The salt flats

After an hour or so queueing and stamping out of the Peruvian boarder crossing, we ended up in Bolivia for the start of our 3 day adventure.

Welcome to Bolivia and the desert

Sarah asked if there was a toilet, she was directed to the back of the bus

We then met our drivers, Jorge (everyone is called Jorge here) and Louis and set about getting accustomed to our new home for the next 3 days

Charlie - the 15 year old Toyota

His speedo didn't work too well, but where we were going, there were no limits!!!!

The passengers - Alex, Jake, Romana, Marcel, Sarah and...

...John

The days were action packed with different scenery, very similar to Windows desktop landscapes (if only our camera could capture it all), so just sit back and enjoy our photos

The blue lake

The greeny/blue lake

The red lake

Some more geysers, but this time we got up close and personal

 

Bubbling mud

A different blue lake with a volcano, which as we got closer was smoking

One of the many many flamingoes we saw along the way

The stone tree. It's so strange when these huge rocks just appear in the middle of the desert...

They are huge

Sarah practicing her rock climbing

It's not just flamingoes, there are also these rabbits with flat tails that love crackers

Our first nights accomodation was high, 4,200m, but after Billy Bob taught us how to set up our camera for night shots, we couldn't resist taking advantage of the clear night skies!

That night we shared a single bed with 2 sheets, 4 blankets, and one throw. The cold was not the problem, it was maintaining circulation while balancing all the bedding. We slept a little.

The next day we saw many more amazing lanscapes (some of which are above) before arriving in our salt hotel.

Some more animals who love the cold and desertness - llamas

The salt hotel where everything is made of salt

The next morning was an early wake up call, but toally worth it, as this time we were going on the salt flats. Charlie was ready and we started on our 2 hour drive in to the middle of this now barren ocean floor.

Strangely in the middle of the salt flats there is an island which is just covered in Cacti

Then we had 2 hrs for the standard photos.

Tips from the salt flats

1. don't take too many props

2. understand perspective

3. Keep it simple

The extended family

The immediate family - are you jumping Marcel or "falling with style"

Just Us

"I am the boss"

"NO! I am the boss"

"No I am, you are going in my pocket"

"Chess?"

"Anyone hungry for human"

Thanks loney planet, we couldnt have done it without you!

What a star

Flags of the world in the middle of the salt desert

Then, after all that, we arrive in a train graveyard where the fun just didn't stop.

Clean and Jeeeeeeeeeee-rrrrrrrrrkkkkkkkkk. "No, I will leave it here"

All in all a great trip

Sarah had a great time, didn't you...

"yay"

 

 

San Pedro and John's Birthday

After rushing through northern central Argentina, we finally made it back to Chile and to the desert, namely San Pedro. This was to be the start of our trip through to Bolivia and the Salt Flats.

As we were intent on having a relaxing time in San Pedro, we decided to sign up immediately to do EVERYTHING!

Firstly, we went to see some lakes with some flamingoes, but we haven't got any pictures of that so here is a "pan-oo" (aussie for panoramic) of another lake we saw.

We went to the famous moon valley on the second of our guided tours. After the first English/Spanish tour which was solo en Español (and felt like running before we could walk with our Spanish skills) we asked for an English speaking guide. We got Jorge, the 18 yr old whose first day it was. We explored on our own.

Sarah surveying her kingdom

You can see why its called the moon valley.

The next day was John's birthday and after the "success" of the first two tours we decided to solely do the geysers tour at 3am!!! We took our duvet and slept for most of the coach ride, but when we finally woke up the scenery was incredible.

We still haven't worked out why we had to see them at sunrise, they were still going in the afternoon!

John got a little bit excited and gassy on his birthday

We then had the largest slice of banoffee birthday pie (that fork is not a normal sized fork).

The best thing we did in San Pedro was star gazing. We both loved it. It was run by the French equivalent of Billy Bob Thornton from Armageddon. He knew everything, and his assistant had a laser pointer that touched all the stars!!! If you are ever in San Pedro, do the SPACE tour.

Us with the Milky Way

The view we had of Saturn

San Pedro was great and we loved almost every minute - 3am wake up calls will never become the norm - but we were there for one reason, to travel to the salt flats. World White travel and 9 new friends here we come.