We are back on the road of decent internet speeds, some half-english-speaking people, and food that is no longer just described on the menu as "meat". We left La Paz on a 13 hour bus to Uyuni, which is the port of call you have to make when going on the Salt Flats tour. We didn't even stay in Uyuni 1 night as its a bit of a kip, but it was a necessary means to an end. The Salt Flats tour was a 3 day \ 2 night trip that cost 50 Eur, all food and accommodation included. The first night we stayed in a hotel, which was made entirely from salt, walls, tables, beds, the works. It was pretty cool, even if not the most comfortable. We also only had electricity between 7 and 9 in the evening, then it was all candles and cold showers. The tour basically consists of driving for hours to get from one touristy spot to another. The Salt Flats themselves are covered in the first few hours, but are really impressive. Its just like the flattest landscape on earth, made of salt. Because its so flat, you can do funny perspective photos, something to do with relativity, or the lack of it. Its an optical illusionists dream, if such a person exists.
The second night we stayed in a hostel at 5000 metres above sea level. This led to a couple of issues, 1) at night, the temperature dropped to -12 degrees (we had no heating other than our beer jackets) and 2) we went playing football with some of the local kids, and after 15 minutes not 1 of us could breath. Altitude is a bitch.
The next morning we were up at 4.30 to get to some natural springs by sunrise. At the time this sounded like the worst idea since putting pineapple on a pizza, but once we got there, and struggled through getting into our swimming stuff (it was still negative degrees out) the water was beautiful. The rocks under the pool were heated volcanically, and after an untimely head first fall into the pool, the water was magical. Mick wussed out of this too...
The photos can be seen here. There are some artistic ones in there that we cant take credit for. On our tour we met a far more innovative girl than we could ever be, and even though she was English, she was OK!
From here, we were dropped to San Pedro in Chile, the hardest place in the world to get out of. We ended up buying 2 bus tickets for 2 different days and just trying both of them. We got a bus to Salta, which unexpectedly, was pretty cool. We had a few good nights there, and 1 day of adventure stuff. I´m glad to say, (and I think he is too) Mick was beer pressured into doing all activities. There were 2 crap things, an ab sailing job and some crappy rope slide, but we did so this swinging from a bridge malarkey, and then the bungee jump. It wasn´t massive, but it was good practice for the real thing in NZ. Videos of Mick and me are here. (Alternatively, you can get to Micks by typing "blanky flakey 3step" into youtube)
From there we had a 27 hour bus to Iguazu. Valium is a good thing. On our first day here we realised that the town itself is very unparty-like, unless bingo, or backgammon with coffin-dodgers are your thing, so we went straight to the falls and saw the Brazilian side (Iguazu forms the point that Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay meet, and can be accessed from all 3 sides with different views of the same thing from each). It´s really quite impressive, the Devils Throat is the largest of the falls, and is mighty powerful, but I think the most awesome thing about the whole experience is the vast circumference of falls that must cover over a mile of cliff faces. I can´t remember which photos are from which side, so they´re all just here.
On the second day, we hit the Argy side, which has more to do, but doesn´t have that postcard shot that´s available from the Brazilian side. We got a speed boat up the rapids and got soaked going under a couple of the falls. It was great craic at the time, and then the boat stopped and we had to get off. The cold kicks in pretty quick, and Iguazu has a lot of things going for it, but an abundance of hot showers and changing rooms is not one of them. After a chaffing, 500m walk back up to the top of the cliff, we got pissed off and gave the crowd what they wanted. We had to just change on some random, lucky bench. It was worth it though.
That´s where we are now, and we have another 20 odd hours on a bus to Buenes Aires tomorrow, but Valium and pre-packed sandwiches in hand, we have finally nailed this travelling business, so bring it on....
As usual, Gegor has not been forgotten. His latest escapades can be found here and the latest notch on his laminated bedpost is here. .
Talk to ye all soon,
BQ
P.S. Mick está haciendo tomar los últimos cambios ...
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