January 29th, Day 2 Uyuni Tour, Bolivia
Woke up at 6:30 for breaks which was just okay. After we'd been spoilt rotten on the Inka Trail at Machu Picchu, I was expecting more from our jolly happy Mama cook. This morning we had to repack and used the backpack rain covers plus ponchos to make sure the bags didn't get wet again. The good news was that Fillippe told us today would be 'tranquilo', only about 6-7 hours driving, but lots of stops and a much less rocky terrain.
I also smartly decided to control the music so everyone was bopping along to some great songs from my 2010 mobile playlist. Happy music, great mood, sun sun sun.
Fillipe said that we were first going to stop at a 'llama hospidade', which I heard as llama hospital. So you can imagine me sat in the car going crazy with excitement to see a llama hospital and nurse some hurt llamas back to health with love and soothing words. Obviously he meant llama habitat, but it was not much of a step down for me since I am completely obsessed with llamas. We got to a farm that had a bazillion llamas just doing their thing and it was amazeballs. Dolores, I think I found your pet llama that ran away :P
Then we continued on driving through the Atacama desert and our Brit and Icelandic buddies decided to take some substances to get high. The result was was hilarious, mostly because our crazy Brit spoke to the sky and took 500 pictures of clouds in 5 mins. His battery died soon after and I don't think he has any more pictures.
There was a point where we were driving through the most amazing desert with semi active volcanoes on one side, snow capped mountains on the other, crazy volcanic rock formations and and multi coloured mountains - literally creating our own path with the 4x4 and all of us were singing Hey Jude. I hope I remember that exact moment forever.
At a point we saw the clouds touching the ground ahead of us and mystical mist and it was just so surreal. I don't think I have ever appreciated nature and beautiful scenery as much as I did on that drive.
We then stopped at the natural hot springs and saw a small stream and a natural pool. It was cold and I thought I'd never go in, so I didn't keep my swimsuit with me. Of course when we got there, everyone went crazy in the 37*C water that I was dying to go in. Super cold outside and sitting in a natural hot spring... I went in in Bernie's boxers and a sports bra! It was one of my better decisions even though I looked like a fool but there's nothing in the world better than sitting in a natural hot spring while it's freezing outside in the middle of a Bolivian desert. I was in for a while, but quickly began feeling the effects of the altitude mixed with the hot temperatures and began to get woozy. I hate high altitudes, even thought I faithfully take my altitude pills twice daily.
After lunch, we began driving through Dali dessert and saw the mountains and volcanoes shared between Bolivia and Chile. It's crazy that you can see these actual borders, and even crazier for Berns and me since we were going back up and were so close to where we needed to go (San Pedro de Atacama, Chile). Whingey whiney me even thought that I won't complain about this journey again, it's that good.
We were heading towards the Verde and Blanca lagoons (Green and White). On the way, of course we stopped for me to pee, but where to pee in a desert with not a rock or bush in sight? What I'm trying to say is that I have no dignity left and everyone has seen my bum!
We saw lagoona Verde coming up with the semi active huge Volcano 'Volcan Licancabur' in the background and asked Fillipe to stop for pictures, but he told us he'd take us to a good picture point. So we drove on until I started screaming and soon we were all screaming in the car - we reached a point where we could see a huge white water lagoon next to a green water lagoon. It doesn't sound exciting as I write this, but it is the best thing I've ever seen in my whole life. We took thousands of pictures but nothing can beat the real thing.
After the lagoons, we stopped at natural geysers, 98*C heat. Finally we reached our lodging for the night which once again was nice, not at all as bad as we were imagining. We left ours bags and then headed to the last lagoon, Lagoona Colorado. Again, amazing - the water was RED and the lagoon was filled with pink flamencos (which we saw at multiple lagoons). Simply amazing. Many many pictures later, we went home. A bit of drama coz the boys weren't happy with dinner and still hungry. Since I don't like confrontation, I/we left it to Bernie and his amazing Spanish in his English accent (it's hilarious, we make a lot of fun of him) to speak to the cook. All sorted in the end. Played poker and went to sleep after I lost once again. So far, no gambling luck. Amazing day 2 came to an end.
Quote of the day: The clouds are talking to me ~ Brit boy
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