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Published: January 27th 2012
Mmmmeeeaaaattttt!!!!
Dinner in Salta squareWe had a fantastic last meal in Argentina by blowing the budget and having an enormous meat platter, sirloin steak, marinated chicken breasts, sausage, chorizo, veal short rib, Pork loin and a single roasted pepper between us for vitamins of course! The following morning with gargantuan stomachs we hopped on our coach and made our way to the Argentina Bolivia border at La Quiaca. Due to excellent forethought and planning we realised that a complex border crossing was not the best thing to tackle after dark so had booked into the only hostel we could find in La Quiaca, unfortunately it looked, well, take a look at the picture and you'll know what our initial thoughts were! On the other hand we found a TV, watched the big bang theory and didn't get carbon monoxide poisoning from the ancient heater being used in our restaurant, so it ended up rather lovely...
Our border crossing took around 6 hours, partly due to our own incompetence but mostly due to the incredible inefficiency of the whole set up, it was beyond belief and I can't bring myself to talk about it. Ultimately it turns out that one Bolivian should not be expected
Home sweet home
THis, is where we're staying... Hmm to process thousands of people with only a typewriter and a stamp but there you have it! we got on a train that should grace a podium in the steam hall at Manchester Museum, or at very least be granted a role in Sherlock Holmes and proceeded to take 16 hours instead of 9 to get to our next stop Uyuni in Bolivia. Apparently a team of people had to walk in front of the train to brush water from our path!
The reason for visiting Uyuni, a small dusty town in the South West corner of Bolivia was to visit the famous Salt Flats although the best Pizza in South America was a small draw as well. We were not disappointed on either front. The pizza at ‘Minuteman’ restaurant was thin and crisp the toppings were imaginatively sourced and presented with flourish and the homemade Chocolate chip cookies were more than moreish... The salt flats were good too I suppose.
After walking around the town attempting to decide which of the 100 agencies spoke the best English (none of them) we gave up and booked a 3 day tour with the agency next door to our hostel.
Salt Flats
Getting blown away! As luck would have it, it turned out to be a great decision. With our 6 new companions, and squeezed in the back of a trusty Toyota Land Cruiser we covered over 1,000 miles in 3 days. We visited a train graveyard, the superlative salt flats where you simply cannot help but take hundreds of pictures of the bizarre landscape and the incredible mirror images reflected off the millimeter deep lakes, vast lagoons enriched with minerals giving them eerie colors, geysers, hot springs and spotting wildlife including Emus (fast) Flamingos (pink) and squabbits (a cross between a squirrel and a rabbit which our guide didn’t know the real name of!) Not to mention stayed in some of the most isolated towns on the planet and midnight star gazing which couldn't help but make you gasp... or maybe that was the cold... The whole trip lived up to the hype and was a real highlight of our adventure so far.
We finished the tour yesterday and in serious need of a hot shower hopped straight on the night bus to La Paz, the highest capital city in the world. Apparently it was a terrifying ordeal with the bus swaying up
Salt Flats
The altitude went to my head! onto two wheels, jumping 3 feet into the air and hanging off the side of the side of deathly drops. Fortunately I slept though every second of it so the ordeal was only endured by my sleep deprived travelling companion!
And that brings us up to date, La Paz is an odd City built in a steep sided valley. It's hard to believe that almost 2 million people live clinging to the sides of the cliffs but perhaps when we explore tomorrow we will understand where they all are... If I don't write again assume a curse has been placed on us at the local witches market and send spiritual help as fast as possible!
Lots of Love,
Adam and Emma
P.s. Thank you to everyone who messages us, we really enjoy hearing from you all!
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Pat
non-member comment
S. America
Once again you have amazed me with your spirit of adventure. Can't believe how many miles you have covered and the places you have seen. Really enjoying reading all about it.