The South West Circuit

Laguna Verde
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Our next adventure was the 4 day trip around the South Western corner of Bolivia, through some of the most diverse landscapes you are likely to see. We did this in the comfort of a 4x4 landcruiser as we went from Tupiza, in the South, via brightly coloured lakes, steaming geysers and towering volcanoes to our final stop, the Salar de Uyuni - the world´s largest salt flat at over 12,000 square kilometres.

Before we started this journey we had the important decision to make of which agency to use - stories circulating of drivers being drunk or falling asleep at the wheel forced us to research this carefully. We settled on El Grano de Oro who, luckily for us, turned out to be a good safe option. Further reports of two landcruisers colliding head on a couple of months ago, killing all on board, and a 4x4 rolling on the day we were at the Salt Plains, killing two, really emphasising how important it is to pick a safe tour agency, and to be lucky.

We got on to the Salar in time to see the sun rise, it was spectacular as it cast the longest shadows I have ever seen

More Flamingos
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Our first days travel took us from Tupiza through remote villages consisting of adobe (mud brick) houses with solar panels for electricity and the odd Llama or two for dinner. There was very little vegetation in this barren landscape. We reached 4,200m altitude as we got to our accomodation for the night, a very basic homestay consisting of mud floors and mud walls - it was very cold. In preparation for this cold (we were told it would be -10 to -20 degrees c) we both hired a second sleeping bag to go over our own bags. We weren´t taking any chances. Due to the lack of polution of any sort the night sky here was unbelievable, I have never seen so many stars up there.

Bubbling mud at the Geysers
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Altitude sickness struck us both here and our early morning start the next day couldn´t have come at a worse time, we could barely make it out of bed. It felt like the worse hangover imaginable and the whole of day two was hindered by this feeling. Among the sights we would have enjoyed had we the strength to do so were the thermal waters (for bathing in), the beautiful green Laguna Verde (coloured this way due to the vast mineral content in the water), and the bubbling mud pools of the Sol de Manana geysers (at almost 5,000m). Our lodging that night was once again minimal, but thankfully not as cold as on day one.

Us at Isla Incahausi
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Day three and we were beginning to recover, our first stop was to the red Laguna Colorado (the colouring this time due to the bacteria in the water). This was one of the highlights of the trip as there were Flamingos everywhere feeding off the bacteria and at one point doing a march of some sort. There were more Lagunas of varying sizes and colours, and a scattering of Llamas and Vicunas here and there. Late in the day we came across another landcruiser that had broken down. We were in the middle of nowhere and about 6 groups had stopped to try and help - it was not a good place to be stranded with the freezing night drawing in. After an hour or so of waiting the drivers finally fixed the car and we were all on our way to our accomodation - a hotel made of salt right on the edge of the Salar de Uyuni, which we would be visiting early the next morning.

Sun rise on the Salar
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Our final day was an early start as we headed out at 6am to catch the sun rising over the Salar. Our landcruiser had inconveniently flattened its battery overnight so there we were at six in the morning giving the car a push start, not a nice experience in these temperatures and at this altitude. We failed miserably and it was left to the other landcruiser in our party to give it a push start while we looked on wheezing pathetically. It literally drove up behind ours and shunted it along until it came to life.

Even smaller Gary
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So we got on to the Salar in time to see the sun rise and it was spectacular as it cast the longest shadows I have ever seen over the vast flat land. It was absolutely freezing here, our hands and feet in pain as we enjoyed the views. As the sun got higher we were able to thaw out a little and we were almost back to normal as we climbed Isla Incahausi on the Salar - a small island full of huge cacti up to 9 metres high. This was a perfect place for getting 360 degree views of the slat plains.

Passing an active Volcano
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Our final task was to take silly photos of each other, as the lack of anything around you (except the bright white ground - you need sunglasses on here) means there is a severe lack of perspective on anything in your shot. See photos to understand what I´m talking about - it´s not easy to do by the way).

We then drove to the filthy desert town of Uyuni nearby where our trip ended. Apart from the train cemetery (where Bolivia´s first fleet of trains has been left to quietly rust away) there was nothing of interest here. [Apart from the brilliant pizzas at the minuteman pizza restaurant - Shannyn]. This is a place to end your tour and get a bus out of there as quickly as possible. Unfortunately we had to stay the night but we were gone early the next morning.

Laguna Colorado
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Our trip to Sucre was eventful. We were shown pictures of the nice big bus we would be taking, it had nice reclining chairs that we could sleep on. Obviously we get there and the bus is one of the worst I have seen, crammed with smelly locals down the isles. We had 6 hours on this and no toilet. Shannyn has a tendancy to need the toilet a little more frequently than every 6 hours so on one of our many stops in the little villages we persuaded the driver to wait while she went off to relieve herself. Her only option was a locals house in the filthiest toilet imaginable, if that wasn´t enough a woman and her young son watched as she went. At least she made it back on the bus as it was beeping her to hurry up and I was being forced back in the bus by the tide of people and could do nothing but hope she would make it back on in time.

Steaming Geysers
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After about 7 hours we got to Potosi, (the highest city in the world for you stats fans). From here we were put in a taxi for the remaining 3 hours to Sucre, not knowing if he would try and charge us for a journey we had already paid for. He didn´t luckily but his scary driving in the dark (on the wrong side of the road for most of it) made the whole journey quite uncomfortable. When they have roadworks in Bolivia they just make both directions use the same side, with no warning signs, no lights and no people controlling the traffic. No common sense at all. Anyway we made it to Sucre in one piece.