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.