Firstly, let me explain that the computer place I’m using is really tempramental, so it might explode at any minute, so I’ll have to be concise. I’ll try to get everything in tho…

Uyuni

From La Paz we took the bus to Uyuni. At the station we met an Israeli called Polina (I think that’s the spelling…) who also came on the tour with us. I’m meeting people at last! This was the whole reason for coming on the trip.

On the bus over an elderly lady got on who had the highest pitched voice I’ve ever heard! And then another one got on, who almost jumped over Polina’s bag with startling agility. They were both very sweet, and evidently neither spoke Spanish (or at least didn’t want to) because we could hear the rasping language that is Quechwa (and I’ve so spelt that wrong).

In addition to Polina, we also met a Swedish lady called Sara who was just about the most fun ever. She was at the salt mines, and it was really nice to run into her in Uyuni. She greeted us telling us about the people next door who had just come from a terrible tour where the driver was drunk. She said that they were all crying, and she told us this while laughing. She’s the funniest person I’ve ever met.

On the bus over we saw a tornado. A mini one, but it was about 30 metres high anyway. It was one of the most beautiful and fascinating things I’ve ever seen, and I’m not exaggerating this time. It wound its way alongside the road, going in the opposite direction, before slowing to a halt and disappearing back into the sky. It left a dust cloud which sort of evaporated downwards. I was so amazed to have seen it!

The tour

The first thing we saw were the salt flats of Uyuni. These were about ten minutes, or something, outside Uyuni and they were breathtaking. Vast stretches of thick, crunchy salt crystals as far as you could see. It was like walking on hard snow, it was very strange. There were ridges in the shape of hexagons, formed by some special process of which I know nothing. We took loads of photos, including about a hundred trick ones where the car appeared to be resting on someone’s head, or someone standing in someone’s hand, the usual tourist stuff.

There were small pools of very cold, very salty water in which perfectly square crystals of salt had begun to form, just on the surface. It was exquisite.

We also visited the salt hotel. The salt is hard enough for bricks to be able to be made from it, and this hotel was built from salt bricks. As fascinating as it was, it was pretty basic inside, and it was no longer used as a hotel. It now functioned as an obscure little museum, where the entry fee was having to buy sweets from the desk in the corner.

San Juan

San Juan is a small village built out of adobe bricks (i.e. mud bricks). Nearby was a cemetary filled with mummies from before the Incas. The graves were small caves built out of petrified coral (the place was once underwater, many many years ago). The caves may once have been completely sealed, but today there are small holes which allow you to see their gruesome contents.

Looking at the mummies was a very surreal experience because usually you do it from the other side of a pane of glass. If I had really wanted to, I could have gotten into the graves and touched the mummies (which were hundreds of years old). There were about maybe five or six mummies in total, of which some were children’s. All in all it was a fascinating but eerie experience.

Later that night me and Ailis couldn’t sleep for the thought of them crawling out of their graves and attacking us in the night. It was ridiculous! Both of us are 21 years old, and should have known better! We stayed up until the wee small hours dredging our minds for conversation topics until we were finally able to fall asleep.

Talking of accomodation, throughout the tour it was very basic. Not uncomfortable, though, and it was quite fun, but it was freezing cold! Slept in clothes, in a sleeping bag, under the blankets provided for most of the time. Haven’t changed my clothes since Tuesday the 23rd, and neither have I showered, but I can’t smell anything untoward (from me at least) so maybe I got lucky.

The next morning, the cook and the driver ate our fried eggs while we ate stale bread. Well, at least we think that’s what happened, and in any case I didn’t want to eat eggs after the episode in the hospital in Cusco. The cook insisted on playing somw really awful South American music, with the same beat in every song, and some guy shouting words over a tinny, synthesised score. It was utter torture, but never fear! We had our own supply of music to counter the assault on our ears. This consisted of Claire’s CD of quite nice music, a Rolling Stones compilation (which I have tired of utterly) and—and this is the best part—an Abba CD with half the songs in Spanish. By far, our favourite line was “Darme darme darme amor esta noche” (Give me love tonight — a rough approximation of “Gimme gimme gimme a man after midnight”)

Needless to say, our Swedish companion sang along to everything. Sara really made the trip!

Geysers

We saw geysers the next morning after leaving our accomodation at 5am. They were really beautiful, and we were lucky to see the sunrise through the mist with only one jeepful of tourists (who left quite quickly). After that we saw a lake full of hot water. That’s the best way of describing it, it’s difficult to convey how odd a stream of steaming water looks coursing its way through a frozen landscape. Odd, but beautiful, and many photos of the early rising sun were taken.

Sara and Polina both dived (dove?) right in, which I thought was insane but probably a good idea, as insane ideas go, since the air was terrifyingly cold. Getting out apparently wasn’t too much of a problem, by some miracle they managed to maintain some of the heat as they were drying (although there was ice in their hair within minutes of getting out) which made me wonder if I hadn’t missed out on something wonderful. Then it was back into the Jeep to see endless parades of lagunas. Although one of them had flamingoes, which were incredible. That day lunch was really nice; it was rissoles and they were gorgeous.

In fact the food was really good for the whole trip, which was surprising because it didn’t appear to be stored anywhere. Kept eating meat wondering how they kept it fresh, but none of us are ill, so it must be ok.

The most annoying thing in the world

After the enormous journey, in which my coccyx may have been damaged beyond repair by the bumpy road, we arrived in our lodging for last night. I was utterly delighted to discover that my entire bottle of shampoo had emptied itself all over everything in my bag. I was ever so slightly perturbed.

Slept quite well, despite that incident, and the next morning we ate pancakes, which made a changed from the stale bread. Drank two mugs of powdered milk, which is gross, but it actually tasted quite nice. Anyway, we arrived a few hours ago in Tupiza, which is a bigger town and we’re staying in a nice hotel with showers!!! I will be able to wash the shampoo out of my clothes and have a shower, hopefully, although where I am going to get the money from (there is no ATM, and I have Bs. 3 — about 20p) I don’t know.

The best game ever

In San Juan, Polina introduced us to Taiki (I think that’s the name) which consists of a pack of cards with pictures of animals in 4 different colours. I can’t be bothered to explain the rules, suffice it to say that it’s better than other card games I have played (mainly because it’s easier, but also because you get to make animal noises, unlike in something like poker).

Ailis’ news

Ailis has made the Lernster rugby team, which is an excellent oppurtunity. Unfortunately for me it means she’s going to be flying back to England this coming Saturday. I’m consoling myself with what I’m going to do when I get back home:

• Listen to the two CDs I bought over the internet
• Eat peanut butter on toast for the first time in ages
• Buy a new jacket
• Cook a roast
• Cook, exercise and get up early more often
• Get a job
• Learn Flash animation and/or JavaScript

And that’s just for starters! Well, gonna have to sign off now, because I have to pay. Let’s hope this publishes, cos I’ve spent ages on it.