This is going to be fairly short……no, I promise because I can’t remember all the things I’ve done since I last wrote and again I have no idea what day it is…..think it’s Sunday but I’m definitely in Argentina….woohoo.
At the end of the last episode we were hoping to catch the plane back to La Paz which we did with some trepidation because the real reason we couldn’t fly was because they were doing repairs to the plane. Apparently one of the propellors had falling off as it came in to land as few days before. Needless to say we were all a little nervous to put it mildly. But obviously we got up and down without incident. By the time we got back to La Paz, it was lunch time so we stayed there another night which put us a day behind. We headed off the next morning to Potosi which was a 10 hour drive….yippee, not but really interesting scenery. Did a tour of the silver mine in the morning and at lunchtime headed off to Uyuni. We were supposed to have more time in Potosi, so by just having the morning, we managed to get back on track. It was fine with us because there wasn’t that much to do there anyway.
Uyuni was a really strange town. It’s on the edge of the Salt Flats and as we drove towards the town, it seemed to be sparkling and we all thought it was salt glistening in the last afternoon sun. Unfortunately it was plastic bags….very disappointing. The hotel we stayed in was great, the best so far but it is only 6 months old. The next morning we did a trip out to the Salt Flats. Stopped off at a place where they ‘make’ the salt and then on to the flats themselves. Took lots of photos and then drove across the flats for about an hour to an ‘island’ and lunch and then walked to the top of the island. It was incredible, it really is very much like a sea. Drove back in the late afternoon and went to the train cemetery. A photographers delight and watched the sunset.
Had a 7 hour drive the next day over dirt, corrugated, dodgy roads to Tupezia. There’s really nothing there, it’s just a stopping off point before the border but it’s very much Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid territory so 12 of us went for a 3 hour horse ride into the canyons which were amazing. Everyone said how bad the horses were but compared to the one I’d ridden in Cusco, these were damn good. Really crappy hostel, especially compared to the one in Uyuni but it’s gearing us up for the next 6 nights camping.
Headed off at 7am again on really crappy roads (this is Bolivia) to get to the border early but ended up spending 5 hours there as they were doing bag searches of every person and bus crossing and there 2 other overland trucks and several buses ahead of us. Left the border just after 3pm and finally made to the campsite around 11pm. We were all starving so stopped at McDonald’s along the way and some the group decided to forgo the camping and stay in Salta. Of course just as we started putting up our tents it started raining but didn’t last long.
Today, however is a totally different story and it’s being a bit miserable and raining but it’s fun. Was going to go para-gliding but given the conditions, might give it a miss. We are going white water rafting tomorrow and then head to Cafayte.
Am liking Argentina so far, beautiful scenery but definitely much more westernised.
Anyway, off to see the sight city of Salta, albeit in the rain.
Catch you later
Love
Lindy x