Road to the Salt Flats: Day 1

The gear was all loaded on top of the 'jeep', we'd met our travelling companions; Emily and Vincent from France, Isobel the cook and Mario the driver and finally we were off on the four day tour of South West Bolivia, finishing at the famous salt flats.

The road wound through some of the spectacular scenery around Tupiza

Cactuses, they're everywhere here

The first day involved a lot of driving to get to the more interesting sights.  Mostly it was just the vast Bolivian landscape under the perfect blue of the sky.

There were plenty of llamas to be seen, most with colourful wool 'eartags'

Tiny mining ghost town where we stopped for lunch.
Most of the people are out at the mining camps, returning just for holidays.

Deserted silver mining town

The first laguna, so high and cold

After nearly 10hrs driving we were all very pleased to arrive at the village we were supposed to spend the night at, though it looked pretty barren.  There was, however, a slight snag.  There was no accommodation.  We drove round for half an hour, Mario and Isobel knocking on doors, but there were too many jeeps and not enough beds.

So on we went, for another hour and a half, slightly concerned that there would be no beds at the next place either. The good side to this was being able to watch the sun set and see the colours run through the sky.  Later a thin sliver of moon hung in front of us.

Delicate colours transform a stark landscape

Much to our relief there was plenty of room at the purpose built rough hostel we arrived at in the dark.  The stars were phenomenally bright and everywhere, including our room, was very cold.