6:22pm
´Fast Internet y Fotocopias Store´
Uyuni, Bolivia
Hola peeps.
It´s been 6 days since my last entry. Seems like a long time ago I was in Valparaiso, Chile.
Due to slow internet connections and a three day 4WD trip to the salt flats in Bolivia, I´ve been unable to update this blog.
I will be in La Paz tomorrow and will upload some cool pics and bore the hell out of all of you. Something to do on the weekend if you don´t want to do laundry.
Saturday afternoon I took a 2 hour bus from Valparaiso and Viña del Mar (which is a really cool town, the sister city of Sausalito, CA). Then a 25 hour bus ride to the northern part of Chile in the desert, to a town called San Pedro de Atacama.
25 hours on a bus...oy my back is still paying for that one.
But Sunday evening I arrived into this small but growing town of 5,000 and slept a whole hell of a lot. Monday I borrowed my hostel´s lone functional mountain bike and rode around the town...ended up renting a sandboard and went on a rigorous bike ride through canyons and moonscapes to the sandy hill...sandboarding is a lot like snowboarding, except you get sand in your underwear. Pics to follow. Not of the ´in the underwear´part.
Then Monday night I went to take this tour where you look at stars, and the moon, and different galaxies (the Atacama desert is known for the clearest skies and since you are so high up, and there are virtually no city lights to interfere with your view, you can see it all. I actually booked this way in advance and this was one of the main reasons I was coming to Northern Chile.
Yeah, they postponed due to clouds.
Tuesday morning I took an awesome trip to the lagoons to see flamingoes (I´ve seen about 39,000 flamingoes in the past 5 days.) and some salt flats, and then Tuesday night I went back to go on my star tour.
Yeah, they cancelled due to clouds.
Wednesday morning I was picked up by a small van to go on a 3-day, 2 night 4WD trip into Bolivia and the worlds largest salt flats, the Salar de Uyuni, 120,000 square kms of flat salt terrain. Google it and check out photos of it, it´s like nothing you´ve ever seen before. I´m going to upload a pic from the web now.
I just got dropped off into Uyuni with the other 4 of the people on my trip, and am waiting to board a bus at 8pm tonight to head to La Paz, a 12 hour from what I hear ¨very¨bumpy ride.
The altitude is dizzying and nauseating, and you need to catch your breath often here...We´ve stayed in hostels the past 2 nights of 4,500m (about 13,000 feet high) and last night 3,600m (a little over 10,000 feet). And I always thought Tahoe at 6,200 or so was an adjustment.
Bolivians live VERY modestly. They are very sturdy people...they brave the heat of the day, the cold of the night, and some incredible winds. They are very proud and also very reserved, unlike the Santiagans and other Chileans I had met. They also enjoy a good nudey cigarette poster from 1999, like in the small store of the hostel we stayed at our first night (I have a picture of it, don´t worry, I´ll post it).
We had an Aussie couple on the trip, Chris and Lisa, as well as two German girls just out of university, Kati and Regina. And our driver/guide was Richard. Pics to follow. A very cool group...Chris and Lisa are here with me and heading to La Paz at the same time but on a different bus. They paid top dollar $25 US each, which is the highest priced bus in town. I paid $10 US...
This town of Uyuni is getting dark now, and as I look out onto the main street, filled with young children in beanie hats all bundled up, and their mothers following behind them, in the traditional Bolivian garb, dress, wool socks, braided hair and a bowler hat...
As I look out there, I see more dogs than cars on the road. And there aren´t that many dogs.
I must log off now. My bus awaits. I have some nausea and have been suffering from the chills over the past 2 hours. A 12-hour bus ride in the middle of the night through the Bolivian desert with no heat isn´t going to do much for me I´m thinking.
But, why not!
Empieza la aventura.
The adventure begins.
Have a great weekend everyone.
2 comments:
bus? what is that..is that like the yellow thing u take when u go to school. dude u should write a book...how to do a 3rd world country on 2 pesos a day. cant wait for the pics...hurry up. We are going home tomorrow. We could have bought a fully loaded 5 series for what the 3 of us spent on this trip..pics pics...
Great stories. I am not sure if I rather be with Falato though. He seems to to be drinking more than you plus, since I rode them a lot as a kid, I am done with buses.
I am headed to TCT this morning. You can imagine what is going through my head. I cannot believe it has only been a year. I look forward to more pics as well. This blog was an awesome idea! Thank you. Many of us feel like we are right there with (minus the buses). Be well! -Los
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