Wed 27 th June

We arrived in the coldest part of town!!!! Uyuni. Our bus touched down 12 hours later. Mario hadnt slept a Wink.
We were told our tour would take us atraight away! Not techniquely true! we waited til nearly eleven - before heading off to pick the cook up ! "Me llamo santos"..... our guide we say pleased to meet yo...."mucho gusto santos" THAT.... unfortunately was the extent of his guiding however we do believe that on day two he self guided himself around the cook!! If you know what we mean! a little more friendly after joanne found him snogging the young girl. Our guide was eager to be the first on the road in the moring and the first to get anywhere! We spent three days in the land rover -i guess hoping thst we would survive the terrible driving. our first morning we drove to what they call the "train graveyard" where dereict old trains had been dumped. a ruthless and dangerous playground full of old parts and rusted old trains some of Bolivias first ever trains lay to rest here in the vast open land.
We moved on to the salt prcessing fields - hundred of piles of salt are processed and imported/exported around the country and other parts of the world. We continued our drive for 80 or so km where the salt flats were pretty spectacular to view White would meet the horizon of blue. Thats all we could see for miles in all directions - incredible views. The flats - once an enormous lake formed hexagonal formations repetatively. We stopped for lunch at Fish island - after a walk through the cactus filled islands. Even though the area surrounded with whiteness (which looked like snow) the sun was almost warm! on the side of the island all landrovers parked up and the young cooks produced steak and rice whic considering was pretty good! Again Santos said no much for the following few hours.. We played on the flats and with the camera caught some wicked tricks of the horizon !
Our bed for the night was a salt hotel!!! we checked the only way we new how!! yep tasted like salt! no electricity and all the furniture and the floor was made from salt!! clever really. We discovered new card games and listened to some local children play music and watched the youngest girl - who was obviously only allowed to come and join in with the band with her older brothers if she danced! She tried to !!
No electricity and an early start as directed from the Minimalist himself "Santos" we thought best get some kip in -
Up at 5 and away by 6 - Stone sandscapes and volcanoes on the itinery for today . Before we had left ... Santos was beeping the car horn for mario!! The level of patience was running out with our non guide, especially Joannes as mario was in the loo!! probably after the cooking skills of our chef! we all know by now that her cooking is as good as Santos communication!
The rough road continued .. the driving at high speed to make up for the ten min wait!! not that there was any rush im sure it was just to get a few more points for every time he wacked our heads on the ceiling!! Mark i could tell was ready to wack him!!
We could see the Volcano puffing in the fore ground. A photo and nature stop was required not sure what order tho!The andean deserts were impressive with their sand stones carved by erosion of the feirce winds. We had time to stop in the snow and to climb the rock formation for some pics!
The stone tree was the highlight and incredible tree like formed from where the winds had taken awy nearly all of the lower stone leaving a bolder practically balanced on a narrow spindle of stone. we stood uner for a pic hoping it wasnt time to fall!!
We lunched with flamingos at lake colorado - wafts of sulphur would rift through the air!!!
The reds sediment and yellow of the sulphur framed the lake.
More bumpy driving at the pace of fast - as only Santos knew how led us to our refuge detination. we were there by 4pm. Almost a smile on his face we knew what kind of afternoon tea he might be after!
We all knew..
more cards for us after a very brief walk round the refuge. It really is in the middle of nowhere nothing around for 100s of miles. The village consisted of about 5 peaple and they lived in the refuge!! we did see a couple of grubby kids but that was the population counted.
we started to layer up after 'tea and cookies' . A sighn that the book was right !!! oh oh!! we knew it was to be cold but not how cold. The guide book suggested that this place could get as cold as minus 20 . i could help thinking of warmer climates!
By 7pm i think we had all the clothes we owned on which equated to approx 6 layers!!! and we were still cold ...........s***!
So we went to bed at 830 the best way to try and keep the warmth in and keep the coldest at bay! we wore hats and gloves and thermal boots to bed!!! infact the only thing exposed was our nose and lips so that we could breath!!!
Still we wouldnt be in bed for long .. not with santos around! up and gone by 430am was the plan!! gees!!
We survivied the night ..yippeee! up to see the Geisers and to take us to the thermal pools .... they were to be 35degrees great. Only one problem was that it was minus 18 outside and we had 6 jumpers, apair or leggings , leg warmers, jean and four pairs of socks and pants on for a reason!!! and despite the " its the only opportunity weve got" attitude , that to be fair, had been in place for most of the trip so far ! it remained a asfe bet that all the clothes we had wrppaed around our shivering little bodies were in fact going to stay there this morning!!!! You know how cold you are when not even marching nor stepping on your friends foot makes a diference!
Stll there were a few mad march hares that did go with the im never going to be here again thinking plan hopped into the 35 degree waters!!!
we all had breakfast in the hut and as you gueassed we were the fist to move on! we visited the emerald lakes which werent emereld but mirror like, beautifu! Soon time to conclude our trip with Joanne and mario x Its been a great week and well remember it vividly! We arrive at the Border of Chlile - suprisingly not as we'd ever imagined. 9.25 am in the andean snowy mountains where a hut and a guard tell us that the bus...due to extra snow is a little late but...phew!! we havent missed it! 10 comes 11 oclock comes, 12, 13, im not being funny but i thought this morning was cold let alone sanding outside a shed in the mountains at 4000 metre above sea level! we hurt its that cold but as we say "character building" its the way forward!!! The bus arrives ony can you beleive that it has too many people on it and needs to drive to the next town to drop them off!!!! yeah right were in the mountains it may be some time, even thouh they reckon 1/2 hour or so!!! they mentioned at 9.20 this morning that the bus would be here in ten minutes!!! sowe have our doubts!!!
The bus finally arrives at 2 ish to take us to san pedro, across the border into Chile!! it takes around an hour or so and the climate change is incredible!!!! we had to do a superman change in to sub tropical vest and flip flops! and from 18 layers to as little as you dare and as quickly as you can without a phone box isnt glamourous ! still did the trick!
we booked our bed bus - another 24 hour fun ride and enjoyed the sunshine as we walked through the parade through the centre of the quaint village on the border.
It was hard to comprehend that in a few short hours we had experienced the extreme ends of climate!
The bus took us to our last destination of our south american leg, santiago.
In true romantic chic style we arrived in santiago, realised wed lost the credit card 24 hours later!!!! DOH! and had our first dare we say it Mac D!!! shrek burger infact!!! stopped the card and the went to bed!!! oh the lifestyle!
We did explore the sights of santiago in a day. We were due to fly in 12 hours so a whirlwind trip this would be!! we toured the fish markets an eyeopener and mooched round the top end of town. We took the cable car to mt Cristobel and took in the sights of the smog city! we took the fenicular railway back down and rushed back through the forest walk to Agusto to only fill our faces with the best seafood in town ive never seen so many scallops!!!