Day 3 in the Desert

We were awake at 4am, so we could reach the geysers a few miles away by dawn. It was -10ºC when we left the hotel. After trying desperately to stay warm for an hour, we arrived at the geysers, where there were huge craters of boiling mud and billowing steam, and the stench of sulphur in the air. I was fascinated, but the Kiwis in our group told me to wait till I get to Rotura, in NZ, where the geysers are much more impressive.


Following the geysers, we headed to another lake to pass the time before a breakfast of pancakes and toffee sauce, which we ate next to the hot springs. At 9.30am, it was still below freezing, but Mina, Mike & Marlene and I all braved the 30º thermal springs: the water was beautiful, and after the initial pain of having to get undressed in the freezing outdoors, it warmed us through to the bones - well worth it!


Several hours driving later, we arrived at a basic homestay where we went to play basketball with the locals. Unfortunately, we couldn´t find any locals but played against each other anyway, although it was quite tough with the cold and the altitude ruining our fitness.

4x4 Tour Day 2

The second day of the tour we set off at dawn, and headed through deserts and mountains, first stopping to see the most active volcano in Bolivia (although half of it is in Chile), stopping shortly afterwards for lunch.

Having climbed into the Andes, the altitude made it fairly chilly, despite the blazing sun, as we first stopped at Laguna Verde to see dozens of wild flamingoes, before continuing to the highest desert in the world and seeing the "Stone Tree". As much as it pains me, the landscape, beautiful as it was, became quickly monotonous as we continued the trip - most of us had expected to spend most of our time on the salt flats, but as it turned out we had less than a day there before heading into deserts and mountains.




The hotel at the end of day 2 was very basic, with 6-bed dorm rooms, a shared toilet, and no heating. As soon as the sun set, however, the temperature plummeted, plus I think I began to feel the effects of altitude sickness (cold temperatures often bring it on more severely), and so by 8pm I was in bed with a blinding headache and nausea.

Day 43: Uyuni / Salt Flats day 1

We got up early, piling into three Toyota landcruisers, before heading out to the "Train Cemetery", just outside of Uyuni. Here, trains from the early 20th Century boom of the city´s mining have been left together to rust.


A few hours later, we arrived at the Salt Plains. They´re a very bizarre sight, unimaginable really, and a unique spot for persperctive-defying photographs; such as climbing out of a Pringles tub, or balancing on top of a cigarette packet. According to our guide, the plains themselves are roughly the same size as Northern Ireland, aprox. 12 million square kilometres.




Later that day, we headed on to "Fish Island", an island covered in cacti, so called because of it´s shape when seen from above, before continuing on towards the Salt Hotel where we were to spend the night, built entirely from salt bricks.

Day 42 - Potosi to Uyuni

We were boarding a 6-hour coach to Uyuni at 11.30, so I headed out early to find some breakfast, before searching the market for a souvenir - I eventually found a silver ring which the vendor told me was 95% silver, and she´d made it herself. Even if that wasn´t true, I was happy to pay the 70BS (7 pounds) she asked for.

En route to Uyuni, we stopped in the middle of nowhere for snacks and a toilet break, I picked up a couple of delicious potatoes stuffed with spicy vegetables and egg, deep fried and topped with a mild chilli sauce for about 20p each.

Arriving in freezing Uyuni just after dark, we headed almost immediately to Minuteman Pizza; an excellent tourist restaurant run by an American - allegedly Bolivia´s best pizzas; I have little doubt! A must if you´re in Uyuni, that´s for sure.

Potosi

Our tour of the mines began early, and after getting decked out in overalls and hard hats we stopped at the market to pick up some gifts for the miners, including dynamite (2 quid per stick) and some 96% proof alcohol (tastes like paintstripper).



Entering the mine, after a brief tour of the refinery, we often had to crawl through the narrow passages, stopping to see shrines to Tio (the Devil - miners worship the devil instead of God, since God cannot reach that far underground). As we descended to the 3rd level, the air got so much hotter and dustier making it really difficult to breathe at times, although when we returned to ground level two hours later, it was snowing. Here, we set off some dynamite - not as exciting as I thought - before heading back to Potosi and a much-needed shower!



In the evening, we went to another tourist restaurant where I had a fairly good Beef San Pedro (braised beef wrapped in bacon with creamy mushroom sauce) as well as sharing an excellent bottle of Bolivian Malbec with Dave.

On the way back to the hostel, some of stopped off at a small local bar, which had an extensive menu of four drinks - beer, chuflay (bolivian national drink), sangani (the spirit in chuflay), or hot chuflay! Nevertheless, it was good fun, playing drinking games until gone midnight.

Sucre II

In the morning, Mina, Dave, Richard and I headed back up to JoyRide to go Rock Climbing - it was great fun although it was extremely tiring; it´s been a while since I last did it!


After an early dinner we headed back to the hostel to have a few drinks, before heading out in Sucre with the rest of the group, eventually finding a few other English backpackers, before heading back at about 4.30am, completely exhausted.



The following morning, I had another lazy day, returning to JoyRide for a Desayuno de Chuchaqui (hangover breakfast, which turned out to be a ham and cheese omlette on a baguette), before watching the start of the Man Utd vs Arsenal champions league semi final (2-0 after 13 minutes).

In the early afternoon, we headed to Potosi, which appeared to be a fairly poor city despite it´s rich mining past. Still hungover, Kerry, Mina and I decided on a pizza from what was supposed to be the best restaurant in the city, 4060, before getting to bed at about 8pm!

Sucre: Capital of Bolivia

Most of Sucre´s colonial buildings have been white-washed, earning the city the title of Bolivia´s "White City".

After arriving from our overnight bus, we took a brief walking tour of the city before heading to JoyRide Cafe for breakfast, before having a lazy day just relaxing and uploading photos.

In the late afternoon, most of us walked up to the Mirador to get a good view of the sunset over the city, before heading to a local restaurant - average food and appalling service; I had Chilli con Carne with Nachos.


Following dinner, we just had a few quiet drinks back in JoyRide, before heading home for an early night.