We woke up in the morning to a town without electricity so going to the toilet and having a shower in the dark proved some what to be eventful. After madly packing our stuff, we headed out to our tour company to grab the next jeep across the Salar de Uyuni. We were a bit nervous as to who our companions would be for the next five days as we´d seen quite a few strange people booking tours the day before. When we turned gushingly overly friendly lady informed us that our possible companions had not turned up and offered us our own private tour at a knock down price. We decided to take it and after a good hours wait, our jeep turned up and we met the driver and cook. The two of them seemed lovely. The drive took us through some pretty bad roads, up mountains until we the view opened up overlooking what was pretty similar to Bryce Canyon. After numerous photos and lots of "wows" we continued onwards in our comfortable jeep. Some of the other tour groups had up to five people in their jeeps and they did not look comfy! While we were driving we got to know our guides and managed to understand them. On our drive we passed through many more canyons until the landscape flattened out a bit.
After a couple of hours we stopped off for lunch. We were in a little valley full of Llamas. They were everywhere, grazing and chilling. We jumped out and took a walk amongst them. They´re all quite different, some being cute and some being ugly. After running around screaming and trying to scare the lovely llamas we were called back to our jeep for what was a lovely lunch. The best bit of it was some Tamales which are basically mashed up corn balls with vegetables and llama meat in the middle. They were delicious. While having lunch another jeep on the same tour pulled up near to us which two flat tires. Unlucky. Our driver had to help them and after about half an hour we were back on our way. The road took us through beautiful canyons reminiscent of the American southwest. We also passed through a number of cute little villages made solely of mud bricks. The drive was long and we eventually arrived at our destination just before sunset and had coffee and very nice biscuits which Colin gorged himself on. Our hospedaje is incredibly basic but functional and the town is set in a beautiful location. We catch the sunset over the mountains and then head back for dinner. Melba, our lovely cook had obviously thought she was cooking for ten people as she brings out a huge amount of food which we will not be able to eat. We attempt our best but the meat she gives us is like old worn rubber and we have to try and hide it under the rest of our food to not look ungrateful. We get an early night as we've got to get up at four in the morning as it´s a very long long drive tomorrow and our longest day.
We wake up horribly tired and grumpy and sit down and have some breakfast. The bread given to us has obviously been sat out in the Andean sun for the past two weeks as it´s so stale and inedible. We set off in the dark and our driver, Marcos, warns us that the roads are pretty terrible for the first half of the day. He´s not kidding! Our first stop after passing beautiful scenery lit by the rising sun is an abandoned village not too dissimilar to Macchu Piccu. We have a little walk around and then head off again through mountains that look like naked bodies and are very sexual, to mountains that look like ice cream, meringues and food - the scenery is absolutely fantastic. Colin and I are starting to get very hungry and Melba, our cook notices and gives us chocolate biscuits to shut us up. The scenery continues to change and becomes every more arid and desert like as we pass over a summit and a view on to a beautiful, aquamarine lake with flamingos opens out in front of us. The lake is punctuated with areas of pure white, a powder known as Borax. We try to get close the flamingos but they ain´t having none of it and we give up and continue onwards to another lake, full of Borax where men are working to extract it. It is an unbelievable white and we have to wear our sunglasses to look at it.
The drive was long but the roads started to get better. The scenery was beautiful passing through more lakes, mountains and deserts all as different as the last. One of the highlights of the drive is an area with thermal baths, that to me looks like paradise and a mountain of seven colours which looks like chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Eventually after sore as'´s later we arrived at Laguna Verde. The lake is a shimmering aquamarine-green reminiscent of the Caribbean with a beautiful volcano rising behind it - it's stunning. The colour of the lake is due to a number of minerals in the water - arsenic being one. Our guides seem to be rushing us and only give us fifteen minutes and we can´t understand why. We get a little annoyed but it´s a long day and we´ve still got a lot to see. We return to the thermal baths and are told that we can have a quick swim before lunch. Upon looking in the thermals baths, the amount of gringos was not dissimilar to a walrus colony and a lot of them looked like walruses. We decided to give it a miss and relax in one of the most beautiful areas we´d ever been in. Lunch was another huge affair and Melba had laid out a whole table and I was quite embarrassed by how much food was there. The meat again, was like salty rubber but not as bad as the previous nights. On our way to our final destination we passed an area of geysers and boiling mud. It looked like the moon and smelt like a toilet after Colin´s used it as the sulphuric fumes were quite strong (Well that's charming ain't it, I let him have a go at the blog and what do I get? Abuse! -Colin). Heading to our final destination we passed into an extremely arid desert - an extension of the Atacama. The scenery was barren an it was difficult to find beauty in it. Onwards, again, we headed to Laguna Colorada - another lagoon coloured red by bacteria in the afternoon. It didn´t take us long to get there and before touring the lake, we checked into our hospedaje. Again, it was basic and it looked like we´d have to share a room with a couple of others. After Colin and I scoffing biscuits and coffee we headed to the lagoon. It is an unbelievable colour punctuated by areas of white Borax and is surrounded by beautiful mountains. We have quite a bit of time here on our own as our driver races, overtakes and drives so fast to each place so that we can enjoy it on our own for a while before the hordes of jeeps join us. Our cook seems to have finally worked out that we can´t eat enough for 10 people and gives us a perfect amount to eat. The hosepdaje is so cold it´s untrue. We have to play cards in ten layers and sleeping bags and it´s still fucking cold! There´s lots of loud gringos staying there too and we decide to call it a night.
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