Tupiza then on for a 4 day 4WD adventure in Salar de Uyuni

The first day of the journy surrounded by canyons
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Wednesday 18th July – Salta – Tupiza

Today was quite a long travel day, we got up early again and caught the 7am bus after splashing out 4 paseos for a taxi. The bus ride wasn't too bad, it took 6 hours and we were entertained with rip off movies in Spanish for most of the trip. We ended up in La Quiaca which is where the Argentine border meets the Bolivian border. On this bus ride we met a couple of Aussie brothers who were heading in the same direction as us, so we headed towards the border crossing (which is in walking distance from the bus stop). After passing through the Argentine border, which was pretty easy, we were held up in the Bolivian border due to a faulty stamp. The border guard was not happy with the way his stamp was performing that it took about half an hour for our passports to get the mark required. We then wandered up to the bus station only to find out that we had to wait a few hours (as the clocks went back an hour). So we purchased our tickets then sat at a little cafe opposite the bus stop and played 500 (card game) with Mic and Jim. We ordered some coke which came in the old glass bottles and some Sopa de Pollo (chicken soup). The soup was lovely but Jo's portion ended up being massive – like a whole chicken in some broth. 5Pm finally rolled around and we queued with about 60 people to try and cram on. After spending time in Argentina with the brilliant buses, we found our bus and couldn't believe it. It was worst, crapped out old bus with tape holding the windows on, flat tires and bright red carpet on the ceiling of the bus. We laughed thinking well this will be an experience and I guess it was a welcome to Bolivia also. In the end we were quite excited as everything had been so comfortable and easy through Argentina and we needed some challenges! Our seats were right at the back of the bus, next to about 8 people squashed in the back seat. However we were the lucky ones as quite a few tourists ended up standing for the 3 hours of torture. As there are no roads in Bolivia, it was the bumpiest ride I have experienced and we almost knocked our heads on the ceiling a few times, but we had a laugh about it! When we arrived in Tupiza we were glad to see our bags were still on the bus (always a worry!) and the 4 of us headed about 5 minutes down the street until we came across a hostel. We found out they were offering tours from Tupiza to Salar de Uyuni (4 days), so without too much consideration we booked it. We then headed out for a pasta, played some more 500 and then went to bed, not realising that at altitude sometimes it is hard to sleep... which we found!

Leigh out of breathe from the altitude after skipping
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Thursday 19th July – Tupiza – Tour (San Antonio de Lipez 4200m)

We found out that there were no money machines, so the only way to get cash is through a cash advance on your visa. So we reluctantly queued at the second bank we visited, as the first bank charges a 10% fee, the other only 40 Bolivianos. After pushing to the front of the queue aware that we only had 30 minutes to get the cash, supplies for the trip, pack our bags and get on the tour which started at 9.30am, we swipped the visa card for the first part of the transaction while Leigh queued to get the actual cash. However a few people got in front of him, so we had to pay people to queue jump as it can take hours in that bank! Finally we got some cash, bought a whole lot of fruit, snacks and toliet paper (of course) then raced back to our hostel. After being yelled at to hurry up, we met our guide Franco out the front of our hostel with his Red 4x4 Toyota Landcruiser, 1989. He grabbed our bags and tied them up top with the gas cookers and other supplies and the 4 of us headed off.

Testing the water in one of the beautiful Lagoons
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Our first stop was about 1km out of town at a national guard checkpoint, who we had to pay off 10 Bolivianos to let us through. Thinking how many of these have we got, we carried out to our first glimpse of the amazing scenary in Bolivia. The cannons went for miles it was really spectacular. Franco warned me in Spanish (as he and no one else in Bolivia it seems does not speak English), not to get too close to the edge as it was dangerous, which I thought was cute as I would never have guessed! We then jumped back in for many hours of bumpy off roading and talked to Mic and Jim for the whole duration about sport. We then pulled over in a field of llamas and had lunch with another jeep tour which had 4 Poles and 1 Canadian on board. Lunch was really nice, but you quickly learn there are not toilets about so wherever you can find a place to go, you go! We carried on with continual climbing throughout the mountains on quite dangerous one car width roads... thankfully Franco was very good on his horn and warned cars 100m before he was coming! The scenary changed with every sweeping corner, from canyons to what resembled Central North Island – mountainous and desert like. We then arrived at our first nights accomodation – San Antonio de Lipez at a whopping 4200m above sea level. You don't realise what altitude is like until you are in it and realise throwing a tennis ball around, which seemed like a good idea is very draining!

At the hot pool
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Our accommodation was very basic in Bolivian standards, which means a bed, no hot water, no power points, one light per room, no heating!!! It also got extremely cold in the evening around -5 degrees, so after playing more 500, having soup and bull for dinner the 4 of us crashed in our not so cosy room, all going to bed in the clothes we warn throughout the day. The sleep wasn't that great as the beds were hard, it was freezing and both Jim and Leigh got altitude sickness.

The days itinerary included: Villa Fatima, Quebrada de Palala, Sillar, Mina Chilcobija, Abra Pampa, Cerrillos, Poulos, Rio San Pablo.

Another beautiful lagoon
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Friday 20th July – Tour (San Juan)

After everyone woke up with not much sleep (except Jo who managed to get the most) at 5am, by a loud knock on the door by Franco and him yelling “amigos”, we got up and skipped breakfast as bread with no spreads wasn't that appealing. Jim was really ill and had been up all night and Leigh had the worst headache and nausea, so this was the first experience of altitude sickness, which is the worst thing in the world! Jo and Mic thankfully seemed to be ok. So we set off all pretty quite with a long day ahead of us. This was a pretty amazing day with some spectacular scenary including white and green lakes, volcanos and snow capped mountains. You really got the feeling like you were in the middle of nowhere.

Smells like Rotorua here...
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For lunch we stopped off at the Aguas Termas which was a hot spring and pool right by the green lagoon. After getting changed in the open (no changing rooms of course), we hoped into the hot pool. This was heaven! After being so cold for about 48 hours with no hot water available, sitting in this hot pool was out of this world. Franco told us to only stay in for 10 minutes and after we hoped out we found out why. We all felt really dizzy and light headed. Lunch was pretty good, although Jo got put off it a bit after finding several bugs and hair in her food (she is so fussy!) Jim and Leigh had started coming around, so had a wee bite to eat also. We then made a further ascent to 5000m above sea level to view the Geiser's Fumarolas – which are geisers and mud pools... pretty cool as it was so high above sea level, but come on Rotorua is still the best! We then arrived in Huallajara, which was absolutely freezing and we were informed the temperatures would drop to -25 at night, remember there is no heating so this is very uncomfortable. Jim's condition deteriorated with the altitude as we were at around 4200m again. We decided that it was not safe to stay the night there and to get close to a hospital and lower altitude, so good on Franco to the rescue offered to drive us at 9.30pm, 5 hours to San Juan.

Sunrise of the Salar de Uyuni
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After Leigh, Jo and Mic had dinner, we packed up the Jeep and set off, all squashed against the back seat with opened sleeping bags on us to try and keep warm. This was the most hellish 5 hour drive ever. We now expect there not to be roads, but we were crossing along bolders, sharp corners, sudden drops all in pitch black. It was half way through this trip when it was unfortunately Jo's turn to encounter sickness (probably not altitude, more motion and dehydration). We had to make a couple of stops for her. She felt really ill, but after being sick you look above you and the night sky is filled with thousands of stars it's really quite amazing. We eventually arrived in San Juan (3600m) and Franco honked on his horn for 5 mins and yelled “mucho frio” to get the owners attention. Finally we were lead into the hostel and were quite relieved to be in much warmer rooms and lower altitude.

Team Australiasia at the Salar de Uyuni
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The days itinerary included: Pueblo Fantasma, El Torreo (Zona Volcanica), Laguna Morejon, Quetena Chica, Quetena Grande, Laguna Hediondka, Kollpa Lagna, Salar de Chalviri, Aguas Termas, Laguna Blanca, Laguna Verde, Volcan Licancabur, Geiser's Fumarolas (Craters Sol de Manana), Laguna Colorada, Huallajara.

Saturday 21st July – Tour (Hotel de Sal)

For all the struggles we had encountered the night before, we were relieved to be able to sleep in. The boys got up and sat in the sun, eating pancakes, very slowly as still feeling the effects of the altitude, while Jo was still recovering. The move down the mountain the night before was really worth it, as it allowed us all to recover. After lunch we packed up the jeep and headed for our next nights accommodation in Hotel de Sal. We were all really excited when we arrived as it was really cool. Everything was made out of salt, from the salt floor, to the salt bed it was our most favourite hotel. We got first dibs on the rooms ahead of the other group that have been running with us, so the four of us got settled in and Jo had a nice hot shower (wow, how hot water is a luxury). We then played 500 all afternoon on the salt chairs and tables, while consuming as much water as possible.

Playing cricket on the salt flat... its a whiteout!
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The other group arrived a few hours later and we all talked about the night before and the harsh sleeping conditions. We then had dinner and chatted for a while before heading to bed at the usual time of 8pm. We sat there talking about TV shows for a while then all drifted off to sleep in very warm temperatures i.e. 5 degrees!