Off road adventuring! San Pedro to Uyini, Bolivia

Up early, bags packed eager to get going on our three day 4x4 tour which will take us from San Pedro in Chile to Uuni in Bolivia. First we head off in a mini van which will take us to the Bolivian border higth up in the Andes, our crew Me Jo, Hannah and Sinna from Germany and Yme from Holland and Allain from Autralia. Straight away we realise that we will all get along fine with the USB cable connected to the stereo and a bit of Alt-J blasting out Matador.

We reach the border, after passing active and inactive volcanos in the background, after having seen the desert I thought the scenery couldnt get any better, but a simple journey to the Bolivian border proved otherwise. Having had vigorous border checks in Argentina and Chile we were amused to see a simple stone hut as the border check.

The view on the way to the border with volcano Ucancabur in the background

Bolivian flag

Alain and Yme

Sinna and Hannah

The border hut

At 4000m high the altitude was getting us all in different ways, it´s strange but straight away the lack of oxygen has an effect, for me i felt sick in the stomach and light headed. The remedy coca tea and leaves. At this altitude, every single bolivian has a bloated cheek, either right or left filled with shed loads of coca leaves, which they add to by de stalking the leaf and adding to the mulch in their mouths constantly. It´s meant to give energy and relieve the sickness feeling.

We find our jeep, a Toyota land cruiser, 1994 (i´ve been assured that these are the best off roaders and most reliable in the world, favoured by malitia, rebels, dictators and my uncle derek who is a mechanic) and our guide Sebastian who does not speak a word of English, luckily Yme did which helped a lot througout the tour.

Our jeep being packed up by Sebastian

Packed into the car we head off, and within an hour we see the most stunning scenery, surrounded by mountains and lagoons we fly across the rubble jumbling from side to side and up and down. Sebastian had told us that he had been doing this for ten years which reassured us but still there was an almost rehearsed and sinchronised sealt belt putting on action by the six of us.

Our first stop, Laguna Verde, pictures say it better than words but still being there better than pictures...

Back in the car and on the way and we get higher and higher, altitude of around 4400m, probablty the highest we have all been with. More lagoons, each as impressive as the last until we hit a lagoon where a hot spring has been turned into a a pool with a temperature of around 35 degrees.

Probably the best place to relax for an hour.....

Chilling in the hot springs

Back in the car, Sebastian has hijacked the stereo playing some Bolivian mash up music, next stop some hot geysers. Boiling water and mud with steam coming out of the ground. The sulphur giving of a reminiscent smell of Jason from Florida!!!

Next stop our hostel - a shack in the middle of nowhere located next to a lagoon giving off a red shine with lots of flamigos taking it easy in the water. But i was obviously too tires to take any pics....

Cute little local kid at the place we stayed the first night.

After my nap we eat dinner, and went out to sit by the lagoon to see the stars. I´ve never been much  of a star gazer, but i guess living in England and it being cloudy all the time there is not much to see. Here though, with the high altitude and clear sky, the stars and milky ways, along with shooting stars can bee seen as if looking through a telescope, amazing really, shame i couldnt take any pictures!

Next day we´re back in the Jeep and more to see and spectacular scenere.....

On our way to Uyuni, we stop off at a random grave yard of trains used to transport minerals from mines being excavated back in the early 1900, British built I am told, and I´m not surprised they are in the state they with the way the trains are in England, perhaps if the Swiss had introduced trains to the Bolivians they would still be working.

But none the less a good opportunity for some cool photos....

A night Uyini, a strange place and our first glimpse of a Bolivian town. The people look so different here, all the women wear bowler hats and wear skirts that make their asses look really fat. Everyone is chewing coca leaves and the main food here is chicken grilled in home made rotiseries.

After a night in our hostel we are up at 4am to go to the salt flats to see the sun rise, the largest in the world. Sebastian, having probably done this a million times decides to trun off the lights and drive in complete drakness for around 5 minutes on the salt flats. Still in darkness we park up and step out onto the salt, which has the crunch of iced snow and the grip of sand paper! Really weird.

It´s difficult to imagine the sheer scale of the place, but as the sun started to rise it was pretty unbelievable...

Plus, on the flats, due to the flat salt and no background you can take really cool pics like this...

                                                           Some more pics of the salt flats

That´s pretty much it, 3 days of stunning scenery, amazing days and great people...

From Uyuni we next headed to Potosi, the highest city in the world.... more to follow soon.