Salt, Water and lots of hot air...

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  Uyuni, Bolivia
Friday, December 14, 2007

We took the overnight bus to Uyuni and were tossed about like rag dolls in a tumble dryer as it was a rough dirt road most of the way - (mental note to self - take sleeping pills next time...).  12hours later we arrived at Uyuni to a barrage of touts trying to sell us Salt lake tours.  We tried to ignore them, only purely because we were intending on heading to Tupiza and then on to Argentina, but then found out that the train, which was a sort or first come first served bar room scuffle, didn´t go until 2 days later and we´d have to let a few stink bombs off to get to the front of the queue to stand a chance of even getting a whiff of a train ticket (due to the christmas rush).  So we caved and headed to an agency which was leaving for a 3 day tour via the Slat Lakes, the Lagoons and the steamig geysers and which would drop us off over the border at San Pedro in Chile. 

That same day we headed off in a rusty jeep having made friends with the 3 New Zealanders and 1 Aussie, who had impeccable teeth (they´re all studying to be dentists) and wished we had made a conscious effort to floss more..

Faster then the trains at new street...

.

We had an english speaking guide (woo hoo) which was great, but he was a bit of a Jekyl ´n´ Hyde character which meant it was hell when he was being a moody git.  The first place we visited was a giant train graveyard, full of old trains made in Yorkshire that had corroded cos of the amount of salt in the air.  It was a good photo opportinity and (wait for it...) very rustic!!  (groan, groan). 

After trawling through the wreck Harmeet finally found a bit of train small enough to carry and pocketed a handful of rusting bolts and rivets, obviously cos carrying 18kg is not enough and she wanted to take the souvenir thing to a whole new level and carry a few more kilo´s.  With more junk in tow, we headed to the incredible salt lakes which are near enough the size of Northern Ireland.  Now we had no idea what to expect and were literally blinded by the beauty of this salty expanse, which is used for, erm, salt funnily enough, but also to make Salt hotels which are incredibly warm.  Neither of us had a pair of sunnies and the agency woman had been too fixated on the wad of dollars we were handing over to suggest that we buy a pair before we left.  Luckily our guide, who was feeling a bit gracious that afternoon lent us his, so we were able to pose for loads of silly pictures before our eyes started hurting.

After visiting the cactus island, and taking a few hundred photos more, we headed across the salt lakes for our Salt Hotel and an evening of playing the card game ´Scumbag´ with our new friends, which was highly entertaining, especially for Harmeet as she was quite good at it.  After eating a tasty meal of fried eggs (by the end of the 3 days and egg overdose they were no longer tasty!), we retired for the evening, exhausted by the cold Bolivian air and jeep riding

A hung jury.

.  Just to mention if you ever do this tour, then make sure you confirm exactly what you´re paying for, as you may find yourself paying for ´extras´ like showers and water. 

That didn´t spoil the experience though - it was just too damn beautiful...

Our second day we travelled 300km through various lagoons, all noxious and poisonous to us humans, but the red lagoons are ok for the thousands of flamingoes chilling in the waters.  They´re pink cos of the minerals they drink from the lagoon, but we never found out why, or how they stand on one leg, as our guide hit a serious dose of PMT.  We tried to stay out of his way and instead concentrated on taking a few more pics, cos its not like we were trigger happy, or something!

The 2nd night we stayed in really basic digs, which only had cold water and it was absolutely freezing!  We woke at dawn the next morn and headed for the steaming geysers, minus our guide who had gone AWOL.  After testing out the eggy  steam we headed for the bubbling mud holes which is where the ´incident´ happened.  Walking around the mud holes, Jess wondered if the mud was hot, as the bubbling wasn´t much of a clue, so as she was walking round the holes, the ground just caved in under her feet and she fell thigh deep into the scalding mud.  The others pulled her out and stripped her and we doused her in cold water - the luckly bleeder managed to escape with one tiny blister on her ankle, instead of 3rd degree burns - mainly due to all the layers she was wearing. 

With Jess jibbering away high on adrenaline and in shock, we headed to the hot springs, and then over the border into Chile, grateful for the smooth roads that awaited us after a sore bum from 3 days of pot holes and dirt tracks...

 

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures & Videos

Trainspotting to the max!	Fancy a bit of salt on yer chips?!	The whole world in his hands...	If only shutting her up was that easy!
Cirque de Soleil here we come!	If only shutting him up was this easy...	We don´t have to go to work tomorrow? Yippee!!!!!	´Can you tell what it is yet?...´
Salt Hotel - The walls were erm, really salty!	Big ole red lagoon	Big ole poisonous green lagoon	Wipe Out!
Stan feeling a bit windy...	Hugs at dawn	The crew at the bubbling mud holes...	Ms Brown, Ms White, Ms Orange, Ms Pink & Ms Green
we wanted to kiss the asphalt in Chile.	Eggy Steam

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