Well we are now back in relative civilisation after our 5 day adventure in the remote SW corner of Bolivia and boy it does feel good to have had a shower and to be in clean clothes! We have travelled through incredibly stark, very beautiful and constantly changing mountainous scenery at altitudes of up to 5000 m on bouncy, single track dirt roads the entire way. We saw 1000s of llamas, many flocks of various types of flamingos, lots of ostriches, chameleons, coloured birds and a weird sort of rabbit with a tail . We saw brilliant coloured lagoons (red, blue, green - the Laguna verde was a spectacular shade of swimming pool aquamarine but at 5000 metres (that´s 16000 or 17000 feet people!) nobody was swimming and in any case the water is very toxic because it´s at the foot of a volcano. We swam in a thermal pool where the temperature was like bath water (lucky we remembered to pack our bath suites). At times the scenery resembled the American wild west, at other times it was like Wastwater in the English lake district but much harsher and on a vast scale. We passed many snowcapped volcanoes near the Chilean border, some of which are still active and visibly smoking. We saw many strange rock formations, bubbling geysers , and drove through the occasional tiny mudbrick village, a few of which we stayed in. When they say the accommodation is muy basico they aren´t kidding - only at the salt hotel did we have any hot water and the last night didn´t even have any running water for most of the time.
The houses in the villages resembled crofter cottages of Scotland and Ireland with their grassed roofs except that they were made of mud brick. The inhabitants were also very picturesque esp. the women with their strange (to our eyes) but colourful costume of bowler hat, pleated skirt, apron, thick stockings with sandals and long black plaits tied togther with long tassels. Not sure the look will catch on outside Bolivia...
The night skies were unbelievable and well worth enduring the freezing night time temps for. The days were very sunny and quite warm (in fact we seriously underestimated the power of the sun rays at altitude with the result that we are all very sun and wind burned - we are still taking malaria pills which also exascerbate the effect of the sun.)
Bruce and I did suffer a bit with the altitude - insomnia, lack of appetite, breathlessness and just generally feeling a bit off. Bruce also picked up a nasty flu type virus which pretty well knocked him out on days 2 and 3. Los chicos (as S & B are now known) were absolutely fine - ah what it is to be young! Drinking mate de coca helped a bit (it´s OK Mum, it´s only the coca leaves, nothing to do with the chemical derived from them!)
Llamas are my new favourite animal (sorry Annabel, I do still love you). They are quite ubiquitous around here but we just love looking at their sweet, comical and friendly faces. The most photogenic ones have red rbbons in their ears and a few even wear a red bow around their neck. They are always happy to oblige with a smile for the camera. They actually taste quite nice too...
Its just as well they are so furry because being a llama farmer in the Andes would be a really tough existence.
Our driver and cook, husband and wife Cristina and Gerrardo, were fantastic. They didn´t speak English so we communicated in very short bursts but they looked after us very well. Gerrado drove safely and efficiently through really terrible roads, and was even smiling after 3 flat tyres in one day. Cristina produced what were, under the circumstances, really good meals - I can´t think how she managed it given the living conditions and she didn´t even mind when B and I couldn´t eat them. ´Only on the last day did I discover I´d been calling him by the wrong name the whole time - I am sure he introduced himself as Heraldo!
On the 3rd night we slept at the Salt hotel which although lacking in some of the comforts we had hoped it might have eg elecricity and power points to recharge camera batteries and ipods, it was still a novel and unique experience. During the evening meal (which resembled a medieval banquet) we were "treated" to the most appalling panpipe display by a group of the village kids. Maybe I shouldn´t be so dismissive - what they lacked in talent they made up for with volume. In the end we got the giggles and just gave them some bolivianos to go away and leave us in peace.
On the 4th day we set out across the Salar de Uyuni which I think is the most extraordinary place I´ve ever been, being there was a surreal and amazing experience. It is a massive salt flat,the largest in the world. It looks like a vast white lake surrounded by mountains dotted with islands covered in incredible cacti, some of which are 8 metres high! Horizon and sky merge and from a distance, the few vehicles driving along the salar seem to be levitating several metres off the ground. When we started driving along the salar for the first 15 mins of so it was covered in several inches of water (it´s the start of the wet season) and the mountains were perfectly reflected in the water. It felt like being in a boat.
We stopped off at Isla Incahuasi which is the prettiest island in the salar and took another 200 photos or so. Whilst there we talked to and were photographed by two danish journalists who had won a grant to travel to and write about countries to which Denmark provides aid. Nice work if you can get it! A few days ago they met an Afro-Bolivian king in a remote jungle village. So sometime soon the good people of Denmark will be reading over their cornflakes about an Afro-Bolivian king and the Walkom family´s travels. Strange thought!
We then went to the Tunupa volcano on the other side of the salar, at 5460m. The plan was to climb it and we set off man and womanfully. My insides however had other plans for me that afternoon and I conceded defeat pretty early on. Los chicos and Bruce continued on for a while but the going was tough and with Bruce´s reserves being already somewhat depleted they also had to give in without reaching the summit - first time ever for Bruce. We did however see some mummies in a cave in the hillside: 500 year old decayed bodies, creepily, one still with some hair and teeth. They were buried in a fetal position because it was believed they would be reborn in another life. Pretty gross actually, we didn´t linger too long!
It was certainly not a trip for the faint hearted. At times it was a real endurance test with the early starts, long days, bumpy roads and grotty accommodation . But the diverse scenery has been yet another highlight and well worth the discomfort, would not have missed it for the world (los chicos might give you a different response but we are now staying in, by recent standards anyway, a posh hotel so I think they will soon recover!) We are now catching up on some of life´s luxuries (hot showers! lights in the rooms! electric sockets! clean linen! ) and doing some housekeeping. At Ben´s suggestion, we gve a false name at the laundry place here in Uyuni as we were pretty revolting by the end of 5 days! tomorrow night we take the overnight bus to La Paz . Yep, another overnight bus is not cause for celebration but it will be the last one and it is supposed to be real luxury with meals, horizontal seats, heating and best of all, a loo! And it´s also safer than the train, another plus. The road should be paved most of the way so we are hopeful for no more landslides.
Adios for now, next update from La Paz.
Jackie
XX
PS I can confirm that Pringles tins are indeed watertight.
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