Over The Andes And Far Away

To get our behinds into Bolivia, we booked us a 3 day 4WD safari trip from San Pedro to Uyuni across the border. The route takes you over the altiplano aka. the highlands plateau that is Bolivia and across the Uyuni salt flats, the biggest of their kind in the world. We were 10 people on the trip, 5 per car (plus the driver-guide-cook each of course) as promised by the travel agency Colque Tours. Having read a lot of bad things about these trips on the web I had some doubts, but they were blown right out of the water when we got on the road.

DAY 1

We started off at 0800 from the Colque office, exchanged some Bolivian cash and headed to the border on a minibus. There we'd quickly get stamped into the country and load ourselves and the bags on the cars. Was surprised how big and comfortable the 4WDs were. Plenty of room for everybody. First on the menu was a stop at White Lagoon for breakfast, after which we saw a few other lagoons before getting to the hot springs. Lying in the 34C water looking over salt flats and pink and blue mountain ranges was blissful.

After the 30 minute bathing session we moved on and reached the Morning Sun Geysers - not geysers per se, but steaming and bubbling mud ponds at a crazy altitude of 4800 meters. Even with our 3 days of acclimatization, it didn't take much effort to get lightheaded. Pretty awesome sight these mud ponds, way better than the ones we saw in Costa Rica. They were really active and would occasionally squirt the hot mud 2 meters high. Last stop before a (very) late lunch was to go see Red Lagoon and its hundreds of avian inhabitants: flamingos. Also saw several vicunas - a wild llama like creature - during the day, grazing on the barren plain.

Our overnight lodging would be a small barracks style building with no heating and no running water; luckily the heavy blankets kept the freezing room temperature at bay. Since the lodging was located at some 4700 meters above sea level, you tended to get very peculiar dreams. We hadn't ever before even been above 4200 meters let alone sleep there.. quite an experience. Certainly feels weird to be out of breath even while lying down and hear the vicious wind bring on the chill that would result in -10C temperature at night. At dinner they surprised us with decent veggie pasta and some of the guys summoned three bottles of wine and a large Flor de Cana rum and we had a feast. Great first day!

DAY 2

After a bread-and-tea breakfast we reload the cars and head off. The first few hours are spent exploring several high altitude lagoons with amazing amount of flamingos, and this time we get to see them really close up. After the lagoons we arrive to a valley full of strange rock formations, the most distinctive one called the Stone Tree.

The defining characteristic of the second day was the amount of driving done, as this was the day when most of the distance was to be covered. Throughout the day we would stop in strange ghost villages, in one which we'd get treated to our first dose of llama meat at lunch. In the afternoon the landscape started to change, sharp peaks of the Andes surrendering to more smooth lunar like hills and canyons. For the second night we arrive to our lodging at the edges of the Salar de Uyuni, the biggest salt flat on the planet with its 12000 sq. km area. And the lodging was built almost purely of - yeah you guessed it - salt! They had a bar there and after a tasty lunch, our group would sit till late night and chat over beers, wine (a Chilean guy had brought 5 bottles..) and more of the brilliant Nicaraguan rom Flor de Cana.

DAY 3

On the last day we spend the morning on the eerie salt flats taking silly pictures that abuse the vast whiteness and perspective. Also visited Fisher Island, an "island" in the middle of the salt flat. The island is home to several thousand year old cactus, the tallest being 9 meters. After some camera fun we continue on and see one more town and a train cemetary before arriving to our destination Uyuni, where our group continues to have a pizza together before saying goodbyes. We stay overnight while most head off to Potosi and La Paz the same night.

The next night we hop on a night bus to La Paz (11h, 13$) where we end up one hour early at 0600. We find the cheapest accommodation on the trip so far - 10$ for a double room with private toilet - and head out booking some more mountain adventures for the days to come. The 4WD trip was exhausting yet so much fun that tomorrow shall be a do-nothing day. And then, hopefully some extreme mountain biking..