It felt like we just got back from an expedition to a different planet. And for a number of reasons. For one, the landscape we traversed was so harsh and desolate that very few people live there. Heck, very few animals could survive here. And secondly, the view of the landscape was so bizarre that you'd have to pinch yourself to check that you're still standing on Earth looking at these sights with your own eyes.

Below is the account of our 4-day journey across the Andes mountains of Bolivia.

Day 1
Our tour started from the town of Tupiza. We had slowly made our way from Brazil to this town over the last 4 days (see our previous entry), arriving at the meeting point at 3 am at an altitude of about 3100m. We were meant to share the tour with a French couple (cost purposes - doing it alone would have cost us double the amount) but they could not make it to the meeting point on time due to a road closure somewhere. After delaying the start time for an hour (we were meant to take off at 9 am), the decision was made to leave.
Before I go on, let me first talk about the crew quickly. It consists of our coca leaf-chewing driver (more on the magical powers of coca leaves later), Sebastian and our hip-hop lovin', English-speaking guide, Reinaldo whose first words to us were something like "Hi, my name is Reinaldo and I am your guide. It's not about the altitude, it's about your attitude!"). And that was it. Throughout the next 4 days, the two of them were responsible for getting us across 1000 km of the harshest terrain on Earth in a beat-up Toyota Land Cruiser, without mobile phone signal nor electricity for most of the journey. What still baffles me is how the heck did Sebastian navigate the Andean desserts without roads, signs or GPS! Whatever supplies we needed - water, food, diesel, toilet paper (yes, toilet paper) - must all be packed into the Land Cruiser at the start. Sounds exciting - and it is - but we would also quickly realise the danger we were getting ourselves into.
The first things we saw were a range of canyons just outside Tupiza - not as big as the Grand Canyon but the cool thing was we were driving inside it, as opposed to most people who've been to the Grand Canyon (ourselves included) who would have experienced it from the top of the canyon. The canyons we saw consisted of a few different ones but I can't remember their names. But I do remember one that was called El Sillar or Valley of the Moon. As its name suggests, it's terrain supposedly resembles the surface of the moon. I wouldn't know - never been to the moon. But it was the first hint of more 'out-of-this-world' landscapes to come.
After about 3 hours of driving and walking through the canyons, it was time for lunch. And no, there were no restaurants. We simply stopped the Cruiser in a shaded area somewhere (which was important because the winds were strong enough to blow away anything that's not anchored down) and our crew promptly proceeded to prepare salad, rice, pumpkin puree of some sort, fruits and a bottle of coke at the back of the car. I used the opportunity to relieve myself. Anywhere I wanted basically, as there were no signs of another human being for miles. Or a toilet. After the simple but surprisingly delicious lunch, we moved on.
Next stop was a tiny town called San Antonio de Lipez, situated at an altitude of 4260m (we've been slowly climbing throughout the day) with about 250 inhabitants. As you would expect, these people lead very simple lives. Running water and electricity were introduced to their town only recently, and even then, they only get a few hours of it each day. Throughout the trip, we would visit a few more of these towns sprinkled across the Andes mountains, never more than 1000 inhabitants. It was one thing to observe how simply they lived, but it was a whole different story when we had to actually live like them. And that was exactly what we had to do for the 4 days. There are no hotels (at least not the types that we're accustomed to) out in the desserts of the Andes - just someone's home with extra rooms for us to bunk in. And there is no concept of booking here. Reinaldo told us that on a recent tour, some of the homes that they usually stopped for the night were more occupied than usual, so he and the driver had to sleep on the floor. In a place where temperatures drop to -20 C and no heating, they had no chance of getting any sleep that night.
We had better luck though as the place we stopped at did have sufficient rooms - for both us, Sebastien and Reinaldo. Other than us, another group of 8 Czechs were also staying there. The crews of both groups would later strike a deal to stick together from then on. We would learn later that it was common for different groups to stick together out here, even if they belong to different tour companies. The reason is simple - it was the only way to survive. Other than sharing resources (for example, the other group had a cook who helped prepare food for us from Day 2 onwards, thus saving time and effort), it was also critical to watch out for one another. A simple thing like a car breakdown could be disastrous if we had been traveling alone.

Day 2
We had very little sleep last night. Yes, it was cold - the rooms were basic with no heating nor electricity after 10 pm. Temperatures inside the room dropped to below 10 C - that's pretty much like sleeping in a fridge. But it was not the cold that kept us up. We were suffering from severe headaches and nausea due to the altitude. We were at an altitude of about 4200m (in comparison, Mount Kinabalu stands at 4095m) that first night and it turned out that we were not as acclimatised as we thought we were. And this despite having had coca tea during dinner. Yes, it's the active ingredient they use to make cocaine (as well as coca-cola) but it's a safe version. I could go on for quite awhile about its history, medicinal value, use in both traditional and popular culture, and of course narcotics (thanks to the Coca Museum we visited in La Paz after the tour), but I'll just summarise it here and say that it's an effective, non-addictive method to counter altitude sickness. There are two ways to consume it - you could soak the dried leaves in hot water and drink it as a tea (you can even get it in tea bags here), or the more popular method - to simply dump a clump of leaves into your mouth and "chew" it. We tried both methods during our travels but unfortunately, we still succumbed to the altitude.
Having had a good night's sleep or not, the show went on. We started at 5 am. While it was still dark, we drove through a 'ghost town' with ruins from hundreds of years ago. At its peak, the town had more than 5000 occupants, however they all died suddenly with no clear cause of how or why it happened. Later on, when other inhabitants tried to 'occupy' the abandoned buildings, they reportedly heard voices which prompted them to move out again. Reinaldo asked us if we wanted to walk around the town in the dark. We were not sure if he was being serious. We opted to move on.
For the rest of the day, the Cruiser became a place for us to catch up on our sleep. Every once in a while, Reinaldo would wake us up whenever we arrived at a place of interest. In between stops, we would occasionally open our eyes and be amazed by totally different landscapes. Such is the wonder of this place.
Around lunch time, we arrived at what would be the highlight of the day - Aguas Calientes or hot springs. It's basically a natural pool the size of a large jacuzzi (easily fits 20 people at a time) and thanks to the wonders of nature, the water's temperature is perpetually at a therapeutic 30C - 35C. We have been looking forward to this for two reasons - one, because it feels good to be in the warm water after the cold of the previous night; and two, it would be the only chance for us to take a shower/bath for 3 days. Ignoring the cold and the fact that there were at least 30 other people around us, we quickly stripped (not everything - this is not one of those weird Japanese baths) and jumped in. We spent a good 30 minutes in there while we waited for our lunch to be prepared. But maybe a tad too long for me - soon after I got out of the springs and started putting on my clothes, I felt faint and nearly passed out. Not sure what it was - probably a combination of the altitude, change in temperature and lack of sleep. Sebastian, our driver, made me yet another cup of hot coca tea followed by lunch, which helped bring colour back to my face.
Speaking about colour, we saw three very "out of this world" lakes later in the day simply known as the White, Green and Red Lagoons, respectively. And yes, the lakes are of those colours but no, they are not due to pollution. At least not by humans. Apparently, algae and minerals in those lakes are the culprits behind the odd colours. Whatever it was, it stopped us dead in our tracks when we first saw them. My favourite was the final lake we saw that day, the Red Lagoon. The water had a deep pinkish hue as though someone poured truck loads of red wine into it. The lake is also the breeding ground of thousands of flamingos that feed off the algae in the lake.
Between the Green and Red Lagoons, we hit the highest altitude in our trip - 5000m - when we stopped to admire the geysers of Sol de Manana. It was an area of hot, steaming geysers, with the largest being about 10 meters across. We were not told this by our guide but an article we read claimed that a tourist once lost his balance and fell into one of these geysers and died. We stayed a good distance from the edges.
After the Red Lagoon, we proceeded to our accommodation for the night. Tonight's "hotel" would be on ever higher ground than last night's - 4300m - which really didn't help with the migraines. Again, we didn't get much sleep and again, there was no hot water and hence, no shower. But at least we got to dip into the hot springs earlier in the day.

Day 3
We had the luxury of a "late" start the next morning - at 7 am. Today would be a relatively easy day for two reasons - one, we would start our decline back to more manageable altitudes; and two, it would be our shortest day. First stop was a dessert known as Desierto de Siloli, famous for its many odd-shaped rock formations, left behind by an old volcano and thousands of years of being shaped by the dessert winds. Some of which are 2-3 storeys high and large enough for people to climb, which Siau-Wei did and nearly passed out due to the exertion. The most famous of the rock formations - and which you will see on the posters of every company that runs this tour - is one that's known as Arbol de Piedra. Or if my translation is correct, the "Tree Rock". It's supposed to resemble a tree, but in my honest opinion, it doesn't really. Maybe with a lot of imagination.
Next, we visited a series of five lagoons. However, after the novelty of the three lagoons we saw yesterday, they would have needed to be coloured purple or black or something of that sort to blow our minds. Its waters were quite reflective however, which meant more nice photo opps. Alas, I'm not a photographer in its purest sense of the word (more like someone with an over-priced camera), so I'm pretty sure I did not do justice to the beauty of these lagoons. And oh yes, there were yet more flamingos. We couldn't believe how close we could get up to these birds without...ahem...ruffling their feathers.
Lunch today was again at a random spot in the dessert along our route. This time, we had roast chicken, potatoes, bananas and fruit salad (I don't know how the crew find time to prepare these stuff but I'm not complaining). While enjoying our lunch, we were visited by a couple of very curious rabbit-looking animals - they look like rabbits but with a long, curly tail. No idea what they were but the important thing was they were not violent. Other than these and the flamingos, we also saw groups of llamas, sheep, vicunas (look like small deers to me), and once, we spotted a group of ostriches. Barely a safari but in these conditions, not many animals are able to thrive here in the first place.
The last stop of the day was to view the semi-active volcano, Mount Ollague, albeit from a safe distance. We could see huge wisps of vapour spewing out of its top. Being the last stop of the day, we took our time to admire the view of the volcano and it's surroundings. Maybe a bit too long however. When we arrived at the place where we were supposed to spend the night, it was full. As optimistic as ever, Reinaldo simply said "Not to worry. We will go to the next hotel, which is better." No luck - the next hotel was full too. We finally found room in the third place we looked, but it was probably the most basic place we've stayed on the tour. There was no heating and we only had electricity for 2 hours. The only consolation was that we could have a hot shower if we were willing to pay B$10 (RM5) extra. No brainer for us - the last time we had a proper shower was more than 3 days ago so a hot shower was well worth more than RM5 at that point in time. Another interesting thing about this place was that it was almost completely made out of salt - its walls, floors, bed frames, bedside table, dining table, everything. And it makes sense - we were staying at the edge of one of the most amazing natural phenomenon on the planet, which we would be visiting the next morning.

Day 4
They saved the best for last. Actually, there were two ways of doing this tour - either to start or end in Uyuni. But because we read that the Uyuni Salt Flats would be the highlight of the entire tour, we opted to end the tour in Uyuni so we could finish with a high (nothing to do with the coca leaves / tea we've been consuming). The Uyuni Salt Flat is by far the largest in the world. What exactly is a salt flat? It's a thick layer of salt crust where a body of sea water used to be but has since evaporated thousands of years ago. Some interesting facts about Salar de Uyuni:
1) It's the largest in the world - over 10,000 square km. That's about 15 times the size of Singapore. And it's still growing.
2) It's layer of salt crust is so thick that large vehicles can drive over it without problems.
3) It's so remarkably white and flat that scientists actually use it to calibrate the altimeters of Earth observation satellites (translation: the ability of your GPS unit to indicate your altitude is thanks, in part, to this salt flat)
4) It contains the world's largest reserve of lithium. The problem is - the government of Bolivia is still figuring out how to extract it without affecting the flats itself.
Our final day of the tour started at 5am so that we could catch the sunrise from the middle of the salt flat - it takes about 3 hours to drive across it. With the flats stretching for as far as the eyes can see, it makes for a spectacular sunrise. Once we stopped feeling our fingers and ears due to the bitter cold, we kept away our cameras and continued on our way.
Because Salar de Uyuni used to be a lake thousands of years ago, it makes sense that it would contain a number of islands. Even with that fact in mind, it was still quite bizarre to see islands coming out of solid white ground. We stopped at the largest one - Incahuasi Island - for breakfast. While the crew prepared cakes, jams and hot drinks on tables made of slabs of salt, we followed Reinaldo to explore the "island". This particular island was covered with thousand-year old cacti, some growing up to 10m in height.
As the sun rises and we dutifully applied sun block on our faces (despite the winter cold, we can easily get burnt out here due to the intense sun in the altitude), we made our way to the town of Uyuni - our final destination. Halfway though, we stopped again, this time to take some pretty loopy photo shots - shots that I believe cannot be replicated anywhere else on Earth. Due to the size and absolute whiteness of the salt flat, we could play with the optical illusion it gives to photos due to the lack of perspective. For example, with the help of Reinaldo, we took a photo where a mini Siau-Wei appears to be standing on my shoulder. Another shot was of a giant Siau-Wei about to crush me with her feet. We had quite a lot of fun with those shots, cold and headaches momentarily forgotten.
We could have gone for hours taking more optical-illusion shots but all good things have to come to an end. Upon arriving in Uyuni, we realised what a dump of a place it is. In fact, it could have very well gone down the same path of other ghost towns out here if it wasn't for its proximity to the salt lakes and the increasing number of tourists. The only thing that could pass off as a tourist attraction here was a so-called train cemetery - a place where old trains that once carried minerals to neighbouring Peru and Argentina are abandoned to rust. We visited the place, but only because we had a long wait for our bus to La Paz.

These 4 days were perhaps the most physically challenging we've had to endure in a long while. The cold and high altitude make it doubly tough. Going for days without showering added to the "experience". Would we do it again? Maybe, when conditions improve (e.g. hot showers and basic electricity). But was it worthwhile to have gone through all that to be part of the very small percentage of people (but fast growing) who have done it? Absolutely!