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Hey everyone,
Since my last blog we left the little cowboy town of san pedro to be met by our 4by 4 truck drivers who drove us through the atacama desert for three days.
It started off badly as we were meant to be leaving at 8.30 but our alaram didn´t go off. Instead we were woken up by some of our group knocking on our door at 8.30 giving us minutes to dress and make sure we ahdn´t left out passport/money/camera behind!! If that wasn´t bad enough, when we got to the border of bolivia, Paul (our tour leader, who is a legend by the way) informed us we would need the pieces of paper we got stamped when we flew into santiago. Howver, Miranda and I as the only ones in the group had had a bit of a clear out of thing in our money belt and had stupidly thrown this piece of paper away not thinking it was vital to leave the country. When we approached the police man to stamp our passport he just out right refused and tole us we couldn´t leave if we didn´t have the piece of paper. At this point both Miranda and I were panicking and ahd that feeling of dread in out stomachs. Surely they weren´t going to keep us in chile forever?! Thankfully paul the legend sweet talked the police man telling him that we were trined after the flight and didn´t know what we were doing and that we would be of no use to them in chile. SO after alot of persuation we were allowed through into bolivia (phew!)
So anayway after that bit of rambling now I´ll get to the actual desert crossing. We were split into four 4 by 4 trucks with out big bags starpped to the roof and each with a bolivian driver who loved to listen to the beatles/rolling stones etc on our Ipods. The views were just stunning...all you could see was the sky, sand and the mountains, as well as the odd desert fox and lama. We also stopped at numerous points to take pictures of lagoons with flamingos in them (a fact I learnt here was that they are pink because of the red algae that they eat) and geysers (don´t know if that is how you speel it) but they are basically holes in the ground with what looks like hot bubbling clay with steam coming off them and bacause they contain sulphur stunk like rotten eggs.
After about a 6 hour drive we arrived at our 1st hostel in the desert. To say it was freezing would be an understatement. Fortunately we were welcomed with hot tea and biscuits which was a start to warming our iced fingers and toes but definately did not prepare us for the night ahead. We sat and ate dinner in as many layers as we could manage, many of us with hats, scarves and coats on savouring the heat from the soup served. Then at about 8.30 we all went to bed because it was just too cold. We all slept in many layers in our fleece lined sleeping abgs with about 5 blankets on top and just about manged to get warm. All of us longing to hear the alarm clock go off at 6.30 so we could be warmed by hot tea and be on our way again. Most of the guys in our group suffered from the high altitude as we were at about 4000m at this point but obviously the girls were stronger and none of us fell ill.
The next day we did more of the same and drove through the desert seeing some breathtaking views and had lunch at a beautiful little spot by a lagoon. We had cooks drive with us who cooked meals for us which we ate outside sitting on tables and stools made from rock. That evening we arrived in a salt hotel. Everything was made of salt- even our beds!! Instead of the usual floorboards or tiles on the floor we walked on salt granules. Again here it was extremely cold and due to the lack of electricty we ended the night by playing cards and dominos by candel light!!
The next day was the day we had all been waiting for- the salt flats!!! This was going to be out oppurtunity to do some great perspective photography. As you can see from the pic added to this blog all you can see white (the salt flats) for as far as you can see. The sky was a piercing blue with the sun shining bright- we had a lot of fun!! When I get a chance I will upload some photos so you can get a better idea of what I mean. The salt flats used to be a lake but are the remainders of when it dried up. That night we stayed in the little town of Uyuni and had the most fantastic homemade pizzas ever which was packed with other tourists from all over the world. We ended the night in a pub where they offer an extreme drinking chanllenge consiting of about 8 shots, a bear with a shot and some other concoction. 3 of the boys in our group did it and completed it but did bring it all back up before falling into a coma. Here we danced till 1 in the morning to all sorts of music ranging from rock to dance. an amazing night filled with laughter, singing and dancing!!
Yesterday we arrived in potosi (where I am writing this blog entry from) by means of a very rickety ride because bolivia hasn´t got round to paving and roads yet. I felt for the guys who had completed the drinking challenge previously because I really couldn´t think of anything worse to have to sit through than a bus journey like that!! Last night we went out for dinner to a great restaurant where most of us had our first experience of eating llama- a very tasty meat similar to beef.
Well I think that is enough for now to keep you updated. I will try yo put some pics up asap. xx
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