Tupiza and Salar de Uyuni

We spent a couple of days relaxing in La Paz following our jungle break, getting used to being at altitude again. You really can notice a difference once you return to altitude - both Sarah and I have noticed that our breathing becomes heavier and less rhythmic (particularly at night) and you will be lucky to get a good nights' sleep.


We found time in La Paz to head to an Argentinean restaurant recommended in Lonely Planet where we had delicious bife de chorizo - a serious protein injection! Can't wait for the Mendoza part of our trip.


On 28 September, we set-off for Tupiza in the south of Bolivia. Our journey would involve taking the bus from to Oruro, some 200kms south-east of La Paz. We had wanted to take the train all the way to Tupiza but, somewhat unbelievably for a capital city, La Paz does not have an active train station. We stopped for lunch in Oruro, before setting off for Tupiza on an overnight train which would get us to Tupiza at 4am.

Other than being in a carriage surrounded by a group of middle-aged French people complaining about the state of the toilets, the journey passed by smoothly and we managed to get some good sleep. Before the sun set, we were treated to some spectacular scenery between Oruro and Uyuni. 

Fortunately we were able to check into our hotel in Tupiza at around 4.15am to get a few hours sleep. We spent the next couple of days exploring Tupiza's spectacular scenery - weird eroded rainbow coloured rocks cut by gravelly, dry ravines.

Tupiza church on the main square

Anyone for a kickaround?



We decided to treat ourselves to a private four-day excursion from Tupiza to San Pedro de Atacama (Chile) which was a tad on the steep side but ultimately worth every penny. We left Tupiza on 1 October and, accompanied by our guide, Marcos and chef, Agustina, we headed north through the Salo valley (spectacular scenery and rock formations).  About two hours into the journey we passed Huaca Huanasca, where it is said that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid met with rather unpleasant deaths in 1908.

Each day Agustina treated us to delicious lunches with fresh ingredients and lots of herbs and spices. One particular highlight was a traditional Latin American dish called Tamales - delicious steamed parcels containing Llama meat (so tender, so good), corn, chili, onions and olives. Over lunch Agustina ate a whole chili which was particularly impressive (I bit a tiny corner of one off and it nearly blew my head off!).

Our first night was spent in the slightly surreal hotel Cristal Samana at the entrance of the Salt Plains, just outside Uyuni - surreal because it is made almost entirely from Salt! Unbelievably, we had the place to ourselves.

 The next morning we set-off for the Salar de Uyuni - the largest salt flat in the world (10,582 square kilometers/3,656 metres above sea-level) - an immense, eerie expanse of space that is quite overwhelming. We passed numerous pyramid shaped mounds of salt that had recently been harvested.  Amazingly, this huge area has average altitude variations of less than one metre which accounts for the amusing photos that can be taken which distort the size of objects at various distance from the camera (Sarah and I lost patience trying to create such a photo!).  Our guide informed us that the Salar contains 50-70% of the world's lithium reserves, which has yet to be extracted.

Our journey took in Incahuasi Island which is of volcanic origin and roughly in the centre of the Salar. We walked around the island for around an hour and enjoyed some fantastic views of the Salar. One of the most impressive features of the Island is its Cacti, some of which are over 1000 years old.

That night we stayed in the small village of Atullcha where it was bitterly cold at night (fortunately, we dined near to the fireplace in the dining room).

It was worth bearing the cold though to get some views of the beautiful sunset.

The next day we continued south towards the Chilean border and passed by a series of lagoons where we were able to get really close to huge numbers of flamingos. 

There are three types of flamingos that can be found on the lagoons - James, Chilean and Andean. Beautiful birds - particularly striking with the clear blue sky and the backdrop of mountains and volcanoes (one of which, Ollague Volcano) is active.

Our last night was spent close to 5,000 metres above sea level at the Hotel del Desierto - challenging not just because of the altitude but also because of the cold.

With the wind, it felt like -15 Celsius! It was pretty severe, regardless of how many layers you put on. I think Sarah must have slept that night with three layers on, including her thermals! To top it all off, we had to depart the next morning at 5am - you can imagine how cold it was at that time! Even the heating in the car didn't seem to work - no wonder our guide was wearing what looked like an all in one ski-outfit!

The first sight we came across, just as the sun was rising, was the famous Arbol de Piedra (Stone Tree). Just 15 seconds out of the car to take a few photos was enough to freeze your b***s off!

The next stop was the "Sol de Manana", a geothermal field which extends over 10 km², between 4800m and 5000m.  The area is characterised by intense volcanic activity, sulphur spring fields, mud lakes and steam pools with boiling mud. Despite various warnings to stay outside the Sol and not walk within it, our guide proceeded to take a route through the heart of the Sol. In a somewhat kamikaze fashion (I was very tired and probably not thinking straight!) I followed him to get some close up photos - in hindsight not my cleverest moment given that one slip could have resulted in a very very hot bath indeed! 

Our penultimate stop would be the Laguna Salada - finally a place to warm up!

The tour ended at the Bolivian border, where we said our goodbyes to Marcos and Agustina (who had been amazing) and boarded a communal bus which would take us south and, significantly, downwards (some 2,000 metres) to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. At the Chilean border, our bags were thoroughly searched. Luckily, Sarah remembered to dispose of the coca leaves from her rucksack just before her bag was searched!