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We arrived in Uyuni at 7 in the morning, extremely cold (the windows were frosted over) and having had very little sleep as the ride was really bumpy. Our office was closed when we first arrived - 2 breakfasts later we finally found our guide and set off about 10.30.
The tour was carried out in a land rover, we were with 4 Bolivian lads (3 with excellent english) which was cool as they taught us a lot about the local culture, foods to try (and where to try it) and what to do in our final couple of stops in Bolivia. As we had plenty of time to kill in the evenings with no electricity at the lodges we passed the time playing cards and dice, and learnt a local drinking/gambling dice game called Cacho (rules written down ready to bring back to England).
The driver acted as the guide and only spoke spanish so Kat was the translator, although the information he actually gave was really minimal and it was all about viewing the landscapes. Throughout the 3 days we drove miles over bumpy roads, through rivers, over ice, over salt, through desert and stopped at the natural wonders such as the salt flats, red green and white lagoons, volcanoes bordering Bolivia and Chile, natural hot springs (which we chickened out of going in as the outside temperature was literally freezing), deserts, geysers and saw flamingos, llamas and alpacas along the way. We also learnt the difference between the two - llamas are generally taller than alpacas and are mixed colours. Alpacas are shorter and look more sheep like and are just one colour (and taste pretty good!)
The first night we stayed in a salt hotel, in which everything was made from salt including the walls, floor, tables and chairs. Surprisingly this was warmer than the second night in which we were wearing jumpers and still needed about 3 blankets and our sleeping bags.
We arrived back about 4pm on the Friday, after a 5am start and an 8 hour journey in the jeep from the bottom of Potosí back to Uyuni.
We have just eaten the best pizza and chips ever at a cosy restaurant in Uyuni, after very modest portions and a questionable chef for 3 days on the tour. About to embark on another 10 hour bus journey to Sucre (Bolivia's official capital).
- comments
Anonymous (PB again) This is my favourite place!!