Salt as far as the eye can see

 I left La Paz on the Wednesday evening, after spending my last afternoon with the boys watching football, Barcelona vs. Liverpool, (Liverpool won of course, which went down well, I had a smile on my face even though I do not like football that much, but I felt I had to support them)  It was then time to make a move so I met up my Kent pals and we made our way to Uyuni.

Now the buses in Bolivia are not great at the best of times, and this journey was a long one, we’re not talking 24 hours, but 8 or 10 or so.  So it wasn’t the best of news when we found out that there will be no toilet on the bus (normally long journeys do have one), so we just have to wait till they stop to go, and do you think that the places they stop are going to have toilets, oh no!  Another training session, not great for an upset stomach though!

For seven hours of our 12 hour trip we were being pelted around the bus like ping pong balls

Bolivians are deemed as a little bit devious by their other South American comrades, and I would say that they are definitely a bit more to the point than Peruvians but I wouldn’t say they would necessarily lead you totally astray, it is difficult when surrounded by so much poverty everyone wants the money so seeing what is genuine and what isn’t is hard, but I thought they were still helpful until I was fobbed off with dead batteries, which I paid a whole full 50p, just not fair!

And then there was the bus journey...Hair raising isn’t the word to describe this trip.  Buying a ticket for a bus journey, you kind of expect that you will be driving on a road! Oh know think again.  For seven hours of our 12 hour trip we were being pelted around the bus like ping pong balls, driving on what I can’t even describe, dirt track still doesn’t cut it, to be honest I wonder if there was any track at all.

When we finally arrived bruised and battered, but with no broken bones at half seven in the morning we were in two minds whether to go on our tour of the salt flats that day or whether to get some sleep.  We decided to just go for it, because despite being such a nice village there is not much to do in Uyuni other than the tours that they offer. 

After looking around for the best tour we finally came across one of the millions to choose from that was offering a reasonable price.  Our driver, cook and car was booked and we were on our way to the most amazing sight so far of my journey. 

You would not believe that Bolivia has such diversity in its landscape especially when you see the size of the country compared to the others in South America (huge obviously compared to the little old UK).  In fact, surprisingly Bolivia is the size of Spain and France put together and when we arrived at the Salt Flats with layers of Slat as far as the eye you can really understand the magnitude of this country.  Being at the Salt Flats is really surreal.  Your mind plays tricks on you because all you can see is white so you think that it is snow yet it is boiling hot.  We went to visit Fish island which is covered in Catastases and fish fossils in the middle of the Salt Flats and had lunch while seating on salt mounds, as you do.

Our first day was crazy to get your head around.  We were taken to a desolate place in one of these islands where Lamas walking freely around, in between Bolivia and Chile in the mountainess terrain this was where we were to stay for the night.  The generator could only give out so much energy so lights were off at half nine after dinner, so drinking and reading in bed were off the menu.  It was the strangest feeling ever, where we were, who I was with, on the other side of the world from all that I knew.  But I had some familiarity, to remind me that I was alive in my English friend Katie who I have a laugh with.  

The next morning the Spanish speaking guide got someone to translate for us the itinerary for the day and sure enough it was just as good as the first.  

We were woken up with a knock at 6.30am (lovely) the next morning and set off after breakfast.  First we went to see the border shared with Chile, not that you would realise that it was the border because it is just mountains, but the history behind the borders between Chile, Peru and Bolivia meant that it was more than just mountains to them.   We then went to see an active volcano which was amazing, who would have thought that I would be 10 km away from a smoking volcano.  If that wasn’t enough just before lunch we went to visit some of the lakes around the area and saw wild flamingos, I even managed to get some feathers, obviously not off the live bird but from the ground.  The finale for me was the place of strange rocks (literally called that I believe, inventive), which I presume is from the lava from the volcano.  This place was out of this world, so desolate and peaceful, we even managed to see wild chinchillas (sorry about the spelling have only a little while and till I have to force myself to go out).  Come to think of it I could have made a bit of money while I was out here and sold them to Madonna, only joking. 

So in two days I saw some of the wonders of the world, in my eyes anyway and had an experience I would never forget.  We were surprised therefore that when we got back we were hit with something that we were not expecting.