Saturday 4th December 2010
The day started early – a 7am breakfast call. Cold scrambled eggs and Bimbo bread – my favourite!!!! We loaded up the Jeeps and hit the road again leaving our salt hotel behind.
Today was penned as ‘ Deserts and Lagoons’ – it should have actually been penned as a lot of time spent in a jeep losing fillings. We actually spent about 10 hours driving with stops at various points of interest to jump out, stretch the legs and take some photos.
Today it became apparent that there were 2 classes of Jeep on this trip. There were 2 new 4.5L land cruisers that ate up the desert at 100kmph, the passengers barely feeling the rough terrain and enjoying the music from their iPods blaring from the car’s sound system. Then there were 2 old battered Toyotas that really had seen better days. We were in one of these. There seemed to be some hierarchy to the driving and Pablo, our driver, was insistent on bringing up the rear. He was so insistent that when all 3 jeeps tore off down the road in front of us he would veer completely off track and pick his own bumpier, slower alternative route. Pablo also liked to show his passengers who was boss. He locked the electric windows ion the back of the jeep so that the boys couldn't control them and he would put the windows up and down at his will. It was roasting in the back of the jeep and despite asking quite pleasantly if we could have sojme air he simply replied 'No!'.
First spot was some vicuna – a bit like a cross between a llama and a deer.
We stopped for a llama crossing as we pulled into a small ‘town’ to restock with supplies of water and snacks – and to buy some biccies to make up for the rubbish breakfast.
If a dog is herding llama is it a llama dog?
We had been complaining about the lack of music in our jeep and randomly Guido, the boss and driver of the plush blue jeep, had produced a speaker from God knows where. This was like a speaker from a midi hifi system from the 90s which was wired mysteriously into the glove compartment and sat sliding around in the front between the driver and the cook! We also had a lead to connect Franky's iPod - we had tunes! Things were looking up. I mean it did sound like Clapton was playing in a fish bowl and we couldn't bear the distortion on anything involving an electric guitar but at least we had something!
Soon after leaving the town of San Juan
We were bumping our way across the desert when the red jeep came to a halt. They had a puncture. After our experience yesterday of everyman and his dog trying to fix the red jeep Franky thought he’d join in for a giggle and jumped out, wrench in hand. We discovered the Bolivians are actually no fools as they left him to it and he changed the wheel himself!!!!
Back on the road – the landscape is desolate. Nothing even grows out here. We are crossing a red arid desert surrounded on 3 sides by volcanoes and heading to the view point of an active one.
We reach the view point which is disappointingly miles away from the actual volcano. Although we could see a bit of steam coming out of the side. Apparently you used to be able to go up the volcano until recently a guided tour of 8 Swedes went missing. Only 3 tourists and the guide returned and the bodies have never been recovered so trips up the volcano are a thing of the past.
Back in the Jeeps but not for long – the red jeep was in trouble again! Now the roof rack was loose. This was particularly worrying as they were carrying 2 drums of diesel for all 4 cars on the trip. The driver shifted the load from the front to the back, lodged an empty coke bottle under the roof rack and we were back on our way!
Next stop was the first lagoon. The view was amazing but the stench was unbelievable – a mixture of flamingo shit and sulphur. The sulphur is due to the volcanic activity in the area.
The flamingos come from
Another lagoon and this was our lunch stop. This lake is positively toxic with sulphur and arsenic – although the flamingo didn’t seem to mind it too much.
The driver of the red jeep donned his overalls so we knew things were bad – now they had ANOTHER puncture. Franky left him to deal with this one on his own and went inside for chicken and potatoes.
Now I know this blog reads like a diary of toilets around the world but these ones were truly unique. It seemed that you had to decide what you were going for before you sit down. For number ones you sit at the front and pee into a sieve type contraption. For number twos you sit further back and avoid the sieve altogether. There was a stern notice on the back of the door that if you got this wrong and shat into the sieve it was your responsibility to clean it!!!
As we were leaving the lunch stop being at the back of the group actually paid off. The rest of the group had disappeared into a cloud of dust when over the horizon came 2 desert foxes – a Mother and baby. Pabs stopped the jeep and the cook who was travelling in the front of our car flung out the remaining Bimbo bread for them. To be fair they were far more excited about it than we had been and gobbled it all up.
Another couple of hours cruising across the desert – we came to the crop of rocks including ‘the rock that looks like a tree’ – how do they come up with these names???
Glad to get out of the jeep I took the opportunity to do a spot of rock climbing.
And back to the trials and tribulations of that red jeep…. The rear suspension arm had now gone so the girls were getting a really bumpy ride. It also meant that the whole group had to slow down to travel at a pace that was vaguely comfortable for them. Great!
Last stop of the day was the red lagoon. It wasn’t really red due to the amount of borate crystals on the surface so it was mostly white. It was also freezing, the wind was getting up and the sun was going down. We were keen to get to our shelter for the night before the light completely went so it was back in the jeeps for the last stint of the day.
We eventually pulled up outside our ‘shelter’. This had no honeymoon suite and we were bunking down with Andrew and Kerry. Franky took no time at all in jumping into his sleeping bag – it was pretty cold, although fortunately not the minus 10 we had been told it could get to at night!
We had tea of spaghetti bolognese made with minced llama which was actually pretty good and a glass of vino tinto before it was time to hit the sack. It had been a long day of endless bumpy driving although we had seen some amazing scenery and new wildlife.
No comments:
Post a Comment