Another quick stop

  Uyuni, Bolivia
Saturday, September 30, 2006

Uyuni is a bit of a hole in the middle of nowhere, and the only reason anyone goes there is to book a trip out to the Salar de Uyuni. With that in mind you want to make sure you get a good quality trip, and the guide books all warn of horrendously cheap and not-so-cheerful trips involving jeeps that break down regularly and don't carry enough food and water or are overcrowded. We were a bit bewildered with the amount of agencies offering trips so were very pleased to read this blog entry which mentioned Ranking Bolivia.

Ranking Bolivia (address: Potosi 9) is a free service which takes in completed questionnaires from travellers and compiles the results. We went in and told them what criteria were important to us (for Steve, safety and quality of vehicle, for Tara, quality of food!) and they compiled a top ten list for us. Brilliant. They even give you a little map which shows where each agency is.

After the main task of the day was done, we set about some catching up on some chores like getting more money out of the town's one and only cashpoint / ATM (it had run out) and getting Steve's blonde mop cut into something reasonable (ended up with an 80's style frosted blonde top and dark back and sides. Nice!)



DAILY FACTS

- Stayed at: Hotel Tonito - fine if a little pricey. Great access to Minuteman Pizza for food which is where we ate.

- Trip organised by: Oasis Odyssey Tours - we chose these because of their ranking, what we had read on the web and also because they offer an extended trip through the Salar which has you spending your first night away from the thirty or so other jeeps following the standard route. Our only complaints about Oasis were that they didn't take the 4 litres of water we were told they would take. Apart from that, we would recommend them.