Uyuni and the Salt Flats

  Uyuni, Bolivia
Thursday, September 6, 2007

We were seduced into taking a tour of the salt flats by a guide who told us:

"I speak good English."

After twenty minutes in the Jeep with him we realised that this sentence was all the English that he could speak.

We were a bit late for the tour which meant that we got the last seats in the vehicle.  I thought that I had drawn the short straw, having to sit next to the Spanish speaking guide / driver.  But Tom was in a worse predicament.  He was sat next to an Israeli guy who insisted on showing Tom his holiday snaps.  Which were reams and reams of photos of himself.  Naked.

Rhodri told me that the salt flats were worth seeing,  He was spot on.  I´ve never seen anything like it.  If my camera had been working properly, I´d have got some great snaps.

The accomodation on the first night was a bit basic.On the second night, we knew that we were staying near the red lagoon.  When we pulled up to the lagoon, we could only see on decrepit looking building masquerading as a hostel.  Fortunately we drove straight past.  Tom leaned over to me and said:

"Thank god we´re not staying there."

Be careful what you wish for.  At least the first place had a roof.  The actual "hostel" had us sharing a barn with the family al pacas.

The nights have been freezing - as low as minus twenty.  We went to some hotsprings early one morning before breakfast,  After we got out, we laid our swimming costumes out to dry.  And they froze.  I hadn't been fully prepared for the cold before I came to South America, but fortunately I managed to lay my hands on some stylish headgear in La Paz )see photo.

Watch out Milan

On the way back from the salt flats, we stopped at the world famous train graveyard just outside Uyuni.  I'm not really into trainspotting, but I have attached a couple of photos below for those of you who are (Heena).

Train

Trainspotter