Salar de Uyuni and the way to Sucre

This is me with Lama next to the Salt hotel. As the name suggests, the hotel is entirely made of salt - even the beds!

We spent the last night of our tour on the edge of the Salar de Uyuni (also sleeping in beds made of salt blocks!) back down at 3650m to be able to start the next day with a sunrise in the middle of the Salar. What an amazing experience!

Salt flats as far as your eye can see and an almost eerie silence. No animals, no voices, no wind. Absolute tranquillity! So worth getting up at 5 am to avoid the crowds of tourists! The salt flats in Uyuni are the biggest in the world with 12,ooo square km! Can you imagine¿ It is between 2 and 20m think and has up to 120 m salt water below as well as a few islands formed by calcarous rocks and coral remains and marine shells.

We went to the Incahuasi Island which is covered in cacti and offers spectacular views across the blinding white surface. Very impressive!

Like all other Gringos we also spent a few hours trying to take very silly photographs. The white background and absence of horizon offers endless possibilities! Apparently, I can now kiss Craigo´s a**... Oh my... he can be such a handful!!!


From Uyuni all five of us then braced the busride to Sucre which is an absolute nightmare. We certainly miss the comfortable Argentinian buses now!

We were unfortunate enough to sit in the back row which (I wonder why) were the only seats available. The bus goes through lots and lots of potholes and bumps and full speed which means the people sitting on top of the back wheels jump up to the ceiling whenever they doze off and are at rist of breaking their skulls. Dear me! What a trip! And then we finally arrive in Potosi which is only 3 hours from Sucre and the bus stops in the middle of the road for 4 hours. We were sitting in the freezing cold bus without toilet and had to wait for the new driver... Very interesting! At 6 am the trip finally continues and we arrived in sunny and wonderful Sucre! What a relief!

Craig and I have managed to find a private Spanish teacher and are staying with the family that own the language school. All of that for incredibly little money.

The family we stay with (a very nice Dutch-Bolivian connection with two little kids) are just in the process of moving into their new home. We are the first people to stay there, our room is the only one with dry paint and some furniture in it. It is a lovely house with a big courtyard full of plants and flowers. Very civilised. The showers hardly ever work and the electricity goes off frequently but hopefully they will sort this all out once they move in themselves over the weekend!

La Laguna Colorado!

This is the beautiful Laguna Colorado just after sunrise. The black volcano in the back is a stunning contrast to the golden grass, the pinkish waters and of course the millions of pink flamingos - the little dots along the lake shore. An unforgettable sight!

The next morning we got up before sunrise and drove out to the famous Laguna Colorado which is orange-red from sediments. Those sediments are apparently very popular with flamingos! There were thousands of them. The laguna is at 4270m and very shallow. The birds can wade through it all the way. What an amazing sight! We could have stayed there all day observing them and listen to their endless chatter.

But on and on we drive to the Siloli desert which has beautiful petrified trees (or rocks that look like trees?), a valley of geysers and mud pools, smoking volcanos and then the Salar de Chiguana. Very impressive views all around. I still cannot get my head around the vastness and emptiness of this part of the country.

Bolvia - Salar de Uyuni

On 19 April we arrived at the Bolivian border at over 4000m and carried our backpacks across the bridge and through customs and immigrations which left us utterly breathless. It was amazing to explore La Quiaca.

Arriving in Bolivia feels like truely arriving in South America. All the women are dressed in their traditional costumes with colourful skirts and wraps and their typical little bowler hats, small kids and wild animals everywhere, everbody chewing coca leaves which leave a distinct smell in the air...

We travelled on to Tupiza where we signed up for our first proper tourist group adventure. We did a 4 day Jeep tour (off road as there are no roads to speak of!) of the great salt planes and the surrounding valleys. What a fantastic trip! Santos was our guide and driver (and did not speak a word of English) and Delina cooked for us three times a day and I still wonder how she managed to prepare all this delicious fresh food in midst of the heat and dust. We were joined by and Irish/Australian couple and an English girl which made a really nice team.

We drove through lots of valleys of crazy rock formations and lots of little pueblos getting higher and higher in altitude. Vegetation gets less and less and the air is so dry that my hair got so static it was standing up straight! I cannot help but wonder how people can chose to live here!

In San Antonia de Lipez for example live 250 people at an altitude of 4660m. It is incredibly dry and dusty beyond belief. Half of the inhabitants are children! I have no idea what they do here all day but all their families are raising Llamas for living. Once a week a truck comes past to pick up the meat...

Such cute animals. They were little pink tassles in their ears for identification.

We spent our nights in little villages and the first hostal we stayed in did not have running water or electricity! Nevertheless Damira managed to cook a delicious meal on the gas we brought along. Very much appreciated after a day on incredibly bumpy roads!

The next morning we all get up after fairly sleepless nights with mad headaches. The altitude takes its toll! Maybe we should all start chewing coca leaves??? At lunchtime we get the treat of being able to soak in thermal springs for a bit. Very relaxing!

In the afternoon we see various beautiful lagoons and small lakes surrounded by a great mixture of eroded rocks and petrified lava. All at over 5000m altitude!

The next night´s sleep gets interrupted by me discovering a furry animal next to my face as I try and turn in my sleep. In the pitch black of the night I expect a wild puma or worse! As soon as I find my torch I discover it is only the house cat which got comfortable in my armpit! But boy did it give me a fright!

PS. After I stopped screaming and chucked it off my bed and we all went back to sleep it then tried to go back to sleep on Craig´s head. Very funny!!! We laughed so much... there is not much sleeping at high altitudes anyway.

The 7 Colour Mountain

The Argentinians are very proud of their spectacular moutain of seven colours, striped from terracotta red to emerald green. It is amazing what mother nature comes up with. Personally, I still think somebody spray painted it!

This is the Pucara, a restored prehispanic hilltop settlement with fantastic panoramic views over the gorge.

I quite like those little houses there and had to think of my dad who is trying very hard to recreate some of those masterpieces in our garden. Papa? Some inspiration maybe?

We cannot get enough of those delicious grapes! And this is a small bunch! Sweet and juicy and as good as free! YUM YUM!

Las Salinas Grandes - salt lakes

Suddenly coming across those salt lakes after driving across desert like landscape for an entire day was a real highlight. The salt flats are on the Altiplano at about 3,400 m and seem to go on forever! And we tasted the salt - definitely VERY salty!

All the way up at 4170 meters!!! We did suffer a bit from altitude weakness but it wasn´t too bad. I guess if you are not walking up a hill you do not feel it so much.

Craig was enjoying the Schumacher drive down the zig zag road into the Quebrada de Humahuaca, a vast gorge of vividly coloured rock with giant cacti in the higher parts and a green oasis around the river below.

Tren de las Nubes

Unfortunately, one of the world´s most famous train rides is not possible at the moment. Some serious maintenance work is happening on this train line which climbs 900 km from Northern Argentina (Salta) across the Andes into Chile. The line has 21 tunnels, 13 viaducts, 31 bridges and lots and lots of zig zags. The picture is of La Polvorilla is at 4190 m above sea level and is supposedly the highest bridge in South America. Very impressive. To be honest I was a bit relieved the train service is suspended.... not that I doubt Argentinian engineering but... it is very very high up!

Northern Argentina - La Puna

We hired a car for a couple of days to explore the famous valleys sourrounding Salta and Juyjuy in the very north of Argentina. The landscapes are absolutely amazing and it surprised me that very few people come up this far. It is stunning and driving across these vast plains on unpaved roads is great fun! As long as you can stay clear of Llamas and cows!


I have posted a little clip on U Tube, let me know if you can see it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW-FQdxpZOU

There is a National Park for Cacti - it looks fantastic, a forest of cacti!!!
Makes me feel like I got shrunk!

We drove about 1100 km in a little formerly white Corsa in 4 days, and did about4 km in height up and down. Very exciting driving! Every time we entered into a new valley we were amazed again and the size, colours and the winding roads that zig zag up those giant hills climbing 2000 meters each time. FANTASTIC!

I had no idea that Northern Argentina was so beautiful!




The rocks form all kinds of fascinating shapes. This one is an ANFITEATRO with great acustics and I could have stayed there for hours listening to the chaps singing and playing the guitar. Very peaceful.

El Esteco - Wine spa bliss!

We did it! We went to this beautiful winery plus hotel and spa place and spent 20 blissful hours enjoying its luxuries! It was wonderful!!!

We were the only guests in the hotel and got all the service one could possibly ask for. Massive room with Cable Television and computer games (Craig very excited), big bathroom with double bath tub with fluffy robes and lots of cosmetic goodies all smelling of wine (Tanja very very excited!!!). We then walked around the wineyard in the afternoon, had a bath in cabernet Sauvignon and rose petals in the evening followed by a long hot stone massage and more wine. It was very romantic and a great treat! I have not felt so clean since we left! Very very very nice indeed.... Big sigh!!!!

Update from Salta

After spending a few days in Mendoza (12 hours on bus) and Cordoba (8 hours on bus) to enjoy some civilised city life we are feeling back to normal. A comfortable bed, lots of great steak, wine and icecream goes a long way to restoring enery levels!

We visited a couple of beautiful wineries and did lots of tastings. :-))) We even tried the base wine for champagne which tastes horrible! Amazing what a difference the bubbles make.
It is harvesting season at the moment and it was amazing to watch truck after truck of grapes come in and a bunch of lads in wellies unload their goods with pitch forks into the press. The smells alone were intoxicating!

AND (!) we did some shopping!!! How very exciting after all those weeks of shopping starvation! We both bought wonderfully soft leather jackets in Mendoza. Mine had to be tailored especially as my arms are too long for any clothes off the rail! Must be all the heavy bags we carry?? But it is beautiful and flaming red and still cost only about 90 Euros. I now wish I had an outfit to wear it with.. and an occasion! Hopefully the Argentinian postal services will deliver it to my parents as promised!

After another 12 hours on the bus we now made it to Salta in the far North of Argentina and are enjoying the relaxed atmosphere and fantastic scenery. We have hired a little car today (wow!) and will explore the surrounding valleys and vineyards for a few days before heading off to Bolivia and bigger adventures next week. The bus arragements to cross the border sound very interesting.... we have to get off the bus before the border, walk across the bridge with all our bags and hope to find another Bolivian bus company who will then take us towards Uyuni and the great salt planes! I am expecting about 30 hours on various busses - what am I doing!?!?! Am far too tall for this! Also there seems to be no way to get any information on Bolivian bus connections from here so please keep your fingers crossed! :-)))

I am trying to persuade Craig to spend a night in a lovely spa hotel (www.micheltorino.com.ar)
before moving on to the rougher bit of our trip. Just the thought of lying in a hot tub... aaahhh.... and having a massage.... and a clean soft robe.... and crispy white sheets.... and Pete said you can have a soak in the local wine brew and admire the view of the mountains at the same time... very very nice thought!!! What u reckon??? He cannot possibly refuse one extravaganza???

Refugio Italia

This is the refugio we stayed at that night (bottom left). The views were amazing the next morning and seeing the path we managed to navigate in the dark... very impressive indeed! Did I mention we had to climb up a little rock face on a rope??? I am still thanking our guardian angel for letting us find that piece of rope in the dark!

On the right is the peak of Cerro Catedral, very aptly named, dont´t you think?

Time to get down and relax!

We got the bus the next day to get to Mendoza (only 20 hrs!!!). It is lovely and sunny here and lots of wineries are waiting to be discovered. I will certainly not do any walking whatsoever!

Maybe some rafting??

Night guests at Laguna Negra

You will have guessed it by now. We arrived at the next refugio in the middle of the night and had to get down from a pass and through a little valley and around the laguna guided by one head torch! I can recommend this exercise for team work - very effective!
Thank God it was a clear night and the moon was bright. The mountains looked amazing in the sunset light, all pink and orange but by that time I was a bit too much in a hurry to stop and take any photographs. Also we were being watched by a couple of vultures... not a comforting sight!



We slept well that night!!! And I only had 4 blisters on my toes, a very swollen knee and Craig could not decide whether his ankle or his knees hurt more. And then to top things off I fell out the bed in the refugio, was all very slippery tucked into my sleeping bag and I managed to wake everybody up which stopped the snoring for a while. Sigh! Have big bruise on my bum now to remind me...


Great experiece not to be repeated please! I cannot imagine every going moutain hiking again ever!! Somebody please remind me!

Feels like we are on top of the world!

WE MADE IT!!

This is the view to the other side. We are so relieved to be at the top that we are easily fooled into thinking that walking down the other side of that hill to get to the top of the black peak in the distance will be a walk in the park. Far from it.


We now had a 3 hour descent of this mountain on a very very steep slope which sees us slowly sliding down backwards on all fours through the gravel... What joy!

This is the way down, if you look closely you can see some people coming up. I felt really sorry for them. Every three steps up take you at least 2 down again. The rock was so loose that I wished I could just sit down and slide... but the rocks are sharp as knives. Our boots look trashed!

On top of Cerro Norte

I think it took us a bit over 3 hours of contant upwards climb to get to Punta Norte. We walked over snowfields and had to crawl on all fours but the mind blowing view of the surrounding peaks and the endless line of lakes is so worth the effort.

A 360 degree panaroma of the great lakes and the mountain range all the way over to Chile. The big white peak in the middle is the Tronador and to his right you can see the Vulcano Osorno in Chile (the one I balance in the entry below on my hand). Osorno is an 8 hrs bus journey away!

Climbing up to Punta Norte

The next morning the big hike upwards began and I am glad that we did not know the 6 hour trek (according to the professionals at the Club Andino and the guide book) will take us more like 11 hours!! This is a few hours in... it is really hot with a freezing cold wind coming off the glaciers. The air is clear and crisp, not a sound can be heard apart from your own heavy breathing.

Trekking Cerro Lopez

The first day takes us up to Cerro Lopez starting off from those lakes you can see below. Hard work! Although Craig tried to convince me that an ascent where you climb 1000m every mile is not very steep at all... not funny!

But it was worth it. We finally arrived in the refugio at dawn to be told that the guy running the place has gone down to town for a few days and we were on our own with one ARgentinian guy. GREAT! Took us forever to figure out how to work the gas and the food in the rather.... rustic (?) kitchen but all was well in the end and we had a fun evening with lots of broken Spanish and our little pocket dictionary doing the rounds. Hilarious!

And when we woke up in the morning we were greeted with a beautiful sunrise over the lakes:

Views of the Lake District

This is a typical view of this area - big blue and emerald lakes, green forests and massive snow covered mountains in the distance. This one is the Tronador - with 3500m the highest mountain in this area. We must of course hike up there to get a better view!!!

Sea Kayaking in the Lake District

Kayaking was great fun and so worth the blisters on my hands!

A really peaceful experience: gliding through the perfectly still waters in the fjords and admiring the perfectly mirrored mountain peaks on the water surface.

We also paddled through a couple of shell fish farms and got a close up view of hundreds and hundreds of greedy seagulls. Very fun!

Internetting in Patagonia!

Not in many parts of the world would you find an internet cafe proudly advertising a speed of 128 kbps.... It takes patience sometimes!

Another picture of our campsite

the moutain looked like lemon cake dipped in chocolate to me. Thanks Mum! :-)

Morning Sky in Torres del Paine

this was sunrise.... the skies seem so much wider here...