Atacama and salt flats...onwards to Bolivia!

Before I start telling you about our desert crossing to Bolivia I should warn you that I don´t think I´m going to know enough surperlative descriptives.  We have seen so many amazing sights in the last few days and are hugely priviliged to have the chance to be here - what a place!

So we set off from San Pedro on Thursday morning early, reporting at 7:45am as instructed.  The agency eventually opened at about 8:15 and joined by some others we boarded a bus to the Chilean border.  The queue at the immigration office was pretty lengthy as even those taking day trips into the Bolivian national park area have to be formally cleared out and back in, so there was a bit of a wait before we got another stamp in our passports and then back on the bus to be driven up through the desert towards the entry to Bolivia.  The colours in the desert area were constantly changing, and with the sun still rising it was very beautiful.  We reached the Bolivian border all of a sudden - it´s one hut manned by a few border agents and police, with another disused hut across the way and a rusty bus behind which anyone who needs to takes a pee.  Nice.  And so the passports were stamped again and we switched to 4x4 vehicles for the rest of the trip.  Tom and I were in one driven by Santiago - a Bolivian with 10 years experience on the route and a great guide - along with Lorenzo from Italy, and were joined by two Checzs and a Slovak who were travelling together and didn´t speak much English.  There was another group of five who were in another vehicle but on the same tour, so plenty of us to enjoy the sights together.

The first morning, after a stop for breakfast (here they have tea, coffee, fresh bread, jam, biscuits and lashings of dulce de leche...yum...) we saw Laguna Blanca, followed by Laguna Verde (copper mineral in the water) and on to a thermal pool for a restful dip.  We were constantly winding our way up higher into the desert - lots of huge plains on the way, and by the time we reached the thermals could feel the air thinning, and of course the cold, as it was a breezy day and pretty nippy at over 4000m above sea level!

Convincingly warmed by our dip we piled back into the van for the drive up to the sol de manana geyser field - at 4900m!  This was pretty stunning with a whole series of hissing geysers and huge pools of bubbling mud to wander around.  Thankfully the next stop was a little lower down - at about 4300m - at Laguna Colorado, where a small very basic hostel was also to be our home for the night.  It was like Back To Annapurna, only colder!

We took a walk round the lake to see the flock of flamingoes that live there - gorgeous birds.  By the time we returned to base for dinner it was really cold - a strong wind blowing and the sun gone, we were wearing as many clothes as possible.  In fact it was so cold that our camera froze - the lens was stuck and it was giving error messages galore.  Thankfully an overnight in my pocket and then in bed next to me warmed it up enough to get it going again - Canons are a hardy breed.  Anyway, after a big dinner (food on this tour was great - simple stuff but loads of it and always at least two varieties of carbs per meal!) there wasn´t much else to do.  The fire in the dining room wasn´t giving off much heat, so an early retreat to bed was the only answer.  By this stage I was suffering a bit from the altitude - bit of a headache and feeling a bit odd, but not too serious - but it´s strange how when you lie down you really notice how much harder your heart is working and how much you need to breathe!  The cold was getting in round the edges of the bed despite a big pile of blankets and all-in-all it wasn´t a good night´s sleep.  My headache was still there in the morning so I was looking forward to getting down to lower levels.  The sun same out, and no wind, and we were on our way out quickly.

It was a day of more beautiful lakes, a visit to the stone tree, and lots of travel as we sped towards the small town of Uyuni.  Just before arrival we stopped at the train cemetry - again, perfectly literal, it´s a collection of rusty locomotives in the middle of nowhere a bit out of town.  Odd, especially after the natural wonders we had been admiring, but a local attraction!  We spent that night in a small hotel in Uyuni which had (some) hot water and a warm bed, and at 3300m was much easier on the circulation.

Next morning Santiago returned to collect us for our visit to the Salar De Uyuni - the salt flat nearby.  This was just breathtaking.  An area of 1200 sq km which was once all underwater and is now all about 60cm thick with salt.  Before driving on we stopped for a local to explain to us the process for extraction and preparation into condiment (they have to mash it down from the natural crystals and add sodium before packaging).  Then we went a little way out and saw the mounds of scraped salt all waiting for collection by lorries.  Everything is manually scraped and shovelled up.  Another 10 mins drive out and we were at a salt hotel.  It´s made of salt bricks (they have to cover it up in rain) and has salt brick furniture inside and out - but we weren´t stopping at these picnic tables.

Oh no, in a style that Nanny McMillan would be proud of we picnic-lunched another 10 mins on - in the middle of a blindingly white world of salt!  It stretched as far as the eye could see, with only the biggest mountains in the distance breaking the whitewash under the bright blue sky.  Incredible.  As it is traditional for visitors to make the most of the white background to take random distorted-perspective photos we joined in the fun for an hour or two after lunch (highlights below).  When we finally ran out of ideas we headed back to town via the eyes of the salt flat (the bubbling pool where the salt still comes up from underground). 

A totally amazing trip which we are so glad to have taken, and a really interesting way to cross from Chile to Bolivia.  It seeems that the Bolivian people are very (rightfully) proud of their country and pleased to show it off in a way we didn´t experience so much in Chile.  We have now made our way (via horribly uncomfortable bus, but Bolivia doesn´t have such good roads or such generous legroom!) to La Paz.  We arrived early this morning and are enjoying the capital very much.  Hotels are scandalously cheap and perfectly nice (splurging tonight on a 20 quid place and even have a bath in the en-suite!).  The city sits in a canyon, with main street at the bottom and smaller side streets snaking up both sides of the hill.  It´s pretty, and we have already seen a local school parade on the main street.  Planning to spend a few days here exploring the city and its surrounds, and very much looking forward to it.

One overnight bus journey, a stop in an unengaging place and to the desert!

So, I´m sat next to Cath in a small internet cafe in La Paz in Bolivia catching up on blogging- it´s been eventful.

To start with we got out of Argentina after having a great final steak and supreme icecream- 'with sticky out bits!' was Catherines´ desire, so we went into a massive icecream parlour in central Mendoza.

Luck was with us for a our departure, we could go straight to La Serena on the only bus a week from Mendoza.  After admiring the moonscape of the Andes at night through the window during a massive climb to the border we dealt with overly efficient border officials who revealed an apple in the handbag of a lady who unfortunately had not declared anything- an hour later, one further form filled in we were on our way.

We arrived in La Serena after having a interrupted night sleep on a bus into a cold dark city which wasn´t going to be the best place to stop.  We were knackered, tired of the dreary pacific coast and actually considered just getting on a bus straight out of there to the desert- none were available.  As worn and hard core travellers we put our backpacks on and sought out Maria´s Casa- an apparent oasis in the abyss of a very dreary La Serena.  We were welcomed in with a coffee by Maria and felt at home, sleep later and a stroll around the town followed by a fish supper improved moods but thoughts were heavily on getting out- back to bus station- one ticket out!

The town from our next day impressions is OK, a nice centre but cold at this time of the year, has a poorly kept beach and felt overly priced (apart from Maria´s which was genius!).  Things to do around La Serena include going to see Humboldt penguins and going to the observatory to see close ups of planets which can be incredible.  We passed on all due to lack of effort but made an outstanding dinner that night at Marias and were duly informed about Bolivia by Kendle and Loraine, a lovely Australian couple.  Plans for travelling through Chile into Peru were changing; we had been informed Boliva was a joy and so was the trip across the salt flats. 




Another overnight bus journey saw us arrive in Calama, a centre for the mines of the area (the clientel of the bus reflected as much) but a necessary connecting town to San Pedro.  We were in better shape in Calama and picniced in town centre after booking our bus onto San Pedro.  On we went, another 2 hours in the bus, we arrived in an area of outstanding beauty- the desert!  We found a hotel before the impending cold was to come in (heard it could get to -15!) and settled in for a bit of a rest.  Our plans had been decided now- we were going onto Bolivia!  Next day, 4x4 booked and washing put in, food bought and outstanding meal cooked.

Of course we managed a walk out into the desert that day as well.  Here are some photos to show you the beauty of the area and some ruins we walked to and a Llama for your viewings.  I leave the rest to Cath...

City break in Argentina - highly recommended!

Since we last filled you in, we have been taking a little sojurn into Argnetina.  It feels like a little light-relief break from our Chilean adventure, and we´d recommend Mendoza to anyone!

We left Pucon on Wednesday evening and travelled overnight back north to Santiago.  After a couple of hours restbite at the Santiago bus station we picked up another 7 hour service across the border to Mendoza.  The buses here are another level of comfort.  Seats are huge and comfortable, and on our Mendoza service they even served lunch!

On arrival we met a friendly chap called Florencio who was touting for business for his hotel.  However, having pre-booked we made for our hostel.  Sadly it turned out to be a bit of a hovel - small and dark and dirty.  We had to stay one night to honour our booking, but went to check out Florencio´s place which was nice and the same price so moved there first thing in the morning!  Meantime, we headed out to explore Mendoza and had our first steak and red wine dinner.  Beautiful, and very cheap!


On Friday we set out to explore the Mendoza wine region.  There is a great set-up in place whereby you take the bus to nearby Maipu and then rent a bike to cycle around wineries.  After an initial 10km ride (this from a girl who hasn´t been on a bike for years - still feeling slightly tender now...), we started with a tour and tasting at an olive oil factory.  Who knew that the same olive tree will bear fruit for up to 400 years?  And that the green olives and black olives are picked from the same tree, just green ones are earlier than black?  And that the oil is aged in a tank for 2 weeks when ready before bottling?  We saw the machinery for oil production and sampled that and their olive pastes.  Gorgeous.   From that, across the road to a small winery owned by a French couple and a tour with a very friendly girl called Andrea.  We sampled the malbec and the owner´s blend and settled on a purchase of one bottle of the house rose - a malbec and very dry compared to any other rose we ever tried, very nice and unusual.

Next stop, the winery of the Di Tommaso family.  Here we had lunch - a lovely argentinian chicken dish - and some of their malbec, really good.  Another long cycle later we visited a final winery with musuem, and then called in on a place that makes olive oil, pastes, chocolate, liquors and a whiskey (scottish recipe) - bizarre!  After returning our bikes we made our way back to Mendoza and wandered through the town before tea.  It´s a lovely place with a great feel about it, always buzzing.  People here are very friendly, the city has everything you could need, and it´s very pretty with big open squares and parks.

Today we visited the city museum and central park, as well as having another steak dinner!  A wonderful place to spend time, we can´t recommend Mendoza highly enough.  (Incidentally, the other day we went shoe shopping for Tom - never easy in UK where hardly anyone stocks size 13 - and found literally dozens of styles in the right size in just the second shop we entered - had a lot of fun choosing his fab new pair...another great reason to visit Mendoza if you´re tall!)

On our way this evening to take a direct bus to La Serena, back in Chile, on the coast, where we will stop briefly before heading up into the Atacama Desert and San Pedro.

The Volcano and on

So, I´ve been a little under the weather with a cold for the last few days - I think due to my spell out surfing at Ritoque in 10 degrees water for an hour (and I´m still not much improved!!).  After the last blog was written I recovered myself a little before the big day on the volcano.

It is not recommended to climb Volcan Villarica in the rain- we did check this the day before going with the chap in the shop- he was confident of no rain in the morning and said if it wasn´t raining when we got up at 6am in the morning we were good to go.  Sure enough, no clouds covering the star lit morning when we got up and I decided it´d be best to soldier through the onset of a cold.  We got fully kitted out on arrival with crampons and waterproofs before heading out with 2 other couples, a chilean and two guides.

On arrival at the volcano the day looked fine with clouds covering the town and lovely sun, it felt sure to be a good day.  We made a slow ascend up the black dusty volcano next to the inactive ski lift (ski season´s open in June) and made it up to the snow line.  Armed with crampons, a helmet, snow axe, and backpack we mounted the snow- gusts of wind were up to about a gale force 10.  

Climbing was slow but we felt we made we made good progress up the snowy volcano where, at intervals, we stopped and asked how much longer- even after we´d been on the snow for an hour we were only halfway and we were up to about a gale force 15 now!!  With ice and volcano dust swirling on the mountain and hitting us on the face we broached an icey ridge we were to climb over' gusts of wind were easily strong enough now to blow us off the mountain onto icey grounds.. - we were told this was fine- if it happened simply lodge your ice axe into the snow and hold on!!!  

Anyway, this was meant to be a challenge so we soldiered on into a 1:3 climb on snow..  I was imensly proud of Cath to get this far, she, before an hour from the top decided it was just getting too much and the guides left her with another guide who was helping.  I kept on going with the rest of the group- we were climbing our 1:3 ascend with clouds of ice being blown into our faces with regular face down all fours on the ground to avoid being blown off the mountain.  We were told the cold was coming in as well as snow and we needed to move quickly- the group wasn´t really able.  I pioneered with the Chilean and finally we came close to the volcano- with the sound of lava underfoot and surfur in the air it was exciting but visability was nothing.  I thought, ´it would be stupid to go on, there´s no way we´ll see anything on getting to the top and cloud was coming in, we needed to go back´.  The guides didn´t listen so we continued up a 1:2 now and got to the ´top´, hardly anyone could breath because of the sulphur which was burning the lungs and we could even see the volcano!!!  We headed back down in a little bit of a panic, the guides were loosing their heads and telling us to move more and more quickly.  There were weaker members of the group really worrying, it was freezing, we couldn´t see how to get down the mountain and we were going down ridiculous gradients on ice whilst ice was literally being blown into our faces at gale force speeds.  I held my own and followed advice, sliding on bums down the mountain and using the ice axe as a stopping agent was the quickest way down- I took the lead.  

We made it off the snow and I was told Cath was in good hands.  Nevertheless worried I continued down were Cath and I met at the bottom shattered from this adrenaline and terrifying experience.  The tour operator asked me if I enjoyed it when I got back, I replied ´I´m pleased to be back alive, it was bloody dangerous´.  Of course we were the only group to get up that day, it was madness to keep on going into the cloud!

Our hostal has been looking after us well since, we put our sopping wet clothes in front of the fire and warmed ourselves to 3 pots of tea and a great dinner.  I´ve continued to be pretty coldy over the last few days unsurprisingly.  Yesterday we managed a great walk out to Huequehue National Park and saw a great waterfall and lake and have fully recovered our spirits.

Nevertheless after this experience and researching our options for going further south to Patagonia, which will be colder and higher (with really the only activities being offered being hiking) we have reconsidered our route.  Patagonia around 1000km long and impossible to travel by road, unless you cross the Andes, therefore it needs to be travelled by boat.  Seeing it properly means coming within a boat ride of Antarctica and being in one of the most challenging environments- we think to do this properly should not best be done in winter; there are few options for travelling off season and even when we get there we can´t face the possibility of more intrepid walks like the one we´ve just encountered.  With our heads held high we have decided to turn our travels to the North and pop into Argentina for a little wine tasting in Mendoza followed by our journey into the desert and onto Peru.  Tonight we mount our 10 hour sleeper bus journey to Santiago followed by an easterly trip to Mendoza- the next you´ll hear from us will be from the country of Argentina!

Settling into Chile

Now that we have been in Chile 10 days or so we are starting to feel a bit more at home.  From Santiago we took a very comfortable 3 hour bus trip to Quintero, slightly north and on the coast.  It is a busy port town, and nothing special in terms of looks, but there is a little beach suburb nearby called Ritoque which has a very lovely little hostel there run by Angie (and her 2 dogs!).  It is in three small cabins and we were given the mezzanine room in the middle one, where most people spend the evenings either inside by the log burner or outside by the bonfire/BBQ (pic is the view from our bed - not bad?).  For the first couple of days we were joined by a group of Australians and their girlfriends, as well as Angie, her friend Rick and resident right-hand-man Patricio, and others arrived over the five nights we stayed.  It was a great place to relax and do very little. 

The beach at Ritoque is lovely and goes on for miles, with really big sand dunes behind.  In the other direction there is a cliff-top walk which we took one day all the way round to Quintero, where we did some shopping and stretched our Spanish a bit more (did well with the only mishap being the bag of icing sugar we bought instead of flour - but we forgot the dictionary, so what can you do?!).  Sadly the best of the weather didn´t appear until the day we left, but even overcast it was a great place to be.  Tom got some surfing in, and I read lots and we both enjoyed walking on the beach.  One of the most noticeable things about Chile is its relationship with dogs - there are a huge number of them, and no-one has yet discovered the concept of a lead.  It becomes a little difficult sometimes to tell strays from owned dogs, and they´re all pretty vocal in claiming territory from each other.  Mostly I´m getting used to it, but there have been a few hairy moments with particularly large and uncontrolled specimens.  Should have probably had the rabies jab after all, just in case...  Anyway, our latest destination doesn´t have such a plague so things are looking up. 

We are now in Pucon, and spent a couple of days travelling south to get here.  The bus trip back to Santiago from Ritoque was pretty straightforward and then we boarded a train on Chile´s only passenger line.  It´s not a very long line - only goes 5 hours, ending at Chillan, and there are only two services per day so we were on the evening one and didn´t arrive at Chillan till 11:30pm.  It´s a pretty impressive service though, with several conductors on board, and a chap who constantly alternated between mopping the carriage floors and trundling along a big rubbish bin - more legroom than on First Great Western too!  We were quite happy to have a stop-over at Chillan as although the guidebooks don´t give it a rave review, it is the town where Bernardo O´Higgins was born.  Bernardo is revered as the great liberator of Chile from the Spanish and has a suspiciously Irish surname.  We discovered that his father was indeed an Irish imigrant - one Ambrose O´Higgins.  Love it.  Anyway, every town has an Avenida Bernardo O´Higgins (sitting in an internet cafe on one now, and main street in central Santiago is also so-named, etc.) and we have become interested in him.  Imagine our disapointment on (having spent a night in a fairly horrible hostel as the one we booked didn´t stay awake to let us in) finding that his birthplace no longer has the 60m mosiac about his life that the guidebook listed.  The only redeeming feature of the town was our last-minute chance discovery of a statue of the great man in the main square (thinking of writing to Lonely Planet to correct their Chillan chapter...).  We were very happy to finally find Bernardo, and promptly hopped on a 6 hour bus out of town to make our way much further south and slightly east, to the town of Pucon. 

Pucon is a tourist town through and through.  Set on a beautiful lake and with a backdrop of an active volcano (which we are planning to climb tomorrow, weather permitting - fingers crossed its a day when you can see the lava in the crater) it is lined with cute wooden buildings and packed with hostels, hotels, apartments, restaurants, bars and tour operators.  Much to Tom´s disappointment there is no decent culture of bartering so we are having to pay almost full price for tomorrow´s trip, not that it´s too much, but then again that´s not the point...  We are installed in Hostal Sopia for our stay, a cosy place with a constant fire in the log burner, and only a few other people around.  Planning to stick around for a few days as there are hot springs to be visited after the volcano climb, and it´s just generally gorgeous, so why not?