13th – 16th January

Last day in La Paz – Day 17

We set out to see more of the city starting with a walk round the indoor market where all the office workers were crammed into the numerous tiny food stalls (seating around 12), the portions of meat and rice were huge and all for under £1. From there we headed over the bridge of the main busy road and up the hill to a more affluent area called the Plaza Mririlla to look at the presidential office. We were also now getting to that stage in our travels where we were bumping into people whom we had met along the way – always good to see friendly faces.

Ready to say goodbye to la Paz we headed to the bus station only to enter into a mild panic when we discovered that our bus ‘Todo Tourismo’ left from a different address. Luckily for us it was just across the road with a much nicer office than the shabby bus station (made Pond street Sheffield seem organised) while another delay in departure gave us the chance to meet a couple of new travelling companions, Flo and Manu (from France but who live in Shepherds Bush). Finally we set off on the 12 hour overnight bus ride mainly on unpaved roads (so very bumpy and not much sleep) to our next destination.

Salar de Uyuni (Salt Flats) – Day 18

Arriving at the Red Planet offices in Uyuni a city in the southwest of Bolivia, we met our group (Flo, Manu, Dave from South Africa, Ben from London + 2 random Canadians ….oh yes and Ash & Andy from the Inca Trail!) and our guide Carlos and set off in two 4×4 Toyatos to a train ‘grave yard’ (abandoned in the 1940s after the collapse of the mining industry in the area).

Next it was on our way to the Salar de Uyuni which at 10,500 sq m is the worlds largest salt flat and working land owned by the local villages where the workers dynamite holes to manually extract the salt for sale all over Bolivia. In order to add to this vital process, we mucked about having our pictures taken (fighting life sized dinosaurs and drinking from giant wine bottles) before driving to an area further out on the flats where the recent rain acted as a mirror reflecting the clouds and blurring where the horizon meets the sky.

With a two hour drive ahead of us and fed up with Bolivian radio we switched on Dave’s iPod and played 3 song dj (basically you get to pick 3 songs and pass it to the next person) with the boys secretly trying to play the best 3 songs. Finally arriving at Cluper K we checked into our hostel (which looked like a prison) for food and an early night.

Chiguana Desert / Desert of Siloli / Red Lagoon – Day 19

After the usual tour breakfast of ham and cheese rolls, we had a full day seeing more of the beautiful Bolivian landscapes. From huge rock formations to vast desert expanses and lagoons, there were plenty more picture opportunities. Our song dj had also now firmly evolved into who could find the cheesiest tracks…what’s not to love about listening to Bananarama’s ‘Venus’ in the desert?

After an al fresco lunch out of the back of the 4×4, we went to see Flamingos in the Red Lagoon. Ascending to over 5,000m (our highest yet) to see the steaming craters of the Sol de Mañana Geyser, we then headed back to our final hostel of the 3 day journey (and a 5 man dorm) in the middle of nowhere with electricity just for 2 hours in the evening. It also gave our driver time to fix his truck after we’d temporarily broken down on the way there – still there was always the Bangles to play if we’d have been stranded.

Next stop – Chile