Following on from Salta we boarded a bus for La Quiaca which is the on the border of Argentina and Bolivia. Again the bus was an overnight one leaving at midnight and arriving at seven in the morning. Unfortunately for us there were no Cama buses on this route so we had to ride a Semi-Cama (for those not in the know the impressive Argentine long haul bus system has various levels of comfort - Cama VIP, Cama and Semi Cama representing first, business and economy class in airline terms.
The bus was uneventful but the temperatures quickly hit freezing and we were left feeling the cold having packed our warm clothes in our packs. Once at the boarder and rugged up we walked across the boarder into Villazon, Bolivia stopping at the respective countries boarder controls. Here we meet some other tourists from England and Israel who were also headed to Tupiza. We set off looking for a cambio (money exchange) to get some Bolivianos for the bus. While we were consulting the lonely planet a bus came flying around the corner, screeched to a halt and a man came running out yelling Tupiza, Tupiza. Luckily our new found Israeli friend had been to Bolivia earlier and lent us Bolivianos for our fares. We clambered the bus for the two hour trip, which stopped a few more times eventually being stuffed full with locals sitting and standing in the isle. While we were expecting chickens aboard the stench of the old ladies on the bus was the worst part of the trip, followed closely by the fact the bus was like riding a jackhammer for two hours.
Once in Tupiza we set out on a three hour horse ride, which took in some scenery and provided much pain. The following day we walked to the top of La Cruz, a mountain overlooking the town itself for some great pictures and a view of La Elephante (a rocky mountain that really looks like an elephant, see the pictures). Finally we spent a day waiting for our 4 day jeep tour to Uyuni which involved much frustration as we spent nearly three hours uploading photos due to a very slow internet connection.
For those that are interested Tupiza is at 3000m above sea level, and the three days spent there was good acclimatisation for the places to come. It is also the town where Butch Cassidy was caught and arrested - the house used as a hideout is a tourist attraction today although we didn´t get there.
Finally after much negotiation we boarded a four day jeep tour to Uyuni, which was lucky as we only managed to find three people (including ourselves) as it is the low season for tourism (in most cases people take the tours from Uyuni and return to the point they start spending only 3 days and two nights, which also added to the difficulty finding people). Over the course of the next four days we took in hours upon hours of amazing landscapes, coloured lagoons, bumpy dirt roads and offroading. The first two nights were spent in very basic accommodation with no showers, and no hot water at 4200and 5000masl respectively which were ridiculously cold, so much so that when we departed for the second day at 5.30am the jeeps temperature gauge showed more than -10°C as the inside temperature with it taking over two hours for the magical 0°C to come up.
The third night we were desperate for a hot shower so opted to stay in a Salt Hotel on the edge of the Salar de Uyuni at a cost of $10USD p/p instead of the free accommodation similar to that of the previous evenings. Interestingly the Salt Hotels are no longer allowed on the Salar because of contamination problems and truly are made out of salt bricks taken from the Salar itself. The salt provides some form of insulation and the Hotel was reasonably warm despite the outside conditions.
Finally, on the fourth day we arose early to see the sunrise on the Salar which was spectacular. We then visited one of the Salars Islands (a rocky mountain covered in Cacti in the middle of the Salar) before heading to Uyuni where we visited the Cemetario de Tren (Train Cemetery) before being dropped off in town.
I will report on Uyuni next time, but the tour was simply amazing with the sheer scale and beauty of the countryside a real eyeopener to someone from a little country like NZ (at one point the Salar Stretches 350km across) and is a must do for all visitors to this part of the world. The food was amazing and was cooked in very basic conditions by Maribel (20) the wife of or driver David (26) who were very accommodating of our Spanglish.
We are currently in Potosi, which is the highest city in the world at 4060masl and you can expect another update once we reach our next destination (which will be interesting as protesters are currently blockading many of the countries major routes...)
Ciao,
Dave & Kim
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