We were up at 7:30 to head down for brekkie, which was wait for it ........ yet
more bread !! And dry bread at that with Ham, Cheese and Jams. Someone
seriously needs to let these South Americans know what a decent brekkie is.
After trying to get enthusiastic about it and removing the dry bread from the
roof of our mouths with a cup of tea we headed across the road to wait for the
bus for our tour. A number of people were already there, a German couple, an
Australian couple and a Swiss. We had a good natter and deduced who was going
on the one day, three or four day tour. The one dayers were segregated into
another bus while the rest of us poured into one bus, picking up stragglers on
the way who were a bit late. We shortly arrived at the Chilean border and all
had to get out to get our passports stamped. We then headed out into Chile and
for a rather steep climb in a bus which at times didn\'t seem would make it. The
climb was steep enough to make your ears pop and lasted about an hour before we
reached the Bolivian border, very basic, a mud hut in the middle of nowhere.
Still they took it seriously and out of the bus we got again. We all need the
toilet but were assured that there were toilets 10 minutes down the road. So we
got back on the bus crossing our legs. 5 Minutes later we stop at the entrance
to the National Park, where once again we had to get off the bus show our
passports and pay for the entrance fee. Alas no toilets here either, the driver
told us again 10 minutes down the road. By now this is seeming like it is a
phrase he uses to pacify the tourists and we were beginning to wonder if they
would ever materialise.
About 10 minutes later we arrived at our first stop, Laguna Blanco, the white
lagoon. There was at least toilets here - well if you can call them that. We
had to pay one Bolviano to use them so I thought they might be alright - mmmm
first mistake. The stench was overwhelming and the loos themselves gross. Still
I needed to go so smelt my fleece and headed in, only to find that you need to
use a bucket to flush them - my day was just getting better ! I recovered with
a cup of tea and a sit down afterwards. We had to get our luggage off of the
bus we had arrived in as we were going to be split in groups and do the rest of
the tour in 4x4 jeeps with different drivers who only spoke Spanish. So the big
group divided down into 3 groups each with a Spanish speaker among us so they
could translate for us. We also were told to get our swimmers out of our big
packs as we would be swimming in hot springs later in the day.
Our group consisted of the two Australians we had spoken to earlier, Lynda and
John and an Italian guy called Lorenzo - our Spanish speaker. He spoke superb
English as well as Spanish and was very useful at translating our guides,
Emilio\'s comments. We all got on from the outset and had a good giggle and
natter in between the educational parts of the tour. Emilio was a great guide
and one that loved to be ahead of the rest of the jeeps. When we were ready to
go he would reeve up and be off. It had a great advantage for us as he always
nabbed the best spots for lunch and the like.
Our second stop was at Laguna Verde, the green Laguna - there appeared to be a
theme to the names of these lakes ! The green colour is made up of magnesium
and arsenic. When the wind blows across it the colour goes a deep green. We
went to a vantage point and waited for the wind, sadly for once Trev wasn\'t
forthcoming. After a while the wind did pick up a bit and the colour difference
was noticeable.
From here we headed off to try out our swimming in the hot springs. It turned
out to be more of a wallow as they aren\'t that deep, but they are lovely and
hot which was just superb. We changed by the side of them and lazed around for
a good 30 mins - heavenly.
The scenery along our travels was constantly changing and the colours were so
vivid, greens, blues, reds it really was a lot to take in. From the springs we
headed off to see the hot and smelly geysers at \"Damas de Piedra\". These were
great, lots of smelly mud splatting about. By now though we were beginning to
really feel the effects of the high altitude. We were ranging from 3500m to
4500m above sea level and headaches and light headedness began to kick in. We
headed off to have lunch of rolls, ham and cheese as we struggled to get a grip
of the headaches and dizziness. Walking up the hill a bit to find the open air
toilets nearly finished us off. It was nice to get back in the jeep and take it
easy again. By now it was also very hot as well.
Our next stop was at some beautiful rocks which allegedly Salvador Dali has
painted but never been to. They were great and it was nice to stretch our legs
after a fair ride after lunch.
Our final stop of the day was at the Red Lagoon, Laguna Colorado. Here there
were lots of pink flamingoes which was a great sight to see. All the colours
were superb. The lake itself has a red hue to it and the contrast with the
flamingoes was beautiful. The surrounding mountains looked like Neapolitan
icecream. After many snaps we headed round the lake to see Llamas just grazing
there, so more piccies, before heading off to our basic accomodation for the
night. Basic it was as well, the beds were mainly springs with paper thin
mattresses on and once again the loos that needed buckets of water to flush.
Our group was in one room which was fun. We sat for a while swapping travel
stories as Lynda and John had just come through Peru and Bolivia so we asked
them about their experiences. They wanted to know about Argentina and Chile as
that is where they were off to next. They then stayed in for a nap while Trev
and I went for a walk. My head pounded when I laid down so figured a walk might
help me. We headed out to some black rocks and a house which was a way away but
which Emilio had told us had good views.
He wasn\'t wrong - from there you could really appreciate all the different
colours. After our very windy hike we came back for more natters before dinner.
We headed over to the dining room ready for our dinner and managed to squeeze
in a few games of cards, mainly hearts before dinner. I lost very badly, but
then I guess someone has to :o) Dinner was good though, a nice veggie soup Spag
Bol and a cup of coco leaf tea afterwards, it is supposed to help with the
affects of altitude, by now I was willing to try anything. Afterwards we played
some more cards before watching a Canadian guy do some card tricks. They turn
the lights off at 9pm, so we headed off to bed to read by torchlight and
crashed swiftly after that, which was surprising given the uncomfy beds. We
didn\'t sleep well though due to headaches and the fact that another group got
up at 5am in a very noisy fashion !
Emilio woke us at 6:50am to ensure we were dressed and packed before brekkie at
7:30. For once we had some eggs which made a nice change. I tried to go to the
toilet before we left but the stench was so bad I gagged and flipped my stomach
over. That was that for me, I headed straight back out of the toilets. We
helped pack the truck back up and after Emilio had changed one of the back
wheels we headed off for another day of adventures. We headed into the Siloli
desert and saw the \"stone tree\", a natural rock tree. The rocks have been
eroded by the wind leaving some protrusions, this one in the shape of a tree.
Trev had a good clamber over the other rocks close by. We then headed off to
see 3 more Lagunes where we got out and walked along their shores. Lots of
piccies, flamingoes and llamas later we set off for the military checkpoint
where our passports were scrutinised again. It was then close to lunch so we
headed for a Mirador to see panoramic views of the area and see Ollague
Volcano, the only active volcano in Bolivia - it was smoking gently in the
breeze.
That afternoon we also learnt alot about relations between Chile and Bolivia,
which remain sort of hostile as Bolivia is trying to claim back land to the
Pacific Ocean that Chile took from them years ago. Emilio was very open about
both sides and seemed to tell a fair tale between the different countries.
We arrived late afternoon at Chuvica where we spent the night in a slightly
more luxurious hostel overlooking the salt lake. We actually had ensuite loos
from our groups room which flushed without buckets !! There was also a shower
with hot water - superb. We showered and then sat with a beer catching up on
diaries and playing cards. The beer seemed to have more of an affect at
altitude, or at least that is what we put it down to :o)
We sat and watched the moonrise, it was a full moon and reflected off the small
amount of water in the salt lake, it was superb. We then had a nice spicy
chicken dinner before more cards and bed. Still not a good nights sleep even
though the beds were very comfy. We woke every hour on the hour.
It was another 6:50 start in the morning to have brekkie and load up the van
for our final day of the tour. Emilio was very chirpy today and so once again
we headed off first after his manic pack up of lunch and the like. We drove out
onto the salt flats. The sun was up and all the white salt was truly dazzling.
It was an amazing sight as it stretched as far as the eye could see in both
directions. We drove across to where the small amount of water was to see the
reflection on the lake well. It was a bit windy so not a perfect reflection,
but great to be out splashing around in it and taking it all in.
After many piccies were drove on past Fish Island towards an Island we were due
to get out at and have a walk on as the views of the area from it were supposed
to be superb. Emilio stopped the truck a little way from the island and so we
all walked across the crunchy salt towards the island. There are many cactuses
on the island which we could see well from our walk. It was very hot though so
it was nice to get some shade when we arrived at the island. We hiked up to the
top of it, quite hard breathing due to the altitude to see the fab views. The
penisular of the island was beautiful and you could see for miles in all
directions, it was great.
After a much nicer descent than ascent we headed off to the salt hotel, a hotel
made almost entirely of salt. Very bizarre but great to see. While we were
there we saw two cyclists go by - mad people, it was dazzling and very hot, not
sure I would have liked that even though it is flat.
Our next stop was at what was supposed to be a crafts market but which was in
fact one shop. The local children there harranged us for money constantly. It
was a bit much after a while. It was nice to move on to our lunch spot. This
was nothing special compared to the previous days stops but as we were
finishing our lunch a big herd of sheep and llama arrived so at least we had
some entertainment.
After lunch Emilio drove us the final few kilometres to Uyuni, our destination
in Bolivia. We came in past the bus companies and we noted that Panasur left
that evening at 6pm. When we arrived at the Colque Tours office we popped our
big packs in there and headed back to the bus companies to try to book some
seats for 6pm. We booked with Panasur, only 40 Bolvianos, which is 3 pounds
each for an 11 hour trip to La Paz. We spent the rest of the afternoon
meandering around the town seeing the markets and having a drink and icecream
with some of the other guys from the tour. We said goodbye to them at 4pm as
some were heading back to Chile on the 4 day tour and others were heading off
to Potosi. We headed to an internet cafe to catch up on stuff there before
having a beer in the sunshine and buying a packet of pringles as a real treat !
We got to the bus station for 5:30pm and were assured that the bus stopped for
food on the way. We boarded the bus with a lot of locals with their bundles of
blankets and the like.
The bus journey itself has to be our worst to date. It was really bumpy, over
dirt roads. My chair was broken so it wouldn\'t stay upright which made me feel
worse. After the initial delight of having pringles I couldn\'t face them
anymore, which made Trev\'s day as he could tuck into them ! We stopped to let
some locals off and Trev and I swapped seats as he didn\'t mind laying down. The
thuds of the bumps still shook the whole body and tried to force your buttocks
through your mouth but having an upright seat was better. We watched a glorious
sunset from the bus followed by a lovely moonrise. Whilst it wasn\'t the most
romantic setting to see these it was nonetheless superb to see. Better if our
teeth weren\'t preparing to fall out :o)
We were hoping that the bus would stop soon for us to grab some dinner, but
although we stopped to let people off, we didn\'t stop at all for food. So
pringles for dinner it was ! We finally stopped at 3am for a long stop - by now
we were no longer hungry so carried on trying to sleep on the bus. We finally
got into La Paz at about 8:30am after two running repairs on the bus. One to
fix the engine, the other to change a tyre - that about topped the whole bus
experience for us !
We got off the bus at the bus station and gathered our wits about us. We
strolled into the station to find toilets and the companies for the bus from La
Paz to Copacabana, which would be handy for when we returned from the jungle.
We then set off on foot to find a good tourist info as the one in the bus depo
wasn\'t great. We were trying to locate the Amazonas Office to book our flight
to the jungle. It was very busy on the streets and we were glad we hadn\'t taken
a cab as it was the roads were gridlocked. The streets seemed fairly safe so on
we marched. We reached the square with the tourists info place in it right next
to TAM airlines, the alternative flight to Amazonas. The tourist info was
closed but while we stood and worked out what to do next a nice lady who spoke
very good english and worked for the tourist board arrived. We managed to
obtain the telephone number and address of the Amazonas office from her and
headed off with her to try to call them. She was going to speak Spanish for us.
Sadly the lines were constantly engaged so we decided to head off to the office
itself and sit there and book them.
We headed off down through the markets which felt a bit threatening with all
our packs on, we aren\'t that manouverable. In the end we caught a taxi to the
offices. The office was a bit chaotic, they were busy answering phones
seemingly ignoring the queue of people in the office waiting to book flights.
Finally we managed to reserve a flight for the following day, we ideally wanted
one today, but settled for tomorrow. We bumped into a nice Australian chap and
English Lass while we waited and discussed our plans for the jungle and any
recommendations we had. We pointed them at Fluvial tours who Sal and Stu had
recommended and we later discovered they had gone with them.
When we left the office we got another cab to Hotel Torino which looked very
posh as we approached it but which was only 3 pound per person per night so we
took it. The further up the hotel you went the more rickety it got, especially
on the top floor that we were on. It had a certain charm to it though with
rooms off a central balcony which overlooked the restaurant below. The floor to
our room though was patchy with some floorboards being more like half boards
with big gaps in them. The ceiling was made of cloth and you could see where it
had been sewn together - nevertheless it was clean and had hot showers, much
needed after an overnight bus ride !
We dumped our bags and headed off in hot pursuit of brekkie as by now our
stomachs were growling. We devoured a breakfast Americano at Cafe Torino next
to our hotel. The cafe and our hotel had a good book swap so we headed back to
change some books, Trev had been reading my book with me, Bill Bryson Down
Under. It was all very well as Trev could read it on the buses etc when I
couldn\'t, however, he would notoriously lose my page and the final insult being
that he actually lost my book mark. It would be a relief for him to have his
own book again !
Mission accomplished on the book front we headed out into the sunshine to have
a stroll around La Paz with the aim of ending up back at the Amazonas office at
4pm to pay for our flights, their systems were down when we had been there
earlier. We basically walked throughout most of central La Paz, through the
market streets where there was among other things, LLama foetuses (supposed to
ward off evil spirits) many handicrafts and clothes, down through the food and
flower markets along past Plaza San Francisco the apparent central hub of La
Paz and right down to the British Council who allegedly had a good book swap as
well. The British Council sadly didn\'t seem to exist anymore so a bit of a long
walk for nothing. Anyway, after a milkshake and a quick shop for more diary
books, batteries, loo roll and water we headed back up to Amazonas to pay. The
office was still in mayhem, we bumped into the couple we had met previously.
They were putting their flight back as a mate they were travelling with was
very poorly. All paid up we headed back to our hotel to read and relax before
we showered and headed out for dinner. Most of the places recommended in the
lonely planet were closed as it was a Monday. We headed off to find Hotel
Vienna which was supposed to have good food. We ended up in Hotel Verona as we
got the name muddled up !! It was good food though and was served relatively
quickly which was great as we were both pooped after a long day and little
sleep on the bus the night before. We headed back through the bustling streets,
it seemed alright although we were not 100% comfortable with the atmosphere and
took care of our bag. We just crashed when we got back, it was great to be
snuggly in our sleeping bags after a very cold night on the bus.
The following day we had a leisurely rise as our flight wasn\'t due to take off
until 1:30pm. We had brekkie again at Cafe Torino, delighted that bread didn\'t
feature too highly on this. We had a wander up to the principal square near our
hotel to take some piccies before returning to pack and read a bit before
getting the taxi to the airport. On arrival we packsafed up our rucksacks and
approached the check in desk. The lady at the desk didn\'t look happy and fired
off a load of spanish at us, which basically told us that we couldn\'t check in
because at present the flight was delayed due to bad weather in Rurrenabaque.
By this time a Dutch Couple, Oscar and Joyce, who we had seen on the bus from
Uyuni and Trev had helped open the window from had arrived to catch the same
flight as us. The people at Amazonas wanted us to return to our hotels and
leave a number we could be contacted on. All four of us decided we would prefer
to wait at the airport and see what happened as at this point the flight wasn\'t
cancelled. We headed off for a cuppa and a great chat with Oscar and Joyce,
their English was superb so conversation was easy. At 2pm we headed up to
Burger King - yes they get everywhere as well - for a much overdue lunch.
Halfway through our lunch the info boards showed our flight as being cancelled,
so we packed up the remainder of our lunch and headed down to find out what was
happening.
We were told we would be given priority on the flights the following day and
were asked to leave names and nmbers for them to conatct us on. We also took a
business card with their number on so we could ring for updates. We decided to
go back to the same hostel as O&J in a vain hope that one of us would be
contacted. We decided to change to stay at El Solario the one that O&J had
stayed at as they recommended it and it was close to the travel agency they had
booked their flight through so we could go there and get updates as well. The
hostel was right by the markets in La Paz and was very nice. We got a minivan
there under O&J guidance as the hostel had told them which ones to get. We
dumped our bags and headed out to see the travel agent and get any updates on
the flights. The agency was in among the markets so we had a good windowshop as
we meandered along. The agent called the airline and was told that we would be
on the same flight tomorrow, but would let us know if things changed.
After the agents we went out separate ways from O&J, they were off to get some
lunch, Trev and I to have a look around the markets. We had some fun bargaining
in the markets knocking them down in price, only to hand them large notes which
required change. All a bit embarrassing but funny nonetheless. We then headed
into the centre to try to find me a normal T-Shirt as I was getting fed up of
being in travel clothes all the time. Many shops later we purchased a T-shirt,
much to Trev\'s relief, he had been very patient though. From there we strolled
back to our hostel to shower and catch up on email before meeting O&J for
dinner.
We found a lovely local restaurant to eat at, Cafe Angelico, it had Bolivian
stuff all over the walls and a nice candlelit atmosphere. The food was very
good as was the beer ! We walked back to our hostel along much quieter streets
as the market had packed up and crashed once more, exhausted from a rather
frustrating day.