Sharon and Andy's World Tour 2006

Saturday 1 - Tuesday 4 July

A party of fifteen gathered outside the tour office in San Pedro at 07.45 on Saturday morning and the air buzzed with anticipation. Presently a minibus arrived and bore us to the Chilean exit point a short distance from town. Thirty minutes after that we arrived at the desert outpost which serves as the Bolivian entry point. Immigration completed, the group was divided into three parties with each taking a separate 4x4 jeep; easy to see why - proper roads are virtually non-existent in Bolivia.

This first day was dominated by lagoons; no bad thing as they are all beautiful. First up was Laguna Blanca (White Lagoon). After the warmth of San Pedro, and despite the brilliant sunshine, we were surprised to find that the shallow lagoon was frozen!

Stepping out of the jeep, harsh reality hit us - Bolivia is cold.

Our next stop was at the deeper (and therefore unfrozen) Laguna Verde (Green Lagoon) which gets its vivid colour from copper and magnesium deposits.

Already chilly from wandering around the lagoons, we were heartened by the sight of steam rising from the ground at our next destination; a collection of thermal pools.

The braver amongst us immersed themselves in a particularly inviting pool, but as they emerged into the cold air teeth soon began to chatter. Sharon dipped her toes; I kept my warm, dry clothes on.

Having travelled some considerable distance from the border, our final stop before reaching tonight's accommodation was the flamingo-dotted and strikingly red Laguna Colorado

Our digs tonight were in an unheated refuge, where we were pleased to learn that overnight temperatures could be expected to drop as low as -20 degrees! Despite sleeping fully clothed in a sleeping bag under a pile of blankets, we awoke with icicles on our noses and windows frosted on the inside.

Sunday 2 July

After defrosting over a breakfast of hot coffee and bread rolls we hit the 'road' again. Altitude sickness (we had steadily climbed to around 4,900 metres above sea level yesterday) and a ropey night's sleep in the cold slowly began to take their toll. We had a long journey ahead of us today, but we were excited by the fact that tonight we would be sleeping in a hotel constructed entirely from salt!

First stop, though, was at some curious rock formations in a place known as the 'Salvador Dali' Desert.

Bright sunshine once again masked the fact that once outside the jeep, the day was pretty cold. Heading on, we had to negotiate some rocky terrain before arriving in an area dominated by three more lakes for an early spot of lunch.

Here, we were lucky enough to encounter (and feed) an Andean Fox; apparently an endangered species.

As the afternoon progressed the going got tougher still as we surmounted a plateau across which the little-used Calama-Uyuni railway line crosses, disappearing toward the distant mountains.

Not withstanding a little difficulty with jeeps running out of fuel - apparently not uncommon on these tours - we eventually reached the Hotel du Sal (salt hotel) and, yup, it really is completely made of salt; walls, floors, beds, tables, chairs - all blocks of salt. Stealth here is impossible - the floors are satisfyingly crunchy to walk on.

After a pleasantly warm shower (thankfully, the bathrooms are not made of salt) we settled in for the evening.

And what a great evening; we were escorted to a large salt dining table and served a delicious meal of meat (possibly llama), quinoa rice, salad and veggies and a complimentary bottle of red wine. A band of local children entertained us with drums and pan pipes. We made pleasant conversation. The evening wore on and slowly everyone retired to their beds, tired but content. Until...