bye-bye Bolivia

The good thing about having low expectations is that you´re rarely disappointed, and this proved to be the case in Uyuni - our last stop in Bolivia. I´d been trying to find a good tour company for our visit to the largest salt flats in the world. It turned out that all of them had horror stories featuring drunk drivers and frequent break-downs in the ´inhospitable´ terrain (inhospitable isn´t the word - it can get to below -40). Following a bumpy nine-hour bus ride and a last minute tip-off (thanks, Becky!), we changed companies and felt slightly more optimistic. The tour was reassuringly expensive. Don´t get me wrong - Uyuni itself is pretty awful, but we were only there long enough to buy some alpaca hats, have a cold shower and a good night´s sleep before setting off on our three-day tour.

It´s not the first time on our trip that we´ve struck it lucky with our group, and it made all the difference. Our driver and guide, Jimmy, insisted on playing the songs on his 80s mix-tape on repeat - even after 40 minutes of listening to the Pointer Sisters´"I´m So Excited", the six of us were still remarkably good-humoured (I was so excited, after all).

I won´t even try to fully evoke the scenery that we came across over the two days (because I´d fail), but suffice to say it was absolutely beautiful. And otherworldly. And at times ´inhospitable´. Everytime we wandered around the salt flats or a lagoon we´d be silent apart from the occasional "Amazing!", to the extent that Mauro and I banned ourselves from saying it (and started saying "incredible" instead). We also had some obligatory fun and games with perspective, thanks to the brilliant Jimmy, who also doubled up as a photographer. Here´s some photos...

Elsa, our cook, also came up trumps and whipped up some fantastic food, which exceeded everyone´s expectations. It was lovely, if not slightly surreal, to be sat outside amidst this AMAZING landscape eating llama steaks and quinoa. Surreal is definitely an apt description - one of the areas of the reserve is the ´Salvador Dali Desert´(although Jimmy pointed out that Dali himself hadn´t actually been there).

Whilst the accommodation was basic, and at over 4,500 metres on the second night absolutely (below) freezing, we had good laugh playing cards and drinking average Bolivian wine. The wine didn´t help the 4:30am start on the last day, but the geysers and hot springs were worth the ordeal. Shortly afterwards, Jimmy dropped us off at the border, where we bid Bolivia goodbye and said an enthusiastic hello to Chile. We´ve been in the town of San Pedro de Atacama one night and have already had several pisco sours, a lot of avocados (they´re SO good here) and a handful of empanadas. Mauro put his Chile top back on again at last, and I had a rude reminder that perhaps my Spanish isn´t as good as I thought it was in Peru and Bolivia (why do they speak like that?!). It´s great to be back!