Salar de Uyuni

Hello Readers

We have just returned from a four day 4wd expedition in the Bolivian high country leaving from Tupiza and arriving in Uyuni. What an amazing experience for so many reasons.



Day 1 - We arrived at the tour agency ready to leave at 9am. The Toyota Land Cruiser was loaded and we began our journey. First through town to pick up a shopping bag full of cocoa leaves then to find the cook. The first day consisted of some amazing quebradas, cactus and Julies first turn for the worst.

Day 2 - The night was cold and for Julie a very bad experience. Fever and vomiting were soon joined by a bad case of altitude sickness that no local cocoa plant could fix. At this stage everybody was worried and we were going to turn back if there was no improvement over night. Morning came bringing a crisp blue -15 c and a stable but still sick Julie. We pressed on with a 12 hour day ahead driving between 20 and 60km/h over dusty 4wd tracks. The scenery was breathtaking. We passed 400 year old Spanish ruins, a tribute to the lucrative gold rush of the time. It is important to note that the Bolivian high country is rich with minerals and not so much with vegetation. We climbed our way, passing multi coloured salt lagoons, to the crater of an active volcano at 5000m above sea level. The air was thin and it was -20 c. After descending 1000m we were greated with a well earned hot pool surrounded by a salt lake.






Day 3 - This is hard to believe for those who know Julie well but day three was her third day without food. She had improved and was taking on lots of fluid but still no food. Our cook still prepared food for Julie and another 6 people who didn´t exist. I have never eaten so much before. I thought the soup was dinner so had three servings only to be told that there were 2 more couses of llama meat to come. No complaints from me though. Day three was another spectacular day which was topped off by the wildlife. Flamingos, vultures, foxes and more llamas. That night we stayed in a hotel with salt floors and beds. They served beer so I thought I would test the altitude rumour. Yes folkes it is true. At 4200m my limit is a dismal 5 beers.



Day 4 - This was the icing on the cake. Up at 6am we headed out to catch the sun rise over the Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flats in the world. Thousands of years ago the earth rose as a result of massive seismic activity. During this upheaval sea water was trapped like a large rock pool.





Nearing the end of our tour, the noticable subsidence to Julies four day illness was not the return of her appetite or lack of altitude headaches but instead her laughter. 4 sorry days of no laughter were brought to an end by the killer llama. A young frisky llama who was having the time of his life chasing unexpected tourists. The misfortune was too much. One English man made the mistake of running. He was chased for 2 hundred metres until he was run down and mounted by the llama. As you can imagine Julie had no sympathy just fits of laughter.


We are of to La Paz tonight on the overnight tain. From La Paz we head to Rurrenabaque in the Amazon Jungle for a six day trek. Julie is getting her strength back now and is looking foward to the more humid and lower amazon. I can´t wait to catch an anaconda!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!