|
|
|
From La Paz we caught two trains to reach Uyuni. The first, which was fairly bumpy & cramped, took us as far as a small town called Oruru where we were to wait a couple of hours until the second train to Uyuni. We made the most of this break in our day-long journey by having some lunch in a restaurant supposedly frequented by the British Royal Family! The restaurant prepares these wonderful "reknowned" meat dishes (made of lamb, if my memory serves me correct), which I took full advantage of by ordering a mixed vegetarian platter! [In fact, Fredy - our Peruvian tour guide - was the only one who ended up ordering a house special.]
We also took the opportunity to go to the bank & stock up on essentials e.g. CD player batteries & snacks for the onward journey. The reason for the bank trip was to swap notes of high denomination into ones of smaller denominations (since many shops, stalls & restaurants etc. don't have enough change to give you if you use a large note - a seemingly widespread issue in this part of the world).
The second train was a step up on the first - we were even served a sort of dinner! Unfortunately, however, we ended up in this carriage with some geeky travellers who moaned at us anytime we chatted/laughed /generally enjoyed ourselves. They seemed to be under the impression that because a movie was playing on the onboard TV, they were not on a public train but were in fact, instead, in a cinema (or library). Killjoys. Oh well, could have been worse... they could have turned out to be my travel companions for the forthcoming month!!!
So, anyway, we finally arrived in cold Uyuni later that evening. Having reclaimed our main rucksacks, which had been stowed underneath the train for the duration of the journey, we wandered outside to be met by our local representative. A short jeep ride later & we reached our hotel - just in time to check in, repack our luggage (ready for our forthcoming 3-day trip around the Southern Altiplano of Bolivia) & collapse into bed. For this first time in ages I had a room all to myself which was lovely :o) Mind you, I was slightly surprised to discover that my toilet was inside my shower cubicle!!!
DAY 1 The following morning we were met outside our hotel by Richard, our driver, & Victoria, our cook. We loaded all of our daybags into the jeep, whilst the rest of our gear was secured onto the roof rack - along with our spare fuel, cooking equipment (gas & stove), food & water. With Richard & Fredy up front, me, Nel & Phil in the middle row, & Mon & Victoria tucked into the back row, we headed off towards El Salar de Uyuni - the largest and highest (3650 masl) salt desert in the world. It was once a large saltwater lake/inland sea, but the water vanished into the thin dry air of Andean altitude, leaving behind the salt - tens of meters thick (up to 250m thick in places). It is estimated that El Salar de Uyuni contains 10 billion tons of salt, of which 25,000 tons is extracted annually.
We stopped off in the small town of Colchani to do a spot of shopping (goods made of locally-mined salt), before setting out across the desert. It was bizarre being able to see nothing but salt on all sides of us. After a couple of hours of driving across the flats (& being able to see nothing but salt on all sides) we came across Incahausi - an island covered in cacti up to 30 feet tall. The cacti grew among rock deposits formed when the lake was full of water.
We stopped to eat our lunch in this desolate location (along with a hundred other tourists!), before heading onto see some caves. The first cave was full of the usual stalactite & stalagmite formations, whilst the second was full of chullpas (ancient burial chambers), plus excavated bones & pottery etc. Upon the roof of the caves we also found some fossilised corals/tube sponges - very cool indeedy (well, if you like that kind of thing!). Afterwards it was onto our first salt hotel of the trip. I had envisaged it to be rather like a Scandinavian ice hotel. How wrong could I be?...
Whilst it did turn out to be freezing during the night, the hotel wasn't half as "luxurious" as I'd been hoping for (although we could have been outside, camping, so I guess it was one up on that - just about!). The five of us were in one room together & my mattress (fortunately not made of salt, although might just as well have been) was soooooooooo uncomfortable that I had to sleep on an extra couple of blankets to stop my bones digging into the salt bed base. At least we had a pleasant "dining room" (with the obligatory salt tables & chairs) in which we ate & chilled out prior to going to bed. We were also given a song & dance performance by some local kids which was really cute, albeit it rather crude (but quite funny when the girls scowled at each other for making mistakes in the dance routines).
DAY 2 The following morning we headed South, journeying through a barren landscape full of active volcanoes, striking lakes, & many wind-eroded rocks & boulders. Our first stop off was to explore some funky rock formations - much to the relief of the others in the jeep who were being subjected to mine & Nel's renditions of 80s pop, in particular the classic tune "Total Eclipse of the Heart" (for the 12th time in a row...). Once back in the jeep we headed onto Laguna Canapa where we spotted an Andean fox, followed by Lago Hedionda where we stopped off for lunch. Both turquoise lakes were full of flamingos - a very strange sight indeedy, considering they are at an altitude of around 4000m!
After lunch we continued our journey through the volcanic arc, stopping off to see the Arbol de Piedre ("stone tree") en route to Laguna Colorada, our final destination of the day. The lake has the most amazing red colour, as a result of the algae that live in it. We also saw a vizcacha - a rabbit/squirrel kind of animal (closely related to the chinchilla I'm led to believe).
That evening proved to be even colder than the last, & so it wasn't long before Monica & I clambered into our sleeping bags (actually, about 10 minutes after arriving at the "hotel" which was even less pleasant than last night's). We remained zipped into our bags for the entire evening - even whilst eating dinner, writing our journals/reading our books & playing cards. Again we were snuggled up altogether for the evening. Fredy took the opportunity to have a good snore - thank god for earplugs :o)
DAY 3 On our final morning we were up early in order to reach the hydrothermal area known as Geysers Sol de Manana in time for optimum geyser-action. Allegedly, the geysers are more active early in the morning - although this might just have been a ruse to get us up & out of bed! Once we'd spent some time ooohing & aaahing at a number of geysers (one of which was spinning like crazy), & peering into the depths of some bubbling mud pools, we leaped back into the jeep (as it was FREEZING outside) & continued onto a geothermal pool, which only Mon & I took advantage. I think it was the having to get back out & re-dressed in freezing temperatures that put everyone else off from having a dip. Oh well, all the better for us :o) Mon & I agreed that it was the first time in the past 24 hours that we'd actually felt warm!
Afterwards, we headed on passed the Dali desert towards two more amazingly coloured lakes - Laguna Verde (its green colour due to volcanic minerals) & Laguna Blanca. Then, sadly, it was time to head back to Uyuni :o( However, the journey was amazing - more crazy moonscapes, volcanoes & lakes, as well as a train graveyard & a stop-off in the Valle des Roches ("valley of the rocks") where I did a "carry on" slapstick comedy move of falling backwards over a lump of moss/furry green stuff (whilst trying to get out of one of Nel's camera shots). During the day we were once again presented with some wonderful photo opportunities - especially in one location from where it was possible to see both Argentina & Chile (as well as Bolivia, of course!).
previous travel blog entry
Would you like to comment or ask a question?
Sign up for a free account, or sign in (if you're already a member).