Tupiza and the Salar de Uyuni

Tupiza is a dusty little town in the south of Bolivia and was a short (by South American standards!) bus from Potosi. What had drawn us here was the fabled scenery, said to be akin to the wild west. As a result  horseriding tours have really taken off and Damien was only dying to give it a go. I myself was a lot more interested in the only hotel in town with a pool… bliss! (And all for just over €10 a night each, Bolivia is fantastically cheap.)

Swimboy 

Relaxing and sunbathing complete, we set off on a horse ride into the country. Within ten minutes of leaving the town it felt like we were in a different world, the land was burnt red brown with lots of cacti and strange rock features. My horse Zapeto was a little feisty and Damien’s Linda was a little lazy but the riding was fairly pleasant if a little sore on the backside!

Cowboy

After two nights in Tupiza we boarded a bus to Uyuni from where we would embark on a tour of the famous salt flats and also cross the border into Chile. From the off it became apparent that this was going to be a nasty trip, for many reasons...

1. It was stiflingly hot
2. There was a sour smell of rancid meat inside the bus. I suspect this came from the locals bringing meat to the isolated communities in the desert like area we were going to cross. But still, ugh!
3. There was a guy sitting beside us who insisted on playing the five (utterly rubbish) songs he had on his      phone over and over and over again. At high volume.
4. There were many children.
5. Some of the people on the bus had not had a wash in quite some time.

Unhappy campers

We broke down half way through the journey in a little hell hole in the middle of the arid landscape. 10 men gathered around a battery and fiddled with it for a while apparently solving the problem. Finally (after 8hours on a very windy bumpy dust road) we arrived at our destination.

View from bus of lonely cloud somewhat making up for smelly locals

Uyuni is a desolate windswept town and the only industry here seems to be tourism, as hoards of people pass through on their way to the magnificent salt flats and national park. We organised a tour for the next day and took an early night.

The next morning, exit stamps from Bolivia obtained, we set off in a 4x4 with a German couple and two French ladies on our three day trip. The first stop was a train graveyard just outside town where there were rusting locomotives strewn everywhere. It was a pretty cool sight with the dramatic mountain scenery as a backdrop.

Trainspotting

The drive carried on for another 20minutes as a blinding white light emerged in the distance. Suddenly the light was all around us and we had arrived in the Salar. This vast area of white salt exists because of an ancient saline lake that dried up many moons ago. The crystals are used commercially but there is just so much salt that it seems it would never expire. It was impossible to look to the horizon without wearing sunglasses. Time for some dumb photographs!

Feeding the llama

We ate some lunch and drove to the next stop, an “island” in the middle of the salt plains, covered in cacti. The lake when full was bigger than Lake Titicaca which gave us some perspective on its massive size. The salt naturally occurs in hexagons which look sparkly and dazzle in the sun.

The "island"

That night we slept comfortably in a little hotel a few hours drive from the Salar. The next day was spent driving around a series of beautifully coloured lakes full of flamingos. Some were like mirrors and reflected the azure blue sky and mountains perfectly. One amazing aspect of being so high is the sheer blueness of the sky, it’s gorgeous.

Water meets sky

One of the lakes had a herd of Vicuna grazing on the shores. These are a protected Andean deer-like animal whose coat is one of the softest in the world. We saw a lot of Vicuna in Bolivia and Peru and they are lovely to watch, light footed and agile. This time they scampered when people got too close, which was a pity (I think the guides could have been a bit stricter on keeping people at bay).

Flamingos background, vicunas foreground

Lunch was al fresco beside one of the lakes. The sun was blinding yet it was quite cold, the perfect conditions for getting sunburnt! (We did of course.)

Nom nom

The most spectacular lake was the last, Lago Colorado, which due to certain minerals present in the water is a rusty red colour. There were lots of people here but plenty of space to admire the view.

Which is redder, a) the lake, b) Damien's hair c) Damien's sunburn?!!

That night the accommodation was a lot more basic.. and cold! The only common language between everyone in the group was Spanish so it was a great opportunity to practice and learn from everyone. I’ve got quite a way to go yet! A bottle of wine courtesy of our guide made it easier to sleep in the cold.

We woke at a brutal hour and drove to see the geysers. As we got closer there was steam everywhere and the horrible eggy sulphur smell filled the jeep. But the geysers were amazing, shooting steam everywhere and creating a very eerie vista in the rising sun. There were also open holes of bubbling grey slime to watch out for!

Alright geezer!

After some more driving and lakes it was time to cross the border into Chile. The tour had so many incredible natural sights it was hard to process them all. Thankfully even our basic little camera did them some justice.  Wow and wow again.

We were sad to leave Bolivia which is a wonderful, cheap, friendly and interesting country to visit. But after a brief stop in Chile it will be onto Argentina and who wouldn't be excited about that!