Breathtaking Bolivia

Welcome to country number 7 for this trip: Bolivia!

 

DAY 35 PUNO (PERU) TO COPACABANA TO LA PAZ (BOLIVIA)

The border crossing was very easy and took no time at all. We then drove in a smaller, less luxurious bus to the town on Copacabana, which sits on the shores of Lake Titicaca. It was only a short 25min drive.

 

We disembarked and most of us went straight to the ATMs to get some Bolivianos. Exchange rates are roughly 10 BOB = £1.15 & $2.20AUD.

 

Then we went back to the restaurant that is the meeting point for Bolivia Hop. Most people were doing the boat trip to one of the islands but I decided not to. I sat on the rooftop terrace in the sun and ordered a llama burger and Inka Cola. The drink tastes like creamy soda, and is very good. The burger was alright. Very basic burger, nothing like the one in Cusco, but the llama patty was nice.

I sat there for a while in the sun then decided to go for a walk along the beach. There are around a hundred piers for the hundreds of boats and inflatable watercraft. The beach is also a dirt beach. Not sand, but dirt. I sat on a bench in the sun again for a while just people watching.

Then I decided to go walk around the streets. It felt very quiet in the streets with many shops closed. It’s a Wednesday afternoon so not sure why. The biggest difference between here and Peru is that I wasn't hassled once to buy things. In fact, not a single person spoke to me!

I got to the top of the town and found a huge church. It was busy here! Something was going on. Cars were lined up, dozens of stalls were selling decorations that people were putting on the cars, people were flicking a red liquid on their cars and spraying the cars with sparkling wine, then having photos with their cars. I honestly have no clue what is going on.

I walked around for a bit, got some water then went back to the beach. It’s a very boring place, I have to admit.

 

I decided to get an iced coffee at another rooftop terrace to pass the time. After ordering, it took 30mins for the girl to bring me the drink. Then, when I wanted to pay she was nowhere to be found! It was very poor service.

 

I sat and people watched for an hour. 2 ladies plonked themselves down in the middle of the road with a pony and an alpaca for people to pay for photos with.

 

The ladies here dress very differently. They have these big poofy skirts that make them look like they have the biggest hips & butt. They must have some sort of rigid lining, like the hoop petticoats for wedding & ball gowns. They dress very traditionally, especially the older ladies.

 

I went back to the other restaurat to wait for the bus, and sat with the Peruvian guide. He was taking a group back to Cusco. As I sat down, the waitresses came over to me & showed me my lunch docket & said I didn't pay! I told her I did pay, at the register, with a 100 BOB note, before heading up to the terrace. One of the girls was shaking her head saying no I didn't. The guide translated, and they seemed to accept his response. The ladies didn't look very happy though. I was obviously not very impressed with this, because I know I absolutely did pay and they kept saying I hadn’t.

 

I waited for an hour for the bus. I was so bored. Eventually, the bus returned and we boarded, along with some newcomers. It was quite a full bus! I was lucky & had 2 seats to myself though.

 

We drove to a place named Tiquina, where we had to use boats to cross the lake. It is the only way to continue on the Bolivian side to La Paz. We were told the bus would go on the Bolivian ferry, and we would take a boat.

 

Well.... when we arrived we were all in shock at the ‘Bolivian ferry’. It’s kind of like a barge, that looks like it is about to sink at any second. Not gonna lie, I was extremely anxious for the safety of my belongings, as everything was left on the bus.

 

 

We boarded 2 small boats for the 10min crossing, then had to wait for our bus. We all grouped together to watch what would potentially be a holiday-destroying disaster. None of us had faith in the barges!

Fortunately, the bus made it across safely, and we re-boarded to continue the drive. The guide came round and gave us all a little bag of popcorn and told us he would be putting a movie on. We ended up watching The Eternals, which I've seen and enjoyed.

 

The drive was very bumpy. Bolivian roads are terrible. It took 2.5hrs from the ferry to reach the city of El Alto, which is next to La Paz. I really need to stop arriving to unfamiliar cities late at night! Boy was it overwhelming, and I was on the bus! Traffic was absolute chaos. Literally traffic jams, horns blaring, nobody following traffic lights, people everywhere.

 

I was the sixth stop, and the guide walked me down the road all the way to my hostel. Lucky because I would not have found it otherwise! I asked if the area was safe, and he said yes, until about 10.30-11pm, then I need to stay inside the hostel.

 

I have a space capsule here, which I’m very excited about. It’s futuristic looking, enclosed, has a TV, mirror, lights, power, fan and is supposed to lock but I can’t get that to work.

I unpacked the essentials, had a shower and went to bed. The WiFi wasn't working, so I had nothing to do but sleep.

 

DAY 36 LA PAZ

It was so quiet last night, that it was wonderful! I woke up to some girls getting ready and discovered it was 8am.

 

I got dressed and went for breakfast. The lady gave me a breakfast tray, which had some bread & a roll, jam, butter, banana, yoghurt & a coffee cup. There was cereal available too. It was alright for free breakfast.

Then I went back to my space pod and put the TV on. I found Harry Potter so I put the headphones on and listened, even though it was dubbed in Spanish. I worked out what my plans for the day should be.

First stop was the Witches Market. I walked up a very steep hill and found a very colourful street with lots of souvenir shops and alpaca clothing shops. It also had umbrellas hanging above the street. I walked along, looking in some of the shops. It really was very bright and pretty!

At the end of the street, I found the Witches Market. It’s called that because the stalls sell lots of magic boxes, talismans, incense etc. Famously, they also sell dried llama foetuses & dead, dried baby llamas which tourists find either scary or fascinating. Don't worry, they don't kill healthy baby llamas. These are only stillborn babies only. Sometimes, there are some local shamans there who will bless people, but apparently, they don't do it for gringos.

I found it underwhelming. Only a few stalls, the llamas look like stuffed toys hanging up, no shamans, and definitely not scary.

 

I continued walking around and bought a shot glass and a postcard for a colleague to add to his collection. Then I went to a supermarket near the hostel and got some snacks and drinks. It was quite cheap!

 

 

I hung out at the hostel for a little bit, sorting out my afternoon plans.

 

La Paz is built in the shape of a bowl, surrounded by mountains. Due to the extreme changes in elevation, and the massive size of the city, the Government built a series of connected cable cars. There are 10 lines and are colour coded. The stations are big buildings, brightly painted in the colour of the line & the cable cars are the same colour as the line they are on too.Makes everything very easy to work out.

The purple line is 2 blocks from my hostel so I walked there. I got some hot chips just outside the station as I was hungry. This cone of chips, with 4 sauces, cost me 10BOB, which is $2.20AUD. Delicious!

I bought a ticket that covers a loop around the whole city, using 7 of the lines. Valid for 24hrs, but you can only use each line once. The purple line goes to the top of the mountains. The views are amazing!

 

 

Then I took the grey line across the top of the mountains. There was a huge market near this next station so I walked around the market for a bit. You could buy everything. Car parts, underwear, toiletries, cooking utensils etc.

Then I took the red line back down to the lower areas. It went right over the cemetery, which is fascinating as they bury their dead in buildings that look like apartment blocks. Not a blade of grass in sight!

Then I took the orange line to a different part of the city. This gave different views of the city.

Next was the white line, then the light blue line and finally the yellow line, which took me back up to the top of the mountains.

 

From here, I had to buy another ticket to take me back on the grey and purple lines back to my starting point. The whole trip took me several hours, and cost 18BOB, which is $4AUD.

 

The cable car network is outstanding. It is very cheap, fairly quick, clean and efficient. Definitely an excellent way to get around the city.

 

I had a horrible headache by now, so I went back to my hostel. Most likely it is the altitude, which is very annoying, considering I've been at altitude for 2wks now.

 

It took me a while to decide what to have for tea, and I ended up choosing an Italian restaurant. It was 2.5 uphill blocks. It was quiet when I got there but more people arrived soon after. I chose carbonara and a Coke. It took nearly half an hour for my pasta to come out, and other people got their meals before me, despite ordering after me. It wasn't traditional carbonara (made with cream not eggs), but it was not too bad.

I needed to pack for tomorrow so I headed back to get organised. Plus, despite taking some Diamox, my head still hurt.

 

Then I watched a TV episode in my pod before going to bed.

 

DAY 37 LA PAZ

I woke up at 6am feeling much better. 2 other girls in my dorm got up at the same time as they were checking out. I quickly got ready and headed out.

 

On the way I stopped at reception and arranged a late check out for tomorrow for 30BOB.

 

The walk to the meeting point for my tour today was a café about 12mins walk from the hostel. Up the same steep hill as yesterday.Hills, hills and more bloody hills!

 

Today I was going to bike ride down the World’s Most Dangerous Road, the North Yungas Road aka Death Road. It’s been featured on numerous TV programs, and riding a bike down it has become very popular with tourists.

 

At 7am, the café staff let us in, took our coffee order then sent us upstairs to sit down. I sat with an American girl and German lady.

 

We were served our coffee, then a glass of pineapple juice and our breakfast. We had a roll, scrambled eggs and a bowl of strawberries, banana and apples. It was really good.

 

At 8.15am, we boarded the minibus. The were 12 people in our group. In addition to the 2 ladies I had breakfast with, there was a solo travelling older guy, a German couple and a British family of 6 (2 parents & 4 adult children).

 

We drove for about 1.5hrs, increasing our elevation to 4700masl. Here we were given riding jackets, pants if we wanted, gloves, helmet and a bike. It was rather chilly but sunny here. I was wearing my convertible hiking pants, thermal long sleeve top, t-shirt and a jumper. I had a helmet with a GoPro attachment so I could take videos on the way down.

We were also given instructions on how to use the bikes & brakes, and how to ride on the Death Road. The bikes have a double suspension with fat tyres, specially designed for gravel. Most accidents (weekly basis) occur when tourists press the front brake too hard and they flip over the handlebars. Ouch!

 

The first section is downhill tarmac, riding with traffic. This was very easy, and the views are spectacular.

 

We went through the police checkpoint, had a snack and got to the point which has a steep uphill for 1hr. We were advised to skip this part, load the bikes on the bus & drive as it is quite challenging. No arguments from me!

 

We drove to the start of the Death Road. There are 2 signs here. We named them the sad death sign and the happy death sign. Naturally, we took photos.

Then we started riding. It's the only road in Bolivia where you must drive on the left (like Australia and England). Every other road in the country, and probably South America, you drive on the right (like USA & mainland Europe). It is a loose gravel road, with 2 wheel tracks from the cars. Going down, the left side is the 200m cliff drop off, and that's the side we were supposed to ride on. The good part is that the road isn't used much by traffic anymore, as a new safer road has been built.

 

The gravel is loose. Very loose. And very bumpy. I became nervous of skidding or flying over the handlebars and leaving half my skin on the rocks, so I went slowly. Well, fast, but the slowest in the group.

 

Every 2km roughly, we stopped to take pictures and have a break. We had 33km of death road to cover, and it was tough on the body. It was awesome though, and the scenery was breathtaking.

At 11km, we stopped for another snack (sandwich), which was welcome.

 

Along the way we passed waterfalls and rode through some of them, we did some little river crossings, we took lots of pictures and just had fun.

 

It wasn't scary being on the edge of a cliff, knowing that bike riders die quite frequently, I was just nervous of falling onto the road. I could just imagine my next holiday update to my students being a photo from a hospital bed! Oh and my Head of Science would kill me, if the road didn't kill me first!

 

We started riding about 10am at 4700masl, and we finally got to the bottom of the Death Road just after 4pm at 1000masl. My forearms, especially my left, were killing me, along with cramps in my hands and a very sore butt. I rode those brakes the entire way down!

At the bottom we went to an animal sanctuary for a late lunch. We were given towels if we wanted to shower, but very few did. I just wiped my face with a wet wipe & washed my hands thoroughly. Lunch was a pasta buffet with salad & veg, and we got a drink. It was quite good. The sanctuary also has some pet cats and dogs, who were very friendly.

After lunch, we had an optional tour of the sanctuary. This cost 80BOB, which was pretty good. All the animals here have been rescued from illegal trafficking.

 

First stop was the red howler monkeys. They were so cute!

Next were some toucans but I couldn't get a picture of them. Too far away.

 

Then we went to the first spectacled bear enclosure. This bear is a 4yr old male. As we approached he came straight over to the fence and sat right in front of us, giving up a big ‘pat me’ face. He was so adorable and photogenic!

Next was an 11yr old female. Very inactive this one!

 

Then we saw some jaguars. Oh my, they were so cute! 2 females, just big cats. They ended up coming over to the corner where I was standing so I got some good picture of them.

We also saw some pumas (very high up).

 

Then we headed back to the restaurant. We collected our things and began heading to the bus. The spider monkeys were very playful, as was another type of monkey. They were clinging to the cage (we were cage, not them).

In Bolivia, it is illegal to release these animals back into the wild, so they are captive for life, all because some moron wanted them as a pet. One jaguar was being sold in Facebook for $800USD. Fortunately, the government posed as a buyer and confiscated it, and brought it to the sanctuary.

 

We then had a 3.5hr bus journey ahead of us to get back to La Paz. It takes 2hrs to get back to the starting point, and then the 1hr back down to the city, plus traffic. Traffic is absolutely insane here in La Paz.

 

I was dropped off at my hostel, which was great. I went and paid for my accommodation and late checkout for tomorrow, then went in search of food. Next door is a chicken place (Peruvians & Bolivians are obsessed with rotisserie and fried chicken) so I went there, as it is meant to be the best in the city. It was busy, so I spent nearly half an hour in the queue. At the register, I ordered popcorn chicken, only to be told they are only serving chicken with bones. Gross. I wanted something quick as it was 9.30pm, so I went across the road to Burger King. Cheating, I know. I had a Swiss bacon burger, then went back to my hostel.

 

I was pretty tired, but more sore than anything. My butt and forearms are the worst. I had a shower, then went to bed to relax.

 

DAY 38 LA PAZ

I managed to get a decent sleep again tonight. It's wonderful what happens when the people in the dorm are quiet, the hostel doesn't have street noise and you're warm & cosy.  The space pods really are wonderful!

 

I dozed and woke up properly just before 9.30am. I woke to a ton of messages from yesterday’s bike riding trip, as we made a Whatsapp group and Photo Circle shared album.

 

I got dressed and went straight to the post office. One of my colleagues asked me to send him a post card from Bolivia for his collection and the post office is only open until 12pm.

 

It was only 2 blocks away and was completely empty when I walked in. I wasn't sure they would do post as it looks like the foyer of an office building. Not a single envelope or parcel package in sight! They did indeed do post and it cost me a whopping 16 BOB to send the post card to the UK. That's 2.50AUD! So cheap!

 

Then I went in search of coffee. I had seen on Google Maps that there was a Juan Valdez just 1 block from my hostel. This is the Colombian version of Starbucks, but I quite liked their dulce du leche coffee in Colombia, and I really wanted some nice coffee.

 

I got a large dulce du leche latte and a choc chip cookie. Breakfast of champions!

Then I headed back to my hostel to chill for a bit. I had late checkout so could come and go as I pleased.

 

I went and met the American girl from yesterday at a square, as somehow her gloves had ended up in my backpack. We went for a walk to an ATM so we could both get cash then went to go to a different square.

 

On the way, we passed a nail salon, and I desperately needed my gel polish re-done. It was about 5mm grown out! I said goodbye to the girl and went to get my nails done. Through Google Translate, I managed to get my gel removed and a new colour applied. She didn't do a great job, but it was cheap (45 BOB) compared to what I pay in London and it should last until I get home.

 

Then I went to Plaza San Francisco. This is a big square with a big church. When we passed it last night, it was very busy. Today, it didn't look like anything special, other than the impressive church. I took a picture then went on search of food.

 

 

It was spitting rain by now, so I went to Pollo Cochabamba, which is a fried chicken fast food restaurant. The queue wasn’t that long (5 people), but took forever (~20mins). I ordered popcorn chicken and peach juice. And I ordered in Spanish! They serve only chicken with chips, on these special segmented plates and include a spicy sauce, ketchup, mayo & mustard. I obviously didn't get the spicy sauce. It was quite good. The peach juice was delicious.

 

By now, it was 2pm and the tour office that I had to go to was meant to be open. I had been having a lot of issues contacting the company I booked the salt flats tour with. I had received nothing since I booked in May, and my tour is in 2 days! After multiple emails, Facebook messages & website contact forms, they finally replied this morning and said I had to pay for my tour in La Paz today. Lucky they finally wrote back to me because I'm leaving La Paz tonight! This company is the highest rated, with the best safety standards, yet their communication is appalling. Hope the actual tour is better!

 

After paying, I headed back to my hostel. It was freezing outside by now, so I walked quickly. Just a couple of minutes after returning to my room, there was a big clap of thunder. It continued storming for around an hour. I'm glad I was inside!

 

I sorted all my stuff and repacked my suitcase and day pack. Took a while! My suitcase has decided to gain a fair amount of weight this trip. How rude!

 

Then I watched some TV episodes (finished The Rig, then started The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart), whilst researching day trips in San Pedro de Atacama (SPA). All the companies have mixed reviews and they all have the same trips, so I found it hard to select one. I also ended up cancelling my accommodation and booking a different property that was in the centre of SPA. My previous one was on the edge of town so no tour company would pick up, and I wasn’t walking 30+ minutes at 4am to a pickup location.

 

Then I got my things and checked out. The girl at reception helped me get a taxi to the bus office. I had booked the most recommended, highest rated bus company for the overnight journey to Uyuni. This bus is the same style as my last Peru Hop bus, with cama and semi-cama seats. I checked in, with my bags being tagged, then waited for boarding. One couple from yesterday turned up too. They were doing a 5 day trip to the salt flats.

 

We boarded just before 9pm. Everyone has allocated seats, so it wasn't a worry about getting a good spot. I had booked a cama seat, which is a large seat that reclines to 160°. The ones upstairs recline to 130° I think, and are much smaller seats. The ceiling has star lights, we get a pillow and blanket, plus we get a hot meal,  breakfast, bottled water and curtains. Hopefully this will be a good trip!

Dinner was served not long after departure. It was rice with chicken in sauce & veg, followed by a hot drink (I had chamomile tea) and a chocolate bar. It was good!

 

Then I took my contact lenses out, wrapped up in the blanket (it was cold), put my headphones in and curled up to write this, then go to sleep.

 

DAY 39 UYUNI

We seemed to stop an awful lot during the night. No idea why. We had 2 drivers who rotate every 5hrs or so, so it wasn't to change drivers. I didn't sleep very well.

 

At 6.15am the lights went on and an announcement said we would be served breakfast. We had a ham & cheese sandwich & a juice box.

We arrived in Uyuni at 6 50am and it was freezing! -3°C! My hotel transfer was waiting when we arrived, which was nice. We got my bags and headed to the hotel. I'm not actually staying in Uyuni, which is apparently a dump, but in Colchani, right on the edge of the salt flats. It’s about 30mins from Uyuni, and due to the location, the hotels out there are pricey!

 

I had decided to book one of these hotels because it will be very dark so the night sky will be amazing. I used my Qantas points and still had to pay nearly $600 AUD for the 2 nights at the Luna Salada Hotel de Sal. The hotels out here are all made from salt.

 

When we arrived, a group of people were checking out. My room was obviously not ready, since check in was 3pm and it was only 7.30am. I sat by the fireplace to warm up and played on my phone for a bit.

The receptionist checked me in about 8.40am and let me go to my room, which was very kind of her. Didn't have to pay extra either.

 

My room is a twin room with a view of the salt flats. It’s a big beautiful room. The first thing I did was get into a nice hot shower and wash my hair. I hung out in my room for a bit, then went to the lounge for a coffee. Yesterday I paid 25 BOB for a large latte, and here, I paid 35 BOB for a small latte. A Coke was 8 BOB in La Paz, and here is 20 BOB. Yikes! Tonight's dinner is a buffet which costs 180 BOB, or the lounge does a pizza or sandwich for a bit less.

I then put everything on to charge. All my camera & GoPro batteries, head torch etc. Then I packed a backpack with my tripod, drone, snack, water & put on warm clothes.

 

It’s about 45mins to walk from the hotel to the salt flats, and it was blue skies & sunshine. It was cold though!

The walk was nice, although I discovered it was a bit slippery in places and landed on one of my knees at one point. I thought it was dry as a bone, but clearly not! It was quite wet under the surface.

 

It took 40mins to get to the proper salt flats. I passed a couple who were heading back to the hotel, and there were a few 4WDs in the far distance, but other than that, I was alone. It was a spectacular sight. White, as far as the eyes could see!

 

I setup my phone on the tripod and took some pictures.

Here's a 360 degree panorama (click on it to make it bigger):

 Here's a quick video:

Then I got my drone out. What a perfect place to practice flying the drone! Not a building, tree or human for several kilometres!

 

My drone has some pre-programmed flight modes, so I played around with those, testing all of them out. It was a lot of fun, and not scary because I couldn't lose the drone here! The videos are too big to post here but I will post them on YouTube in case you want to watch them (click here).

 

I also took some photos which turned out great, in my opinion.

 

After an hour of being out there, my drone battery ran out so I packed up and headed back to the hotel. I cleaned my white sneakers then began to look at the footage and save it to my SSD.

 

After chilling in my room for a bit, I went outside to watch the sunset. It was a bright orange colour, very pretty.

After the sun set, a couple came up to me. They were from the bus I took from La Paz to Uyuni, and sat in the row behind me. Turns out, they are Italian, and are doing a trip around Peru and Bolivia.

I went and sat in the lounge with them and had our welcome cocktail. It was a bit like a pisco sour, but sweeter.

 

We arranged to meet up for dinner at 8.30pm, and went our separate ways as the lady was getting a massage first.

 

I took advantage of the dark skies and went outside with my camera. One of my apps, Clear Outside, which gives a cloud forecast, listed my current location as Class 1 Bortle skies. Bortle 1 is considered an excellent dark sky site, and is the darkest skies on the planet. I was super excited as this means I would hopefully get good photos. London, by contrast, has Bortle 9 inner-city skies, with so much light pollution that stars are barely visible.

 

When I got outside, and my eyes adjusted, the sky was absolutely incredible. So many stars! The Milky Way was arching directly overhead, with the core right above me. I setup my camera and took a stack of photos. Not perfectly sharp, but I am very pleased with the result! 

I even got this with my Samsung S20:

Dinner was a buffet so I met the Italians outside the restaurant and we got a table for 3. It was a small buffet, but the food was nice. I had 2 plates of mains & 1 plate of dessert. I had small plates, with small portions as I didn't know what anything was, or if I would like it. It was lovely dining with other people.

 

After dinner, we went outside to look at the stars again. I took my camera and timer, and took a stack more photos, some of which I hope to turn into a star trail.

By 10.40pm though, I was absolutely freezing. The temperature gets below zero here, and it was breezy, with crystal clear skies. I also hadn't rugged up in enough layers as I only grabbed my coat & beanie after dinner. As I went back inside, one of the staff was watching me, and met me in the doorway. He asked if I was cold, and I said it was 'muy frío', which means very cold.

 

I had a hot shower back in my room to try and defrost, and climbed into bed. The heater was set at 27°C (by the staff) and on high, and there were plenty of thick blankets on the bed, but I could still feel the cold radiating from my skin on my legs & butt. It took quite a while for me to warm up, and when I woke during the night, I was warm & toasty.

 

DAY 40 UYUNI

I had set my alarm for 8am, so I had time for breakfast and to see the Italian couple before they left. Breakfast is included, since there is literally nowhere else you can go to eat in the morning without needing to walk 45mins-1hr. Again, it was a small buffet, but it had lots of sweet things. I had some ham, cheese, scrambled eggs, a pancake, a bowl of runny yoghurt with a mixture of cereals, a choc chip cookie, orange juice and coffee.

 

We exchanged contact details and they have invited me to visit them in Milan one day. I've previously been considering Milan for a 3-day weekend, so when we have a bank holiday, I’ll definitely look into that.

 

After they left, I hung out in my room for a while. I decided to go lay in the hammocks and do some puzzles. There was no heating on down this end though, so I stayed only a short time, then went and sat in the lounge instead.

I ended up going back to my room as I got cold and curling up under my doona to watch some TV episodes. Not going to lie, it was such a lazy day! I achieved literally nothing, but it was nice to do nothing.

 

I went to the lounge about 5.30pm and got a pina colada to drink while I watched the sunset on the terrace. As soon as it was down, I went to the lounge and sat in front of the fireplace to defrost. I ended up ordering a pizza for tea, which was really nice.

I went back to my room about 7.30pm and got ready for some photography. This time, I put on tons of layers. 3 on the bottom, 6 on the top, including my coat, 2 beanies, a thermal headband and gloves.

 

I wanted to try and get a nebula, with the lagoon nebula being easy apparently. I took my star tracker out but couldn't get things to tighten and work properly (user error most likely), so gave up & just used the camera & 300mm lens. I took a few photos, trying to get the stars in focus, and after a while, I discovered I actually got the nebula! I was very excited! My first ever nebula! And it's obvious in the photo! 

I took a few more then went inside as it was freezing. I uploaded one photo to a website that tells you what celestial objects you have in your photo and found out I also got the triffid nebula and Webb's Cross star cluster as well. Yay!

I then had to start the huge task of packing. Everything had exploded in my room, so I had to repack virtually everything. Took me an hour!

 

I snuggled up in bed and eventually went to sleep.

 

DAY 41 UYUNI TO AGENCHA

This morning I woke just before my alarm and got up fairly well straight away. I was checking out so needed to make sure I had enough time to finish packing & have breakfast.

 

I went to breakfast at 8am, and today they had omelet, French toast & empanadas as well as everything they had yesterday. I just had mostly eggs, ham & cheese again.

 

I checked out and was driven back to Uyuni by the transfer driver. I had to be at the tour agency office by 10am, but I wanted to be earlier as I needed to go to the ATM and the supermarket.

 

There was 1 other guy waiting when I got there. He's Welsh but lives in Italy. I went and got some cash, some snacks and some moisturiser. I had been looking for some for a while, but most places only had big bottles, and charged a lot for them. I found a little bottle for only 16BOB which is good. My poor skin is so badly dehydrated, it desperately needs this!

 

I had a walk through the streets then went back to the agency office. At 10.30am, the 4WD arrived with 3 people inside. A French couple who have been travelling & working for 6yrs, and a Danish guy.

First stop on our 3 day salt flat tour was the train cemetery. This is where the old locomotives were left to rust when they brought the newer diesel ones in. You can climb on them, take pictures etc. It’s pretty cool, although a tiny bit scary that the rusty parts could crumble under your weight at any time!

 

Then we headed to the town of Colchani. This is back near my hotel from the past 2 nights. We first went to a salt processing place to see how the edible salt is made. Some of the Bolivian salt is more toxic due to its proximity to volcanoes, but the salt around Colchani is ok because the volcanoes are much further away. They add iodine to their salt, and the amount varies based on location. They were selling salt there as well. Body scrub salt & edible cooking salt.

 

 

I walked around the market stalls looking at the products, and saw a lady selling salt. I found a garlic salt, which smelled so strongly of garlic that the won't be any vampires within 20km with that bag of salt! So I bought it.

Then we finally went out onto the salt flats. It is such an incredible sight! We drove for a while then stopped at the Dakar Rally monument. I never knew the car racing came here!

We took some pictures, then walked to the flags. Anyone can put up a flag. I didn't know about this place or I would have brought an Aussie flag! Clearly no other Aussies knew either because there was no Australian flag!

Then we went inside the building for lunch. The drivers all prepare the lunch for the groups. We sat at salt tables on salt blocks, and had quinoa, potato, veg & beef for lunch. It was quite good. The quinoa was particularly nice, much nuttier than the stuff I've made at home.

After an expensive toilet stop (5BOB!) we continued on our journey. We drove for a while to a very isolated area with undamaged salt and spent an hour or so taking perspective photos. It was a bit awkward at first, but turned out to be fun. They had brought a dinosaur to use as a prop, and the guides spent ages helping us take awesome photos. I also took the opportunity to fly my drone again.

 

Next stop was Isla Incahuasi. This is a big island in the middle of the salt flats, covered in giant cacti. We had to pay 30BOB to follow the one way track around the island, but the views were great. The current tallest cactus is 8.5m high, and estimated around 8000+ yrs old. The previous tallest was 12m high!

 

Sunset was next on the agenda. We stopped at a place where someone had been making salt bricks to watch the sunset. Our drivers again setup food for us. We had red wine, chips, dried fruit & muffins. The salt bricks are so solid and stable that we could climb up on them.

We meet the people in the second vehicle here too. They are a family of 6 from The Netherlands.

 

We became very cold now so we drove to our accommodation. It’s off the salt flats but made from salt bricks. It’s not a hotel, more like a lodge. I have a room to myself, with the Danish & Welsh guys sharing a room. We had dinner cooked by the locals. Vegie soup followed by a Bolivian dish consisting of a layer of fries covered in sausage, diced beef, egg, tomato, red onion & green capsicum. It was quite good!

 

We then got a special treat. We headed out into the dark to an isolated  place to take some pictures of the Milky Way with us in them. Those of us with cameras took our cameras as well to get some pictures. I got some amazing shots!

I also got the Milky Way shots, including some light painting with fire, taken by our guide. It was freezing but the sky was incredible and worth it.

Back at the lodge, we basically went straight to bed, after a hot shower of course. I had rented a sleeping bag as I was told I would need it, and it was cold in the lodge with no heating. I got into the sleeping bag, then under the blankets, plus I'm in my thermals, so I won't be cold tonight!

 

DAY 42 AGENCHA TO PURIPICA

I was so warm and snug during the night that it was great. I had packed most of my things last night so I only had to get dressed & pack the last few things this morning. I was first up and ready, and took my suitcase to the front door at 6.50am.

 

Breakfast was hard bread rolls, mortadella, cheese, spreads & some scrambled eggs. I cannot wait to have nice soft fresh white bread back in London!

 

Our cars were packed and we left about 7.45am. At 9am we stopped in a town at a little shop for toilets, snacks etc. There was also a display of quinoa. Did you know that there are over 3200 types of quinoa? Well the are, and every one of them is edible. I had never seen a quinoa plant so it was cool to see, as well as some of the colours (light pink, dark pink, yellow, orange etc). I wanted to buy some but she didn't have any to sell other than white.

 

Next stop was some train tracks running through the middle of another salt flat. We took some photos then left as the wind was quite cold.

 

 

A lookout to view an active volcano was next. You could see steam rising from the side of the crater. This volcano is also a natural border between Chile & Bolivia.

Then we went to the first lagoon of the day, which had flamingos. They were very cute although a bit far away, even with my 300mm lens. We took some pictures then we left.

We were heading to the next lagoon when we came across a lot of vicunas on the road. I say road but I really mean dusty gravel desert track. We slowed down and took some photos. Vicunas are completely wild, it's against the law to domesticate them in any country here, so they do run away from cars & people, but they stopped close enough that we could get some photos with long lenses. Aren't they just adorable?!

Next was another flamingo lagoon and our lunch stop. After a few photos, we sat down for lunch. Today was roast chicken, sausages, vegies, tomato, avocado, cheese, roast potato and sweet potato & plantain. It was very good.

We then walked around the edge of the lagoon for a while before the car came and picked us up.

 

A huge pile of lava stones was our next stop. They are home to some little creatures called vizcacha. They look like big rabbits. We took some more photos, had an impromptu toilet stop (bush pee) and kept going.

We passed a mountain with a meteorite impact crater on the side, which was pretty cool.

The stone trees were next. These are big stacks of stones with some looking like trees and some looking like mushrooms. They are from volcanic eruptions, as there are 8 volcanoes in a ring around this place.

We entered the national park, paid our entrance fee then went to the lookout point. This place was amazing as it overlooks the red lagoon. It also has borax salts, glacial ice, flamingos and vicunas. This was quite an amazing sight. We went down to the edge of the water and took lots of photos.

Then we continued to the steam vents. Since there are a lot of volcanoes around here, there are also a lot of steam vents & hot springs. There is also a geothermal powerplant. We drove to the biggest vent (of course) and got out to get some info, take pictures etc. The wind was freezing! Like we were completely shivering from head to toe in just a few minutes of being outside. The big vent smelled so bad! It has a high sulfur content so the stench of rotten eggs was strong. It was, however, warm. We also saw some boiling mud pools which was pretty cool.

 

Then it was finally time to go to the hotel. We are staying on the edge of another salt flat, although this one has some hot springs on site. All 5 of us are in the same room. The place runs on a generator and solar power, and is very basic. No showers, limited running water etc.

 

We had afternoon tea just after we arrived (hot drinks & biscuits) and we decided to join the 2 tables together. I sat in the middle so I had the people from our car on my left and the Dutch family on my right. We stayed there talking and eventually dinner was served. We had vegie soup again followed by spaghetti bolognaise. It was very nice.

 

Afterwards, several of us decided to go to the hot springs. It’s one pool maybe 4m diameter. It was dark & cold, but the water was promised to be 35-40°C. We went down in clothes, paid for the entry, got changed into bathers then quickly got in. The water was so warm and the sky was stunning as usual. It was definitely worth it! There were quite a few people in there enjoying the water & watching the stars. We saw lots of shooting stars & 2 bright green meteors. That was very exciting!

 

After an hour or so, we decided it was bedtime. We got out, quickly got changed then headed back to the hotel. It wasn't actually that cold which was good. Hopefully tonight will not be too cold!

 

DAY 43 PURIPICA TO SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA (CHILE)

We got up at 6.30am again today so we were ready for breakfast at 7am. I was warm last night, without the sleeping bag, which was good. Breakfast was peach yoghurt, cocoa puffs, pancakes, bread and hot drinks. Better then yesterday!

 

We packed the cars and set off. It was freezing outside today. So cold that the water bottles in the car froze overnight.

 

Our first stop was the Dali desert. It is named because it looks like one of Salvador Dali’s paintings. We took a quick photo then quickly got back into the car.

Our second stop was at the green & white lagoons. The white lagoon had lots of salt deposits, and looks fairly normal. The green lagoon looks amazing, slight green tinge, completely clear and mirror reflective surface, but it will kill you in less than 12hrs if you drink it. This lagoon has very high levels of arsenic and copper due to the volcano next to it.

We stayed here for some pictures, then said goodbye to the Dutch family in the other car. They were heading back to Uyuni now, on a 7hr drive. In our car, 4 of the 5 of us were going to Chile. We drove to the Bolivian customs, where we had to fill out a form using a QR code, and then get our passports checked. Then we drove further on to the actual border and immigration. Our guide took our passports and 15BOB while we waited by the car. We got our passports stamped, collected our luggage from the car, loaded it into the new car, then said goodbye to our guide, driver and the Danish guy. They were also headed back to Uyuni.

 

We filled out some Chilean immigration forms, then we were driven to the Chilean border. Here we had to enter a facility where the roller door was shut behind us, trapping the vehicle (and us!) inside. First stop here was a desk with our passports to get officially entered into the country, then we had to send all our bags through x-ray scanners.

 

Finally, we were free so we reloaded the car and began the drive to San Pedro de Atacama.

 

And that is the end of my time in Bolivia. It has been un-Bolivia-ble! Bolivia is the cheapest of all the countries I have been to. Food is not a reason to visit, the scenery and nature is the main attraction. I definitely need to return to the Salar de Uyuni (salt flats) during the wet season (Nov-Mar) because the rain creates a reflective mirror surface on the salt flats, which produces absolutely incredible scenes and photos!

I hope you have enjoyed reading about Bolivia. Head over to my Chile blog for my final adventures in South America!