Day 3 - Rocks, fuzzy creatures, and a dash of salt.



Arbol de Piedra



By the third day we were all accustomed to the altitude - not ready to run a marathon up here, but no more head aches. This day was practically all desert - there was very little vegetation to be seen...even the scrubby stuff that we had seen previously. Our first stop of the day brought us to a group of rocks that had been smoothed into weird and wonderful shapes by the rain and wind. Now, when I say rocks, I mean rocks that are as big as houses. The most "famous" one (the one you may have seen in photos) is called the Arbol de Piedra - the stone tree. The whole place was really awesome, the shapes really odd, the wind strong and cold as!





Just as we finished thawing in the car, we stopped again in front of a wall of rocks...nothing particularly outstanding or interesting though. Then our guide told us that this is where all the cool viscachas hang out - and then he pointed one out. We were all out of the car in seconds, cameras poised. Viscachas contain a very high cute factor - kinda like a cross between a large rabbit and a tiny wallaby (a small kangaroo) - about the size of a racoon. They´re a relative of the chinchilla (which I will hopefully see while on the Inca Trail). There were 2 viscachas that came to greet us, unfortunately, they came to us looking for food - after having learned that car = food, not danger. Sigh.

Andreas enjoyed having music in the car. The selection available, however, left much to be desired. I want you to to cast your mind back to the 80´s. There was some really great music back then....and some very, very dodgy music as well. I want you to recall the beatbox, oh yeah, feel the synth. Ok now think of some really bad lyrics...Eye of the Tiger? Take your passion? Now imagine that the person writing the lyrics doesn´t speak English very well....you will get such fine lyrics as: "Tell me if the sky is blue, and how old are you" or "You´re so beautiful, please be my lady of the night" or even "Don´t be afraid, don´t be afraid - Strange voices from space...Jabba, Jabba the hut..." No, I´m not kidding. Jon and I killed ourselves laughing.

There were a series of smaller lagoons along the way and at  one of them we caught sight of a Colpeo (Andean fox) ...who, sadly, had gotten the same bad habits as the viscachas. He also had a very high cute factor and he went so far as to lie down near us so that we could admire him more! I´m glad I got the chance to get some great photos of these beautiful animals, but its sad that these animals are showing a dependency on humans...especially when they live in an environment where your hunting skills are paramount.

Here´s my public service announcement for the day: Don´t feed wild animals.

Just before ending the day, we stopped at an outdoor museum of sorts. The people who used to live in the area were a pre-Inca civilization who used to bury their dead in the coral "hives" (can´t think of a better word - they actually do look like hives). Yes, you read correctly, it says coral. At 4000m above sea level there was coral. Dead coral of course...with dead people in them. We chatted with the (tiny) Quechua (descendant of the Inca) lady who kept the museum. She had some very distinct views on Spaniards...She seemed very proud to have such an old heritage.

We stopped for the night in a Hostal made of salt. This was the first place that had showers available to us - showering cost? $1.50. But, as you can well imagine, water in the desert is a very rare commodity so the shower was limited to 5 min. We all declined. Andreas suggested that we hike up to the top of the hill that was behind the Hostal. It was full of huge cacti...and the view of the next day´s adventure - the world famous Uyuni salt plains.

Needs salt...

Day 2 - Lions and Tigers and Bears...naw, not really.

Thanks to our perseverance the day before, the second day wasn´t so hard. We saw many incredible things this day. We passed by the Licancabur volcano, which straddles Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia. It is still active, but (on this day at least) it had quit smoking. You would think that with the cold temperatures at night that there would be some snow on some of these peaks - but no, we only saw a little bit of snow on a very few peaks...truly bizarre.

Near the volcano we saw our first salt lagoon. These are smallish bodies of water that are left over during the dry season.They each have their own properties that make them unique. Some have sodium borate, arsenic, copper deposits etc.  Many of these are then collected and sold to neighbouring countries or exported to the wide world.

We also passed a place called the Rocas the Dali (yep, like the painter). The landscape is colourful and barren except for a few random rocks - very Daliesque. It was there too, that we saw a woman riding her bicycle. Yes, riding her bike through the mountains. Can´t imagine why any one would think this is a good idea, but apparently she wasn´t the only one whose fancy was struck - later we saw 2 guys doing the same...they did not look like they were having a good time.

 We stopped for lunch at the Aguas Thermes and had the chance to have a dip in the hot springs! How awesome to be able to say I had a wee dip at 4300 m above sea level??!! The water was toasty warm; not too hot. Everyone was a little worried about getting out - it was a tad windy and when the wind blows up there you really feel the cold, but because the water had warmed us up getting out was easy.

Then, after we had our fill (I put in the suggestion area of the survey that a siesta should be included) off we went to the geysers. From the car all you could see were thick billowing smoke. As soon as you opened the door though the stench of the sulfur hits you and makes you gag...not good after lunch. The other thing to strike you was the sound - it sounded like some wicked witch´s cauldron...ready for any naughty children wandering nearby. We had to watch where we put our feet here as some of the ground appeared solid, but it wasn´t. Inside each of the geyser holes was a hot, steamy, mass of grey goo - big grey bubbles bursting with a sulfurous *pop*. Way cool.

 We stopped at Huallajara for tea (we were staying here for the night as well) and then went to see Laguna Rojo - the Red Lagoon (aka Laguna Colorada). This patch of water was red due to the microscopic algae that live there...and do you know who LOVES to eat red microscopic algae? Flamingos. They were everywhere. It was magnificent!

Day 1...dedicated to the dearly departed...*sniff*

The first day was brutal as I have already said - we drove just under half of our total distance, close to 500km - no proper roads, only dirt and rock.

The place is DRY. You can see riverbeds, but there is nothing in them. This area only gets rain from mid to late December until March, then...complete deluge. But, afterwards the water slowly begins to evaporate - anything living in them will die. As a result the vegetation we saw was very sparse and tended to be small in size: odd circular tufts of grass, some cacti and weird blobs of moss that, I´m told, only grows 5cm a year..some I saw were well over 50cm in diameter.

It was at our first pit-stop (read: pee break) that it happened. It was the first day of the trip that I had worn them...my favorite traveling pants. I noticed I had split the, um, bum-ular area. It was still quite a small tear in the seam. I was sure I could fix it.

The amazing thing about this dry deserted place (apart from the place itself, of course) was that people actually live out here! We saw llama herds - you can tell they are domesticated because they have colourful bits of wool around their necks or little pom-pom "earrings" - so cute! We saw many llamas initially, but the farther we drove into the wilderness the less we saw of them and the more we saw their wild cousins the vicuña - they are smaller and more delicate, and their wool is very soft. Actually, it is one of the softest fibres known to man (the softest is some endangered bison I believe - yes, this is the kind of useless info that floats around my head) Anyway, you can well imagine how much a vicuña scarf can fetch - remember these guys are NOT domesticated animals...no, I´m not bringing back any vicuña thing.

Every time I got out of the 4X4 my pants ripped a little more...

The mountains in this area are still quite ferrous, like the ones in the quebrada de Humahuaca, so the reds and greens predominated but - maybe due to the lack of a main road (any road for that matter) - the place is more rugged , more arid, more wild than it was in Argentina.

As we were driving around, in the middle of nowhere, our car started smoking.

oh shit.

Andreas, cool as a cucumber, told us to get down (there go my pants a little more) and have a look around while he investigated. Some wires had burned in the engine - dunno which ones, but I´m pretty sure there are no superfluous wires in a car engine! Andreas, in less than 20 minutes, managed to Macgyver something with some spare wire, a plastic bag and some string. We were up and running! No more engine trouble to speak of for the rest of the trip...and let me tell you the 4X4s in this place work HARD.

We stopped in an abandoned village at one point (we stopped many times along the way) that was allegedly abandoned because of the devil! It wasn´t very old either - less than 75 years. Apparently, the villagers started killing each other for no reason..clearly the work of el diabolo. They eventually all decided to up and leave. It was also here that we saw our first viscacha (more about those later...so cute!)

We reached our first night´s stay at around 3:30 and our driver asked if we wanted to punch on or stay here for now and wake up at 4am....we voted to punch on - this is why our first day was long and hard.

We finally stopped for the night at 7pm. By then my back was aching, and my head was pounding....and my poor, poor pants were split down to the knee. And it was bloody cold. We had gone from 30+ to close to 0. Ideá our cook made us up a delicious soup followed by a biffe with potatos and veggies. Ideá is the queen of the perfectly cooked potato! After dinner I felt marginally better but my head still felt like it was going to implode. Andreas suggested a coca tea before bed and again in the morning...I gotta say the stuff works. The accoms were basic, we had electricity but no hot water, no heater but 5 thick blankets each.

The next morning all the puddles (created by people doing dishes, laundry etc, not rain) were frozen. Hot tea and buttered bread with dulche de leche sure hit the spot! Jon also gave me some of his coca leaves to chew...head was still pounding. Back in to the 4x4 for more outstanding views!

As for my pants, I was loathe to let them go. I tied the legs together; tightened the belt tie, then looped the long ends to the leg knots. Voila...I had a new bag.

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.

Laundry on the run

I had to do some laundry before heading out on this 4 day trip around the Uyuni province...leaving at 8:30 in the morning...yikes!
Both my long sleeve shirts were nasty and so were my....well, other things were too.
I did my laundry in the sink and then rinsed them as I took my shower. I tried to wring them out as much as I could and brought them into my room. Hmmmm, the only place to hang anything was the curtain rod and the coat rack. I did what I could and went to the internet cafe.
About an hour later I came back to my room to hit the sack - lord knows what kind of sleeping accoms these folks considered "basic" - everything was still pretty wet and I knew that they weren´t going to make it. Damn. Drastic measures had to be taken. I put some wet clothes on and went to bed.
Ok, ok...I know, I know...I´m the cleverest person ever. No? That´s not what you were thinking? Hey, the human body creates lots of heat - especially while under lovely thick blankets, it dries stuff really efficiently!
I woke up in the middle of the night and swapped with the rest of the wet stuff since what I was wearing was already dry (see, told ya).
Admittedly, it´s not the most comfortable initially, but you get over it quickly and it is effective.
The next morning I had fresh clean, if somewhat wrinkly outfit to wear...for the next 4 days.

Eating, snacking and lip smacking part 2

Alfajores- what can I say about these wonders? Think of all the wonderful (sweet) things that you could put together and it wouldn´t come close. Two shortbread cookies with a VERY thick layer of dulch de leche in between, now cover that in chocolate....aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh SO GOOD! I actually drooled while eating it! (don´t tell anyone) They make different varieties, covered in coconut, with different flavours...but...well....you know me and chocolate.



It was so good I almost forgot to take a picture!

Remember when I went to Humahuaca? Well, I had llama pie for lunch. Actually, pie is a misnomer, llama loaf would be more accurate. YUM-O! So, what does llama taste like you ask??

hmmmm I would say like a cross between pork and chicken. It´s quite a sweet meat, and it´s not red. Anyway, this loaf was magnificent - well seasoned (with what I have no idea), very tasty and not dry at all. Some of the others thought that "playing it safe" would be better, they ordered the vegetable risotto (fair enough one of them was a vegetarian) - pfffffft they got a watery, tasteless mush...and there wasn´t even any rice! HA on them...they looked longingly at my llama loaf...

and for dessert I got...Cayote. This stuff looks really, really gross. It´s brown and viscous with lumps...I had to try it - especially since no one could definitively tell me what it was made of (I eventually had to look it up...thank you Google!). It is made from a type of melon (cucurbita ficifolia) and it´s basically the jam you make from it. You spread it on your bread and eat it like you would jam. I had no butter, but MAN, I´m sure that would have ROCKED! This stuff is awesome! There was a French girl on our bus who said that Cayote costs a fortune in France - here it´s nothing. It tastes like a dark honey with a healthy kick of ginger. At first I ate it all on its own...that was a bit sweet, even for me, but on bread it´s fabulous!!

Ok, I don´t always like what I eat...big surprise, I know.

before...

After...

Tamales - I ate these on my night in Tilcara (you remember the waitress in the sweat pants?). I wasn´t particularly hungry on that night (probably due to that llama empanada I had eaten earlier) so I asked her to suggest something not too big. I got a tamale, con carne (it was that or cheese). I have heard of tamales, but I wasn´t quite sure what to expect. They´re like dumplings, wrapped in a corn husk - it came to me like a giant candy that I had to unwrap.

I got a llama and potato tamale....actually more like POTATO and llama. Sadly, it was dry and tasteless, there were no herbs or spices to speak of...and although it wasn´t big in size, all that dry potato just filled me up and I couldn´t finish it.

Pique Macho - This is a "traditional" Bolivian dish. It´s basically french fries with cut up hot dogs (they say sausage...but nah, they aren´t), sprinkled with fried onions, tomatoes, and boiled egg pieces...um, I give this one a miss altogether - it´s a bit of a weird mixture. You all know the above ingredients...make one at home and tell me what you think.

....one thing I found weird but nice was the french fries in soup. Yes, the Bolivians put french fries in their soup...like croutons. I guess they have more potatoes than wheat so it makes sense - and it´s delicious! (well, it won´t save a crap soup...but you know what I mean)

Bolivia Bound

After a nice breakfast with the girls I headed down the street to the bus station. While I was waiting a guy pulled up to a nearby store...on his horse! How cool is that!??

When the bus arrived, I saw that some bloody foreigner was in my seat! I had specifically asked for the front seat on the top level of the bus. When I mentioned to the offender that she was in my assigned seat, she grumbled, but moved. The guy sitting in the seat next to mine made sure no one else was coming before he reclaimed that seat. They were a group of 4 Germans.

During the course of the trip he took out some coca leaves to help against altitude sickness. They say that if you chew coca leaves (yes, the same plant that makes cocaine) it will stop you from getting altitude sickness. So, I´m watching him from the corner of my eye...he takes out his little coca bag; selects each leaf carefully, putting them in a little pile on his knee. Then he puts his little coca bag away. Then he takes each carefully selected leaf and carefully removes any stem that may be attached and puts them back into a little pile on his knee. Then he takes out some tissues and his spring water and starts to clean each leaf, front and back, carefully folding the tissue after every wipe and placing the leaves back into a little pile on his knee. Then he put his water away in his pack and put the tissues back into his pocket. THEN he carefully places one leaf at a time in his mouth and chews them individually for a few seconds..OMG can you say OCD!

...Other than that the trip was uneventful until we reached La Quiaca - here I had to get off the bus and walk to the border. It was 3 in the afternoon, the sun was hot, there was not a soul around, it´s 3400m above sea level, and I´m again carrying my pack (I´m SO glad I went with the small pack!!!)

After a 10 min walk I see it - a bridge; some flags; a giant ditch; lots of garbage; and a pig. The German team comes out from a street ahead of me and we all head towards the bridge.



The ditch



The line for customs seemed quite long so we hunkered down and waited. There were people though, who seemed to just breeze through - I don´t know if they were Bolivians or Argentinians, but it was a little annoying to have a constant stream of people passing by when your line only moved every 10 minutes...no, I´m not exagerating. I found out later that there were only 2 guys manning the station that day, maybe because it was Sunday, I dunno.

SO, we´re all waiting. One of the German girls looks not quite right, probably the altitude. Waiting. People passing. Waiting. Dogs passing. Waiting. Kids on bikes passing. Waiting. Moms with babies passing...this one stops next to me, holding her toddler by the armpits....the kid spews. Nice. The German girl looks like she´s gonna pop too - her friend tells her something and she quickly looks away, holding her hand over her mouth, dry heaving.

...People continue to pass, sometimes missing the vomit, sometimes not....the smell is over powering and I really hope the line will move a little faster.

It takes me about 2 min to get my stamp when I finally get to the window. The walk over the bridge is a bit weird - there are military guys on both sides. Then I have to go through Bolivian customs...there´s only one guy at this window...and he´s in his t-shirt and jeans. The room is tiny and there are heaps of people there, but it does go more quickly...then voila! I´m in Bolivia!



Villazon is the Bolivian side of the border...and as with most border towns it seems a little dodgy and nasty. My plan had been to stick around for one night and take the train the next day to Uyuni, but I´m not sure I can stay in such a place. As I walk by the bus station, which is just up the street from the border, a lady asks me if I want to get a bus to Tupizia. Hmmmmmm. I think about it for 5 seconds, while I watch the homeless man pick through the garbage, grabbing some chicken bones left behind by someone else. Yes, I would like to go to Tupizia - I know I can get a tour of Uyuni from there too. She tells me that the bus leaves at 5. It´s now 10 minutes to 5 - fantastic, I don´t have to wait too long.



Yeah, right. The bus finally leaves an hour later...and when I say bus I mean passenger van. They crammed about 20 people AND all their stuff in a van that seats 12! I had chosen the front seat; On one side is the driver, and on the other side a mom and her 6 year old on her knee. Oh, dear...I wonder how long this is going to take.

After dropping off people in the middle of nowhere (literally!) we arrived at Tupizia (2850m) an hour later. I randomly walk down a street and come across a hostal (Valle Hermosa) and wander in - single room, shared bathroom? $7. I love this country already.

There´s a 4 day tour of the Uyuni province leaving tomorrow, would I like to join? $190 ....includes driver, cook, accoms, meals.

I had looked at tours for this region before leaving and they cost, bottom end, $2000.

...guess where I went next...



Stay tuned for part deux of Eating, snacking and lip smacking...