Bolivia Part II (Uyuni)

Tupiza was fun. I would have stayed there longer but I wanted to get to La Paz which is located in the midwest part of the country. It is about an 18 hour bus ride from Tupiza to La Paz, but we are talking Bolivia here. Add 48 hours of buffer time. I wanted to cut some time on the way so I went to Uyuni...why not...that's where everybody else goes. Uyuni, a tiny middle of nowhere town of 14,000, 3700m aboove sea level, is famous for the Salar of Uyuni - the largest salt plain in the world, covering 12,000 sq km. There is absolutely nothing to do in Uyuni other than go with the rest of the monkeys to see the salares and buy overpriced pizza and snickers bars.

Ok, here is Bolivia Part 2. At this rate I think there may be one more part...La Paz...so stay tuned. I know I don't have to tell every last detail of this trip, but don't tell that to my parents. They wanna know. As you can see, I have begun to add pictures. Going forward I will try to add four at a time but let's be honest...that ain't gonna happen. For now, enjoy. Here we go...

Had callus butt from the horseback riding. Could barely walk. Jumped on a bus to Uyuni for 50 Bs (US$6). Some Israeli was sitting in my seat. This was a good seat. I wanted to show him the tarmac but I said, "Shalom everybody"! After saying hello, they asked me how much I paid for my ticket. "50 Bs. You?" "We only paid 35Bs. In Bolivia you have to barter. That's how it works here". "You must be very proud. Thanks for the tip on saving 2 dollars". This was going to be a long ride. Had nothing to eat. Just baby cookies. Mmmm, baby cookies. Didn't want to risk pooping my pants along the way because you guessed it...no bathrooms. So me, the Bolivians, and the Israeli Brady bunch had 5 hours of bus riding to look forward to. Turned out to be 8. At least we had big foot on wheels though. I think the bus must have ripped off the tires from a semi because this thing was at least four feet off the ground. Came in handy when we crossed two rivers, and two mud pits. Saw three other buses get stuck. Yeeeee haaaaaaaw...

Other than that, the highlight of the trip was stopping in some nowhere mining town for a much needed pee break and popcorn. My window wouldn't open. It budged an inch. Covered in sweat for the first 2 hours. Started to get cold by the third hour. Window wouldn't close now. Froze to death the rest of the way. Yes. Good times. I think the Israelis thought that the louder they yelled when speaking Hebrew, that maybe I would understand. "Hada hada hada and hala hala hala" is what I heard...so, no, I did not understand. Maybe next time. They were actually quite nice. One can only take so much Hebrew over the course of 8 hours however.

We check into Uyuni at 6pm or so. Cold and rainy. Throw on my $30 wind/ raincoat purchase from Salta. Money. Walk around in the dark and pouring rain looking for a hotel...yes...find one...check in. Go next door and book a tour for the Salares the next day. $20 for a day trip with a tour company (4x4 jeep) to the Salares, including food and a visit to the Salt Hotel and the Isla de Pescados (Fish Island). 40 agencies in town so of course the Israelis want a deal. They ask me to go on a 3 day excursion with them to the salares and also check out some lakes and some geysers along the way....more bang for the buck. I say feck the geysers. No more geysers. Geysers were Chile.

Needed to buy a train ticket the next day to leave the same evening - Monday night (actually Tuesday morning at 1:45am but the sign said Monday night at the train station) for Oruro. Didn't want to take a 13 hour bus to La Paz, so I split my trip into 8 hours of train from Uyuni and 3 hours of bus to La Paz from Oruro. You dig? Of course nothing is open until 9:30am. I am waiting. 10am. Money exchanges and banks still closed. ATMs? You're kidding, right? No ATMs. My tour is leaving at 10:30am. I start running. Don't know where exactly. I see MONEY EXHANGE. Cha ching. Grab my stash and run to the train station. Buy a first class ticket to Oruro (86 Bs or US$11). Done. Jump in the jeep and we are off.

The jeep included me, the driver, two Dutch guys, who I thought were either friends or lovers...they turned out to be father and son (daft), an Italian and two Quebecois. After meeting Benoit and Nadia, I take back whatever I said about Quebecois traveling. Really great people. The Dutch were cool too (just couldn't get over the father-son combo) and the Italian looked like the Italian version of Napoleon Dynamite...you know...with that permanent crooked smile/ grin?

First stop...a little village where they process salt, 20km outside Uyuni. Not much to see. 300 people process all the salt in the plains. That's a lot of salt. 5000-6000 kilos a day. Each kilo is worth 30 cents so what's that...$1500 to $1800 a day. That's around a half a million bucks over the year for all the salt that gets processed in the salares. Something doesn't make sense. Buy some cool knick knacks and take my picture with a baby llama as my monetary contribution. Most tourists just stare and take pictures. Je no like that.

Drive about 20km to the salares. Unreal. You can see for miles and miles and miles and miles....Rained the night before so the plains were filled with a thin sheet of water, creating a reflection of the clouds and mountains. One of the most amazing things I have ever seen. We drove on the plains...this time we didn't get stuck. It seemed like were were flying amongst the clouds. Hard to explain so check out the photo. We stop at the Salt Hotel...made entirely out of salt. Bought a Red Bull and Snickers bar upon entering. Gotta have Snickers and Red Bull in the middle of nowhere right? Thought about staying for $20 a night. After checking out the bathrooms, that thought lasted all but a second.

We head about 100km to Isla del Pescadeo, where the Incas used to hang when they were crossing the salar. In the distance...mountains. They appear to be 20km away. Nope, try 200km away. We reach the island. Of course, we check into the tiny island, in the middle of nowhere, and pay the entrance fee at the tourist office, so afterward we can check out the full service restaurant and bathroom facilities. Bolivians are truly amazing....how they can live in some of the most desolate and rugged places in the world. I decide to stroll around the island. The sun is out now and really intense. Nowhere to hide. I take off my sunglasses and am blinded by the reflection of the light from the salares. Ok, enough of this. I take lots of snaps and grab an excellent lunch. We head back. Very long drive. Italian Napoleon Dynamite is still sporting the perma smile even though the rest of us are exhausted. We arrive in Uyuni, just in time to see a beautiful sunset in the train cemetery. Li li li li...I know gay...but it was beautiful.

Say thanks and head to the train station to catch my 1:45am train that evening/ morning. It's now 7:30pm. I'm all ready to go. I arrive. Hold on. What does that +1 mean? The +1 that is in extra small print next to the 1:45am under Monday night. It means that the train doesn't actually leave that night (Monday), it leaves Tuesday night. Right. Feck! I am stuck in Uyuni that night and the entire next day until 1:45am. So are the Quebecois as they are going to La Paz as well...except by bus. We grab some pizza and beer and call it a night.

Well, the next day I did a whole lot of this...NOTHING! I sat around and talked to the Nadia and Benoit for about five hours, posted my last blog (3 weeks ago but I'm getting better so chill), counted the number of square tiles in the plaza, ate two pizzas (feckin jamon y queso), and helped a group of about 10 school girls who must have seen me on the bench with a sign on my forehead, "gringo sucka with nothing to do" with their English homework. Actually that was the definitely the highlight. I don't do enough volunteering. I take my education for granted. I'd like to volunteer when I get back and help more children how to read. Not writing however...still working on that. To make it a pizza hat trick, Nadia, Benoit and I had pizza that night at the Minute Man Pizza. We ordered the potato and bbq llama meat pizza. Mmm, llama...and no feckin jamon y queso. The guy running the joint was from Massachutcess and had a nice little operation. Lots of Canadians and Americans doing that here. Made me wonder...hmm, what can I do? Said good-bye to Nadia and Benoit. Really great people.

Headed to the train station and waited for my 1:45am train to Oruro. Lucky me. The train was late. Slept, wrote in my journal and drank mate de coca, which is basically like tea except with coca leaves. Right. Used to kill hunger, cure altitude sickness and get rid of headaches. Right. It got rid of my headache. The train rolls in at 3:30am. Ok, now I am seeing a pattern here...I jump on the "Exec car" to go to Oruro... My first impressions of Bolivia? LOVED IT...wish I could have spent more time there...South America in its truest form...raw and full of character...and dont't forget cheap!