Day 1 - Salar de Uyuni Tour

We were the first picked up from our hostel at 7:15am and after we picked up our fellow comrades we headed to border control to get stamped out of Chile before we could cross over into Bolivia. There were hoards of people queuing to get their passports stamped and some people appeared to be getting interrogated. Fortunately our group sailed through so we didn't have to hang around for ages.

Our driver then got into the van, told us to wait and drove off. We all looked at each other and were slightly concerned as to what was going on as all of our bags were in the van but then as if by magic he appeared behind us and was setting up a picnic table so we could all have breakfast. Breakfast consisted of fresh baguettes, 2 types of cheese, avocado, salami, cookies, cake, bananas and coffee which was amazing.

There were 9 of us in total, 2 couples from Germany; Carolina and Flo and Julia and Stefan, 2 lads from the Lake District, Jordan and Nick and one man from New Zealand called Robert.

After our picnic breakfast we left Uyuni and headed over the border to Bolivia. Waiting at the border for us were 2 4x4's at which point we were split into 2 groups. We were put with Nick, Jordan and Robert and introduced to our tour guide / driver, Ruben.

Before we could head off we needed to get our passports stamped by the Bolivian border police. The border is around 4000m above sea level so just walking to the office to get our passport stamped left us out of breath. It was also very windy and bloomin freezing (the coldest day of the year so far apparently)!

After we got the technicalities out of the way, we jumped into our jeep and headed off to our first stop on the tour. Ruben spoke very little English and between the 5 of us we spoke very little Spanish so we weren't entirely sure how the next 3 days were going to go!

Our first stop was Laguna Blanca, a gorgeous icy lagoon where we stopped for some pictures. We then headed off to Laguna Verde, a beautiful green lagoon. Ruben explained a little bit about each lagoon and between us we managed to get the general gist of what he was saying.

After the lagoon we headed to the August Termales (hot springs) for lunch. Ruben pointed out some vicunias (we are still not sure what these are but they look a little bit like deer) and let us stop to take some pictures. Ruben then continued to shout "vicunias" every time he spotted them for the rest of the day!

It was so cold that it took some deliberation as to whether We were actually going to get in the hot springs. The thought of taking all our clothes off and walking outside to the hot spring in the freezing cold was not very appealing. We did it though and it was like sitting in a really hot bath. Around us we could see the volcanos (names of which I've forgotten) and despite sharing this view with around 20 other backpackers in the small hot spring it was lovely. The next challenge was to get out of the pool and get changed in the outside changing room before catching hypothermia.

Once we were changed we joined the Germans in the other 4x4 and sat down for a yummy lunch of salad, smash, hot dogs and a chicken and vegetable type dish. We were now at around 4400m and some of our group were starting to feel the effects of altitude sickness with headaches and dizziness. Me and Simon however where smashing the altitude! I felt fine, just a bit out of breath when I did anything and Simon had a small headache.

After lunch we went to see the Géiser Sol de Mañana which was pretty cool, followed by Laguna Colorada, a red lake. There are usually lots of flamingos here but Ruben advised us that it was "mucho friyo" for them so they weren't out which was a bit of a shame. He also explained that the minerals in the water that made it red, also made the flamingos pink (we think that's what he was saying anyway).

We then headed off on the hour and a half journey to our hostel. Nothing could have prepared us for the cold, concrete abode that was awaiting us! It was freezing! We sat inside with all of our clothes on, including hats and gloves shivering. We were relived when Ruben told us that coffee would be arriving in 15 minutes but in those temperatures water doesn't stay warm for long so the luke warm coffee didn't warm us up like we had hoped.

For dinner, we had some vegetable soup, followed by a spaghetti and tomato sauce dish. For dessert we had half a tinned peach. Ruben then came in and asked if we wanted a sleeping bag to which we all said yes! The driver for the other half of our group (the Germans) got hot water bottles as well! Unfortunately Ruben didn't have any hot water bottles for us so we went to bed at 8:30 in the hope that maybe it would be warmer in there. I can tell you now it wasn't! We somehow managed to luck out with a double bed despite being told previously that we would be in 5/6 bed dorms but in hindsight perhaps some extra body heat would have helped. Despite sleeping in my thermals, a cardigan and fluffy socks, inside a sleeping bag liner in a sleeping bag under a sheet, 2 blankets and a thick quilt I was still freezing! You can imagine how annoyed I was as well when I woke up in the middle of the night needing a wee!Read more