Saturday Post Travel Special -- 15/09/12

Writing this post late on Friday afternoon having received an abrupt about-turn from the airport. Due back in Trinidad by mid-afternoon, I received a call one hour and 45 minutes pre-departure telling me that the flight had been cancelled. So I must bide my time until Saturday morning's flight. 

Anyone remember The Little & Large Show?

So, not the ideal end to the week, but nowhere near annoying enough to take away from the thrill the last few days have brought, going on new adventures in Bolivia with an old friend.

Eee-by-gum, lad! This abandoned locomotive in the middle of
wannabe-Western location Uyuni was built in Leeds.

Dan arrived in La Paz the wee hours of Saturday morning, exhausted but ready for the forthcoming rigours when we rendez-voused for the first time in three years around 10am.. Not that he had much of a choice. By 6pm that evening we'd be heading for the bus station and our overnight trip to Uyuni, where we'd set off for our three-day tour of the famous Salar de Uyuni and various other sights on Sunday morning.

Uyuni's disused train yard: like one giant scene from Mad Max.

Uyuni itself certainly has the feel of a town whose best days are well behind it and whose sole raison d'être is us backpackers. We had a few hours to kill that morning and, with the streets not yet filled with our tourist counterparts, one might easily have imagined oneself in the Old American West. Bone-dry, with a piercing wind howling through the streets, you wouldn't want to hang around here too long.

An as-salt on the senses.

Uyuni was once Bolivia's main rail hub. Passenger trains still trundle through here every couple of days, but generally, that show left town long ago. And nowhere was that more evident than the first stop of our tour, a quite extraordinary abandoned railway yard, with one carriage after another seemingly stretching out for miles. Judging by the graffiti, its sole practical purpose these days is housing young couples in the midst of their courtship. That said, it was the first of many sights we saw that would have formed the perfect backdrop for a pop video. Simon Cowell, you know my web address.

The Isla del Pescado, an extraordinary fusion of arid browns and
blinding white.

A half-hour's journey onward and we reached the edge of one of the world's truly awesome sights and the bright, shining crown jewel of the trip: the Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat, weighing in at a jaw-dropping 4,086 square-miles. This is one of those places where the pictures really do speak for themselves. What more can I report but a white salty floor and a pale blue sky as far as the eye could see?

"Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads!"

Such a backdrop inevitably led to several sessions of silly photography. Amanda and I visited Pisa years ago and were struck by the hordes of Tai Chi merchants in front of the famous leaning tower. But Pisa ain't got nothing on this place when you see the lengths people will go to to take an amusing photo. You realise that people really will do anything for a cheap laugh. Myself included.

"Fee, fi, fo, fum...!"

The monotony of white was punctuated by the Isla del Pescado, a seeing-is-believing island consisting of little more than rock, cacti and a gift shop. We lunched around mid-afternoon, before setting off for our resting place for that evening: a hotel made almost entirely of salt.

The main corridor in the salt hotel. I resisted the temptation to lick the walls.

Walls, floor, beds, tables, you name it...it was saltier than a sailor's sausage supper. Stunning.

First stop on Day 2 was the village of San Juan, where a local woman
is pictured here, working the ground.

Our second day began in typically chaotic, Bolivian fashion, with our group being asked to help ferry some Russians to their next stop; our comrades had been unceremoniously abandoned by their driver, who had simply disappeared during the night. Sadly, such stories are common on these tours, with the drivers infamous for their alcoholic indulgences. We struck it lucky with our man, José, and he was happy to help give the Russians a lift that morning.

You might just be able to make out the chimney of smoke on the left-hand
side of the mountain in the distance.

Our group then proceeded on to miles of desert plain before beginning an ascent which would take us to heights of over 4,000 metres and sights such as the above-photographed volcano and the long-ago solidified lava which surrounded it. 

"The camera loves ya, baby!"

Lunchtime that day was spent by the first of two lakes we visited dominated by the Phoenicopterus Roseus or, as they're more commonly known, flamingos. Camera batteries duly succumbed to their grace.

This otherworldly lake is typical of the region.

More lakes, desert landscapes and photo ops that afternoon...

Dan on camera duty for two of our cohorts, Julien (France) and his
Argentinian wife, Luciana.

This unusual rock is called the 'Tree of Stone'. Hmmm...decide for yourself.

Oh, how happy we were. And, oh, how quickly things took a turn. That night as we settled in to our more rough-and-ready accommodation, there were rumblings afoot. Specifically, in our bowels. Of our group of six people, four made frequent visits to the bathroom that evening -- mercifully, next-door to our shared room. But given that we were indeed all 'in one place', there was little rest either for ourselves or for the remaining two members of our group, who worked wonders nursing us back to something resembling full health.

La Laguna Colorada

As a result, we awoke on the final morning bleary-eyed and longing only to get back to Uyuni. Thus, we took a short-cut home, missing out on sights such as geysers and hot springs, where the lucky, healthy backpackers would take a dip that morning. However, eye-catching landscapes were never too far away, including the weirdly-coloured lakes which bookend this paragraph and 'The Valley of the Rocks'.

A greeny-blue shaded lake, not the one featured in many tourist brochures
for this trip, but pretty striking nonetheless.

The pictures here highlight the striking beauty of the area. Yet, hand in hand with that, there is a climatic oppressiveness which is all-pervasive. Three days really were quite enough.

Rocky pictures to rival Stallone's.

Dan and I were back in La Paz by Wednesday morning and had two days to kill or, more to the point, to recover our energies. Anyone who has visited La Paz will be familiar with the Plaza San Francisco, where the famous church towers over all-comers, leading into the tourist district of the city. Despite my numerous visits here, I'd never actually gone inside this remarkable building. We were given a brief, but insightful tour of the old monastery and the church itself.

No shots allowed in the cathedral itself, but here's one from up on the roof.

Finally, yesterday (on what was supposed to be my last day in the La Paz area), we ticked off another sight I hadn't previously visited, the Inca ruins of Tiwanaku, a truly remarkable site which, in places, dates back as far as over 2,000 years. Excavation is ongoing. As I wandered around, marvelling at the engineering acumen of these ancient people, I was reminded of passages in the Bible such as Genesis 4, where we read of the likes of Jubal who invented music -- invented music! Who are we, indeed, to consider ourselves 'advanced'? Here are some pictorial highlights.

By the time this is posted, Dan, currently up at Lake Titicaca, will be getting packed to cross over the border into Peru, where he will spend his second and final week on this jaw-dropping continent. For all the wonders of God's creation I've had the privilege to set eyes on this week, it is the genuinely quality time spent with a special friend that will endure in the years to come. Weird as it was to see each other again for the first time in three years, we essentially picked up where we left off. I look forward to our furlough year in 2014 and further opportunities to renew, extend and deepen our acquaintance.

A 'regular' post again next week. Blessings to you wherever you are.

Craig

PS If this isn't enough for you, there are many, many more pictures like this on my Facebook page. Will be seeing you at www.facebook.com/craigdcunningham.