Salar de Uyuni Tour - Day 1
Trip Start
Nov 29, 2007
1
40
115
Trip End
Jun 24, 2008
San Antonio de Lípez,
Bolivia
Thursday, February 7, 2008
For those people thinking of doing the tour - YOU MUST! It is fantastic and I would definitely recommend doing it from Tupiza and with Tupiza Tours, they were so good.
For those people who have never heard of this tour, I shall tell you a little about it before I begin. The Salar de Uyuni is the biggest Salt flat in the World covering some 1200kms. It used to be a lake or lagoon, but due to the huge number of volcanoes that surround it and the volcanic activity over the years it dried up and left the salt, which is at least 40km deep in some places
Quebradar de Palala - first stop!
. This has become one of the biggest tourist attractions in Bolivia and rightly so. However, on the tour you don't just drive to the flats and back again. You take a 4 day, 3 night journey to get there, over the some of the toughest terrain I have ever travelled. You reach altitudes of 4800km and you do all this whilst staying in hostels with no electricity and no running water! I went with an open mind!
Day 1
Up early, showered and had a good breakfast in the hotel and then off to get last minute things for the trip (ibuprofen and factor 30 suncream). We finally got the jeep all packed up and we were off at about 9.30am. There are 5 people in our jeep, Epi, me, Gary, Mícheál and Geraldo, our guide and driver.
We headed out of Tupiza and within minutes we were surrounded by the most stunning scenery. We stopped first at a valley that was formed by tectonic plates crashing together and forcing the earth upwards, it was pretty impressive. Then we headed up the windy, tiny, dirt track road to Quebrada de Palala. We were to find out later that this crazy dirt track road is in fact one of the main roads in and out of Tupiza - I am so glad I was not doing it on a bus
Valley of the moon
! At this stop we met the other jeep that was doing the tour with Tupiza tours. In this jeep was Julia, our groups cook, and their driver. This was also the first of many break downs that we had! Fortunately the drivers are great and seem to be first class mechanics as well, so before long we were off again. We have been told that the jeeps are staying together for the trip as both of them had broken down within the first tour! It is quite nice to know we are not out here alone!!!!Then we headed to Valley of the Moon, again with amazing scenery.
We stopped off for lunch along the way and had a small walk and took lots of pictures of lamas! Then later we stopped at a really small village. It was amazing as the village seemed deserted. We were told that the villages were all out looking after their lamas and working. We saw a few children around, but it kinda had a really eerie feel to it with no one there. The houses are all made of the mud that is all around. The mud is formed into small bricks, very similar to the old houses in the Irish countryside, made of peat bricks. There was a girl who came over to the car asking for pens. Epi gave her a pen and a pencil and I gave her a couple of sweets I had. She was very shy, but when I asked her for a photo she said I had to pay! I politely told her that we had already given her presents, so she let me take one
Mum and baby Lama
! But she had her head down the whole time, so you couldn´t see her face. They are really funny about you taking photos here, you have to ask otherwise you can offend and annoy the locals.From there we had another long, but lovely journey to our first hospedaje in San Antonio de Lípez. This is a small village with about 250 inhabitants, it is at 4260 m altitude - pretty high for our first day!
A lot of the locals were out and we went for a walk and a look around, but that didn´t take long as it really is tiny. Then Julia (the cook) had made up tea and biscuits, which was very welcome as it was bloody cold up there!
Over tea and biscuits we finally had a chance to talk to the other group, who are Fran and Rod, from London and Emi and Laurent from France. We had a great talk, which continued over dinner in our tiny, chilly little eating room. The hostel is basic it does have a shower, but it has cold water! We are sharing a room with Gary and Mícheál, which is great as we thought we might all have been together.
Dinner was great, Julia is a top cook and there is plenty of food and the veggie stuff is great
The village of Nararentito
. However, a number of us are starting to suffer with the altitude. I had splitting headaches that would come and go as well as nose bleeds and nausea. We all went to bed really early as there was nothing else to do, and we were tired and we have to be up at 5.30am!!!Before going to bed Epi and I went out with a few of the others to see the stars. I have never seen anything like it, it was like someone switched the sky on! We saw the "milkyway" and the "southern cross" really clearly, but I didn´t see a shooting star like the others did :-(
We couldn´t stay out there long as it was freezing and I mean freezing! Fortunately we had good blankets on the beds as the room was pretty cold too.
Despite going to bed at about 9.30pm sleeping for me was virtually impossible. I had not realised that one of the side effects of altitude is insomnia. I lay there all night with a banging headache and not being able to sleep. Every time you move it is hard work, you are short of breath and morning couldn't come quick enough!
