Crossing the Border

The transpit picks us up at 7 in the morning and we are sharing the minibus with 2 guys from Chile a German and two French. We literally drive for 5 ins before we stop at the border, We are one of the fist buses here and join the line to get our outbound stamp for Chile. Chile has been a really fantastic place even though its been quite short lived, the place has so many beautiful and original things to see as well as the most amazing place to see thesky at night, When i first got on the bus i thought everyone was Chilean and was worried that the conversation on this very long trip was going to be minimal, but i guess that was just with it being so early, beacause as soon as we got to passport control the 2 chilean guys were really chatty. W e arrive at the border and the woman insists that we should have a visa, but im really sure we dont need one, unless things have changed in the past 12 months, im beginning to panic when the guard calls me forward and questions why my passport leaving Chile was stamped with yesterdays date . He stands us to one side and it soon becomes apparent that everybodys passport is the same and the guard at the Chilean border hasnt updated his stamp.
Breafast is prepared and me and the chilean guys go and have our last cigarette and picture taken in Chile before tucking into ... the usual cheese ham and marmalade with bread and coffee and cake to follow. As we eat our rucksacks are loaded onto the 4x4 and covered with tarpaulin, but there is some confusion a little while later when we are told we are being moved to another 4x4 and when i ask why there is no answer. We are now on a different vehicle and say goodbye to our short lived Chilean friends after exchanging facebook accounts. It is then explained that the other 4x4 was doing a 3 day tour and because we were going direct was the reason why we were now teamed with Lisa and Jan, 2 germans who were lovely.
I was absolutely desperate for the toilet and when i asked where the toilets were i was pointed to a building ...oh no the toilets werent in there it was where i had to piss behind. There were over 100 people stood around but needs must and i let nature take its course . We boarded our truck having transferred our luggage over and we were off on the very bumpy sandy track to Uyuni. We made several stops along the way with the first being for a toilet break and because we had no Bolivianos we had to pay a ound to use them. The truck also took us through the national park which you have to buy yor ticket for 150 bolivianos each. We had no Bolivianos so had to take a terrible exchange rate , but managed to get rid of our Chillean pesos that we wouldnt be usin anymore so job done and we were back on the road. The journey was quite intense as we were thrown around in the back and the higher we got the more the altitude started to affect me . We then stopped at a small village called Villa de Mar which was beautiful, Bolivian women in there traditional dress of puffball skirts and all with two long plaits topped with straw bowler hats. There are llamas in the fields and it really is a lovely place . We are called into a house where i think were going to be shown around and are pleasantly surprised to find lunch laid out for us consisting of rice tuna salad and jelly for afters . On the top of the 4x4s are tanks of fuel where they take a hose out and just top up the tank, not thesafest way to travel, especially all the bumping around that has to be done, once everything is topped up we are back on the road. We were offered another stop at a place called San Christobel, but we all made the choice wed rather just get there and 4 hrs later we arrived in Uyuni . On the entrance to the town is a prison which would make sense as you wouldnt get very far if you escaped. On route we have made enquirys about doing a trip to the salts tomorrow and have agreed a good price with Dennis our driver who will give us a private tour at sunset. We say our goobyes and arrange to meet at 5 in the morning. When we check into the hotel we are on the second floor and when we get to our room i can barely catch my breath, the oxygen percentage is 40 percent less here an the effects are apparent immediately. After a short rest we take a walk into the square and grab a bite to eat. I have the tortillas and Mark has llama steak and we are both happily fulfilled with delicious food and more than ready for an early night.Okumaya devam et