Bus to and afternoon in Mendoza, Aug 4th.

FRIDAY 4th August 

Bus to Mendoza

After some fitful off and on sleep I checked the time and it was 6am.  Happy with that.  The bus made a stop at 7am. I checked the map.  It looks like 150km to go, in a straight line.  That could easily still be three more hours.

Now I await for sunrise and breakfast.  Moved seats again to look out the window.

The sun started to appear at 8:30 am.  That's late.  The one hour time change from Bolivia and Chile must suit the East coast but it seems pretty tough on the Andean side of the country.

The interior lights came on to coincide with the sun rise.  Maybe breakfast will appear soon.

I'm amazed. We are still in desert.  The land is flat and dry except for the foothills of the Andes out to the West. I have my first sighting of Mt Aconcaqua, the highest mountain in the Americas at 6962m. Mendoza grows 75% of Argentinas grapes but only because of an irrigation scheme running down from the mountains.  The climate of warms days, cold nights and minimal rainfall apparently forms a good combination to make wine.

Our 18 hour bus ride came to an end at 10am.

We transferred by taxi to our hotel who thankfully were able to check us in early.

I then discovered that I'd lost my keys to our suitcase padlocks - oops.

Luckily (for me) I had half a back up plan.  I'd had the forethought to stash a spare key to my bag somewhere else.  However I was now really wishing that I'd had the forethought to do the whole job and have a spare for Lindsey's case too. :0

Someone was sitting on my shoulder.  Two of our team had decided to avoid the overnight bus, stay in Salta an extra night and then fly in today.  After a quick text we discovered that the hotel had already found our keys and had given them to our Aussie saviours.

Our group got together again half an hour after check in and we were taken on an orientation walk and then to a cafe.  Lindsey and I had a "Submarino".  A mug of hot milk and a chocolate bar. One plunges the chocolate bar into the milk and it then melts to become a hot chocolate drink.  It was pretty good.  We also shared a ham & cheese toasted sandwich, which became our lunch.  Their Tostadas aren't really the toasted sandwiches that we know.  It appears that they toast the bread first and then throw the filling in afterwards. First the cheese fails to melt and second the toast is never quite hot enough.

After this the group dispersed and we went caching.  Two finds out of five wasn't the best of days.  The hides were mostly park benches with many muggles.

Lindsey and I have been bored since leaving Bolivia and are looking forward to coming home. Salta and Mendoza are "just" two Argentine cities in the back blocks with not a lot going for them.  I am going on a wine tour tomorrow so that may unexpectedly change my mind about Mendoza.  Lindsey is hoping for our guide to arrange a food cooking tour for her.  He is yet to make much headway on that front so she will probably just head off to a park two kilometres away where there are several geocaches.

Salta followed by an overnight bus to Mendoza Aug 3rd

THURSDAY 3rd August

Salta followed by an overnight bus to Mendoza.

We had a planned 9am departure with our guide to walk to a gondola and catch a ride to the top of a nearby hill that overlooks the city.

We felt our frustrations rising with our guide.  Most of the wine tour crew were shattered after two long days in a row and so those that were coming were late.  We eventually left at 9:30.  The gondola was good and the views just OK.  But there was a cache to be found at the top :). We had a nice walk back down the hill with another couple while the rest caught the gondola back down.

It was around midday by the time we arrived back in town and we had three hours to kill before we were due to transfer to the bus station.

After finding an ATM and some popcorn we sat on a park bench for nearly an hour across from the cathedral in the main square to people watch or in Lindsey's case to have a bit of a zizz as well.  It intrigued us that many people crossed themselves as they walked past the cathedral even though they were on the other side of the road some fifty plus metres away.  As I was so intrigued I took a survey.  The majority of older women paid their respects.  Less than half the older men and very few of either gender in the 20 to 30 range.  However, of a group of five teenage school children three did without missing a beat in their animated conversation.

We returned to the hotel feeling a bit flat and aimless.  After the high of the salt flats and with no perceived comparable highlights on the horizon we are ready to come home.

At 3 the taxi transfer to the bus station went a lot smoother and our overnight (18hr) bus left a little after 4pm.  Another comfortable bus.  Three big seats across.  Almost fully reclining and most importantly an unlocked fully serviceable toilet.

As the bus left, the first thing the hostess did was close all the curtains.  Hello? I'm a tourist on the top deck of a double decker bus.  All I want to do while it's daylight is look out the window.  Apparently it was something to do with people throwing stones at the windows if the curtains weren't pulled when we passed through towns.  Maybe something got lost in translation because I certainly don't understand the logic.  If you want to throw stones at a moving bus I fail to see how a curtain would stop me from doing it.  Anyhow, I shifted to a window seat behind Lindsey and got to see out that one window for what it was worth.

We stopped at a town about four hours later to pick up a few more passengers. By this time it was nearly 9pm and I was wondering when our meal was going to arrive.

Next thing I know we are getting dished out Bingo cards as a precursor to dinner.

The lady behind us was first and won a bottle of Chardonnay for her troubles.

Finally dinner was served at 9:30. A lump of chicken in mashed potato, heated, a carrot and tomato salad and a cake in a wrapper.  It wasn't too bad.  Lights out at 10:30 to try and get some sleep.

Salta Aug 2nd.

WEDNESDAY 2nd August

Salta, Argentina.

We have been unimpressed with our guide so far.  For some reason he told us yesterday that there wasn't much to do in Salta and he didn't know why Intrepid stopped here.  He believes that we should be staying in a small town 170 km further south. So... he offered a wine tour at this town for any takers and six of our group took him up on his offer even though there is also a wine tour in Mendoza in two days time for those that want to go on one.

After a twelve hour bus ride the last thing I wanted to do was get up for a 7am departure to drive another 340km return in order to go on a wine tour.

Lindsey and I rose around 8:30, had breakfast and headed into town to find some geocaches.  The first one was called the Cloud Train.  It turns out that there is a wonderful train journey through the Andes that used to leave from here.  It now leaves from the same town as mentioned above, 170km south of here.  They decided that the first sector was too boring!

On another km or so and we found a park with military hardware placed around it.  A tank and a few guns.  Our next find was on one of those guns.

2.5km later walking through a poorer part of town we came to some small hills where the houses had views.  There were some really flash, well kept ones here.

Another cache bagged and then we walked a further km for a Dnf.  

We then caught a cab back to our hotel.  The taxis are cheap.  We negotiated our ride for 70 pesos, about 6 kiwi.

Our plan for the afternoon was to go and find two geocaches in a suburb or town called San Lorenzo about 12km from the city centre.

To add a bit of spice to life, we sussed out the local bus route and how to get bus card.  The drivers won't take cash.  We walked to where they sold the cards and I put 25 pesos onto it.  I thought our fare would be six pesos each way but it appears that it may have been seven.

Our first cache was at the very end of the bus route in quite a nice forest park.  There were families picnicking by the running stream.  We thought that a clean free flowing stream was rather special in this part of the country.

Another cache ticked off and we walked 1.5km down the road to our last cache.

This one was outside a restaurant and the hint said to ask the manager about it - Esteban.  At this stage we weren't even sure if it was inside or outside the restaurant.

We went inside to talk to the staff.  They had no idea what I was talking about. Eventually we were taken to the manager who turned out to be the owner.  He's only owned this place for three months and he also had no idea about any geocache.

Back outside and we began our search.  Lindsey quickly unearthed a likely spot and I found a lid.  Then I found a bottle further into the hole.  It's contents were a soggy mess.  I then checked the logs and it hadn't been found for over 13 months.  We replaced the container with a watertight one that I had in my bag and added a nice new log.  When I looked up the restaurant staff were hanging out the window still trying to work out what on earth we were on about.

Mission complete we waited at the next street corner and hailed the next bus to take us back to town.  That's when I discovered that I didn't have enough money left on the card for two fares.  If the bus driver even noticed he certainly didn't care.  We find that it affords some of the best people watching sitting on a public bus.

Back to the hotel late in the afternoon for some rest and Internet time and then to meet our guide at 7pm for a briefing.

At 7 the wine tourists still hadn't returned.  We got our briefing and walked around the corner to have a steak dinner at quite a nice looking nearby restaurant.  A good plan except we were told at the restaurant that they don't start taking dinner orders until 8pm!!

We returned to the hotel to kill another half hour.  As we were about to head out again at 8 the wine tourists appeared and we all decided to go to a BBQ beef restaurant as a group.

We got three plates of grill to share between the eleven of us.  The plates were massive and contained beef steak, beef rib, kidney, sausage, chorizo and chicken.

All washed down with some local Malbec. 

All very nice but we found it pretty heavy in the gut when you don't finish until 11pm and then all we wanted to do was go to bed.

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile to Salta, Argentina Aug 1st.

TUESDAY 1st August 

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile to Salta, Argentina.

7am alarm. 8:15 walk to the bus station.

The 9am departure turned into 9:30. Another comfortable bus. A double decker with four seats across. We scored upstairs one row from the front so we had good views.

We climbed out of San Pedro de Atacama back up the road that we came out of Bolivia on and we were soon back up at 4000 plus metres.

Three hours later we reached the border.  At least the Chileans and Argentinians talk to each other. The exit and entry stamps were acquired in the same building.  That doesn't necessarily mean that it was by any means streamlined or efficient but it was a step up from our previous experiences.

However.... they can only accept one bus load at a time and there were two buses in front of us. 1 hr 45 later our bus moved into the customs area and we walked into the customs hall to queue.  The line moved fairly quickly. At the first window we received our exit stamp and then back in a second queue and at the second window, right beside the first window we received our Argentine entry stamp.  Now back out to the bus where one of the two drivers had been unloading all our luggage.  Grab the bags.  Back in the same door and around the corner to queue for the X-ray machine.

No paperwork at this border to declare or not declare contraband. One quick sweep through the X-ray and outside again to find that our bus had moved two bus lengths forward and was now firmly established in Argentina.  Re load the luggage and all aboard.  The whole process for about sixty passengers took 45 minutes.

Total time at the border 2hrs 30.  This border outpost was once again high up in the Andes at 4400m.  One hell of a place to work.  At least there was no sign of corruption here, unlike the Bolivian border.

On our way again and about five hours later we were finally leaving the Andes as we started a slow descent to below 3000m.  We descended through an amazing gorge. Many hairpin turns which continued for a total of over 2000m down.  It reminded me of the roads in the movie The Italian job but twice as steep.

We put our clocks forward an hour and arrived in Salta at 8:30 pm.
We checked in to quite a nice wee hotel.  Our room had a king bed and a single bed.  I managed to talk Lindsey into having a bed mate as the bed was "just" big enough!

San Pedro de Atacama July 31

MONDAY 31st July

San Pedro de Atacama.

After the best nights sleep either of us have had for weeks we strolled into breakfast around 9am and then the group met at ten.

The plan was to walk nearly 3km to an archaeological ruin.

We weren't interested but I had already worked out that there was a geocache nearby so we went on the group walk.  Our guide got lost momentarily bringing us along a gravel river bank to get us back on track.  As we approached the ruin I checked my map to realise that we'd missed our turn off.  The others all paid to enter the site and we walked back 400m and turned off up another road.  A short climb later and we were on top of a hill with a neat view over San Pedro de Atacama, geocache in hand.

Lindsey cleaning out the geojunk from the geocache.

San Pedro de Atacama in the middle distance with the Andes on the horizon.

Rather dry around here!

Behind us across the valley we could see the rest of our group climbing a ridge to another view point on a higher hill.

We continued making a circular walk back to San Pedro to head for one more cache.  We passed an artisan market and found some gifts for the five girls in our lives.  On to the cache and a nice shaded seat.  Initially we couldn't find it.  We checked some spoiler photos and Lindsey scratched about a bit more and when she did I glimpsed something out of context and hey presto there was the cache, well buried.

It turned out that this was a cache that was placed back in March and then supposedly went missing as there was only one signature in the log.  Another cache had replaced this one which had been found by many but now that one seemed to have disappeared.  We found two trackables which we rescued.  The owner of one emailed me to thank me for finding it. He thought that it had long gone.

Cache reburied and we went back to the hotel for a light lunch supplemented with a couple of beers that I'd had stashed away in my luggage for quite a while.

We had an Internet and snoozing time in the sun for the rest of the afternoon.

Off to dinner at 7:30 after a briefing about tomorrow.  Just four of us without our guide. We found a set menu for 10,000 pesos (20 kiwi). Soup followed by a spaghetti dish with calamari filled with seasoned lamb mince.  An unusual combination but it did work. To end our meal we were given a chocolate brownie each.

Our guide told us that we won't get into Salta until between 8 and 10 pm tomorrow so we decided to go to the money exchange tonight to get some Argentinian pesos.  More maths to get my head around.  About 12 of their pesos to our dollar instead of 500 pesos in Chile.

Back to the ranch to hit the sack just after ten.

Alarm set for 6:50.

Salar de Uyuni day 3 and over the border to Chile - July 30

SUNDAY 30th July

Another early start well before dawn.

Lindsey was exhausted after very little sleep over the last two nights combined with long travel days all at over 4000m altitude.

I wasn't that great either having had diarrhoea in the night.  Lindsey scrounged an Imodium pill for me which got me through the day untroubled.

As I waited for the cars to be loaded I admired the night sky.  The Milky Way looked impressive and I saw four shooting stars.

On our way just after 5am. Air temperature minus 10.

We then marvelled at our our driver who was able to navigate on very ill defined rough rocky roads.  Tracks were diverging in all directions.

Just under two hours later we made a ninety degree turn off the main track and crossed a small pass at 4900m arriving at a geothermal area absolutely in the middle of nowhere.

The first fumarole we stopped at we were told was man made.  That is, they drilled a hole to let off some steam.  This fumarole was really going for it blasting steam up to about ten metres in height.  Back in the car and a further 500m down the track we drove to the field proper.  Lots of steam and mud pools. No barriers at all. Just instructions, "don't fall in because you will die".

As we messed about here the sun decided to poke its head above a distance mountain in the east.  Quite stunning seeing the first rays shine through the steam with snow all around us.  There was an Earth Cache here and after some subsequent research I discovered that the water here comes from the Pacific Ocean due to the interaction between two tectonic plates.

A short time later we arrived at an "oasis" for breakfast.  There were natural hot pools here and after paying her six bolivianos Lindsey was in like a shot.

With the sun shining the air temperature may have risen to zero by now.  (Lindsey doesn't think that it was that warm!) The pool temperature was about 32C and that was plenty warm enough this morning.

After the soak we moved into a nearby building for pancakes and more hot chocolate.

Off again and a short time later we arrived at Laguna Verde.  Early in the morning it is more turquoise than green.  The wind has to get up to stir the lakes sediment to make it green.  This lake has no life in or on it as it is full of arsenic and lead emanating from springs beneath it.  A short stop here and another cache bagged then on to the border.

There is an adjacent lake to Laguna Verde and that is Laguna Blanca.  This lake is normally full of bird life but not this morning as it was frozen.  It is fed by ground water only so doesn't have the arsenic that the green lake that it feeds into has.  The lake is a bright white because of Borax that is prevalent throughout this altiplano.

Finally around the corner and over the hill we came to an inhospitable outpost which is the Bolivian border control. We queued to receive an exit stamp in our passports.  Our guide told us that we didn't have to pay any taxes.  However the officials in the wee hut were insisting that we pay 15 bolivianos to them.  We noticed that a family in front of us paid up.  Lindsey flatly refused and began to go outside to get our guide.  When he realised what she was doing he called her back and returned her passport to her.  I then had no trouble getting my passport stamped for free.  Others in our group had similar issues but Marisol was now standing by the doorway ready to leap into action as the rest went through.  I guess if you are working in a cold unforgiving environment at 4400m, two hours from the nearest Bolivian township, a little corruption helps ease the pain.

About an hour passed at the border, we gave hugs and said our goodbyes to our Bolivian guide and drivers, then we transferred onto a mini bus and crossed over into Chile.

We then descended, (yay), for 45 minutes to arrive in San Pedro de Atacama. Altitude 2400m. The lowest we've been for three weeks!  We are also now in the Atacama desert so the temperature was nice and warm too.

Another hour was to pass as we traversed Chilean customs.  Our bags were x-rayed, which was a first.  Lindsey declared that she had banned food in her bag.  It didn't seem to matter.  She and her bag went straight through, no questions asked.  The only thing I saw them stopping people from bringing in were mandarins.  I know not why.  Maybe fruit is scarce in the desert and the officials want them for their families.

Finally released into Chile we were driven to our Hostal and checked in.  We then met our Argentinian guide, Luciano, who will be with us for the rest of our tour.  He gave us a briefing and then we all disappeared into our rooms for showers and fresh clothes.

By two o'clock we set out to walk the two blocks to the towns main street.  The first priority was a money changer. I handed over 300 bolivianos and was given nearly 30,000 Chilean pesos.  That did my head in.  30,000 pesos, it turns out, equals about 60 kiwi dollars.  Multiply by two and knock off a whole lot of zeroes.

We then found a Chilean equivalent of a dairy and bought an avocado, a tomato and some cheese slices for $5 kiwi.

By this time (2:30pm) I was famished and Lindsey not so much.  She went back to the hotel to eat what we had just bought with crackers while I joined the rest of the group for a $13 hamburger with potato wedges.

A quiet time followed until we regrouped at 7:30 pm to go out to dinner together.

We were told that 7:30 is early for dinner in these parts and that some people don't go to dinner until 10 pm.

Our guide took us to a noisy place with live music.  We noticed that the meals were huge.  Lindsey doesn't do huge and tried to ask for a small portion.  They said that they could do a small portion with her second choice.  However when it arrived they had made no effort and it was huge and rather unattractive.  It consisted of fried slices of chicken breast, onion, two fried eggs and soggy chips.  I had the same except instead of chicken I had slices of beef.  We both only ate about half and Lindsey got a doggy bag for the left over chicken which we enjoyed a lot more the next day for lunch.

I tried a couple of local beers.  One pale ale brewed from quinoa was a winner.  Another wheat based ale, not so much.

Back to the hotel which was very comfortable for a good nights sleep.

Salar de Unyuni - Day 2 July 29

SATURDAY 29th July.

Salar de Uyuni

After a cold night in our salt brick hostel we rose before dawn.

Three cups of hot chocolate later I felt better.

Our modest salt brick hostel and our 7 seater limousines.

Looking back over the rest of the town as dawn breaks.

With the salt flats behind us we departed a little after dawn into the Bolivian Altiplano and our first stop was beside a train track near a military facility.  I think that the stop was mainly to give us a leg stretch more than anything else.  Our guide spoke about issues with both Chilean and Bolivian military patrols accidentally crossing the ill defined border and being arrested by the other side. It all seemed a bit childish.

The terrain had changed to a more desert like, very dry, rocky landscape and the mountains were a lot closer.

Our next stop was a "mirador" (view point) where we had a great view of an actively smoking volcano.

We made two more stops at a couple of semi frozen lagunas with flamingos as we travelled south and then stopped for lunch at the second lake.

I found the flamingoes quite impressive here and was surprised when some took flight how graceful they are. Quickly into the air. Very long necks stretched out as they glide effortlessly through the air and then they land like a Harrier jump jet.

After lunch we continued south and I asked our guide to make a stop at a rock wall formed by a lava flow where my GPS was pointing.  Earth Cache questions answered about why there were holes at regular intervals in lines across the lava rock and my job was done.  Having seen no vegetation for an hour or so it was surprising to see some amazing bright green moss or lichen growing on the rock wall.

Another cache collected and our next stop was at a "Stone tree".

Two caches here. A Traditional and an Earth.  These rock formations are magma that has risen from the earths crust and because of erosion have appeared above the earths surface.  Then, especially with the stone tree, further wind erosion accompanied by dust particles has caused the lower part of this rock to erode faster than the higher part.

Our final stop of the day was Laguna Colorada, the Red Lake and this afternoon it was very red due to the afternoon wind disturbing the sediment in the lake.

Another cache was found at the first view point and then another fee was paid for us to enter the national park and drive around the lake to a second viewing point.

We then made a short, cold, walk along the lake edge and climbed back into our cars.

After a long tiring day we arrived at our next salt brick accommodation at 5pm.

Unfortunately no twin room this time.  We had two dormitories.  Boys in one room and girls in another with hardly any room to put our bags between the single beds.

Unfortunately the dining room was inhospitable too and arriving tired and hungry dinner wasn't produced until 8pm and alas it wasn't particularly appetising either.

This would be our last night with our Bolivian tour leader and we were supposed to have some sort of party.  She bought us a couple of bottles of red wine but only a few were interested in drinking.  Being at 4400m altitude didn't help either.

Off to bed by 10pm and thankfully none of the boys snored.  I was warmer than the previous night so I slept a little better.

Alarm set for 4:30am for a 5am departure with breakfast planned further down the road after 7am.

Uyuni and out onto Salar de Uyuni July 28th.

FRIDAY 28th July

Uyuni

Up in time for an 8am breakfast- leisurely.

We then met at 08:30 for an orientation walk.  Not much of one because we were leaving Uyuni, never to return, at 10am.  

Uyuni used to be a one horse town but now because of tourism they have two horses.

A very dusty place.  Footpaths, streets, the lot, all covered in dust.

Back to the hotel to check out and then at 10:00 our two 4WD vehicles arrive. They each carry six passengers plus the driver and the luggage and fuel Jerry cans go on the roof.  Pretty cosy.  Three in the back seat and two in the boot.  It was agreed that we would rotate seats over the three days.

Our first stop was about 5km out of town at a train cemetery.  There were at least twenty steam engines languishing on rails in the desert.  It used to be a place to repair trains until they became obsolete.   Now they just rust away, not at a very fast rate, while tourists clamber all over them.

A quick find of a geocache followed by a tourist photo and we were ready to go.  However, the young ones had some clambering to do so we had to wait a while.

It felt like a slow start to our days expedition onto the salt flats because our next stop was an artisan community.  We'd seen all the touristy knick knacks on plenty of occasions but our guide took us around the back of the shops and showed us a workshop where they made table salt.  All rather labour intensive and they sell each 500g packet for 1 Bolivianos (about 20c NZ).

Eventually we set heading for the salt flats along a magnificent bitumen highway.  We were told that it was only a year old.  Through another toll gate and then we turned off road onto the salt pan.  First stop was an area of water.  Unusually they  had some rain about a month ago and so there was still some ponding about.

More photos and then off to eat lunch.  Our venue was a little oasis in the middle of nowhere except for thirty plus 4WD vehicles all parked up which I calculated at about 200 tourist all congregated in on place.  The building made of salt brick contained tables with immovable salt stools around them.  Apparently there was a booking system and eventually our drivers arranged a table for each car load and then served us with lunch.  Llama chops with veges.  Not too bad.

Off again an hour or so later and then in another hour of driving across the salt flats we stopped well away from any other vehicles to experience the salt pan again.

What I didn't realise is that everybody uses this opportunity to do trick photography.  Because it is so flat and white our cameras don't have any depth perception.

We must have been here for over two hours playing around with props, mostly toys to get a fun photo.  Lindsey and I took a while to click on but when we did, Lindsey especially, was right into it.

Fun and games over we drove for another hour or two and arrived at an island on the salt flats.  This "coral" island is covered in huge cacti of which most are more than a thousand years old.  The salt flat used to be, a very long time ago, a salt water lake covering 10,000 square kilometres.  When it drained it left these islands which are covered in fossilised coral.  The salt pan itself is over 40 metres deep and below that is the worlds largest lithium deposits. They are still working out how they can mine it.

Lindsey and I had a solid walk to the very top of this island and then over the other side, off track, away from the tourists to find a geocache.  Mission accomplished we walked back to meet up with the rest of the group and then hung about for thirty minutes watching the sun set.  It set behind volcanoes on the horizon. Awesome.

We still had two hours driving left to get to our accommodation.  The salt flats are surrounded by extinct volcanoes in the distance so the panorama whichever way one looks is absolutely stunning.

One of us stupidly asked the driver how long before we get there?  The answer was ten minutes and then for the second day in a row we got a flat tyre.  Everybody out into the cold night air as we watched the driver change the wheel in about thirty minutes.

Finally we reached our lodgings.  A very cold salt brick building.

A pretty good meal was provided and then we repaired to our twin room.

Salt for Africa.  One could just grabbed a handful off the floor to season ones meal if one felt so inclined.

Note the salt bricks forming the base of the tables.

One freezing cold bedroom. No curtain over the window. The bed bases are made from salt bricks.

I've been warmer in a DOC Basic bunk hut up a South Island mountain.

We were told that we would only have two blankets so we hired "down" sleeping bags which turned out to be polyester. Apparently rated for minus 15.  We remain sceptical of that claim as we attempted to sleep with our thermals and wooly hats on. Lindsey even kept her puffy jacket on all night and still never warmed up.

A morning in Potosi and then a bus to Uyuni, Bolivia July 27

THURSDAY 27th July

Potosi morning and then an afternoon bus to Uyuni.

Lindsey had another bad nights sleep so after breakfast we returned to our room where Lindsey got another 90 minutes sleep and I managed to publish a few more days of blog.

At 11 we ventured out for a walk and some lunch and returned for a one o'clock departure to the bus terminal.

Potosi' main square with the town hall in the background.

Check out the ice cream seller.

At two o'clock our bus departed for Uyuni.  The trip was supposed to take about four hours.  There were quite a few stops to drop off locals or supplies at incredibly out of the way places and then when we were about thirty minutes from our destination the bus blew a tyre.  Luckily it was good weather and traffic was light.  It must have taken nearly an hour to change the tyre.

Nearly there.  Just a shredded tyre to slow us down.

We arrived in Uyuni in the dark. The bus dropped us off outside the hotel and we checked in.  Nice room but central heating was not working and a tiny fan heater was the substitute.

Back downstairs to decide what to do for dinner and the group decided to order pizzas in.  Marisol gave us a briefing about the next three days on the salt lakes and Bolivian Altiplano while we waited.  She cracked a joke about us heading into the middle of nowhere.  The pizzas were excellent considering we were on the edge of the middle of nowhere.

We went off to bed as soon as the food was demolished as we were drained from the bus trip.

Sucre to Potosi July 26th

WEDNESDAY 26th July

Sucre to Potosi

5am wake up.

6:15 transfer to bus station.

7:00 departure arriving 10:30 at Cerro Rico hotel, Potosi.

The highest city in the world by about 20m at 4060m (13,320ft). It beats El Alto the dormitory city next to La Paz where La Pat's airport is.

Cerro RICO is also the name of the dominant mountain overlooking Potosi. It is rich in silver ore and has been mined since the Spanish turned up 500 years ago.

An orientation walk followed check in to visit the main square, the markets and some eateries.

Lunch - Cherros and hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was amazing and the cherros came with a caramel sauce.

We then walked to the nearby San Franciscan church and for 20 Bob each were allowed up onto the roof.

A very cool thing to do and great views.  It felt like being in Assassins Creed for those in the know.

That's the silver mine in the background.

Our guide organised for us to watch a documentary about child workers in the silver mine.  The two boys in the documentary lost their father at an early age and along with their mother and sister moved to live in a tiny house at a mine entrance.  The boys were 12 and 10.

When this documentary was filmed (2005) there were over 800 children working in the mine in terrible conditions.  Due to the documentary there are half that number.  The miners have a life expectancy of 35 to 40. They accept that they will die young in order to help support their families.

Dinner at a lovely wee one man restaurant and then off to bed in a nice warm hotel room, for a change.

South American musings and observations.

Initially published 26 July.

CARS and their drivers

Driving is chaotic.  Lanes, if painted are ignored.  Horns are tooted regularly but not in anger.  More to just say "l'm here".  Because of the amount of traffic speeds are slow however if there is some clear road they don't mess about.

Highways have toll booths every one or two hundred kilometres. Therefore the inter city roads are in good condition.

Very few people own cars.  The vehicles in the cities are mostly taxis, van buses and bigger buses of varying sizes.  I haven't seen any senior citizens behind a wheel.  If you are slow, doddery or hesitant you wouldn't survive.

There are quite a few modern private cars about.  Mostly Asian companies. Hyundai was quite prevalent in Peru.  Toyota and Nissan are everywhere.  Some Kia in Bolivia.  I've seen one BMW. An x5 SUV.

Very few pedestrian crossings but as long as yo stay predictable when crossing the vehicles will give way, just!

Amazingly we haven't seen any accidents. Not even a little scrape.

MONEY

Peru has Sol.  One NZD equals about 2.5 Sol.

Bolivia has Boliviano. One NZD equals about 5 Bob

ATMs give out either the local currency or US dollars.

Money changers are found on street corners in Peru.

They offer a better rate for US dollars than the banks.  It turns out that locals need the dollars to buy from overseas and that's how the money changers make their money.  So the cheapest way to visit South America is to have a travel card with USD on it and or USD cash.  Any card withdrawals should be made in USD not in the local currency to avoid exorbitant fees.

There are also money exchanges in shops and even in some restaurants.  All are good.  However yesterday a money changer lowered his rate on me when I produced $20 bills.  The highest rate is for 50 and 100 dollar bills.

THE ANDEAN PEOPLE (Quechua and Aymara)

We haven't seen any anger or frustration.  The people seem very accepting. I wonder what their goals and aspirations are or if they have any.  There is very little hustle and bustle. Everything is taken at a slow pace.  However that could be necessary due to the high altitudes the Andean people live at.

Subsistence living is the way of life of the majority.

In Peru our guides talked about corruption a lot.  It is not such an issue for our Bolivian guide.

There must be an underlying presence of crime.  We have been often told not to go into certain suburbs, particularly in Lima.  Shops have roller doors and big padlocks when closed and some have iron bars when open with a small opening to conduct business through.  Houses have no "frontages" to the street.  They have high walls and solid locked doorways for both people and cars.  Places like supermarkets have armed security guards although their presence is low key.  In Peru we've seen armed police with riot shields in every city and trucks with water cannons.  We saw one of these in La Paz too but haven't seen any riot police.

Phone coverage is excellent and must be cheap as everybody has a mobile.  They may not have water or electricity but they will have a phone.

There is no obesity.  I have seen a couple of overweight older women and a couple of older men with big stomachs but that's about it.

They eat meat and starch and drink fresh juices.

Young children seem well grounded and seem very accepting.  No nagging to get things.  No cross words from parents.  It appears that they live in their mothers arms or on their mothers backs for the first two years which must have something to do with it.

ACCOMMODATION 

We've been staying in 3 star hotels and hostels.

Generally there is no heating and we have had several cold rooms.

We booked twin share knowing that double beds would not be big enough.

However something has been lost in translation as our guides paperwork says matrimonial which automatically means double bed.  Our guides soon get to know that we won't do double beds.

Showers are a lottery.  Some  are fabulous.  Some have no pressure and some have insufficient hot water.

Beds have been comfortable although Lindsey's one in Sucre wasn't great.  I've heard some couples complaining about their soft double beds.

DOMESTIC ANIMALS

The only cats we have seen were in Lima.  They were in a fenced off park (not cat proof), apparently wild, but dry food and water were in containers at the base of trees in the park.

Dogs are everywhere.  Most don't seem to have owners.  Most are docile and don't bark.  They poop everywhere.  The pavements are covered in it.

SMOKING

There are very few smokers in evidence.  Maybe it's a communal thing at home.

In Sucre we saw one young man on a skate board with a smoke and one young woman on a park bench.  The first "youths" we've seen smoking in nearly four weeks.