Taking up from where I left off...... Cassandra and I got the train eventually from Ororo to Uyuni, the most beautiful train journey through the desert watching the most colourful sunsetin the distance, I glad we didn´t get the nightmare bus judging from Don and Aitches account of it. We arrived in Uyuni and it reminded me of a sort of wild west ghost town in the desert. I didn´t realise it would be soooooo cold, I suppose it´s nearly 4000m after all. I hooked up with a motely crew of 5 others from all over to do the 4 day tour of the salt flats, Caroline and Dave from England, Kirith from India, Yair from Israel and Adrian from South Carolina. They´re a great bunch to travel with, it was sad to say goodbye to Cassandra after 2 weeks, hopefully we meet again.
The tour of the Salt flats was amazing we started off with the locomotive graveyard, a bunch of abandoned steam trains in the middle of the desert (everything is in the middle of the desert here) It was really amazing to see the rusting carcases of something that would probably be put in a meuseum at home. We traveled that whole first day through the beautiful desert terrain, passing by the herds of Llama and deer, it seemed like we had been transported to another planet, the mountains were a million different colours. Our first night was spent in a strange mud village (again the middle of nowhere) and it was soo cold, even in all my clothes and 7 blankets. It was here that we saw our first night sky of the desert, where every star of the milky way can be seen so clearly and the sky seems to have no beginning and no end. The Second day we went to visit the lakes and the guysers and the thermal waters. The lakes were a surreal colour against the brown of the mountains and the desert and the guysers were like an angry boiling put of slurpy nud, wow! That second night was spent in a hostel on it´s own miles from anything, it was made of those adobe mud bricks and was also freezing cold, even colder than the first night. In the morning of the third day we went to Laguna blanca and took about a million photos of the flamingos, then on to Salvador Dali´s rocks and the tree of rock and a million more pictures. On our final night we rocked up to the scariest hostel which had a Llama carcus in the yard and meat curing on the lines, luckily we decided not to stay there and opted for the nice hostel on the other side of the village which had electricity (till 9.30) and toilet seats! still cold though. Our final day we woke at 3.30am to see the sunrise from the salt flats, they save the best for last. I´ve never seen or imagined anything like it, the crystalised salt for miles and miles as far as the horison. we saw the sunrise from where it´s covered in water so as far as you can see it´s just sky or reflection of sky and you can´t tell which is which. We then went to Isla de pascado, an Island in the salt covered in cactus, it was great to walk on the salt with the dog who didn´t know the world was any different from this. Our final stop was the the salt hotel which was like the ice hotel in Sweden only it´s made of salt (which looks the same anyway) they don´t have guests thought ´cause they never sorted out the drainage.
So after travelling for 4 days with one tape int eh 4x4 I never want to hear Tina Charles again, I´ve a sunburnt face, all my clothes are covered in dust and I splashed out an extra $2 for a room with a private bath. Now the lads are outside having a beer so I think´I´ll join them.
The tour of the Salt flats was amazing we started off with the locomotive graveyard, a bunch of abandoned steam trains in the middle of the desert (everything is in the middle of the desert here) It was really amazing to see the rusting carcases of something that would probably be put in a meuseum at home. We traveled that whole first day through the beautiful desert terrain, passing by the herds of Llama and deer, it seemed like we had been transported to another planet, the mountains were a million different colours. Our first night was spent in a strange mud village (again the middle of nowhere) and it was soo cold, even in all my clothes and 7 blankets. It was here that we saw our first night sky of the desert, where every star of the milky way can be seen so clearly and the sky seems to have no beginning and no end. The Second day we went to visit the lakes and the guysers and the thermal waters. The lakes were a surreal colour against the brown of the mountains and the desert and the guysers were like an angry boiling put of slurpy nud, wow! That second night was spent in a hostel on it´s own miles from anything, it was made of those adobe mud bricks and was also freezing cold, even colder than the first night. In the morning of the third day we went to Laguna blanca and took about a million photos of the flamingos, then on to Salvador Dali´s rocks and the tree of rock and a million more pictures. On our final night we rocked up to the scariest hostel which had a Llama carcus in the yard and meat curing on the lines, luckily we decided not to stay there and opted for the nice hostel on the other side of the village which had electricity (till 9.30) and toilet seats! still cold though. Our final day we woke at 3.30am to see the sunrise from the salt flats, they save the best for last. I´ve never seen or imagined anything like it, the crystalised salt for miles and miles as far as the horison. we saw the sunrise from where it´s covered in water so as far as you can see it´s just sky or reflection of sky and you can´t tell which is which. We then went to Isla de pascado, an Island in the salt covered in cactus, it was great to walk on the salt with the dog who didn´t know the world was any different from this. Our final stop was the the salt hotel which was like the ice hotel in Sweden only it´s made of salt (which looks the same anyway) they don´t have guests thought ´cause they never sorted out the drainage.
So after travelling for 4 days with one tape int eh 4x4 I never want to hear Tina Charles again, I´ve a sunburnt face, all my clothes are covered in dust and I splashed out an extra $2 for a room with a private bath. Now the lads are outside having a beer so I think´I´ll join them.
posted by isobel at
Saturday, April 12, 2003
