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Mind Bending
Entry 5 of 12 | show all | print this entry |
I know it hasn´t been long since my last blog, but had loads to tell you....so well here you go!
Well, I made it to Bolivia and survived the 3 day 4 wheel drive...just! Went to some pretty remote and very high places and drove over some very rough terraine. However, it was obsolutely mind bending! I saw landscapes so diverse and weird that I think I would find hard to come across anywhere else, which has made the experience truely memorable.
Day 1. We set off from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, early in the morning, about 18 of us all piled into a minibus heading for the Chile / Bolivia border. An hour later we arrived. There waiting for us were 3 heavy duty 4x4 vehicles, equiped with 3 burly looking Bolivian drivers stood legs apart, arms folder on top of the trucks, ready and waiting for their next victims (actually there was something quite sexy about it). After getting our passports stamped, backpacks were ´thrown´ onto the roof and we clambered inside our designated trucks. I choose the one with the english speaking driver, Jose. Nice guy, good sense of humour and a wicked taste in music....very random...anything from Pink Floyd, Bob Marley to Lional Ritchie and Coldplay!!
Right, now you´re going to have to forgive me but I´m rubbish at remembering detail of all the places I´ve been and I lost the little leaflet that had all the info, so I´ll do my best. For the rest of the first day we drove across desert looking countryside, lined with row upon row of Volcanos (I mean you´ve never seen so may), and all different colours, red, orange, grey...because of the different kinds of sedement. At midday we bathed in some hot springs, which was very nice and very hot (like being in a Jacuzzi, but without the fizz). All the girls were really slim and beautiful so I felt a bit selfconscious, and it didn´t help when I slipped over trying to get in.....great! From there we went to see some hot Geysers (that´s holes in the ground with bubbling mud...not really good looking blokes) and then finally ended up at Laguna Colarado (almost 5,000m). We stayed here for the night. Very basic accommodation, no hot water and it was absolutely freezing! What I particularly liked were the beds made out of concrete!! We all ended up going to bed at 8.30pm, as alot of the group were suffering a bit from the altitude, with headaches and that. I´ve been really lucky as haven´t felt any effects. Anyway, it didn´t matter, because waking up in the morning and looking out over a red lagoon with Flamingos, made up for it.
Day 2, was a long day and involved alot of driving across some really rough areas. Visited another lagoon, with lots of flamingos, which you could see really close up (can´t remember the name, think it was Laguna Verde), anyway it was amazing, surrounded by Volcanos that were reflected in the surface of the lagoon (took some good photos here). Walked though a canyon and saw some wildlife, including lots of llamas, a fox and a strange looking rabbit type thing with a really long tail. That night we stayed in slightly more delux accommodation with hot water, a bar and a table tennis table, situated right on the edge of the Salar (not the table tennis table, the hotel). Had a very pleasant dinner, and heard all the gossip from the other two trucks about who was getting off with who and that.....hilarious!
Day 3. This was the day I was really looking forward to because this was when we got to drive over the Salar de Uyuni. A 12,000sq km salt flat, 3,653m above sea level........absolutely blooming amazing! As we drove across the first few hundred yards, the salt flat was covered in a layer of water, which meant everthing was reflected off the surface. As we carried on driving (very differcult to describe in words) for awhile you couldn´t see the line between the surface and the sky, so it felt like we were flying....very strange. I was a bit scared at one point as Jose pulled his cap down over his eyes, leaned back and appeared to go to sleep....well I guess there wasn´t anything to bump into was there?! Also that day we visited an island right in the middle of the Salar and one of the Salt Hotels, which is made completely out of salt. Saw some people farming the salt (not a nice job that). Finally we ended up in the small town of Uyuni....not much going on there, and I was keen to move on to my next town, so booked a bus ticket out of there for that night.
Sunday 9th March I arrived in Sucre, Bolivia´s judicial capital. Nice town, lots of old colonial buildings and a great plaza, where all the students hang out in the evening. Spent a few days here before moving on to La Paz. Just spent the time wondering the streets, and the market, visiting museums and generally taking it easy. Although I exerted a bit of energy the day I walk up to La Recoleta, which has a church and looks out over the city...very nice. One thing I found out about the Bolivians is that they like to take afternoon tea, so I´m afraid I had to join them in the odd slice of cake and enpanada......really nice! As you can imagine there´s a far bit of poverty here in South America, particularly in Bolivia, and pretty much everytime I sat in a cafe to have a drink or something I´ve been approached for money, mostly by little children. It´s really, really hard to say no, so I usually end up giving them my drink or half my sandwich! Which is fine, but I don´t think I´ve eaten a whole meal yet (only joking). One little boy walked with me for a while around the town and we had quite a chat....well as much as I could understand given my really bad spanish! He even saved me from getting run over by a bus when we were crossing the road...which was great but he accidently put his hand on a rather private place (chest area)....I think he was more embarrased than I was!! I even bumped into some travelling chums, that I met in in Argentina....it's funny because you keep bumping into the same people.
The guesthouse I was staying in was really nice, kind of Japanese style, with a curtain that seperated the bathroom from bedroom...which was fine for me on my own....not sure what it would be like if sharing with another person?...The curtain had a big gap at the bottom, so when you were sat on the toilet you could see your feet! Anyway the people running it were so sweet and kind, not really a busy backpacker place, but I got to meet local people, which was nice.
The Bolivian people are so friendly and when you get talking to them they go out of their way to help you. I think what helps is when you spend a bit more time in a place, because then you have more time to get to know the town and the people. I even taught rude english words to a market lady (her request)...maybe not such a good idea, because she kept shouting out 'virgina'...very embarassing, but sooooooo funny!
Anyway that´s it for now, going up to La Paz tonight, then Lake Titicca and then Peru...till next time xxxxxxxx
Where I stayed:
Muasi Wuasi
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