Jeep-tastic

An early morning start, OK so actually only 8:30am but for those who know us this is an early start. Sun shining and the jeep, our virtual home for the next 4 days is clean and welcoming. About 9ish, our companions Lorraine and Taigh turn up. A delightful couple from the Republic of Ireland. Shortly after we pull out of Tupiza to climb through the canyons of Tupiza and onto the Altoplano on route for Uyuni.

The views climbing up through the red, ochre and grey mountains are amazing and up to the Altoplano which actually has quite a few plants on it to give it a vaguely yellow/greenish tinge. Up at this height (3900m) the air is thin and when we wander round some ruins at lunchtime we are well aware of just how much effort every step is.

After lunch we travel on through several villages admiring the herds of Llama that seem to be everywhere and opting not to buy all the llama wool hats and jumpers that are available. The jeep just keeps on climbing until we reach our first overnight stop. A small village up at a height of 4200m. The locals seem very friendly and even offer to show us a condor, needless to say we follow the two boys outside, where it has got very cold, and they dive into an outhouse. What sort of condor can they possibly have in there we wonder and with a scream Clare jumps back as they pull out a fully grown condor. A moment later we realise that it is actually a dead one. Two minutes later we dived back into the warmth of the kitchen to finish off the cup of tea that we had started before the two boys broke into our conversation with Condor chat. Dinner was a fabulous beef stew and mashed spuds. Later that evening we were trying to get to sleep and needless to say the non-purchase of warm hats and sweaters was a very bad idea. Clare may have been colder than she has ever been before!

Next morning the jeep headed off early with four shivering, tired tourists in the back of it. After about 3 hours the Sun started to get some warmth into it and we woke up enough to start enjoying the scenery again. A succession of lakes/lagoons, volcanos and iced up river crossings until we got very close to the Argintinian and Chillian borders (near San Pedro de Atacama) where we were able to jump into a hot spring pool. Wonderfully warm to be in it but getting out into the freezing air was difficult.

After lunch we went even closer to the border to see the White and Green lagoons then headed north into Bolivia again and up and up and up. After the tour we found out that this is the highest driveable road in the world. At about 5100m up the jeep was confronted with a steaming mountain which turned out to be a bunch of bubbling sulphorous pools and geysers. It was like something straight out of a Dr Who story. Walking about panting because of the height while trying not to breath in the fumes, not an easy combination.

At that height it was also seriously cold so we dropped down to a far more reasonable 4200m where there was a large red lagoon. Closer inspection of this lagoon showed a good collection of Flamingoes wandering about the waters. In the summer months there can be thousands of these birds feeding in the lagoon, but even with just a few small flocks it was a great sight. It turned out that this was the end of our second day and we settled into a hostal. Sadly Don dropped our bottle of Bolivian Wine onto a concrete floor which meant that a serious cleanup operation was required and a more sober night followed.

Next morning saw a fairly sociable 8am departure to drive up past the 5 lakes that are used heavily by Flamingoes. Each one quite beautiful and different to the previous ones. Past them the jeep travelled over a very rough road for a while before dropping down to a vast lava plain under a steaming volcano which is very much still active although it has been a good few years since it kicked out anything much.

We passed over a salar which consisted of Borax, used for washing powder. Bizarrely this flat plain had a cargo railway line going right through it which we followed in the jeep for a while until we came across a military checkpoint manned by 16year olds only. Bribes done with half a bottle of coke! Our next stop was at an Inca burial site which was quite incredible. Lots of strange rock formations that contained the bones of the Inca. Clare´s love of cemetaries came to the fore and she had to be dragged away. Next big sight is the Salar de Uyuni but before that a night in the Salt hotel beside the Salar.

As usual, the overnight stop was bitterly cold but we had fun playing cards and drinking a pile of beer and rum that we had got in the village beside the cemetery. The locals joining in a game of "sevens". After a quick vote that evening we decided that getting up to see the sunrise on the Salar was not a viable option so we had the joy of not getting up too early to set off the next day. About 9ish we headed out onto the Salar, what can only be described as a large loch that appears to be frozen solid. However the "ice" turns out to be 6m of solid salt, with a lot of lithium trapped inside it, all sitting ontop of a thin layer of water. Running about on this salt we all start acting like 7 year olds and jump about doing star jumps, cartwheels etc. An amazing place. Once the giddyness leaves us a bit we drive up to an Inca Island in the salt and the jeep feels just like it is coming up like a boat to be beached. Fantastic expanse of empty whiteness.

Drove on that afternoon to Uyuni, a very small town that looks like God forgot.