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Cold nights, crazy landscapes

All I can say is WOW! Our Salar Uyuni 4WD tour was a definite highlight of South America. So many spectacular landscapes it will be hard to decide which photos to upload.

We had a good cozy group of 5 plus driver and cook, which gave us one spare seat in the car and some much appreciated extra room. Joining Devon and myself were a friendly aussie bloke/irish lass couple (Jeremy and Suzanne) and another friendly irish girl, Cleahna.

Amongst an array of beautiful coloured lakes, snow-capped mountains, and the Salars (dry white salt-lakes), some of the other highlights of the trip included:

-playing soccer with a bunch of kids at one of the villages we stayed in. The village was at an altitude of 4200m so we were gasping for air after each play while the acclimatised kids watched on in bemusement. Final score: Bolivian kids 8 vs Gringos 7. It was a hard and closely fought game but the kids wouldnt let us call full time until they had the upper goal.

-on the second day we did a detour away from the regular jeep-tour crowd to visit a volcano. That night we stayed in a nearby village away from the other jeep-tourists and were treated to a 5-piece folk music performance by the local village musicians. We were expecting some amateur village kids but they were all actually really good musicians and blew us away with some awesome music. They played and sung a bunch of native american folk songs with great enthusiasm, especially for our little group and we all felt most privileged.

-Bathing in hot springs at an altitude of 4500m, surrounded by snow-capped mountains. There was a freezing cold wind and the hot section of the pool was only deep enough to lie down, partially covered so it was only myself and Suzanne who were game enough for it. Getting out was the hard part!

-The Dali Desert, a bizarre collection of rock formations that lie on an otherwise barren hill. Crazy stuff. The name is befitting!

-Exploring the steaming and bubbling geysers amidst snow flurries (altitude of almost 5000m)

-Llamas. We actually had a llama come into our room at one of the camps and leave an unpleasant surprise.

-Watching flamingoes take off and land on the beautiful red Colorada lake.

-Watching a spectacular sunrise over the white expanse of Salar Uyuni from a cactus island that lies in the middle of the great salt lake.

-Mucking around with some crazy distance-perspective shots on the white salar.

All in all, it was an amazing experience. Will upload photos soon so check back!

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