The Lakes District

Over 18 hours after leaving Mendoza, we finally arrived in Pucon, Chile and I felt at home straight away. It felt like a little ski village in the Alpes, but "South American-ised". Lots of wooden chalets lined the definite blocked streets with ski rental shops and tour agents occupying a large number of them. The whole town is in the shadow of the impressive Villarrica volcano, which we were lucky enough to see at sunrise the morning we arrived. It also lays on the shore of the Villarrica Lake. A quick stroll around the lake and it is easy to see why this place has become one of the lost important tourist destinations in southern Chile. The sand is black, as it comes from volcanic rock, which might not make the best sunbathing surface, but the views are really very special. 

The town was completely deserted when we arrived. At about 9 o'clock we finally found a restaurant whose owner, although they were still closed, was up and about. He kindly let us in for a coffee and to figure out somewhere to stay. We found a hostel called Emafequen, run by perhaps the nicest hostel owner we have come across so far (and her name was Ema!). We ended up with a cabin on the property, with our own room and a kitchen, bathroom and (most appreciated) a sitting room complete with a TV and a wood burning stove which we shared with some lovely holidaying Brazilians. It was fantastic to have a place which seemed almost like a home for a few days, and we made full use of it kicking back each evening to watch films and even toast marshmallows over the fire! 

An ascension of the volcano is one of Pucon's most popular tourist attraction. Having recovered from Huyana Potosí, we were keen to get the top of a volcano, as we had heard that you could see right into the crater. However after speaking to several tour agents, it became apparent that reaching the top in the middle of winter was rare: the ice during the last stages of the climb is so hard that crampons and ice picks cannot pierce it. Eventually, we decided that the money would be better spent elsewhere. We therefore spent out days trekking through the incredible landscape, including a day in the Huerquehue National Park. The hike involves a few hours of uphill walking to reach to top of a ridge. From there, you reach a series of lakes: the Lagunas Chico, Toro and Verde. The are beautiful, made perhaps more picturesque by the snow and ice laying atop them.  The hike itself was also stunning as the path wound its way through the snowy forest. It was a veritable winter wonderland! 

It was difficult leaving our lovely cabin in order to move on to our next stop, however keeping up a good pace is key to travelling the way we are! Therefore, it was back on a bus even further south to what is known as the gateway to Patagonia: Puerto Montt. The town itself is rather drab and grey, but the lodging was cheap and it was only a short bus ride away from Puerto Varas which is much more geared towards tourism and outdoor pursuits. From there we spent a day hiking to another jaw droppingly gorgeous lake and a set of awe inpiring waterfalls. They were by no means the largest, tallest or even the most powerful falls I've seen, however they all fell together to make the water coming out of the falls pure white against the incredibly clear, turquoise water of the river. 

This was to be our last stop on Chile, and it seemed like our time there really flew past! It's an amazing country, and even though we were there a few weeks, we went to the desert, skied and boarded on a mountain, we went to the beach and walked the shores of lakes surrounded by volcanoes. My preconceived notion of a country which has everything was not tainted, and I had a fantastic time there. However, we wanted to give enough time to our last two countries, Argentina and Uruguay and with only a month left, it was time to move on. 

The first city on our list was Bariloche on the edge of Patagonia. In the winter, tourists flock here from far afield primarily to ski at one of the largest and modern of South America's resorts called Cerro Catedral. It is particularly popular with Brazilians, who, as we were informed by a Brazilian we meet on the bus into town, jokingly call it Braziloche as you are more likely to run into a Brazilian than an Argentinian! 

On a bit of a whim, and using the money we had set aside for the volcano in Pucon which we never climbed, we decided to head up on the hill! We knew that money would come in handy somewhere! This time, instead of skis, I joined Tanya on a snowboard. We had a brilliant day and were again lucky with the weather. I was particularly grateful for this, as the views were first class, and certainly the best I have even seen from a ski resort. Two lakes are visible from the top of the mountain, as well as the city below and the mountain range behind. I am struggling to find the words to describe just how wonderful the scenery was, and there were times when you felt like you were boarding into the void of the lake. Simply beautiful. 

We spent our second day in Bariloche cycling around the "Circuito Chico", a popular bike ride around a peninsula which juts out into on the lakes. The views were even better than the lake views we had seen so far, and the 28km flew by in a blur of pine trees and clear, blue water. There were several viewpoints along the way and we were hopefully able to capture some of the beauty on the camera. We also made a couple of stops on the way, one to a smokery where we were able to try smoked venison, cheese, salmon and trout; and one to a path over a "roman bridge" (built in the 1930's) which also lead to the Laguna Escondida (Hidden Lake), where the reflection of the mountain behind shone perfectly in the middle of the clear water. That night we ate a cheese fondue which, amusingly, included hot dog sausages, apple pieces and potato balls to dip in the cheese alongside the usual bread! 

We left our big bags at the hostel the next day and headed off for a two day excursion to San Martin de Los Andea. The bus over follows the "Ruta de los Siete Lagos" (the Route of the 7 Lakes), which, as the name implies, provides incredible views of (more) beautiful lakes. We only had a few of hours of daylight left once we arrived in the town, so we walked a couple of hours up to a mirador which had great views over the town and the lake. On our way we passed through a little village where we saw a farmer driving his oxen and cart home, with a chainsaw in the back suggesting that he had been logging. That evening we pottered around the town for a while, sticking out heads into some of the exquisite chocolate shops the region is well known for. After telling the owner of one shop that I was from Belgian, we even scored a sample of a delicious Ducle de Leche filled chocolate. Yum!

The next day we managed to hitch a ride with a family headed to Villa la Angostura, the next town on the way back to Bariloche. They had some brilliant anecdotes about the surrounding area, for example one of the rivers which adjoins two of the lakes is know as the shortest river in the world, being only 100m long! It was also great to see the views of the Ruta de Los Siete Lagos from a car rather than a bus as it was easier to strain a look at the various lakes. 

From Villa la Angostura we entered the

Arrayanes National Park and hiked the 26km round trip to the "Bosque de los Arrayanes", a wood dominated by the Arrayane tree. We had already come across this unusual species, easily identifiable by its orange coloured, peeling bark, but this wood was dominated by these particular trees. Allegedly, the Arranyanes forests of the region were visited by Walt Disney and inspired the scenery for Bambi. The other side of the wood there were some fabulous views over one of the surrounding lakes. The day was drawing quickly to an end however and we had to make the return journey at a swift pace in order to be back before dark. We made it to a viewpoint over the lake for sunset, which made the hard, fast walking completely worth it! Back in the town, we managed to scoff a rather large pizza each before jumping on a bus back to Bariloche. 

The following day, our adventure on the edge of Patagonia came to an end, as we were keen to move up north for the chief reason that we wanted to escape the bitter cold! It was another day and night on a bus, all the way to Mar del Plata. I will leave our stories from there and beyond to the next post as I fear I may have gone on a bit with the current one. However, I hope you enjoyed it and rememeber to keep an eye out for the next! 

Lots of love,

Emma 

Mendoza

Once again we were on a bus heading towards a border crossing. This time however, only for a short hop over to Argentina before heading back to Chile within a few days. After having consulted a map, we realised it would make more sense to tick Mendoza off our list from Santiago, with it only being 8 short hours away. Therefore, we set off for wine country, only to find that the bus journey alone was almost worth the journey for the views it offered. The pass between Chile and Argentina at this longitude climbs straight over the Andes (something which was to cause us some hassle later on).  At one point, I looked up and saw a chair lift climbing steadily right above our heads, and we went past several other ski resorts on the way. At the border crossing itself it became apparent that we had arrived in Argentina as the only snack available was a Milanese, which in Argentina means a sandwich filled with steak (of course), cheese, ham and salad. 

We arrived in Mendoza just as dusk was falling and had some trouble finding a room, as the local holidays were still on. However, when we did find a hostel, we found it to be a friendly place and we meet some people from Buenos Aires. They took us out to some bars where, to our delight, they played rock music of all types. This made a big change from the usual mix of Spanish/American hip hop/rap and Andean music, which was getting rather old!

The next day we spent walking around the town, which turned out to have a beautiful park. It reminded me of European parks, half way between Hyde Park and the Retiro in Madrid. We spent the entire afternoon there, finally reaching the Cerro de Gloria, from the top of which we had a fantastic of the city, even though the day was slightly grey. Right at the top of the hill, there is an enormous statue, with everything from horsemen to mythical creatures to dinner party scenes depicted in the form of bronze statutes and murals. We also stumbled unwittingly across the art museum, which was exhibiting some Joan Miró paintings, with free entrance for the holiday period. The rest of the day was taken up with boring errands, mainly surrounding out attempts at buying bus tickets back to Chile. The problem was that there was heavy snow over the pass back over, and the company could not guarantee that we would make the journey without having to turn back. 

This worry nagged us for the next two nights but we put it to the back of our minds for the following day's excursion to the wineries which Mendoza is famous for. The typical tourist trail which we followed is generally done in the summer, as it involves hiring a bike and cycling several kilometres between the "Bodegas". The girl in the tourist office seemed genuinely surprised that we were willing to attempt it in the cold (until we explained that we were English and were used to the cold!). 

We meet an English couple on the bus over to Maipu, the base town for the tour, and joined up with them for the afternoon, with our first stop being a small olive oil manufacturer. We learnt about olive and olive oil production but the best part of the tour was the tasting session! We dipped bread into different oils, vinegars as well as tapenades. We then had a chance to try the farm's homemade jams and spirits. We sampled chocolate vodka, with chocolate chips floating around, as well as Dulce de Leche with banana and finally absinthe. 

Our second stop was the Familigia de Tomasi winery, founded by Italian migrants. There we learnt much about wine production and the processes involved, especially about the ageing processes and how it can change the character and flavour of wines. After the tour was the tasting, which included, among others, a Malbec (of course), an a delicious dessert wine. We visited one further winery, which was founded just under feb years ago by a French ex-pat. He had been working in Mendoza for an international company and simply decided to retire and set up a wine making business! There again we sampled some gorgeous wine, and learnt more about how to appreciate the sublte differences between them. 

Bright and early the next morning, we made out way to the bus station not sure if the pass would be open and whether the journey back was possible or not. After several hours of waiting, they sent us on our way and, thankfully, the journey went as planned. The scenery was even more beautiful that the way out, with the new snow making everything look fresh and clean. After that 8 hour journey, it was onto another (12 hour!) bus from Santiago as we headed south into the lake districts. Pucon was our first destination, and I will be sure to have you updates soon with news of our adventures on the edge of Patagonia! 

Lots of love, 

Emma 

Santiago and Valparasio

We arrived in Santiago one rather grey morning and quickly settled into our lodgings, and got ready for the activity we were most excited about based from the city: skiing and snowboarding. My godfather Steven deserves a special mention at this point, as we were afraid that this sport was going to be beyond our budget on this trip however he was incredibly generous and offered to gift the excursion to us. It was certainly one of the things highest on my list to do in South America, being a little obsessed with snowsports, therefore I would like to take this opportunity to thank him once again: thank you Steven! 

The mountains, including the resort we were to go to, Valle Nevado, are just a short two hour drive from Santiago, and we booked up for two full days on the slopes leaving each morning from the city and returning at night. It seems amazing that this is possible and the perks of Chile's capital were beginning to become apparent to me! That afternoon we were also able to squeeze in a little bit of sightseeing, taking in the beautiful main square and the old/new architectural contrasts.   

We awoke early the next day, very excited to be heading off up the hill. The scenery on the way was amazing in itself: never have I driven past cacti in the hills on the road up to the ski slopes before! As we climbed we also drove past small herds of cows, donkeys and horses which would occasionally wander across the road, seemingly unaware of the distress they were causing to the drivers on the road. About two thirds of the way up, snow started to appear on the ground and before we knew it (and just about at the point where we thought the driver's terrible taste in music might have driven us crazy!), the resort appeared in front of us. The main building was very modern and included the entrance to Chile's first gondola type ski lift. We were kitted out in there with much better equipment than I had expected and headed out into the snow! The snow this year has been less good than what was hoped. After a very good start to the season, they have had little more to top up, however the base layer is solid and there is enough to get round a lot of the mountain. On the (very) bright side, the weather was absolutely fantastic, there was not a cloud in the sky either day and it was just cold enough that the snow was not turning to slush but not cold enough to need more than a few layers. By Southern Hemisphere standards, the resort is large, and there was certainly enough to keep us more than occupied over the two days. The resort boasts an excellent variety of runs, nothing super challenging bit mostly sweeping and wide which is perfect for a short trip. I cannot explain how amazing it was to be back out on skis, especially, as we kept noting with disbelief, as it was July - so strange for us, coming from the Northern Hemisphere!

The two days came and went far too quickly, however we knew there was plenty more that Santiago had on offer so the next day (albeit after a bit of a lie in!), we went in search for some sights and culture. The rather grey picture we had perceived the first day was shattered under a glorious sun. As we walked through the centre of the city, we saw more beautiful buildings, such as the national theatre and many stunning modern glass structures. We then came to the Cerro Santa Lucia (Santa Lucia Hill) and climbed right to the Castillo at the top for wonderful views over Santiago. We also visited both the National Fine Art gallery and that of Modern Art. The former was certainly better at the time of our visit, as the latter was having some building works which only left onlu one exhibition on display. That evening we sampled what the city had on offer in terms of a nightlife. This included trying the infamous drink known as a Terremoto, or Earthquake, made up of a concoction of pineapple juice, wine,  Fernet (a herby dark liquor) and a couple of scoops of ice cream on the top! We spent on final day in Santiago the following day, resting up and making plans for our next stages.

First on our list was the holiday playground of the wealthy of Santiago: Valparasio and neighbouring Viña del Mar. We arrived with just enough time in the afternoon to take a walk around the latter, past casinos and castles built by the wealthy of the past and present. We finished off the day watching the sun set over the sea on a beach packed with holidaying Chileans (it being the winter holiday period) with an ice cream. It was perfect. 

The next day also involves lots of walking as we took in the sites of Valparasio. The walls of the main tourist and residential "hill" neighbourhoods are covered with intricate and, mostly, beautiful graffiti. The Cerro Bellavista (Bellavista Hill), even has a Museo de Cielo Abierto or "Open Sky Museum" of wall paintings by previous students of the art museum, some now well known artists. In the same neighbourhood we visited one of the houses which previously belonged to the Nobel Prize winner Pablo Neruda, from which there is a wonderful view over the bay. The view from the, otherwise somewhat disappointing, Museo del Mar de Lord Cochrane was also superb, looking directly over the main square. We also rode in one of the infamous elevators which take you up to the various hills and lunched on seafood soup. I've never seen so many different types of seafood in one dish! 

That evening we sat watching the world go by, on some steps near our hostel looking at a beautiful view over the sea and drinking mate (herbal tea) with two Argentian girls. The hostel, as we have found in more and more Chilean hostels, had more Chileans and Argentinians, which means we are practicing our Spanish more and more! We spent the evening therefore chatting with the other residents over piscocolas (pisco mixed with coke) and beer. 

Early the next morning we left on a bus bound for Mendoza, Argentina - yet another country on our list. We plan to return to Chile after our visit there, as geographically it makes more sense on our route. I look forward to telling all about this area famous for its wine production in the next instalment!

Lots of love,

Emma

Northern Chile

Soon after completing our mountain mission, it was finally time to move on from Bolivia, and into Chile. We took a bus all the way from La Paz down to the coastal town of Arica, where we spent a night in the grimmest and dirtiest guesthouse I have ever stepped into! Our neighbour spent a good hour as we were trying to get to sleep making so much noise that the only thing I could imagine he was doing was breaking up all the furniture in his room! However, the town was pretty, and even boasts a church designed by Gustave Eiffel and constructed in separate units in his Paris studio, before being sent out to be assembled in situ. It was lovely to be by the sea again, and the weather was certainly much milder than in La Paz! The sea itself was wild, and we spent the afternoon walking down the beaches watching the waves crash against the rocks.

That evening, we took a short five hour bus ride down to the larger town of Iquique, which also sits along the sea. The waves here were even bigger, and we were informed that surfers were even being fined for attempting to go in the water as the coast guard considered it too dangerous. It was incredible to watch those brave or stupid enough to head out though!

Iquique is home to a duty free mall, and we were excited at the prospect of finding some cheap electronics. Disappointingly however, the prices seemed the same if not inflated from those at home! We also visited the abandoned nitrate processing plant and associated village in the desert just outside Iquique, called Humberstone. It was an eerie place, filled with huge empty warehouses and some of the old machinery, including several steam engines. Surrounding the factory was an entire small town, where the workers and their families lived. There were two schools, two squares, quite a large hotel and a swimming pool, so it had been no small village. It was very interesting to see the different types of dwellings for the overseers and the workers, which you could still see furnished as they would have been. 

From Iquique, we headed to one of Chile's most important tourist destination: San Pedro de Atacama, in the middle of the Atacama desert. The town itself is small and rather uninteresting, built to cater solely for tourists. We found a quaint residencial run by a French lady and her Chilean partner, who is a musician. The house was constantly filled with music, with the whole family and friends practicing and performing all through the day and night. It was lovely to stay in a less faceless and emotionless place than a lot of the hostels we pass through. 

There are countless travel agents in San Pedro which run many tours in the surrounding area. Our first outing consisted of hiring some bikes and cycling throug the Valle de la Luna (the Valley of the Moon), so named for the moon like appearance of the landscape produced by the solidification of the sand in strange structures, and covered by a dusting of salt. We stopped off at various view points through the park, and even went through a few caves under the sand. At sunset, we walked up to the top of a dune for an amazing view over the while area. The only flaw in this plan was the lack of lights on our bikes for the hour long cycle back to the town, but thankfully we made it back alive! 

The second tour we took was to the SPACE observatory that very evening, where an excellent astronomer guide gave us a talk on astronomy in general and specifically the sky you see in the Southern Hemisphere. We even had a chance to look through the teb telescopes they had set up, and saw some incredible sights such as clusters of stars which shone like gems in different colours, and a pair of stars orbiting around a point together. The best of all however was a perfect view of Saturn, complete with its ring. It was so clear, it simply looked like a cartoon drawing! To round off the night, we sat around wrapped up in blankets with hot chocolate asking any last minute questions about the sky, stars, suns, moons and planets. It was certainly an eye opener, and I am so glad that we had the chance to see the beautiful sky, full of so many stars, in a place with so little light pollution. 

The next day, we woke up at 4am to head out into the highlands and see the Tatio Geysers. Due to having missed the geysers on the salt flat tour thanks to the blizzard (see two posts previous), we were very keen to see those near to San Pedro, and we were not disappointed! After the two hour drive up to the altiplano from San Pedro, the sight of the tall columns of steam rising up from the ground in the early morning light was something to behold. We spent a couple of hours listening to the explanations of the various type of geysers and how they are formed from our guide. We had a lovely breakfast out of the back of our jeep and even took a dip in a natural thermal pool fed from the geysers. The morning ended with a visit to a tiny indigenous village, where only about eight people live at any one time to tend to the llamas, while the other fifteen or so inhabitants live down the valley in order for the kids to be able to go to school. 

After a couple of fantastic days in San Pedro, it was time to keep moving south. We took a night bus to Calama, from where we traveled to the tiny beach resort of Bahia Inglesa for the day. We had a lovely, relaxing day, and it was even warm enough (for us tough English girls!) to sunbathe for a while. We treated ourselves to a scrumptious seafood meal, sampling local scallops and sea snails, which were surprisingly good! In the afternoon, we meet some hippies who were setting up a drug rehabilitation centre in the bay, and ate more scallops and a gorgeous home made soup. One of them was a jewellery artist, and we bought a couple pairs of lovely earrings from him. That evening, we hopped on another bus, this time with destination Santiago, from where I write this post. There are several things to do and places we'd like to visit around here, and I will be sure keep you updated on our progress in the next post. 

Lots of love,

Emma 

Huyana PotosÍ

This post will quite likely be very short, as it only covers the events of three days, however they were so tough and they mean so much to me, I thought they deserved a post of their own. We had decided to attempt to climb a mountain, and had chosen Huyana Potosí (6088m). If we achieved it, we bagged our first 6000m peak, which is about 1800m higher than the highest mountain I've climbed before. I knew that the snow and the altitude would make it difficult but I had no idea how much it would take out of us. I think it might be the hardest physical effort I have ever undertaken.

We arrived at base camp on the first day, freshly kitted out with our (rather old and badly fitting) equipment. We spent that afternoon learning to use the crampons and ice picks on a glacier an hours hike from camp. The altitude (around 4800m) was already making is breathe heavily, and the idea of going so much higher was already a little concerning! 

The next day, the real challenge began. We had a three hour hike up to high camp, which sounded like nothing. However, we had to carry all the gear we would need for the final climb, including the crampons and ice picks, helmets and gloves, sleeping bags and warmer clothes. The altitude really started kicking in, and walking uphill in snow, with crampons for the last two hours, was hard. We made it up, but we were worried for the next day. We went to bed early, at about 6, as we were to get up at 1.30 to start the final ascent. 

I'm not quite sure how to describe the final 4/5 hours of walking up to the top. They really were hellish. We were tied in a line together, with the guide in the guide in the front, followed by Tanya and finally myself. I hadn't really eaten, having not felt very well in the morning, and it was struggle to take more than 10 paces at a time. My eyes were closing involuntarily. There were parts which were so steep we had to use our ice picks and climb up with our crampons. We even had to jump over a couple of narrow, buy extremely deep crevasses! At 5800m, with so little left to go, I began really struggling. However, our guide then pointed out the 100m up to 6000m and finally up to the summit itself. This gave us the push we needed to carry on. Once we reached 6000m, the final ascent followed a narrow ridge, in certain areas so narrow one couldn't place both feet next to each other! This final part was perhaps my favourite, as it was actually less steep, and the sun was slowly rising revealing incredible views of other mountains, La Paz itself and mountain lakes (including Lake Titicaca!). Tanya was perhaps a little more peturbed by this part, having a small fear of heights, but she did fantastically and eventually, after all the mental and physical exertion, we finally made it to the summit! It was a fanatastic feeling, and the views were superlative. The reality hasn't really set it, but we had made it! 

The way down the mountain was in some ways worse than the way up. We were so tired and still so hungry and the guide was pushing us to hurry as the snow was melting increasing the avalanche risk. By the time we reached high camp we were at the end of our tethers. I wasn't sure we'd make it down any further! A couple of Oreo biscuits later and our guide was again edging us on down. To cap it all off, Tanya's knee started to hurt, and we once again had heavy packs to carry. However, somehow, very slowly, we finally reached base camp, nine hours after leaving high camp that morning. I was done, I couldn't even eat, and I slept most of the way back to La Paz. 

Even a couple of days later we are still recovering and suffering with coughs, sore throats and extreme tiredness. Apparently, on average, 30% of a group do not make it up to the top and all of ours did. The mental and physical effort was huge, but the feeling of achievement was worth every moment. I'm so glad we took the challenge and succeeded, however we certainly need a rest before our next trek or other physical trip! We are now heading for Chile, and aim to find a beach! The weather won't be warm, but certainly warmer than up a snowy mountain! I will keep you updated soon with our first days in another new country. 

Lots of love, 

Emma 

Tupiza and the 4x4 tour up to the Uyuni salt flats

Leaving Potosí proved to be more difficult than we first expected, as the driver of the bus we had booked decided that there were too few passengers to make the journey worthwhile. The company neglected to tell us, the passengers, of this decision, resulting in a wasted hour at the bus station. In the end, we took a shared taxi with another couple of travellers, and the comfort was certainly appreciated. The addition of the aforementioned travellers, two lovely Irish guys, bought out little party up to six, as we were already travelling down with an English guy we had met in La Paz, and a Swiss girl we had originally met whilst swimming with the dolphins in the pampas, and whom we'd run into again in Potosí. 

It turned out to be a fantastic group, and the first night and day in Tupiza were great fun. The highlight for me, of course, was the five hour horse ride through the incredible red rock scenery which provided the backdrop for the final days of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Unfortunately, accessing the actual scene of their final moments would have meant a much longer, camping, tour however I feel that we certainly got the feel for the area, which included incredible canons and vast colour changes - from the red rock to green rock all punctuated with stunning cacti. We were even given chaps and sombreros to wear so we felt very western! I was given a lovely little grey mare who flew like the wind (though not as fast as Ginger!). As we were having a gallop up ahead on our own, she even took me down a path with a little jump cheeky pony, and I surprised several hikers and a goat herder as we careered round a corner in a cloud of dust, with my hat almost flying off! 

The following day, the six of us joined three further tourists on a four day tour in a 4x4 up through fantastic scenery first through the area surrounding Tupiza, then through the Altiplano (high planes) and ending at one of the largest salt flats in the world outside Uyuni. 

We ended up having really quite an adventure! The first day passed as expected as we drove along a very bendy road flagged by deep canons (Mum would have hated the trip already), until the scenery changed into the bare landscape of te Altiplano. Here, the temperature dropped fast and we were already faced with snow and icey rivers to cross. We stopped often to take pictures of the wonderful views, which included a slightly creepy derelict village which was apparently abandoned due to a haunting! We stayed the night in very basic accommodation, where the temperatures inside was about -8 degrees which was cold but nothing compared for what we were in for next! 

The next day we were back in the jeep early heading to our first destination: the strange rock formation called L'Arbol de Piedra or "Rock Tree". This does have a remarkable resemblance to a tree, and the general scenery was still making us look twice. I never tired of watching the llamas and wild vicuñas grazing the bleak plains, and we saw plenty more wildlife including ostriches and at the end of the second morning, a lake full of flamengos. We stopped early for lunch and had some free time to soak in a hot spring. I was slightly apprehensive at first, as it was actually snowing outside by this time, however once we were in it was wonderful. We even got out and rolled in the snow and jumped back in! 

After too short a time, it was time to dry off and head in for lunch. Then the real adventure began! We plan for the afternoon was to head to the Laguna Verde, or "Green Lake", and then on to see the geysers. Unfortunately, we never made to it to either as we were caught in a blizzard. We ended up in a convoy of about a dozen other jeeps, driving through the snow for about 5 hours. The drivers simply couldn't find a way through, and I suspect they were rather lost at some points as well. A helpful Canadian tourist even tried to help by lending his GPS system to them, though it seemed to me that they might have been lacking a map, so I'm not sure how much help that would have been. After several close calls, where jeeps were stuck in snow up hills, and several loops of the same area, finally the snow started to abate and the last planned stop for the day, the Laguna Colorada (Coloured Lake), appeared in front of us. It was the perfect time to see it, just at sunset and it was spectacular, and we felt as if it hadn't been a day lost. It was very cold however so we didn't stay long but headed swiftly on to our stop for the night. The temperature dropped to -15 degrees inside there and we coped by burning dried fungus and making hot whiskeys with honey and lemon to keep the chill out! 

The third day was centred around a line of lakes, where we were reassured that we would have plenty of opportunities to capture photos of flamengos especially. We were not disappointed, there were more flamengos at each lake, as well as opportunities for some incredible shots of vicuñas, and even both animals together. It's hard to explain how beautiful the surroundings were - the gorgeous lakes surrounded by snowy peaks were the perfect background for such wonderful creatures. 

We had lunch outside served out of the back of the jeep in the company of several mountain chinchillas which were adorable. In the afternoon, we drove to a ancient burial site, which also served as a mirador over the very edge of the salt flats. We were nearing the main attraction of this trip, the Uyuni salt flats, among the largest in the world. That night, we stayed in a hostel made entirely of salt. We would visit the first of its type the next day, but those built on the salt flats itself have been outlawed for environmental reasons. However, the hostel was fantastic (not least because it had hot showers, a luxury we had not had for the last 2 nights!), as everything was indeed made out of salt. The walls were made out of salt bricks, as were the tables and chairs, and even the floors! We whiled away the evening happily accompanied by a couple of magnums of red wine which a cholita (traditionally dressed lady) was selling in the hostel! 

We awoke before dawn the next day in order to drive out onto the salt flats and see the breathtaking sunrise from there. We had breakfast on one of the five islands in the flats, Inka Wasi, or the Inca's Home. The island was covered in cacti and was amazing to wander around. We then drove out into the salt flats again and spent a good two hours taking hundreds of the stereotypical perspective pictures which the flats lend themselves so well to. I have to say, we got some good ones, and I hope to share them with you all at some point! We did see the original salt hotel, though I was a little underwhelmed after our excellent salt hostel, and we ended the morning at a train cemetery, which is exactly what it is described as! All the old spanish steam trains are simply abandoned on the outskirts of Uyuni, which again makes for great photos! 

Uyuni itself is possibly one of the most depressing places I have ever visited. We had a few hours to kill before our bus back to La Paz, and it was a few hours too long. However, it was back to La Paz we were heading, as next on our list was to attempt to climb out first peak over 6000m,Huyana Potosí (6088m), which towers over the city. I hope to let you know how we get on soon in another post. 

Lots of love, 

Emma