Travels To Another Planet

Brrrr! Wow!!!! And that sums up our vocabulary for the last four days we spent on the so-called Southwest Circuit through the Bolivian salt flats.

It was an amazing couple of days spent bouncing along 800 miles of lonely dirt roads in a 1980 Land Cruiser. The first day was a marathon 12 hour ride through more colorful desert terrain as we rocked along to Bolivian folk tunes and a random assortment of 1980s love songs. We stopped a few times to stretch our legs at overlook sites and an old ghost town, but the icy wind and falling temperatures made us happy to crawl back in the cruiser as we continued to climb in altitude (we reached a max of 5000m or 16500ft). Night number one was our induction to survival in extreme coldness- a skill that served us well on the rest of the trip. The hospedajes were muy basico with no electricity or heating, but they did have beds and blankets which we greatly appreciated! The second hospedaje even had a little stove that they mercifully lit after only 4 hours of snuggling in our sleeping bag and drinking gallons of hot tea to maintain body heat. We can understand their need for conservation of resources, however, because there is no source of firewood for hundreds of miles in any direction. Instead, they burn the rock-hard roots of a plant that looks like moss growing on rocks. Also, they merely laughed at our intolerance for 0 degree Farenheight temperatures because they withstand coldness in their winters that drops to -100deg F!

During the following three days of 4-wheeling, we stopped at amazingly strange rock formations, lakes of a dozen colors with many species of flamingos and birds, geysers just like the ones in Yellowstone but without any fences to prevent you from falling in, thermal baths, an unearthly island studded with proud cacti, and an endless salt flat that definitely gives you the feeling of walking on the moon. On our last night we slept in an hospedaje that had salt floors, walls, and beds. The roof was made of grass and the doors were made of cacti. We discovered that Bolivian wine is not to be drinken unless absolutely necessary (which it was that night). The next morning was our favorite experience of the trip. We awoke and loaded up in the very wee hours of the morning and headed out to the moonscape salt flats to experience the sunrise in a whole new way. The transformation of the sky as the sun lit the white expanse under our feet was a really moving experience. Our second fave moment was the morning our land cruiser broke down and Cullen got his wish to take a picture of steam coming out of the engine. Actually our real favorite moment was when the engine started to work again- phew! Not a fun place to get stranded!

We arrived in Uyuni in the afternoon on Saturday and took an overnight brain-scrambling bus ride to La Paz. After catching some more sleep in a beautiful hostel, we have spent the day making arrangements for our next encounter with extreme cold- this time we are going even higher in altitude. More on that soon! Meanwhile, we wish everyone well and hope Diane had an awesome Bridal Shower- we were thinking of you all day yesterday! Love, M&C