Uyuni - Bolivia

Did you know that Bolivia is an hour behind Argentina? Me neither.

I got up at 7 so that I could grab some breakfast, which I did, and came back to the Hostal at 8. I was all packed and waiting in the lobby by 8:15. The guy at the front desk asked if I was checking out, and I told him that I was waiting for the tour at 8:30. He looked at the clock above my head and told me it was 7:15 in the morning and that the tour wouldn´t leave until 8:30...Argentina is an hour ahead of Bolivia, did you change your watch?
Oh.
I then remembered the impatient looks at my watch and the dirty looks at the driver yesterday...the bus actually left on time, it´s my watch that was fast.

When 8:30 finally rolled around I finally met the 3 other people who were going to spend the next 4 days of my life with me. We had: Jon from BC, Francine from Paris, and Encarna from Barcelona. Francine and Encarna had been travelling together for a few days and both spoke Spanish - this would be very handy as our guide and cook only spoke Spanish.

Tours are a funny thing - random people are thrown together and are expected to co-habitate in very confined quarters (ie a car). I guess because it´s a finite amount of time people manage to adapt to the group and the conditions. We had a 1982 Toyota 4X4 with 6 seats. Jon and I took the seats behind the driver/guide (Andreas) and cook (Ideá) and Francine and Encarna took the ones behind us. We were off.

We did a quick pit stop before leaving Tupiza - at the local coca shop. Andreas offered some to us and we declined (well, Jon had his own)...perhaps, in hindsight, this was a mistake - we were going to climb well above 4000m.

On we went into the Andes mountains. It was a bumpy ride. A very bumpy ride. A very, very bumpy ride. We were going to cross over 1000km of this terrain for 4 days. It was worth every dust encrusted nostril, every spine crushing pit, every head knocking swerve, every shivering night with aching head and body.

It was is spectacular.

My poor language cannot even begin to describe such magnitude and magnificence. We were tiny specs of nothing in all of this. The terrains we passed were so varied and unique...all we could say was, "Ahhhh"

I will post pictures - sadly the internet connections here are PAINFUL - once I get to Peru. Even then, they will be sad representations.

We saw some fuzzy creatures, and some mind blowing things - and on the last day...well, all in good time.