Been a while, again.

23/08/09 - Salta, Argentina

I took the walk up the hill as planned, 1070 steps, and it nearly destroyed me! What made me feel even more unfit was that there were Argentinians running or jogging up it as excerise! When I got to the top I spent the rest of the day enjoying a beer, the veiw, and a book. That was pretty much it for the whole day, nice and relaxing!

In the evening I hung out at the hostel and played a few games of pool with the people that worked there and some of the other guests.

24/08/09 - Salta and La Quinca , Argentina. Villazon, Bolivia

Up early and down to Salta Bus Terminal to start making my way north into Bolivia. Whilst waiting for the bus I started talking to another Brit, Richard, as I was trying to get rid of some of the rather stupid amounts of small currency I have at the moment (Sterling, US Dollars, Canadian Dollars, Paraguayan, Uruguayan, Brazilian, Argentinian, Bolivian, 2 Cuban!!) It turned out that Richard was trying to find his way north too to do a salt flat tour in Bolivia as well. He grabbed a ticket on the same bus as me and we spent the next 7hours chatting and watching bad films with English subtitles.

We arrived at La Quinca in good time, and togther with another backpacker took the walk over the Bolivian border into Villazon. This was a crazy little border town! Loads of stalls and shops all selling pretty much the same eclectic mix of electronics, clothing, shoes, coca leaves, musical instruments, you name it, they had it. But who are they selling it too?! Tourists passing through aren´t going to stop off to be a HiFi system?! Richard and I decided to spend the night in Villazon rather than press on to Tupiza that day, I had allready done 7hours on a coach that day and Richard had racked up almost 30hours in 2 days. We found a hotel then wandered the streets looking for some food and a drink.

25/08/09 - Villazon and Tupiza, Bolivia

Up early and down to the bus station to buy our tickets to Tupiza - the bus was...interesting. I´ve got a great pic of it but uploads aren´t working here. Quite small and rustic looking. The departure was delayed by about 30mins whilst they changed a tyre, unfortunatly the ´new´tyre going on looked just as bald as the old one coming off. Oh well, we could brave it.

The bus set off and as soon as we left Villazon itself the road became a gravel track. The rest of the journey was characterised by uneven roads, crazy looking diversions and the odd fording of a river! The bus, the driver and us made it in one piece though, even if everything, and I mean everything, was covered in a think layer of dust!

Once we got to Tupiza the idea was to catch a bus to Uyuni, a place a few hours down the road where most of the Salt Flat tours go from. However, that plan died pretty quickly when we were told that all the busses to Uyuni had allready gone, and that we would have to stay in Tupiza. It was then that we bumped into Lucas and Steve, a pair of Austrians who had come from Uyuni to Tupiza to do a tour from there as they are a bit quiter (you don´t leave in a trail of 30 or so 4x4´s!) That sounded like a good new plan, so the 4 of us went to grab some food and then book a tour for the next day. For GBP120 we were getting 4days/3nights of tour, with all accomodation and food included! Great.

26/08/09 - Start of the Salt Flat tour

We all got up and got on the road at 09:00, with a quick stop to buy a football and some sunglasses we were on our way in a convey of only 5 4x4´s. All morning was spent climbing higher and higher up into the mountains to the south-east of Tupiza. In a very surreal moment we were cruising through a high mountain range, 2 Brits, 2 Austrians and a Bolivian listing to Bony M, ABBA and Ace of Base (Milton, the driver, had a very strange taste in music!) Eventually the track levelled out and we entered a high platau. After passing through an incredible little village nestled against the banks of a dried up river (think low mud-brick houses, traditionally dressed women and the odd baby Llama walking about) we pulled up in a large plain to have some lunch surrounded by Llama. Here we got talking to one of the other jeeps on the tour, a group of 5 French people. Whilst the drivers and cook were sorting out lunch we all took the chance to get some Llama photos and have a quick kick about. As we soon discovered the altitude was going to be a killer. We were at around 3000m at the time.

After lunch we moved onto Devils Pass, a mountain pass surrounded by red sand that becomes all but impassable if the wind is too strong. Here Milton left the 4 of us to go and search for the other jeep as it hadn´t turned up for a while. We sat there debating what exactly we would do if he didn´t come back... After a while he did return though and we kept moving onto a little village where we were to spend the night.

As we arrived the sun was jst starting to set and we thought it would be a great idea to climb the hill above the villag eand get some photos, turns out it wasn´t such a good idea. Trying to rush up a hill to catch a sunset at that altitude almost killed us! We did see it though, and it was worth it! After getting back to the accomodation in almost pitch dark (we had taken torches) the 2 French girls told us that the 3 French guys had also gone up the hill, but they didn´t have any torches... Lucas and I got all bundled up in our jackets again (its pretty cold that high up at night!) and set out to find them.

We eventually all got back, ate, and then crashed out for the night, ready for our 05:00 start the next day! The accomodation at the beginning of the tour was described as ´very basic´- and it didn´t disappoint. 2 toilets, 2 cold taps, no heat, electricity supplied to lights only by a Solar Panel. We sat eating dinner all wrapped up in our jackets hats and gloves!

27/08/09 - Day 2

The first half of the day was punctuated by other peoples breakdowns, but it did give our jeep a good chance to grab some great photos of more Llamas. We also stopped at a ghost village, a town of 150 people that was abandoned a few decades ago. Folklore says that the Devil used to live there, as a result there were 26 churches in the village! Had a walk around there and then kept moving on towards the hot springs. Here you could go for a swim or just sit with your feet in 35 degree water! We had lunch here too surrounded by mountains and a huge lagoon.

After lunch we had 2 more stops before getting to the accomodation for the night. First was the Green Lagoon, a lagoon that was...green. All the minerals in the area (particularly copper) changed the colour of the water. This one also contained quite large amounts of arsnic, so we didn´t get too close! After that we took a ride out to the Geysers. You could smell them long before you could see them - suphur, and strong at that.

The accomodation for the night was as basic as before, and the whole place was pretty much built as a tourist village. A few rows of long building, with dorms off the main corridor, a kitchen at one end and a toilet at the other. Spent lots of time that evening playing numerous games of Uno with the French lot - we ended up turning in slightly later as we had a later start for day 3, 06:30...

28/08/09 - Day 3

Started the day with pancakes, great! The red lagoon first up, one of the main mating lagoons for the flamingo populations around there. I told the other 3 about the flamingos being turned pink by the food they eat and they didn´t believe me - The firs tthing Milton tells us when we get back in the jeep is how the food turns them pink! Chalk one up for me!

Another few lagoons and then onto some rock formations. Spent a bit of time climbing them to get some photos, and then spent even more time getting back down again. Turns out I didn´t pick the easiest route! I made it though.

On to the last nights accomodation, a hotel made of salt. The walls, floor, tables, chairs, pretty much anything that could be made out of salt was. Another night of sitting around playing cards and Uno.

29/08/09 - Day 4

Up at 05:00 again to catch the sunrise over the Salt Flats. For once we were the first jeep to leave, and we got a fantastic veiw. As we´re so near the equator here once the sun first starts showing over the horizon it shoots up. A bit further into the Salt Flats we came to a small island left from when the whole area used to be a lake. as we took a walk around the island the drivers and cook fixed us up some breakfast. We then spent the next 40mins or so having an international football match at a few thousand meters above sea level! The Europeans were represented by the UK, France, Austria, and for a little while Poland, and we were playing against Bolivia. The altitude killed us Europeans and the Bolivians ran rings around us! Also, as we were up on perfectly flat ground, every time some miss kicked the ball or scored a goal it just kept on going, there was nothing to stop it! And for some reason it was allways one the Europeans that had to chase after it and get it!

Once we called time on the football, with the Europeans just about ready to collapse, we moved further out into the Flats to mess around some perspective photos. As there is nothing for miles around, they are quite easy and quick to set up. People jumping over cars, getting eaten by Shrek, walking out of a Pringle tube, those sorts of things. Stopped off at the first Salt Hotel ever made , but it was pretty unimpressive as we had stayed in something pretty much identical the night before! After that we moved onto a tourist trap market with each stall selling the same indentical ´hand-made´things, and then it wa sover to Uyuni to finish the tour!

All the others were moving on to La Paz, and I to Sucre, luckly all our buses were at the same time, so we headed to a pub to have a few farewell beers. Got on a bus to Sucre at 19:00.

30/08/09 - Sucre, Bolivia

Arrived in Sucre at 05:00 in the morning and was a bit stuck. No hotels or hostels were open. I occupied myself by sitting in the main square and watching a few women sweeping the streets with giant leaves. At 06:00 the hotel opposite me opened up and I dived in to grab a room. Its a 4star place, comparable to the UK, and cost GBP20 a night! Still, for Bolivia thats expensive, so I´ll treat myself to one night here and then shift onto a hostel. I had my first shower in 5 days and have spent the rest of my time walking around Sucre enjoying the sun and not having to be on a form of transport. Sucre is a beautiful city, another Unesco World Heritage Site.

Right, theres another huge update. I should be in cities from now on, so internet access should be a little more reliable and updates a little more frquent and managable to read!