Travel Journal: Bolivia.
Since I don't have any travels planned for August, I thought a travel journal (thrown back) of my trip to South America would be a good idea to keep the blog active. Also, its format will be slightly different from my other entries (WARNING: very lengthy but loads of good info!)
The year was 2014, our journey to South America was truly an arduous one, especially when we were traveling all the way from Singapore. Singapore Airlines was still operating SQ68 (SIN-BCN-GRU) and being typical Singaporeans/crew we wanted to fully utilize this route before it stopped. We hopped on the 77W and continued to Barcelona - São Paolo - Lima - Cusco - La Paz - Uyuni, by the time we checked-in to our hostel in Uyuni we had traveled for more than 40 hours and we felt like we were decomposing!
Uyuni, Bolivia
We chose Bolivia mainly for the Salar de Uyuni (salt flats) but there are also the different lagunas and Incan heritage sites worth visiting, a pity we did not have enough time to explore. Uyuni is a very tiny town with an even tinier airport (I think it's the smallest one I've been to!) Since the altitude was around 12,000 feet our body had a hard time acclimatising, this was before we visited Tibet and my first time experiencing such an intense high altitude sickness. Our arrival was around 3pm and we checked-in to the hostel, Piedra Blanca Backpackers Hostel, where two rooms cost us close to US$200 for 3 nights.
After taking some time to freshen up, we took a walk around the cute little town and the buildings looked like they belong in a Wes Anderson movie. To be honest the place also looked gritty, but nothing too severe. We did not book any tour prior to our arrival and I definitely recommend not to because the exact tour could be quoted very differently throughout the day. Most of the tour “agencies” were located in the heart of Uyuni, we went in to a few to compare the prices and ended up booking a day tour at one that was a minute walk from our hostel - iirc it was 700 Bolivianos (around US$100) for the four of us.
We crashed pretty early that evening as the town was quite dead after dinner time, plus the temperature could get to as low as 8°c (in April) so it was wiser to stay warm indoors. No thanks to the jetlag, I woke up at around 5am and had to wait for the owner to turn on the wifi router. While waiting for our tour guide to get ready his Land Cruiser, we were introduced to two girls from Spain (Bilbao to be exact) who would be joining us for the day.
Quick tip! Slap on loads of sunblock and bring a good pair of shades as you will soon see in the photos, Bolivia has close to no clouds and the sun can get VERY harsh especially at that altitude. Also, in between sights you might spot llamas(!) munching on grass so get the driver to stop for photos, they'd be happy to accommodate.
1. Cementerio de Trenes
First stop was the train cemetery which was a short drive from Uyuni town, I believe it was even walking distance. This “graveyard” was filled with rusted trains that date back to the early twentieth century because the initial plans to grow Uyuni as a transportation hub were thwarted due to geographical, political and technical reasons. Come early if you want to avoid photobombers (see photo below urgh!)
2. Colchani Town
Our driver/guide then did a quick stop at a “deli” in Colchani to get some pork sandwiches which we were going to have at the Salar. This town was also the gateway to the Salar and there were several stalls selling souvenirs and handmade items. You could easily tell that the living conditions in Colchani was very basic.
3. Salar de Uyuni
As the salt flat covered a huge area, we had plenty of unpolluted space to enjoy. Our guide told us that the wet season just passed and the reflective parts of the salar that we normally saw in photos would not be in best form so he took us to the dry parts, including the bizarre hexagonal salt formation that went on for miles. The silhouette photo that Ping Ting took of me there (see below) still remains as one of my favorite travel photos!
The salar was also where we had lunch and our guide somehow managed to cramp in a foldable picnic table which made the lunching experience much better. After some cokes, bananas and sandwiches, we continued with around an hour of photo-taking. We even got the Spanish girls to join us in the fun!
4. Isla Incahuasi
Right in the middle of the salar was a small island that's filled with gigantic cacti. Most of the tour guides would stop by this attraction on the way back to Uyuni and that was what ours did too. On the isla I spotted a few locals who peddled souvenirs but they were not the friendliest people. Visitors are able to embark on a small cacti trail but should be very careful with thorns.
Uyuni through my iPhone ↴
Enchiladas & tacos at one of the town's restaurants. Forgot where but I think it might be Italiana.
Somewhere over the Peruvian sky.
Our tiny Amaszonas CRJ at Uyuni's Joya Andina Airport.
When we left the isla our driver drove to a spot to watch the sunset before heading back to Uyuni town and that was a very magical experience. Perhaps the altitude sickness was messing with my head a little? I think Uyuni was definitely the highlight of our South American trip, mainly because it was nothing like I've seen before in previous travels. Onward we went to our next stop, Peru, where we experienced the breathtaking Inca ruins of Machu Picchu...
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