Another bus journey and another border crossing. We were expecting to have to hang around at the Bolivian border for the best part of the day as the trains aren`t very regular, but luckilly we managed to jump straight on a bus to Tupiza, out next destination.
Tupiza is a gorgeous little town that reminds me of the wild west! It`s surrounded by mountains and red rock and has a lovely laid back atmosphere. Our hotel was lovely - private room, hot showers and ridiculously cheap! One day in and I love Bolivia already!
From Tupiza we went on a 4 day trip to the Salar de Uyuni (the largest salt plain in the world). Words cannot describe what an amazing time I had. Our group was excellent - Rach, Kat and I along with Vesna and Jure, a crazy couple from Slovenia - our guide, Julio, and cook/surrogate Bolivian mummy, Berna, were absolutely brilliant and everyday was more beautiful and more breathtaking than the last. Bolivia has such an amazing landscape, it`s a completely different world from anything I have ever seen or anywhere I have ever been.
On day 1 we visited the Quebrada de Palala, a natural rock formation, and drove through beautiful mountains. We stopped at a small gold mining village in the middle of nowhere called Nazarenito, where 9 families live. We spent our first night 4260m above sea level... Being at such high altitude is bizarre... you get out of breath so quickly and can literally feel the oxygen getting thinner. It`s also FREEZING!!!! We wore every item of clothing in our bags, snuggled into slepping bags with about 4 blankets on top and had a swig of rum to warm us from inside! The stars were incredible, although we could only stay outside and brave the cold for about 20sec at a time!
Day 2 included a visit to a ghost town, some absolutlely stunning lagoons with hundreds of flamingos, hot springs and geysers. We reached our highest altitude - 5000m - and got quite light headed at times. South Americans swear by coca leaves to help with altitude sickness so we were all chewing away... they don`t taste particularly great (kind of like feet in fact) and make your mouth go numb but they supposedly help open up your capillaries so more oxygen can get around your body. God knows if that`s true!
Sitting in the hot springs was fantastic... sitting in a bikini in 35C water high up in the mountains looking out at stunning landscapes... wow!
On day 3 we saw even more impressive lagoons, more flamingos and visited a semi-active volcanoe. We drove through constantly changing landscapes and spent the night at a hotel made entirely from salt (which we had to lick of course!). After dinner (which was always amazing, we ate soooo much!) some local boys put on a show for us. Dressed in traditional dress they played the panpipes (VERY badly bless them!) and got us up dancing. They informed us they knew 22 songs... all of which I`m pretty convinced were identicle!! But however bad they were this was finally my chance to learn the traditional Bolivian dance. To be honest there`s not much to it... basically stepping backwards and forwards and swinging your arms around! You don`t really need a degree to master it!!
Day 4 was the final day... we got up super early to watch the sunrise from the salt desert and I can honestly say it was the most beautiful site ever. Freezing but beautiful! We visited a cactus island in the middle of the desert and spent time messing around on the salt plain taking silly photos! Having already visited a salt desert in Argentina I wasn`t expecting to be hugely impressed but I was completely blown away... the Salar de Uyuni is HUGE!!! 12,000km2... you can just see gleaming white for as far as the eye can see in every direction. Incredible!
We reached our final destination, the town of Uyuni, in the early afternoon, absolutely desperate for a shower (there was no running water in the desert and we all stank!!). Rach had hurt her ankle during the trip so we were pretty anxious to get to a hospital so, after a hot shower, we got an overnight bus to La Paz. Hell!!!! The worst bus journey so far. It was so bumpy we were practically being thrown from our seats, there was no toilet and the bus hardly ever stopped so we were too scared to drink anything. We were told food and drink would be included so hadn`t had dinner but it wasn`t, and we had a group of drunk Bolivian men sitting near us who spent the entire journey leering at Kat and Rachel and `accidently` sitting on Rach. It was horrible and freezing cold and we arrived in La Paz absolutely exhausted.
Tupiza is a gorgeous little town that reminds me of the wild west! It`s surrounded by mountains and red rock and has a lovely laid back atmosphere. Our hotel was lovely - private room, hot showers and ridiculously cheap! One day in and I love Bolivia already!
From Tupiza we went on a 4 day trip to the Salar de Uyuni (the largest salt plain in the world). Words cannot describe what an amazing time I had. Our group was excellent - Rach, Kat and I along with Vesna and Jure, a crazy couple from Slovenia - our guide, Julio, and cook/surrogate Bolivian mummy, Berna, were absolutely brilliant and everyday was more beautiful and more breathtaking than the last. Bolivia has such an amazing landscape, it`s a completely different world from anything I have ever seen or anywhere I have ever been.
On day 1 we visited the Quebrada de Palala, a natural rock formation, and drove through beautiful mountains. We stopped at a small gold mining village in the middle of nowhere called Nazarenito, where 9 families live. We spent our first night 4260m above sea level... Being at such high altitude is bizarre... you get out of breath so quickly and can literally feel the oxygen getting thinner. It`s also FREEZING!!!! We wore every item of clothing in our bags, snuggled into slepping bags with about 4 blankets on top and had a swig of rum to warm us from inside! The stars were incredible, although we could only stay outside and brave the cold for about 20sec at a time!
Day 2 included a visit to a ghost town, some absolutlely stunning lagoons with hundreds of flamingos, hot springs and geysers. We reached our highest altitude - 5000m - and got quite light headed at times. South Americans swear by coca leaves to help with altitude sickness so we were all chewing away... they don`t taste particularly great (kind of like feet in fact) and make your mouth go numb but they supposedly help open up your capillaries so more oxygen can get around your body. God knows if that`s true!
Sitting in the hot springs was fantastic... sitting in a bikini in 35C water high up in the mountains looking out at stunning landscapes... wow!
On day 3 we saw even more impressive lagoons, more flamingos and visited a semi-active volcanoe. We drove through constantly changing landscapes and spent the night at a hotel made entirely from salt (which we had to lick of course!). After dinner (which was always amazing, we ate soooo much!) some local boys put on a show for us. Dressed in traditional dress they played the panpipes (VERY badly bless them!) and got us up dancing. They informed us they knew 22 songs... all of which I`m pretty convinced were identicle!! But however bad they were this was finally my chance to learn the traditional Bolivian dance. To be honest there`s not much to it... basically stepping backwards and forwards and swinging your arms around! You don`t really need a degree to master it!!
Day 4 was the final day... we got up super early to watch the sunrise from the salt desert and I can honestly say it was the most beautiful site ever. Freezing but beautiful! We visited a cactus island in the middle of the desert and spent time messing around on the salt plain taking silly photos! Having already visited a salt desert in Argentina I wasn`t expecting to be hugely impressed but I was completely blown away... the Salar de Uyuni is HUGE!!! 12,000km2... you can just see gleaming white for as far as the eye can see in every direction. Incredible!
We reached our final destination, the town of Uyuni, in the early afternoon, absolutely desperate for a shower (there was no running water in the desert and we all stank!!). Rach had hurt her ankle during the trip so we were pretty anxious to get to a hospital so, after a hot shower, we got an overnight bus to La Paz. Hell!!!! The worst bus journey so far. It was so bumpy we were practically being thrown from our seats, there was no toilet and the bus hardly ever stopped so we were too scared to drink anything. We were told food and drink would be included so hadn`t had dinner but it wasn`t, and we had a group of drunk Bolivian men sitting near us who spent the entire journey leering at Kat and Rachel and `accidently` sitting on Rach. It was horrible and freezing cold and we arrived in La Paz absolutely exhausted.
1 comment:
Talk about highs and lows! Wot a contrast. xxxx
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