Salar de Uyuni - the world's biggest salt lake

We set off in the morning and met up with the two others we'd be sharing the Jeep with for the 4 day tour, Arry from london and Lesley from the States.

We began our ascent and our first stop was a view over a deep gorge with a dry river bed at the centre, below tall, impressive red craggs. We continued up and up along a winding dirt track, sometimes with steep drops on either side.



After around 7 hours we stopped in a tiny settlement, San Antonio de Lipez at 4200m above sea level, with stunning views of a nearby snow-capped montain and a little church and stream. It was such a peaceful place. Choalitas rounded up a herd of Llamas and lead them across the stream as I sat and watched. Each llama had brightly coloured fabrics woven into their fleece's and around their ears, the traditonal practice of an indigenous festival, giving them the appearance of 'cyber-llamas' returning from some kind of llama rave. As soon as the sun disappeared behind the hills the temperature dropped off quicky, and we felt the harshness of this barren, desolate habitat. We found the bodyof a huge Condor - it was only a juvenile and was still massive, and had apparently died of natural causes.



Interestingly, each of the small mud houses has its own solar panel, supplied by the government, to provide what little electricity the people there use. Looks like even Bolivia is ahead of the UK in solar capacity. Later in the evening the stars shone brilliantly, and the milkyway spread across the sky like a sliver of pale mist. We had a lovely dinner prepared by our guide and his helper, and retired early to our beds to mummify ourselves in piles of thick blankets.


4am start. The air was so cold and thin and Mercury shone bright above the the horizon. After a hearty breakfast and a short drive we stopped at the ruins of an ancient town which had been abandoned. The sun hadn't yet materialised from behind the hills and we wondered around the eerily silent remains of a town which had been abandoned under mysterious circumstances. Apparently bad spirits had decided to move in and people had begun to die, one by one, so the people did a runner - spooky stuff.

We set off again and passed vicuñas (a bit like a deer), some animals that resembled chinchillas and loads of llamas. The sun rose and we enjoyed its warmth as landscape merged into desert.



We stopped at this amazing area of crazy rock formations formed by weathering, including the 'tree of rock'. Spent 30 min or so clambering around on the rocks - I love climbing around on stuff, i'm sure it's a hangover from our ape days. Might have to get involved in a bit of rock climbing when I get home.

There was so much breathtaking scenery we could hardly breath. Actually that was probably the altitude. We reached 4900 m above sea level at one point. The physical effects on your body include shortness of breath and a slight throbbing pressure like sensation on the old cerebrum, a little unpleasant times, but nothing too unbearable. We made like the locals and chewed mouth fulls of coca leaves which seemed to help.


Over the following three days we stopped at stunning glacial lakes with flocks of pink flamingos sifting through the turquoise water, snow capped volcanos and smooth, banded hills looking like scenes from Dali paintings. We stopped at a thermal pool for a dip in waters 30 C warm, checked out some geysers of bubbling mud and eggy sulphurus steam, and mirror-perfect lakes that reflected the surrounding mountains.



On the final morning we drove to the actual salt lakes before sunrise. Salar de Uyuni is the world's largets salt flats at 10,582 km² . About 40,000 years ago, the area was part of the massive prehistoric Lake Minchin. Eventually the lake evaporated, leaving behind Poopo Lake and Uru uru lake, and two major salt deserts including Uyuni. It's the most surreal thing I've ever experienced. It's incredibly vast, white, crispy salt, split into a consistent pattern of cells stretching as far as the eye can see. It felt like walking on hard snow. The sun began to rise. It was a gorgeous moment, ruined temporarily by the our driver blasting some ridiculous 80's classic from the Jeep (can't remember the track, it was a classic, but there's a time and a place - maybe a school disco or wedding, but surely not here). I don't know what he was thinking.
We then headed to the 'island' Lomo Pescado which is just bizzare - an island made of ancient coral reef covered in cacti up to 15 ft tall. I climbed to the top and got an idea of just how huge the flats are. It seemed like a real island in the middle of a calm, white ocean. I'll never forget it.
Met a nice chap called Chaz from Gloucestershire. We chatted about his home on a longboat, and once again it got me thinking about whether or not this could be an option for me one day. Certainly one way of keeping ahead when rising sea levels begin to reclaim the land.

After breakfast at the island, we continued on through the bright sea of salt, stopped to take a few photos, and watched the weekly 'crossing of the train' - the one train which crosses the flats to transport salt and minerals to Chile (whose distant mountains we could see).

It was a great 4 days, even though it was a long time to spend in a Jeep. It was amazing to see so many different landscapes over such a short period of time, and to get a glimpse of Bolivia's natural untainted beauty (well, i suppose it was slightly tainted by the presence of the many tour Jeeps bombing around, including our own). Definately one of the highlights of the trip. We arrived in the town of Uyuni, bought our bus tickets to Potosi for later that evening, ate some mexican food with Chaz, and got ready to move on once again.

A wander around Tupiza

Tupiza

The bus ride from Villazon was awsome. As we made our bumpy ascent into the mountains we passed some fantastic scenery . As the light diminished the black outlines of cacti on the hills resembled an exodus of strange alien figures . We saw our first Llama. After emerging from a mountain tunnel, we spotted the carcass of a coach that had tumbled to it's fate 200 feet below - a reminder of the dangers of Bolivian roads.


We arrived in Tupiza and found a little place for 40 bolivianos a night - roughly 4 quid between us. The balcony looked out onto the jagged red clay mountains that lay on one side, the kitchen over looked the grey rocky hills on the other. Depending on the time of day, the various types of hills and mountains surrounding us would change colour. There were various shades of greys, browns, and reds, and despite being barren and desolate, it was beautiful. From time to time we spotted herds of wild mountain goat clambering amongst the red rocks far and high in the distance.

Tupiza is just under 3000 metres high, and we could feel it- the smallest of actions could leave us feeling breathless.

We met a few other travelers and went to the nearest 'bar'. We were led by a man through the front of his little llama/alpacca clothing shop out into the back, to his new pride and joy - a bar which he hoped would soon be the centre of Tupizza'a nightlife, but which was empty for the moment.

The next day, we went for a bit of a hike, with a French girl called Rafael. The scenery was stunning, and throughout the day I enjoyed moments of the rare sensation of silence. We walked along dried-up riverbeds, between dry shrubs and cacti, climbed a huge rock formation called 'punto del diablo' (the devil's point) and big clay/scree hills that resembled huge solidified globs of volcanic lava. We found huge canyons, and passed high, jagged clay formations that towered above us looking sinister like a landscape lifted straight out of The Lord of the rings. It was somewhere in this region of Bolivia where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid met their maker at the hands of the Bolivian police in 1906. It made a nice change to be able to go for a walk without having to take a guide and pay through the nose.
We met a couple of lovely Irish gals on horses, and later on that night we all met up for dinner.

The next day, we got up and prepared for a 4 day Jeep tour around Bolivia's South West, finishing in the famous 'Salar de Uyuni', the world's largest salt lake.

Bolivia bound

By the time we'd reached the bus station, we'd decided to give the north of Argentina the wide birth, due to tales of dengue death and mayhem. We'd hoped to camp, but came to the conclusion that this was a bad idea. It was mainly Colette who had the doubt - I had been of the opinion that we should find out exactly where the outbreaks were and avoid those areas, not the whole region. However, 2 things made me realise we'd probably made the right choice; as we boarded the bus for Jujuy anyone boarding north bound buses was handed a free big bottle of 'Psst' mosquito repellent, courtesy of the Argentinian government, and during our 30 hour bus ride, I saw south bound traffic being stopped and fumagated by men in boiler suits and masks at least 3 times. Some people complained about over the top media scare mongering and claimed that it was nowhere near as bad as people were saying. We decided against finding out for ourselves. We really were due to be in Bolivia by this point anyway.

We arrived at La Quiaca after dark, and decided to stay the night and cross the border the next morning. Stepping off the bus we could imediately feel Bolivia's proximity. The indigenous blood was evident in the faces of the people and the traditional dress of the women, or 'cholas' who sat huddled in groups amongst their blankets and wears, chewing mouth fulls of coca leaves. As it was Easter saturday we could hear Mass being projected into the night by loud speaker from the church. The mountain air felt clean and crisp after so long in the city, and the beds in the chilly little hotel were necessarily equipped with layers of thick alpaca blankets.


After a good night's sleep we had breakfast and set off for the boarder, which was a 10 minute walk along a disused railway track. It felt like we were walking through the set of an old wildwest movie, rugged and dusty with mountains in the distance.

The boarder crossing was pleasant as far as boarder crossings go. There was no que, the official was cheery and it was all very straighforward and swift. The cheeky face of Evo Morales beamed down at us from a poster hung on the wall (Bolivia's first indigenous president). We walked over a bridge and saw people washing clothes in the river below. Walking up the street we passed Cholas selling fruit, street stalls selling anything from cigarettes to pliers and, behold, juice ladies! We'd being missing fresh fruit juice in Argentina, and hadn't really seen any since Colombia, so we were happy to see the juice ladies with their orange press mobile stalls out in force. Pomello for me, 25p. The street was colourful and buzzed with activity and we traded the last of our Argentinian pesos for bundles of ancient looking Bolivianos. We were in Bolivia.

A few Buenos Aires shots (more to follow)

Buenos Aires Pt III: other stuff

One weekend we visited a guy who lives in the Delta of Tigre, north of the capital. He had bought some land and was hoping to create a sustainable eco-village where couch surfers could come and stay in exchange for a little work. He'd invited anyone on the couch surfers website to come along for a working weekend. It was a beautiful area with rivers lined with weeping willows and a few oaks here and there giving it quite an English feel. We talked of his plans, shared ideas, did a bit of land clearing with machettes and then had a sleep over in a wooden shack on stilts with candles and a bit of a sing song. Was very nice, and met some great people. Unfortunately we left before the Kiwi guy arrived to build an earth oven - really want to pick up some natural construction skills and this would have been a fine chance.



In one unfortunate week I left my card in the cash machine and had my account emptied and had my MP3 player stolen at a hostel. Wasn't too bad in the end though - the bank refunded my money and the guy who was responsible for leaving my MP3 player in a vulnerable place coughed up some cash, whicch was quite a result, but will never make up for the loss of my music.

One night we went out with our friends Yami and Santiago from Colombia to a 'contact dance' night at this big house where a traveller/hippie/new age type community live. There was some live music, some entertaining performance, and plenty of contact dancing - an intimate dance where people dance with each other whilst maintaining body and eye contact. Basically it looks like people rolling around on each other's backs and jigging aound each other in circles whilst always touching. At times it was mesmorising and quite cool to watch, which is all I did - not wearing the appropriate atire of hemp fisherman pants and poncho was my official excuse for not participating. It was a fun night, but once again I was disappointed by the aire of supiriority given out by so called 'hippies'. I've been to my fair share of hippie gatherings and I've often left feeling that the community seemed quite closed and cliquey, and looked down on those who didn't know whether their chakras were open or closed, or who didn't adopt the lotus position and meditate at any given chance. Surely to be open to all people and the desire to share philosophies with others should be the ways of the enlightened hippie? How are you going to change world conscienceness by sticking in closed groups and shunning outsiders or newcomers? Was fun overall though, and had a good old bash at various percussive instruments during the spontaneous jams that broke out through the night.


One day we went with Alcira to a permaculture day, out in the country. It was a nice day out, and made me realise how much I craved some clean country air. We didn't learn that much on the day, as it was all in Spanish, but we did learn about a technique of planting called-Fukaku named after it's Japanese inventor, who is a bit of a legend amongst the permaculture movement. Whilst there, we met a lovely couple called Dave and Elisa. Dave is English and had met Argentinian Elisa in the states back in the day, and they'd both moved to Argentina. They'd lived though Argentina's dark recent years - the 'dirty war' where up to 30, 000 people were 'disappeared' between '76-'83, under Jorge Rafeal Videla's military dictatorship. They currently live in La Plata just outside of BA and run an organisation called MACA (Musica, Arte, Cultura, Ambiente (environment)). As the name suggests, they're involved in the arts and environmental education and work with local youth and schools. I spoke about activism in the UK and they invited me to visit them and do an interview for their radio station.



On our last night we checked out 'La bomba' which is basically a weekly drum circle put on by this amazing percussion group in a little stadium type place just off some random street in the city. We'd heard a lot about it during our stay but had foolishly waited till our last night to go. It was fantastic - the drummers were amazing, it was far more than your average drum circle. These guys took you on a journey through loads of different styles, with intricate layers of complex patterns ranging from samba to an imitation of techno and other electronic genres. They have a 'composer' type guy who directs the group abd each week they have a guest musician play with them, from saxophonists to rappers to turntablists. In our case it was a funky jazz trumpeter. There must have been 500 people or more there, and together we lapped it up, dancing, cheering and drinking - it was true festival vibe! We had met up with our Irish friend Paddy (of Venezuela and Amazon river boat fame), Jeff and Yami, our former couch surfing hosts, and had a wicked last night in the city.


The next day, we'd decided to visit La Plata on our way out of BA, to honour our invitation from David and Elisa. And we're glad we did. David and Elisa are fascinating people and were amazing hosts. We stayed with them in their lovely home for 2 days and met their family, enjoyed Elisa's wonderful cooking, had interesting conversations and learned about what it was like to live through the 'dirty war', and learned more about the Falklands. We visited their friends who live a very sustainable life out in the countryside, and helped them distribute some Fukaku balls (they'd also been to the permaculture course). It was there I did the interview. Sod's law ensured that the one day on the whole trip I had an interview was the one day that a cold and sore throat robbed me of my voice. Literally, my voice had pretty much gone, and to make things worst, at the last minute I was told it would all be in Spanish! However, I soldiered on and with a bit of translation help managed to hold it together. They asked me about the trip, the ship, the voluntary work, activism and my opinions on environmental awareness in Latin America. So soon, my huskey broken spanish will be broadcast throughout the homes of Buenos Aires! Result!

We had the opportunity to camp on their friends' organic farm in La Plata to help out for a few days, but sadly had to decline due to time limits; the extra 4 weeks meant that we really had to push North and head to Bolivia.



It was such a shame that we had no time left to explore the rest of Argentina. There's some stunning areas such as Patagonia and the 'lake district', and loads of opportunity for camping (where we couild have put this blasted tent to use), not to mention the many organic farms we could have worked on through the WOOF network. But we simply had to move on. To stay any longer would have ment cutting time in Bolivia, Peru or Ecuador, all countries with volunteer work we were excited about.



We considered stopping off somewhere in the North of Argentina on our way up North, maybe Salta or Jujuy, but had been warned about an outbreak of dengue fever.

So, still undecided on exactly where we would go, we made our farewells to David and Elisa and took the train back to BA to find a bus to our next destination.

Buenos Aires Pt II: The work bit (Soundtrack:Tango in the streets)

After a few days we got involved with an organisation that works with children living in 'Las Villas' ; the poor neighbourhoods aka slums which circle the city and spread into the smog hazed distance. L.I.F.E. (Lunchamos para una infancia feliz y con esperanza) which translates to ' We strive for a childhood with happiness and hope' http://www.lifeargentina.org/ are doing just that - attempting to give children living in these communities a bit of space in which to play, imagine and be creative, to give them a chance to have a childhood, a phase in life which can be drastically reduced when living in these conditons. It was certainly an eye-opener to see the parts of Buenos Aires that few tourists get a chance to glimpse. The impossible number of tiny shacks appear to hold each other up, in the dusty streets lay huge piles of rubbish - mini landfills where stray pregnant dogs rummage for scraps, and nearby children play games or harrass the dogs. Old beat-up cars and trucks trundle past, "cumbia villera", the genre of music that has emerged from the slums in recent years, blaring from the windows.



Once our mini pulled up, we'd be met by a group of beaming, cheering kids all overjoyed that the LIFE crew were back. After a bit of pushing and shoving to secure a shoulder ride or piggy back, we'd go to one of the small public spaces allocated for the sessions, sometimes just the living room (for living room read bare concrete room, with a few pictures on the walls to liven up the dominant grey, and maybe a CD player in the corner) of somebodys house in the community. The idea is, we help them out with their homework, help them to learn some english, play games and give them something positive to focus on.



Most of the kids were so cute and affectionate, despite living in such tough conditions. Others I found to be more of a challenge, sometimes the older boys could be a bit unpredictable, and at times aggressive, but its to be expected - these kids are tough. In this world so alien to my own childhood, they have to be. Generally though, once they'd accepted you, they'd get stuck into the activities, often with suprising results. I found that doing a little 'beat-box' workshop tends to get even the most non-chalent of the older lads interested. I introduced the tetrapack wallet activity which I do regularly with kids in the UK, and as always it went down a treat.

Many of the kids we worked with were HIV positive. It's tragic to think that already some of them are destined to a shortened life, even before facing the multiple challenges of a life of poverty. A recent phenomenom has been the spread of 'Paco' a cheap, cocaine residue which is now ubiquitos in the slums, and sadly, is used by many young teens. Paco is even more toxic than crack cocaine because it's made mostly of solvents and chemicals like kerosene, with just a dab of cocaine. I can only hope that the little friends I made during my short time there don't fall into that trap.



My time with LIFE was cut short due to the discovery of another project, one which could not have been more perfect for me. Colette found the project description whilst we were studying at Spanish school and rushed to show me. Fundacion Argentina Etoecologia, an NGO based in BA, was looking for an intern to create a programe of climate change education to be used by teachers in primary schools accross Argentina. The internship would last 4 weeks, and require a second week of Spanish school first, to get me up to scratch. I had to apply for the position as I would a formal job, including a cover letter and CV......in Spanish!

So it was set ; 5 more weeks in Buenas Aires. Colette would work at an orphanage whilst I worked on my project. This was a significant change in the grand plan, and the thought of spending that length of time in the big city didn't exactly fill me with joy, but I knew since reading the description that there was no choice in the matter - this was perfect for me and an opportunity I could not refuse. Spreading the word about climate change is partly why I'm here afterall.



So, for 4 weeks I planned and created a short programme of climate change awareness education including teacher's notes on how to use the package effectively. I worked in the apartment of Alcira, FAE's president, in the Constitution area of BA. Other tasks included helping her with translations of letters to other environmental organisations and advising a member of the Argentinian Navy on the impacts of climate change on the marine ecosystem.
Alcira seemed impressed with my work and as a result made me an official representative of the organisation!

Prince Charles must have had the same idea - during my time with FAE he was out visiting South American leaders to try and drive home how close we are to catastrophic global meltdown http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/12/prince-charles-brazil-climate-change-warning. Maybe he's been reading my blog? If so Charley, why didnt you take the boat? Surely not a case of insufficiant time and funds old boy? Really though, big up to the prince meister - he is doing a lot of good stuff for the cause, I only wish others with such high profiles would make some noise.


As we hadn't planned to be in BA for so long, and Argentina is one of the more expensive countries we'll visit, we decided that we had to cut our daily living expenses so that we dont have to make too many sacrifices later in the trip. So, we made a profile on Couch Surfers http://www.couchsurfing.com/ and began looking for people to take us in. The concept is simple; there are many people in the world who like to meet people from other countries/cultures and simply want to help out others, so a network as formed in which people offer space in their homes for people to come and live! For free! I'd heard about it a few years ago, but this was the first time I've been involved.

We've had a good experience so far. We stayed in a palace of a home with a new Argentinian friend, Yami, complete with indoor pool, hooker pipe and our own private room with onsuite bathroom (only the finest marble of course) for a week. We even had a maid! Then we stayed with a guy called Jeff from Oklahoma for 2.5 weeks in his nice 12 story high city apartment, with an amazing view out accross the city and again our own room. It's a different world up there, a community living high above the other city inhabitants, kind of like the canopy high up in the rainforest. There was a dove nesting on his balcony, it's egg hatched during our stay, and we often saw urban birds of prey circling above.

As well as making new friends, we've saved a fair sum of dosh - often its the daily accommodation fees which make up the largest percantage of your daily spending when traveling. And to honour the exchange, we've already offered the homes of our parents to a whole array of fascinating characters, who are probably on their way to England as we speak. He he he, not really, don't worry Mum & Dad, joke!

But really, as soon as I get settled back home I'll definately repay the Karma and have people to stay.