Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Tilly's Latino Travels
Now in Chile on the final leg!
The salt flats were stunning - it was a really simple landscape, but beautiful all the same. We first went to a little town to see how they remove the salt from the ground, then processs it before bagging it up. Then we went out further on to the salt flats in 4 wheel drives to see the tremendous enormity of the landscape. We had lunch on an amazing island which had nothing but cacti on it, but the most stunning views all the same. Then in the afternoon we went on to a salt hotel to watch the sunset.
The next day we started to make our way towards the chilean border which involved having a guide to get the truck through the salt flats as there were so many random paths there (with no sign posts of course!) that it was too easy to get lost. We stayed pretty much in the middle of nowhere with a crashed plane to look at, a river and apparently a mummy in a cave which we never found. We decided against the bush camp as temperatures were potentially as low as -20 degrees C and instead stayed in very basic cabins - a little warmer than tents would have been I guess. The next day was a beautiful drive, we saw geysers with a volcano beneath, a red lake (coloured from the plankton) with flamingoes in it, a blue lake, a green lake, hot springs and just stunning landscapes. Hopefully the photos will do it all justice.
The problem with the Chilean border is that you aren't allowed to take any food over which isn't sealed up in it's original packaging. This became a tough journey as we struggled to finish off all food we had on us! My crackers then became a highlight as Lorrie suddenly realised that she had a jar of nutella and peanut butter which had been opened..... four of us soon devoured the lot!
The Bolivian exit border control was a bit of a joke - it was literally a shack in the middle of nowhere..... no shops or money changing facilities as we had been used to on other borders. The Chilean entrance part was then 41km and 2500m decent away which was very bizarre having so much nomans land in the middle. Border check was a lot more thorough than the others we have had and we actually had to unpack all the bags from the truck as the officials then went round inspecting all the lockers to make sure we had no food or coca leaves etc. They then asked us to open all our bags to check them before letting us through. No problems, but just hassle.
Now we have a week of camping to look forward to. In a small town called San Pedro now - a bit touristy, but quite sweet. Coming down in altitude and only at 2300m now. Looking forward to getting down to sealevel again if only so it is a little more warm and I won't have to wear 3 jumpers constantly any more!
Take care all
Love Tilly x x x
- comments