Leaving La Paz
Trip Start
Jan 23, 2006
1
23
28
Trip End
Jan 31, 2007
Uyuni,
Bolivia
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
The salt pans have some groovy scenery, and contain, surprise surprise, salt pans. In fact, the largest in the world! We got down to Uyuni, to begin the tour, a real one horse town, with the worst statues and architecture known to mankind. A 4X4 was waiting to whisk us off into the ethereal, otherworldly pans. Other than the salt pans, there are lakes, volcanoes, mountains and a lot of nothing to see. Some of the lakes have flamingos, about 70,000 in total, including a rare breed called James Flamingos. They are pink due to the beta carotene and other minerals found in the lakes. I wondered if they tasted like chicken..
A lot of flamingos
. I was pretty sure I could catch one, as they are not quick to get airborne and their legs are as thin as matches. Our guide was quick to quash that idea! Come on, there are 70,000 of these pink things, who would miss one?We drove, then drove, and then drove some more around this bumpy, dusty and surreal corner of Bolivia. It was hot during the day, and bloody freezing at night. The scenery was amazing, and very varied. On the second morning, we went to a hot spring. It must have been about 5 degrees out of the water, but a very skin scalding 40 degrees in it. We wallowed around, scared to get out, afraid of the big freeze. Then on to the Lago Verde, the arbour piedre (stone tree), turkey town and other places I have already forgotten the names of. The highlight was definitely the Uyuni Salt Pan, which is the largest salt pan in the world, formed 15 million years ago, when... Sorry don't mean to bore you! It is a completely unique, weird, surreal, strange, transcendent, dreamlike place, where you can't tell where the horizon ends and the sky begins. It provided the perfect place for some trick photography, where you can have people balancing on plates, giant shoes or even on someone else's hand, Check out the pics to see what I mean.
We had planed to go with Matt and Asti to Tupiza, where we would spend our last day horse riding, MTBing, then have a good meal and a few drinks to reminisce over what has been an amazing couple of months travelling together
A plate of friends
. The travel gods where not good to us, as the train to Tupiza was full, and there would be no guarantee that Ali and I could get back to La Paz in time for our flight to Rio. We suddenly had 10 minutes to get Matt and Asti on a 4X4 to Tupiza, and no time to say goodbye. It was sad to see them heading off into the Bolivian sunset, especially as there was no time for a few drinks and a chat about the good times. We will miss having them with us, we have become a little travel group!We are now waiting for a train to Oruro, then a bus to La Paz. That will be then end of the Bolivian chapter and the start of the Brazilian one.
Later skaters
