20 bob to the pound…

Well not quite – actually it’s 16 Bolivianos which are also known as bob!

Our Bolivian adventure began with a passport check at border control – a shack in the middle of the desert where ´el bano` was a rusting bus – and an amazing 3 day journey to Uyuni in the South West.

Day 1
Leaving San Pedro (Chile) at 8am, we swapped vehicles at the border (Bolivia and Chile don’t get along and won´t let tour vehicles cross the border) before heading across desolate landscapes, through mountains and passed volcanoes in order to reach the very pretty Lagunas Verde y Blanca (Green and white lakes which lived up to their names). Next we climbed high into the Andes, stopping at several breathtaking (literally as at this altitude it was hard to breathe) photo begging opportunities along the way, to reach the highest point of our trip, 5,000m – which was where Ali succumbed to altitude sickness :-(

Not even the spectacular geysers with giant steam spouts could console her, nor could the Laguna Colorado, one of Bolivia’s most isolated marvels. The arctic white gypsum and salt crust counterbalance the flaming red algae waters to create a pink effect, made better by the rare James flamingos feeding along the water’s edge. Luckily Steve captured this beautiful place on camera or Ali would’ve missed it all!

Our day ended with a very basic Refugio at the lake – no hot water (or showers come to that), the most disgusting toilets ever seen, uncomfortable beds, no electricity after 8.50pm and freezing cold dorm rooms with the temperature dropping to below zero (no heating). All in all a bad night’s sleep, though for Ali that could also have had something to do with our driver plying her with coca leaves to cure her altitude sickness!

Day 2
Another early start – though this time not a problem as no one could wait to leave the Refugio and the smell of the toilets behind them – took us across more desert with photo stops at the valley of the stones, the altiplanic lagoons and towns (including San Augustin and Julaca – the latter of which is a ghost town) and various other places we can’t remember the names of. Our driver got annoyed with us for taking too long at each stop though and promptly cut the remaining stops out – didn’t realise we were 5 years old!

We stayed at the edge of the salt lake and our accommodation was a vast improvement on the night before – thankfully! Hot showers (well for 1.5 hours anyhow), electricity until 10.30pm (woo hoo!), clean bathrooms and cosy beds – what a relief! Plus Ali even managed to eat a little – the first time in 2 days.

Day 3
Our final day took us on one of Bolivia’s greatest and most famous road trips – across the Salar de Uyuni. The largest (12,000 km2), highest (around 3,600m) and deepest (over 100m) salt lake in the world, the blinding white expanse contrasts with the bright blue sky to create an awe-inspiringly beautiful sight. Driving across is amazing and you completely you lose track of what is land and what is sky. Apparently it used to be an ocean and near the centre is a coral island – a very strange sight in the middle of all that white. There’s also a salt hotel made entirely of (yep, you guessed it) salt.

After a few hours exploring and racing across the lake, we stopped off at a small salt mining town called Colchani where we had the opportunity to buy the obligatory tourist tat before heading to Uyuni for a llama steak lunch ...

Uyuni is another dusty town, though this one with an end of the line feel – in fact its only tourist attraction is the train graveyard! Wanting to avoid the affectionately known overnight `death´ bus, we decided to stick around until morning and booked into the best hotel in town (Ali needed a treat and it was only US$30!). We got our first real taste of Bolivian culture here – with old ladies and little children in national dress (everyday attire), brightly coloured knitwear, coca leaf tea and dried llama foetuses (to protect the home from evil spirits apparently!) - and really like it. We also came across a strange restaurant given our location – an American run pizza joint called Minuteman where everything was in English and locals weren’t allowed in – bizarre!

This has definitely been the highlight of our trip so far, after Antarctica of course, and we don’t think we’ll ever forget these weird landscapes, towering volcanoes, multi-coloured lakes dotted with flamingos, mountainous deserts with grazing llama, steaming geysers, thermal pools and last, but by no means least, the salt lakes – amazing, highly recommended and, at US$75 all inclusive, excellent value for money!