Hola again!

We've just arrived in boiling hot Chile (oxymoron?) after an exhilerating 3 day jeep tour through the Salar de Uyuni (Bolivian salt flats).

Having passed through Potosi for a night, we arrived in Uyuni pretty clueless about how the jeep tours worked and where to begin. As soon as we stepped off the bus we were inundated with fliers and Bolivians offering us tours, but which one to choose?

Rather sensibly, we decided to follow the guide book's advice and head to the "rankings" office which apparently rates the 65+ tour agencies by quality. Except that said office no longer existed (its now a traveller's cafe-bar). Next on our list was the tourist information office. Which was closed. And when it eventually opened, we were told by a very friendly man that he was not allowed to give out reccommendations (we're not sure if this is for legal reasons, or just because they're all as bad as each other!)

En route to visiting as many of the 65+ agencies as possible in a short space of time, we repeatedly bumped into 2 friendly dutch girls, and ended up teaming up with them to increase our bargaining power. We eventually settled on an agency where The Man With The Golden Teeth (fresh from auditioning for the latest Bond film) promised seatbelts and decent veggie food, and once we'd haggled down to a suitable price, we were all set.

NB: The jeeps each take 6 tourists, and in once agency, when we asked what the nationality of the other 2 passengers who had reserved seats was, we got the reply "I don't know, but don't worry, they´re not Israelis!" Needless to say, we didn't go with them in the end.

The tour itself was brilliant. Punctuality is not the Bolivians' forte, and our jeep turned up 2 hours late. Logic isn't really their strength either, as our driver locked his keys in the car after finally turning up. Super-Joel to the rescue! In a dashing display of strength and agility, reminiscent of a certain Peter Parker, he launched himself through the (open) rear window of the jeep and unlocked the car, saving the day.

And so, after a rather delayed start, we set off with the 2 dutch, 2 norwegians, a Lewis Hamilton-esque Bolivian driver called Javier and his wife as the cook. Mel was the only member of the group able to speak both English and Spanish, and made herself very useful as the official tour translator.

On Day 1, we visited a train cemetery (yup, full of dead trains from the 1970s and 80s), then we stopped at a museum where there were very cool huge salt statues made of salt and we were told how they process the salt thats dug up from the flats to make it into table salt. (Have we used the word salt enough?) We then drove on to the flats themselves, where we climbed a huge rock island to get a 360 degree panaromic view of the amazing whiteness beneath. It was hard to remember that it was salt, and not sand or snow!

We took some awesome pictures on the flats, making use of the lack of distance perspective (which we'll show you upon our return!). On our first night we stayed in a salt hotel, where everything (including the bar, walls and our bedside tables) were made of salt blocks. After settling in at the hotel, we took an evening trip to the Devil's Cave, where Inca mummies were discovered, and the Cave of Galaxies, an amazingly intricate network of coral covering the floor, walls and ceiling of a set of caves. Before returning to our salty abode we watched the sunset from above the caves.

Day 2: After an early start, we went to see an army of rocks (a desert of coral formations that stood upright like soldiers), then on to see an active volcano, followed by a series of lagoons filled with pink flamingos. We stayed the night in a very basic hostel (two toilets between 40 travellers!), where we took part in a mammoth game of President. 3 packs, 11 players and Norwegian rules! We didn´t get to sleep for very long though, as we had to be up and ready to go at 5am!

Day 3: This morning, after our shockingly early start, we went to see some amazing geysers spurting sulphur high into the air. From there we went to a hot spring for sunrise, and an early morning swim provided a welcome relief from the FREEZING wind! After a big breakfast, we visited one last lagoon (apparently researched by Nasa because of its similarity to the surface of Mars), before heading to the Bolivian-Chilean border.

We're still travelling with our Dutch friends, and staying in a dorm tonight in San Pedro, in the North of Chile.

Already we're amazed at the differences between Bolivia and Chile. For one thing, there are ROADS in Chile (makes a change from dusty tracks) and signposts and nice vehicles. Still trying to get our head around the currency rate... in Bolivia it was 10 bolivianos to the pound, whereas here its more like 820 chilean pesos to the pound. Lucky we've got a mathematician between us to figure out how much everything costs! Apparently handbags and shoes are very expensive and football shirts are really cheap...

So far, so good in Chile. Lots of boiling hot sunshine, friendly people and speedy internet! Tonight we're going on a stargazing tour in the desert...

Thanks so much for messages, keep 'em coming!

All our amor (love),

Mel (the Super-Translator) and Joel (the Super-Carjacker-and-Mathematician)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx