert and there was muchas fun 4*4 action which encouraged Jemma´s tourettes - constant "yeah" was to be heard after every bump or wheelspin!! We arrived at our first hostel "Bella Vista" - Good view my ar*e!! Its a tiny town in the middle of nowhere with no running water, electricity only between 7 and 10pm and a population of C. 40 people 100 llama and about 8 billion flies!!
Our second day once again we became two backpackers down... This time i went first then gina, both violently sick 😞
We have discovered a pattern though, no not altitude, not food poisoning... It appears our stomachs are seeking out the worst toilets of South America and deciding to fall ill there - fan-bloody-tastic!!!
Luckily we pretty much recovered overnight and so the last day i was able to enjoy the hot springs - although we had to strip and jump in pretty quick as it was freezing, and then after much deliberation jump back out again and redress before icicles formed on unthinkable areas!!
I won´t rant on too much about the views as the pictures will explain much better than my english possible could....
Next blog New Zealand woo hoo!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.106s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 23; qc: 73; dbt: 0.069s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
mum casey
non-member comment
new jobs
I see you are all getting trained up for new jobs. Gina and jem testing the railway for british rail and fiona as a barrow girl at surrey street market.Stand by me - a good film, I would like to see how fast you could run if a train came up behind you like on the film.Plenty of salt around then girls it looks pretty amazing but I bet you had to be careful about rubbing the salt into your wounds.the spa looks good I would'nt mind that but it's the cold bit after that might be a bit off putting.Every time we get a blog it makes us realise how much you are seeing and doing and how exciting it all is for you. Lucky girls. may be Jemma has had the rough part with coping with Gina and Fiona being sick. Good on yer jem. Love to you all Den and John xxxx