Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hello everybody!
We are now in Bolivia and loving it so far, although our time here has been quite bizarre. We keep coming across lots of strange things, we crossed the border a few days ago and arrived into a bit of a dump to be honest. We then had to wait for 9 hours in a crummy little station, absolutely freezing - we were both wearing as many layers as we possibly could, the altitude was quite a shock to the system!
The train was rickety but cute and we finally arrived at midnight in Uyuni, which to be quite honest, is no better in the morning when you can actually see the place. But we weren't there for the town itself and after a good rest in a decent hostel where we had our first PRIVATE ROOM!!! we were ready for the salt flats.
Our tour started on Friday morning and after quite a wait (classic bolivians 2 hours late) we were off. In our car were 3 sweedish guys and a german girl who were all very nice and the common language between us all was English. Lucky for us! We first went to a railway cemetary which was quite a suprise as we didn't know that was on the programme, but really cool. They had made swings and a see saw out of the parts of the train which was all in ruins, having not been used for over a century, when it transported minerals and silver to Chile and funded the spanish economy.
Then we made our way to the salt flats which were unreal. They were so incredible and it was such a perfect day to see them because it had rained the night before and so the reflections on the flats were beautiful. We obviously took loads of perspective photos which was good fun! One of which included us stamping on a oversized caxton card which is a nice summary of our troubles in Brazil!
After the salt flats we made our way to our hostel for the night which was literally in the middle of no where, we were fed and quickly found our way to bed where we snuggled to try and keep warm!
The next day we went in our battered old jeep to the lagoons with the pink flamingos, and on our way stopped off at a place where there are giant rocks which were created by volcanic lava, and although we were still in recovery from freezing the night before, we were in good spirits and took some good photos as we scrambled over the rocks. The pink flamingos were amazing, they were all on a sulphorous lake surrounded by snow capped mountains and so the scenery was just spectacular. Here we had lunch and took yet more photos of the birds before heading to a red lake which is red because of the algae and the sun. It was quite strange to see and we were staying just inside the national park right next to the lake.
This nights stay was perhaps our most interesting because there was no electricity until 8pm by which time it was already dark and had been for quite some time. There were also loos with no flush and a sink with no tap, no showers at all and no plugs to charge anything - so altogether quite an experience! Once again we really couldn't have been more isolated from the world, we were in the middle of no where and the night was perhaps the coldest yet!
We got up at 5am to see the sunrise and on our way we passed the geysers which were cool. Touching them was really strange because the hot air is so powerful, but they didn't smell great. Then we had breakfast next to a volcanic hot springs lake where there was a hot springs pool, the others went swimming and we just dipped our legs in up to the knee because the thought of having to change afterwards in the freezing air was not pleasant!
After this we went to the green lagoon and it was a shame because there was no wind, because in order for the water to turn green, the wind needs to whip up the minerals in the water and the sun then makes it appear to be vivid green. But we took some nice group photos, before getting back in the jeep for our 8 hour drive back to Uyuni!
Now we are in Potosi which is actually a nice town, the highest in the world, and tomorrow we are booked onto a mining tour which should be interesting, not quite sure what to expect! From here we will go to La Paz and hopefully blog again from there.
Lots of love to you all xxxxxxxx
- comments
Ces the Lord will not give you more than you can handle and that He will awylas provide a way out for you. I am also reminded of something my old Anthropology prof. told me after I found out he was retiring and I expressed how much I hated goodbyes He said, Oh, no you don't ever have to say good-bye. The people who have left the greatest impression on your life will stay in your soul forever! .comfort and peace to you.