Salt Flats

Dennis is on time in the morning, and once again wrapped up warmly we make our way to pick up Lisa and Yan. Lisa has been a god send as not only does she speak fluent english, her Spanish is also perfect, and although i understand a little she understands everything and manages t get us a few extras thrown in on todays trip. We stop at Denniss mums to collect breakfast and lunch and then make our way to the flats. How he knows where he is driving is something to respect as it all just looks the same and even the tyre marks are no clue as there are hundreds of them . He stops in a place and Mark with his hiking boots gets out. There is quite a lot of water surrounding us only about 2 inchs but with how cold i am already i certainly dont want wet feet. Dennis gets out a couple of stools and tredding on the raised salt platforms we manage to get out to take some photos of the sun rising over the mountain range. The sun's reflection on the salt is stunning and we head back into the truck to drive to the salt hotel on route we see little mountains of salt, and these are made by the villages to dry out and use for table salt. We arrive at the hotel and take our breakfast , and ake a small walk around the hotel built ut of salt that has every flag outside but not the unioin jack. Next stop was the isla which is an island in the middle of the salt plain that is filled with cactus, i thought this was going to be really touristy as when we pulled up there were about 2other 4x4s here , but Dennis had timed it perfectly and as we got out everyone else seemed to leave so we had the island to ourselves. The cactus on here were huge and towered above us and when we reache dthe top the viiew was truly amazing. The island was formed by a sub terrainial volcano many years ago and its amazing that any form of life can actually live on here, but it obviously works somehow and really is a jewel in the crown . The accent to the top once again takes my breath away and we are currently at four thousand metres above sea level , any type of physical exursion really takes its toll, and i am glad when we finish our photo opportunities and make our way down. All public toilets here charge you to use them and issue you with a small piece of toilet paper that cant be flushed down the toiet as their systems cant handle it. The next stop is the volcanoe and we drive along a small dirt track that leads off the salt flat and into a little village that we buy the tickets for entry to. Just under the volcanoes summit is a cave filled with skeletorial mummies froom the 12th century.Its really quite spooky , AND AS WE ENTER THE CAVE IS A SMALL BOLIVIAN MAN WHO TELL US ABOUT THE MOTHER AND CHILD SACRIFICIAL MUMMIES THAT WE SEE WHEN HE SHINES HIS TORCH ON THEM. tHERE ARE ALSO MUMMIFICATIONS OF vacones a small version of the llama family. We only spend a smal amount of time here as staning here looking at the remains of kids who have been sacrificed doesnt tick any boxes for me. We drive back down the hill and out of the village to a central area on the salt flat and make our pitch for lunch. There is someting quite irronic about sitting on a plastic stool in the middle of this sea of salt eating a t bone steak with a volcan behind us and Mark and i just sit back and take it all in. After dinner is the imaginitive photo shoot and the photos will tell this story for themselves, but Dennis is an absolute god send at giving us ideas and setting them up. The obligatory posing done we drive back across the salts and dennis stops to show us the hole that have been made to obtain pieces of salt crytiliization , i get a bit nervous because when i put my hand into the whole there is water underneath, but Dennis assures me there is nothing to worry about and its back in the jeep to drive to the small village sellng artisan bits and pieces . I have no intention of buying anything, but when i see hat similar to the one i have given to Suiali back in Brasil and find its only 3.50 i make my purchase. Our last stop is tthe train cemetary and to be honest isnt really what i was expecting so a few snapshots and were out of there . Lisa and Jan are heading back to spend a night inVilla de Mar befor there onward journey, so we say our goodbyes and can honestly say its been a pleasure spending the past couple of days with them . They have recommended the pizza in their hostel so mark and i spec our tickets for tomorrows journey and head there for our tea. Wow it has to be one of the best pizzas we have eaten and certainly the best in South America and we wash it down with a bottle of homemade lemonade . Full to the brim its another early night, well we do have a double, and that doesnt happen often so lets say we finish the day making hay while the sun shines.Read more