Nov 2006

Day 1

We woke on the morning of the 8th having booked a 4 day jeep adventure to see the most spectacular scenery in Bolivia with Neils and Amber. Stocked up with water, pringles and most of all LOO ROLL we were ready to go.
Our vehicle was a red 4x4 Toyota as used by the Taliban! We met with the driver and English guide, Angel and Archie, and loaded the jeep. Having decided to ditch the cook in place for more leg room, we left Tupiza behind in a cloud of dust (at this point we thought we had Schumacher behind the wheel, little did we know!).
We drove for the next couple of hours through red formations that resemble needles 4200 meters high. Rob at this point was slightly in need of the loo roll already due to a fear of heights!
We passed many small "villages", local farmers, gold mines, and hundreds and hundres of Llamas (which we also had for lunch that day!).

After a long drive we stopped for the night in a small village called San Antonio de Lipez, 4660m, 250 inhabitants (50% children).

The day before leaving we started our so called anti-altitude sickness tablets which seemed to work well. Unfortunatley that night Rob developed a, shall we call it ´toxic stomach gasses´, bad tummy. Much to our surprise the next morning the loo roll was the life saviour!

Day 2

An early rise and we set off again for the longest day of the trip. Although first up and out we were quickly over taken by a second group who also left Tupiza at the same time. We began to realise that Angel was far from being Schu!!

We passed through more very small villages and towns. The inhabitants survive on delivering their meat produce to near by towns while the children, some as young as 5 years, are left to mind the houses.

After 6 hours in the now most uncomfortable jeep we arrived at Kollpa Laguna, a welcome hot spring that was much needed by our sore joints!

Then onto Volcan Licancabur overlooking a blue lagoon.

Following Rob´s morning eruptions, Emily decided to join in! Not requiring loo roll but a gass mask! The altitude pills had turned our stomachs into sulphur factories. Yuk! Archie decided to rename us ´The Killer Couple´!

We continued the tour through the Dali Desert, a forest of eroded stones that inspired Dali melting clocks artwork. One more hour and we arrived at the `Sol de Manana´ a 1km sq km area of craters of burning lava and geysers. We were now at the highest point of our journey, some 5400m above sea level!

To help us with the altitude we chewed coca leaves! Not as nice as expected considering all Bolivianos chew them.

We spent the evening in another local village. Electricity is turned off at 10:00 so we had a prime opportunity to use our head torches at last.

Day 3

We woke early and headed straight for the Laguna Colorada, which is located at the bottom of a Black Mountain. The Lagoon stank of sulphur, but it was a welcome smell compaired to Emily´s burps! There were also hundreds of Pink Flamingo´s or as our guide named them, ´stinky pinkies´!

Next was the Desierto de Siloli, where you can see the ´stone tree´ (a lava formation).

Our final night was at the Salt Hotel, next to the salt flats. Surprisingly the entire hotel was made of salt!! We had a very welcome hot shower and a comfy bed, ready for our 4.30 start the next day to catch the sunrise. We hoped that this would be early enough for Schu to make it!

Day 4

We were the first to leave and our spirits were high that we would make it onto the salt flats before sunrise! Doh! Within the first half hr we were over taken by two other 4x4!!!

At last we were on the flats, the largest salt lake in the world, and considered the size of belgium (and a whole lot more interesting). Like eager beavers we waited for the sunrise. We were not dissappointed! It was amazing! Cant put it into words so here are some pics.

After the sunrise we headed for breakfast at one of the fourteen islands formed of coral. Then we had a couple of hours to have some fun with photography! What we didnt know was that it was the day of ´no shadows´!!! And yes parents you were right we needed hats!

Our trip ended in Uyuni, where we said goodbye to Niels and Amber (they headed off to Chile), and we put ourselves onto an overnight bus to La Paz.

After three great days in Salta and with our new friends, Neils and Amber (dutch couple) in tow we headed for Bolivia. We caught a bus to the border town of `La Quiaca´, and entered Bolivia on foot with no hassle. The Bolivian border town of ´Villazon´ was, hmmmmmm, not a great introduction. Within a couple of hours we were heading for Tupiza, on a journey which should have lasted 3hrs!!! But we forgot that were in bolivia! The bus was better than we had expected (would not have looked out of place in the film ´Mad Max´) but what we were not prepared for was the so called roads, or lack of, and the fact the driver seemed to forget he was driving a bus and not a rally car! But hey we could have arrived early! Doh! After picking up what seemed half of Bolivia and cargo our bus continued on its journey... for about 2meteres! Surprisingly we had blown a tyre, so they changed if for a one of the five bald and cracked spares on the roof! Our ride now became a free trip to Alton Towers. Wicked!

We all arrived in Tupiza in one piece. Collected our rucksacks and the kilo of dust collected on route and checked into Hotel Mitru, that had warm showers and a pool. It was going to cost us the grand total of 7pounds a night for the both of us. Tupiza was a beautifull town surrounded by mountains (3600m above sea level) and friendly locals selling all sorts on the streets. Would have loved to stay here for days but a 4 day jeep adventure to the Salar de Uyuni (salt flats) were calling.

After a couple of days in iguazu we headed for Salta, north west Argentina. Due to a faulty air con system on the bus we spent 2 hours of the jouney to salta in a bus garage. During this time we met a Dutch couple and two English lads.

Salta was a nice change from Iguazu, friendly people, beautifull churches and parks, and most of all we all found a clean comfy hostel, Hostal La Linda (meaning pretty). That night the owners took us to an amazing local steak house (and there was us thinking the steak we had in BA was big!!). The meal and wine cost us less than a ´super size bigmac meal´ in the UK. Rob loves Argentina!

We decided to get off our fat lazy bottoms and work off some of that beer and steak. All 6 of us rented bikes and headed for ´the best mountin bike ride in South America´.

We were told not to forget our suncream and a hat, not one word was said about taking a jumper! Following an early rise at 6am and a rather long bumpy ride in a dodgy bus we arrived at the top of the mountain range in the clouds (over 3400m above sea level). We now realised that our suncream and hat was not needed and our shorts and tshirts were extremely inadequate! With visibility of 3 meters and temperatures at zero we headed as fast a possible down the mountain range.

This was our first experience of the effects of altitude and lack of oxygen! The ride was mostly downhill but even the slightest of uphills would see us out of breath (ok so it could be down to all the steaks and being unfit, but we prefer to blame the altitude!) A couple of hours later and after a number of moans and frozen toilet stops we reached below the cloud level.

The temperature rose and at last we could appreciate the amazing scenery and begin to understand why this ride was rated so highly. Around every bend there was picture, with amazing mountain ranges and colours! The ride should have taken 6-7hrs, but after a half hour stop for a puncture on one of the english lad bikes, disaster struck my bike(rob). After some riding in a stream the inner tube and tyre went pop!!! We tried a bodge repair but the tyre was knackered, so the rest of the ride was done very slowly. We got back to Salta late that night after an incident filled amazing bike ride! Beer all around.

Only a few days spent in BA and we wanted to get out of the big city and see some senerey so we headed for iguazu fasll. Well following an 18hr luxurious coach ride with complimentary blankets, pillows, food and even champagne we arrived in Iguazu falls.....and so did the rain!

We booked into a hostal and checked out the town which took all of 3 minutes! The town itself was not that pleasant but we were here to see the falls. The next day we were up early and took a bus to falls. We paid over twice the price as the argentinians but still it was definalty worth the total of 6 pounds! The park was huge with many walking and trekking routes to see all the the falls. We headed straight for the most spectacular fall, ´Devils Throat´! We can not explain the feeling we had when walking to the falls and hearing the thundering crashing of the water and not being able to see it - goose pimples doesn´t even get close.

Eventually we arrived at the edge of the falls, AWESOME! The sheer size and power was overwhelming. For the rest of the day we walked over the many bridges, through dense forest and explored all the fals the argentinian side offered.