We left San Pedro, Chile excitedly looking forward to Bolivia. We booked a tour for 69,000 pesos with Expediciones Estrella del Sur (star of the south). For an all inclusive 3 day tour (transportation, lodging, food, & drinks) we paid roughly $112 usd.
We started our tour at 8 am and hopped on a shuttle to the Chilian border. There was some unknown problem and we got our exit stamps and then waited for an extra hour or so at the border. Then we drove for awhile and arrived at the Bolivian border. As Americans, we are lucky enough to have to pay for a tourist visa. (We are the only ones in the entire group that have to do this, everyone else gets to come to Bolivia for free.) This singled Mike & I out immediately. We had to surrender our passports to the customs official at this tiny little border control station in the middle of nowhere. Its always a fantastic feeling when you are in a third world country to give up your passport... but more on the fun of the visa later.
We were served a filling if unexciting breakfast at the border and divided into groups of 6. Our driver, Alberto, was relatively young (mid 20s maybe) and fabulous. All of the cars are Toyota Land Cruisers and we had to load our big packs on the top of the car. Also on the top of the car, is our gas supply for the next 3 days and some rations. Our group of six was loads of fun. Along with Mike and I, we quickly became friends with Max & Stephanie a couple from the UK, and Imkea (from Germany) and her friend Phillipe (Chile). We were wonderfully lucky that Imkea was not only fluent in English and German, but Spanish, too. Alberto didnt speak any English that Im aware of but was able to provide lots of information about the scenery.
Day 1: We saw the white lagoon, green lagoon, dali rock desert, and got to stop at Polques Hot Springs. The water was toasty and loads of fun. Then we headed on to the Morning Sun Geyser Basin. It was full of bubbly mud. Steph pointed out that it was similar to the bog of eternal stench from the movie Labyrinth. I couldnt agree more. Due to our late start, we arrived at the place we were sleeping around 4 and got lunch. We skipped the last stop of the day, but Alberto promised that we would be going there first thing in the morning. The sun was not in the right place to enjoy it. For lunch we were served hot dogs, delicious mash potatoes, and salad. We got bananas for dessert. Our primative dwelling for the night had simple beds and a flushing toilet! yippie. No heat or hot showers, but we did have electricity for a few hours in the evening. After settling in, we had a tea break with cookies. We all were just chatting away and then were shortly served dinner since we had been behind all day. We were given a bottle of wine, soup, and a traditional Bolivian dish. It was french fries on the bottom, onions, peppers, some type of sauce, cut up hot dogs all on a large platter. It was filling and it was okay.
Day 2: Alberto told us we were leaving at 7 am, but we didnt end up leaving until 8. Boo. We went to the red lagoon and saw flamingos in the wild. Its the red lagoon because the alge turn it to that color. Then we went to see the stone tree, which was a very interesting rock. On to the highland lagoons: lagoon honda, chearcota, hediona, & cañapa. We ate a tasty lunch at Cañapa which was a potato cassrole type thing with onions, eggs, and peppers. We got apples for dessert, too. Then we drove onward to the lookout of the Ollague Volcano and through teh Chiguana salt flat. We arrived to Villa Martin, where we stayed for the night. We had a great dinner and chatted with friends. We even were able to buy a hot shower for 5 bolivanos (70 us cents).
Day 3: Rise and shine! Up at 4:50 am to catch the sun rise at Uyuni Salt Flat. It was freezing as we loaded our gear on top of the toyota. Then, to our fantastic luck, we got a flat tire. Alberto then had to explain that his spare tire was already flat. We attempted to flag down other toyotas passing us buy to no luck. Alberto ran off telling Imeka, not to worry he was going to the baño. Ha. He came rolling back down the way with a tire and we all cheered as he put it on. Unfortunetly, we did more damage than just one flat tire. We had two and some sort of problem with the front end. The drivers for these tours appaerently have to be everything -- including auto mechanic. Alberto stopped to do some more fiddling and then slowly drove us out onto the salt flat. Uyuni salt flat is over 12,000 square km. wowser! It goes on and on and on. Weerily, we got out of the toyota and started snapping and snapping away. We tried to think up as many ideas as we could, and I hope that you will agree that we did a good job. As it was freezing, we finally had to return to the truck. As we warmed up, we approached Fishermans Island. It was full of cactus and awesome to behold. We were able to climb up the hill for a 360 degree view. Stunning to behold, we soaked in as much as we could and then went down for breakfast. I got almost my favorite breakfast -- pancakes! They werent hot and there was no syrup, but I managed to enjoy them with nutella that I bought back in Valpariso. After the island, we again drove off on the salt flat until it was deserted. This time, we stopped with one other toyota and again went crazy taking pictures and thinking up new ideas. When we finally had our fill, we went to the salt ´museum´which is really a salt hotel. To get in, you have to buy something from their store. I bought a milky way (moms fav candy bar) and Mike bought a twix. We snapped a few pics and then headed towards where they mine the salt. After even more pictures, we headed to a tourist trap of a village on the edge of the Uyuni salt flat. We arrived to Uyuni around 12:30. Alberto surprised us by giving us lunch, which was tasty as usual. We then parted ways with Phillipe and Imeka, as they were returning to San Pedro.
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