Hola Chico´s,

After the chaos at the border we eventually reached Bolivia and we were not disappointed by what we seen, it appeared to look like "Real South America", we had only just crossed the border into the big bad world but it was FREEZING. It was now Sunday the 28th of June and our initial plan was to go to Uyuni which is home to the famous Salar, however it turned out that there were no buses going that day so we had to settle for Tupiza which had been our original plan a few weeks back.

Tupiza is in the opposite direction however things worked out in our favour. After buying a blanket to keep us warm we took the bus from La Queacha to Tupiza, the road was brilliant, very bumpy dirt roads and the landscape changed dramatically from Argentina. It was very dry and desert like, villages made up or mud huts, outside toilets and farm animals everywhere. We could already feel the simplicity that Bolivia had, no frills here, a very simple but tranquil life it appeared. After a bumpy 4 hour journey we were in Tupiza. Just off the bus we were met by a guy who spoke good English, so instantly we got chatting, he explained about a few tours and stated that if we booked a tour of the desert and salt flats to Uyuni he would give us a free nights accommodation. We decided to check out the hostel, its seemed nice, so within a matter of an hour or so we had our accommodation and tour booked DONE!!

Monday 29th June, The first day of our tour! We met the rest of the group, Liz, Chrissa, Colin, Marie-Clare (the English speaking guide), Big Willy Style ( the mad driver), Linda ( the good cook) and of course Marc and I. We set off from Tupiza around 10am and were headed for San Vincent, where the last robbery of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid happened, first though we had to get there....It was about a 7 hour drive over some very rough terrain through the desert.

For those of you who don't know much about Bolivia here is some info, Its the hemisphere´s highest, most isolated and most rugged nation. Its also one of the earths warmest, coldest, steamiest and windiest places, and get this, it has the driest, saltiest and swampiest natural landscapes in the world, and we were about to experience it for ourselves. We drove through the most spectacular scenery and were surrounded by thousands of Cacti and wonderful colours everywhere. We stopped a few times for photos of the amazing landscape of rainbow coloured rocks, hills and desert, we were also given some information about mines and farming land, although it was so dry am not sure how anything grows. We stopped for lunch in the middle of nowhere and all we could see around us were LAMA´S, they were so cute. So what was for lunch? Lama of course, tasted really nice actually. After Lunch we stopped at a small mining village where we were greeted by a few kids who wanted to sell us things that they had made, these children are just so happy and they have absolutely NOTHING, it was all very touching. We spoke and played with the kids for a while then it was back on the "road" to San Vincent where we shacked up for the night. We watched the sunset whilst Linda cooked our dinner, as we were literally in the middle of know where the sunset was dramatic and gave me real goose bumps, just so beautiful, with so many colours all over the sky....Its moments like that, that Marc and I have to pinch ourselves and take note to always remember where you are and how special it is so be there. The accommodation was very basic, it was basically a shed with beds in it. Linda made us dinner and some HOT drinks as it was -15 outside...oh yeah and the same inside, no heating, OBVIOUSLY! We had climbed to an altitude of 4500 Meters and Marc was feeling a little altitude sickness, it started with a slight sore head and turned into a migraine type headache, its really common for people to get altitude sickness, but Marc and I both thought it would be me if anyone. Willy got Marc some Coca tea (made from Coca leaves, they use it for all sorts of illnesses)....Any hey presto it worked. After dinner we hit the sack as it was an early rise the next morning.

Tuesday 30th June, We were up before the birds at 5am...Nearly everyone complained of being cold during the night as the temperature dropped to -20. We needed to be up to get a head start as we had a lot of ground to cover. It was freezing so we were all wrapped up in the jeep. We drove to a derelict "Ghost Town" where miners used to sacrifice children to the devil, it was kind of freaky and totally freezing so we never stayed out to long. The sky was amazing at this time of the morning, filled with stars and because it is so remote there is no pollution or street light etc we even seen a few shooting stars that looked more like fireworks!!! We thought the stars were out of this world in both NZ and Tasmania but the Bolivian sky´s full of stars beat both Tazzie and NZ hands down. After a couple of hours of driving we stopped for breakkie.... Nothing exciting just a few bread rolls and some classic Dulce de Leche. After brekkie we set off for the thermal springs, before we got to them we drove past a little salt lake where there was a few workers extracting the salt using only a small shovel then a wheelbarrow to bring it back to the land, the manual labour is so far from anything anybody at home could ever imagine. After a few hours more of driving we were at the thermal pool, we were the first tour group there. It was quite cold outside about 8 degrees Celsius or so. I was all for getting in straight away but Jamie took a bit more persuading, maybe it was the fact that there were no changing rooms or hot showers?? Eventually we stripped off and jumped in...WOO HOO, it was heaven, sitting in the middle of the desert in a natural thermal pool that was probably 35+ degrees Celsius. We were told to only sit in it for about 20 minutes because of all the minerals. After reluctantly getting out the pool we got ourselves dried in the cold and then had lunch overlooking lots of other groups braving the icy feeling for the sheer pleasure of the thermal spa. Once Willy had bump started our Jeep we set off for "Lake Verde", a Beautiful Green Lake, it was slightly frozen that's why some parts aren't that green on the pics. Again the Lake blew us away and it had an equally as nice back drop. From "Lake Verde" we headed to "Lake Colarado" where in the summer Pink Flamingos normally live but we were told that they had all migrated for winter. When we got there we were surprised to see lots of the Flamingos on the lake. YIPPEE, as you can see from the pics Jamie got very excited and carried away by the Flamingos. No wonder Markie, they were truly amazing, so graceful. The wild flocks of shimmering Pink Flamingos were like another dream come true for me. To see a Flamingo in the wild standing on one leg on the icy Lake Colarado was just mind blowing, I could have watched them all night. Anyway after literally dragging Jamie, Liz and Chrissy away from the Pink Flamingos we made our way to base for the night. When the sun went down it was freezing, I mean totally FREEZIO.... it dropped to -30, yip MINUS 30 DEGREES CELSIUS. Once again Linda cooked us a delicious dinner, but unfortunately I was still a bit sick with the altitude so didn't manage as much as I would have liked. After another cup of coca tea we went to bed....all I can say is Brrrrrrrrr, I had a sleeping bag, 2 covers doubled over, and a sheet, even with the 5 of us in the dorm it was still Baltic.

Wednesday 1st July, We were allowed a well deserved long lie, thank god as most of us could not sleep until after 1am due to the cold!! We left the hostel at around 9am, following a few problems with the jeep not starting, good old handy Willy soon got her started though, and we were headed for another fun packed day. We went through the Dali desert stopping at the Rock Tree, as you can see from the pics its a crazy looking sculpture in the middle of the desert. Then onto some natural geysers, which were very dangerous looking so we stayed well back. Just before lunch we watched a volcano that is still part active, its always smoking, pretty cool to see. We stopped at a lake for lunch that was completely frozen over, after a play around on the ice and seeing yet more Flamingos we all tucked into another fab lunch made by Linda. After Lunch we made our way to a small village where there is a strange kind of open grave yard with bones of people from hundreds of thousands of years ago...Jamie got a bit freaked out and I have to admit it was a little strange but interesting to see them. We made our way through a smaller Salar (salt flat) in preparation for the Salar the next day. We arrived at our accommodation for the night which was a building made from salt, (Salt Hostel) it was pretty cool. Everything inside was made of salt, the tables, chairs, base of beds, kitchen, and even the floor was carpeted with SALT....very impressive! Thankfully it was a bit warmer and the candles helped set the mood. We had dinner and the girls had a few drinks, I opted not to as was still feeling a little ropey from the altitude. Jamie and I shared a bed that night and we both slept much better as we shared our body heat, worked wonders!

Thursday 2nd July, We were up at the crack of dawn again to get onto the Salar to see the Sunrise. The Salar de Uyuni is the worlds BIGGEST Salt Flat, it was created thousands of years ago when 2 plates collided leaving a gap in the earth draining the water but leaving the salt. Its 12,000 squared kilometres and 140m deep at the deepest part. Its expanding around 15m every year. We made our way to "Isla Pescada" a little Island on the flats to see the sun rise. It was increíble!! After the sun rise we went for a walk around "Isla Pescado" and admired the extremely old cacti. After an unusual brekkie (cake, like birthday cake??) on the salt flats we drove onto the middle of the flats for an hour just to take some photos and chill out, it was funny trying to make some of the pics. From there we went to the Salt hotel, which used to be a hotel but is now just a museum as its not environmentally friendly to have a hotel on the Salar....Obviously! Everything in the hotel including the hotel is made of salt, to be honest our hostel was just as impressive, although we did like the tiny Big Ben. After the hotel we went to the Salt Pyramids then onto Uyuni for lunch and a look at the railway graveyard. We have to say the 4 day tour was fantastic, and we were sad it had finished although were really looking forward to a shower. Advice for anyone going to Uyuni just to see the Salar would be, DON´T, go to Tupiza and do the 4 day tour to Uyuni, you see so much more and its well worth it. Jamie and I have seen things that we have only ever dreamt about or seen on the David Attenborough TV shows like Planet Earth.

After saying a sad farewell to Liz and Chrissy (OH MY TROUSERS) in Uyuni we went to the bus station to book our overnight bus to La Paz. Another bumpy 10 hours on a bus did not seem appealing after being on the tour for 4 days, however La Paz was calling....

Later Taters,

Jamie and Marco xxxxx