Inca Huasi photos and first night

On the way to the accommodation, we stopped off to see the sunset behind the volcanoes in the distance. It was absolutely freezing stepping outside of the car and the wind absolutely blasted us. We stood behind the jeep for shelter and waited for the sun to start to disappear. We were there for about 30 minutes in total and it was a beautiful sight. The colours of the sky seemed to melt into one another, changing as the sun set from glowing yellows to bright pinks and purples. It was pretty cool to stand and watch your shadow stretch further and further into the uninterrupted distance as the sun sunk further in the sky.

We asked Pablo if anyone had ever got lost out here and the answer, unfortunately, was yes. He told us of a guide who had taken a couple for a tour, but who's driver left them and then couldn't find them again. They walked for hours and buried themselves in sand overnight to fight the cold, before finally being rescued the following day. There were also people who walked into the salt flats drunk, only to get lost and die from exposure to the cold. His final tale was of a tour breakdown, in which the driver walked to the mountains but his group chose to stay with the vehicle, they too died eventually from the cold.

And speaking of the cold, it really began to set in with the darkness and so we decided we should move on, rather than hang about after hearing those tails!
We headed along a salty sandy road (I use the term road sparingly, considering it is really just tyre tracks in the desert) and enjoyed bouncing along with the occasional drifting. The driver would turn off the tracks seemingly randomly at times and you would sit there wondering how on earth he knew where we were going, before the car would end up on a new set of tyre tracks that appeared from nowhere. It is impressive, to say the least, just how well these drivers know the desert. It really does just all look the same to us.

We eventually arrived at what looked like a ghost town. Pablo explained that the families of the town had pitched together to build and run the lodges we would be staying in, and that the profits all went back to them. It is a shame that a newer salt hotel seems to have taken a lot of trade recently, but he said more people seem to coming back here now, which is good.

We were shown to our rooms and were amazed by the construction of them. The walls were made of stone, held together with a clay cement and the roof consisted of mud and straw, supported by wooden branches. The floor was a layer of salt and the furniture was composed of salt blocks, some forming chairs and a table and even the bed frame.
The beds were wonderfully comfy and had so many blankets that we weren't too worried about being cold. Although we did have sleeping bags just in case.

We headed to the dining room for tea and coffee and even before getting to the door we could smell the fantastic aroma of dinner. It smelt sooooo goooood!
The warming tea and coffee went down a treat and we no longer felt quite so shivery. This was made even better with the arrival of some delicious homemade vegetable soup and bread. So, so delicious! I filled up on this quite a lot and then was surprised when the main course came out (I thought it was just soup). Pretty gutted as the main meal was chicken, cooked with peaches and it tasted amazing. Unfortunately I was way too full to eat much. At least the food on the tour far exceeds the quality of the food we have experienced so far in Bolivia!

We were all pretty drained after dinner and headed to our rooms for sleep. Richard and Rob braved the extreme cold to take some great night sky photos again, whilst I opted to stay warm inside. It really is amazing to be somewhere so vast with so little light though, the moon, stars and Milky Way are a pretty breath-taking sight. Showers were available, but being outside we weren't too keen on running back to the room through the cold, so we gave this a miss. We were all prepared to be pretty gross on this trip due to the lack of facilities, so hey ho...staying warm felt like a greater priority!

Bed time now!Read more