I don't even know where to start with this one, although it was only three days, but we saw so many amazing things that I could just write a full paragraph of superlatives and let you look at the pictures - and those are pictures we are going to sit you through when we get back, promise!
Anyhow, in a nutshell, we went on a jeep tour from San Pedro de Atacama to Bolivia, with a group of six: Kathy from Germany, Vangelis from Greece but living in Germany, Tomash from the Tcheck Republic, Leslie from the US. We crossed the border at the top of some mountain pass, got our passports stamped by a military in a hut, then sped down the dirt road towards a series of colourful lagunas, spotting guanacos, llamas and birds along the way. We passed the 5000 meters limit, did not throw up, checked out bubbling geysers, saw pink flamingoes in a pink lake, slept in dorms in the middle of nowhere and nearly froze stiff, but had a wonderful first day, with a great group.
Day two was just as fab; we saw more good stuff, including strange rock formations, more lakes, active volcanoes, hyper-tall cacti, the most remote village on the surface of the planet (San Juan - where we saw our first Bolivian ladies dressed in traditional bowler hats, black puffy skirts, white shirts, and wearing their babies on their backs, bound in colourful fabrics), and even managed to get a flat tyre, before ending up in a hotel built entirely of salt - ok, the walls of the showers were not - on the shore of the biggest salt lake in the world, the Salar de Uyuni. We watched the best sunset so far, then sampled Bolivian wine to celebrate!
Day three took us across the Salar, first to rescue another jeep that got stuck in the wet and muddy bit by the side of the road, then over to Isla del Pescado, an island with lots of cacti in the middle of the lake. The salar took over one and a half hours to cross eventhough our driver, Capitan Crispin, was doing his best to belt over the dry salt!
We got to Uyuni, sad to see the end of such a grand aventure and upset to see our new friends, Kathy and Van, leave to go back to San Pedro. It even rained, making us feel gloomier...
From Uyuni, we will go to Potosi.
We can already tell that we will like Bolivia!
Flamingos at Laguna Colorada, Bolivia.
Lama at Laguna Colorada, Bolivia.
Tom, Van, Kathy, Lesley, Olivia, Cristian, Crispin, Marta.
Stone tree, Bolivia.
Vulcano Licancabur.
Salar de Uyuni.
In the Salar de Uyuni.
Hexagonal salt formations.