Andes to the Himalayas: bolivia

Time to hit the road again after experiencing a night in a hotel made entirely from salt. Shame we forgot to take photos but we exhausted ourselves with all those jumps on the salt flat.

The serenity and the sheer beauty of this place is really hard to capture. You need to be there!

The pink flamingos

Salar de Chiguana

Vicunas

These big awkward birds are a bit shy - Bruno getting too close as usual.

Lunchtime

Vast and immense.

Arból de Piedra (Stone tree)

La Laguna Colorada

A mini tornado in the background.

Sit like an Egyptian - this one is for you Sousa!!

Another amazing night. You can obviously not see from this picture but the sky was filled with stars and this bright moon wouldn't let us go to bed. We were literally in the middle of nowhere.

The only accommodation was a clay makeshift hostel without any electricity from 10pm. The next morning was a 4 o'clock start and trying to repack in the dark wasn't a sensible thing to do, let's just say our ruck sacks are gradually getting lighter...

Third and last day in Bolivia. Early rise to see the Geysers.

Boiling earth

Into the Mystic

Breakfast out of the boot of the jeep, within seconds we were surrounded by these cheeky birds. It felt and looks like a scene from Hitchcock.

High up in the Andes

Laguna Verde (4400m above sea level)

Next stop was Chile, right behind this volcano.

Our last stop in Boliva- El Salar de Uyuni.

We made our way from Sucre to Uyuni via Potosí again, a journey that should have only taken nine hours. However, one hour into the journey in the middle of nowhere the bus gave up the will to live after struggling up hill for too long. Some water pipe exploded in the engine and we all had to get off. The poor bus driver was incapable of controlling the upset locals and of comforting the worried tourists, he numbly stood waiting for some miracle as people circled him demanding a solution. Locals being accustomed to frequent break downs were to be found running 100 metres in either direction from the bus in an attempt to hitch hike. The problem of course was that one vehicle passed every 10-15 minutes and when it did it flew past fearful of the mob of Bolivians swarming around it. It was hilarious, especially when we saw the bus driver make a run for it. To be fair, he was probably trying to get to the next local town to make a call to the bus company but it seemed so wrong at the time. He should go down with his ship god damn it.

After over two hours in 30 degrees heat with no bus driver and after hearing stories from locals of replacement buses arriving twelve hours later, we were all beginning to feel a little bit helpless. That is of course, until out of nowhere, a huge truck carrying cement bags with room for us all, dares to stop. This time we all made an attempt at getting a ride and we succeeded. Bruno, being the gentleman that he is, found himself helping all the girls on the truck with their 90 Litre ruck sacks. I mean seriously, as my cousin Paul O'Hagan rightfully once pointed out, if you can't carry it then don't bring it girls!!!!!

We can' t tell you how thrilling it was to be on board this truck. To be simply on the road again was such an amazing feeling.

We finally arrived to Uyuni around nine in the evening. There is absolutely nothing to do here, it's just the starting point of all the tours to the salt pans. The next day we began our three day tour across some of the most spectacular scenery we have ever seen.

First stop, the train cemetery

Nothing for miles

Anyone for drinks?

We had such a laugh taking these ridiculous photos, although it wasn't as easy as we imagined.

Trying to jump together was impossible without the help of someone else to actually take the photo. We tried to jump with the timer which was really impossible. We both kept jumping out of sync.