Journey to Uyini

So it was time to head to Bolivia. We had heard only good things from fellow travelers, so we were excited to get going. Our entrance into Bolivia was by 4WD through the dramatic landscape of the south west corner of the country.

We did a 3 day tour that took us from San Pedro de Atacama to the famous Salar de Uyini, the largest salt flats in the world. In our 4WD for the three days were a sweet Chilean couple, two French archeologists and our Boliviano driver/guide. We had a great time - dancing on the sand dunes at over 4500m altitude, stacking rocks, climbing trains, posing for perspective photos, playing driving games, and, of course, seeing all the wonderful sights.

To top off the tour, it finished on the Salt flats on James' 27th Birthday!

We have so many photos of these three days, but here are just a few.

Bolivian border crossing

The White Lagoon

The Green Lagoon

Relaxing in the hot springs

The rock tree

Bubbling mud at 5200m altitude

The Red Lagoon

The train cemetery

Salar de Uyini

 

Adios Argentina & Chile

It was time to say goodbye to Argentina and Chile. Our last stop in Argentina was Salta. Here, we took the the cable car up the hill to get a spectacular view of the city, watched some local school kids let off flares, chant and dance in the main square (seemed to be their equivalent to our muck up day) and took a day trip to see some of the great natural wonders and taste local food and wine of the region.

The Devils Throat

The Titanic

Meeting the locals

From Salta we headed back to Chile via The Andes which again made for spectacular scenery. The Argentinian border crossing was at 4250m which left us feeling faint and with headaches - our first taste of altitude sickness, and the previous days goat stew certainly didn't help the situation. The corresponding Chilean border crossing was at our destination, San Pedro de Atacama, 160km from the Argentinian border. That's a helluva lot of no mans land!

San Pedro is a town in the driest desert in the world. However, it is surrounded by snow capped volcanoes. We visited some amazing places here including geysers at over 4000m. These are made when underground water reserves come into contact with hot rocks heated by volcanic magma. Due to the high altitude water boils at only 85 degrees, resulting in these tremendous steam outlets, resembling something out of a sci-fi movie.

On the way back from the geysers we visited a stream heated by the same water that drives the geysers. It was a very welcome escape from the cold.

Neighbouring San Pedrom is Death Valley, so called due to the fact that nothing can live there. It is a very cool place, and it also made for an excellent place to watch the sun set.

After some busy days of touring and bus rides it was nice to visit the laguna de Cejar, an extremely salty lagoon just outside of San Pedro. Here we relaxed by floating in the salty water and watching the majestic sunset while enjoying a Pisco Sour.

 

From The Andes to the Valley of the Moon

From Santiago we headed east, back across the border, to Argentina. This was a beautiful but painful trip. The border we crossed was in the middle of the Andes, and we had to do 30 switchbacks to get up the mountain. It was spectacular scenery. Unfortunately, when we got to the border at the top of the mountain, we were stuck in a queue for 3 hours!

In the end we made it to our destination - Mendoza. This is where 70% of Argentina's wine is produced so, of course, we had to do a tour of the wineries. We chose the bicycle self tour option. We caught a bus out to the region and joined a couple from Sweden to hire bikes and cycle around to a few wineries, a beer garden for lunch and olive growers. The weather, the wine and the company made for a great day.

From here we headed to San Juan and San Agustin. We hung out with a Yankee hippie named Turtle, a cool brother and sister from Germany, and a well travelled Columbian lady for our couple of nights here. The main attractions were the Valle de Luna (Valley of the Moon) and dinosaur fossils. The oldest dinosaur fossil in the world was found here. We did a our of the national park, to see the valley, the fossils and some cool rock formations.

Me attempting to Moon walk (and failing)

The submarine

 

On the day of our departure from this town (San Agustin) the hostel guide offered us a free tour of the nearby mountains if we modeled in some photos for him. He basically wanted the blonde Germans but James and I still got to come along for the ride. He offered the tour at about 2:30pm and said to be ready in 5 minutes... He assured us we would be back by 3:30pm so that we had enough time to eat and head down to the bus stop for our 5pm bus. However, in true South American style, we were still waiting to leave for the tour at 3:30pm. The guide came out and apologised saying he had fallen asleep. Anyway we still went and got back just in time for our bus with a few rushed empanadas for a very late lunch.

Happy Easter (again)

I realise that for most people reading this Easter has been and gone, but in this part of the world it is still Easter Sunday, there are no shops open, and I have eaten too many chocolate eggs.

About two weeks ago we visited a town called Bariloche where they were attempting to make the world's largest chocolate Easter egg. At that time they had just commenced construction in what resembled a half pipe.

Since then, dozens of chocolatiers have worked tirelessly to finish the egg.

The end product was over eight metres high and weighed three and a half tonnes. Those who happened to be in Bariloche this morning got to truly enjoy the egg - by eating it! The makers were kind enough to dismantle the egg and hand out the pieces to celebrate Easter.

 

Big Hills and the Big City

From Pucon we journeyed another 13 hours on an overnight bus to reach the seaside city of Valparaiso. Unfortunately to our surprise there was no food provided on this bus. A problem compounded by the fact that breakfast is almost non existent in this continent. Nevertheless we enjoyed our "break-fast" all the more when we eventually ate something.

Going up in the cable car

Valparaiso is a very rustic and picturesque city which is built on the side of a very large steep hill which makes for amazing views. There is a myriad of stairways throughout the city as well numerous cable cars for when you just can't climb anymore stairs. The cobblestone lane ways which wind through the hills are full of street art, little art galleries and stray dogs who follow you around.

With the exception of the warmer summer months there is a very eerie fog which lingers long into the afternoon. Although it is nice when the fog does lift, especially on the nearby beaches, the fog felt part of the character of the town.

After this, it was time to head to the big city - Santiago. We only booked a couple of nights here, but after a day walking around the city we regretted it. It is a really cool city that you could easily spend a couple of weeks in, alas we already had buses and accomodation booked in advance for the Easter weekend (had to book in advance for the holiday). I think this is the first place in South America that we could see ourselves living in, maybe because it is the most modern - there are no holes in the footpath here and barely any stray dogs!

In our brief stay in Santiago we did a walking tour taking in the history of the city, had lunch in the fish market, chilled out in a funky square with a cold beer and enjoyed an awesome breakfast at our hostel that even included Vegemite!