Salta

It was a complete shock to the system to arrive in Salta in Argentina. It could be Spain, or France, or Italy. Completely different from Bolivia and Chile. In fact, it didn´t feel like travelling at all. There´s zero hassle, and the taxi´s are metered - so no need to haggle.

It made me miss dirty, dusty, Bolivia, with all it´s hassles - most of all because it was so much fun, in a hard work kind of way. Bolivia felt like real travel. Salta feels like being on holiday in Europe.

I got chatting to Hilary who was on her way from San Pedro, and we shared a cab into town. The hostal was OK - but the thing I really noticed was how expensive it was. I`d been used to have what I called "9 pound days" in Bolivia where I`d do a whole day on just 9 pounds - including food and accommodation!

The next day I went to look around, and bumped into Hilary so we looked around the town, but everything was shut because it was Monday. So we headed to the cable car to take in the scenic view. Here`s some pics:





A picture from behind the waterfall at the top of the mountain:



I was thinking of spending New Year in Salta, but as there wasn`t much about going on I decided to head to Cordoba.

As I had a day to kill, I hit the museums. One included an archeological museum about the children that had been sacrificied by the Inca`s and buried at the top of one of the highest volcanoes. It was really sad, and a bit upsetting to read about the degradation they had to suffer. And coming face to face with one of the children was not easy...it felt wrong.

So I headed off to the modern art gallery - but it was shut for painting (they should have kept it open as a post modern installation).

I also happened to bump into Betty, who I`d met on the boat trip to the jungle, and we had a long chat about our travels which was fun.

And then it was off to the bus station, where I bumped into Hilary who was also heading for Cordoba.

Here`s some pics of Salta (pronounced with an A as in Apple):



Here`s a picture of the Cathedral reflected in one of the many modern buildings on the square:



The main square:



Belgrano Square:



Yes - they still have C&A:



A colonial building on the main square:



The Cathedral:

Happy New Year!!!!!

I´d like to wish everyone a Happy New Year. Hope everyone has a great night out (or in :-), and an even better year next year.

San Pedro De Atacama

The bus drops you in San Pedro, after having gone through the border. San Pedro is an oasis in the middle of the Atacama Desert - one of the driest places on earth. The village is really geared up for travelers, so there´s plenty of stuff to see and do.

Here´s a pic of the rather pleasant main square:



I´d planned to leave after one day, but the bus didn´t leave until Sunday, which I was really glad about, as it was a perfect excuse to hang out for a while.

I found an awesome vego restaurant and had an incredible Christmas Dinner (the menu even had a "meat options" section - which was amusing).

After a good night´s sleep I rented a bike to cycle up to Devil´s Canyon. I´d read that there´s an incredible mountain biking trail there - and having really enjoyed biking the World´s Most Dangerous Road - decided to give it a go.

On the way, just out of town, there are some Pre-Inca ruins, and a look out way up on top of one of the hill´s.

Here are some picks of the ruins, and the look out:







The green is San Pedro - everything else is desert:



From there I biked to the canyon, and on the way there´s a river you have to ride through - here´s a pic taken by a couple of German girls:



(Yep...I got wet feet - although I made it all the way accross...)

Once your in the canyon - it´s absolutely incredible. A tight path leads through the canyon walls, and in places it was quiet hard to cycle, as the ground is thick sand, and the bike slides all over the place.

I biked up to the end of the canyon (which took just over an hour), where it opens out. The only problem - everything looks the same with channels leading off, and I realized that I was lost. It´s baking hot, and I´m trying to find my way back, with the "Voice Of Reason" telling me that I should have stayed on the main path.

Eventually I see some bike tracks which I´m pretty sure are mine, and so I follow them up one of the channels, and after about 5mins, I recognize one of the tunnels.

It was a pretty hard climb out to the main track, but once your there I realized the path slopes down, and I was able to pick up a fair bit of speed, using all the techniques I´d learned on the World´s Most Dangerous Road. With the occasional spot of very deep sand, and riding into the canyon wall because I was going too fast, I made it back to the start. Awesome.







It all looked like this when I found I was lost, with channels all leading off to either side:



A cool curve taken at high speed on the way back:



At the end of the road for the canyon, I met a guy called Miguel, who was a Jazz Pianist, and we sat chatting for about 30 mins. He´d played all over Europe, and had decided to open a Hostel in San Pedro...it´s just that kind of place.

Here´s a view of the ride back to San Pedro, just by the spot I met Miguel:



That night I´d booked myself onto an astronomical tour - they take you into the desert and look at the stars through large telescopes. It´s one of the clearest places in the world as there is no light pollution and the air is clear because of the lack of rain and the altitude. It´s also well known for having very few cloudy nights. Except for this one and sadly the tour was canceled.

The next day I tried to go Sandboarding, but I´d already booked a tour to the Valle De La Luna, for 4pm and didn´t have a enough time. Not a problem - as part of the tour took us to the sand dunes and the boarding didn´t look that exciting (it actually looked really hard work - there´s no lifts - so it was a few moments of going down and a long walk back up the dune!)

Here´s some pics from the Valle De La Luna:

This is a pic of Death Valley:



This is a monster Sand Dune which is really steep - you can see my footprints where I ran down. It took about 30 seconds to get from top to bottom, bouncing along the sand - giant steps are what you take:



We walked for an hour and a half through the desert and a canyon. This is a pic of the desert:



Another pic of the desert:



Walking in the canyon - the white surface is caused by chemicals in the rock:



Two pics of the Valle De La Luna:





(BTW - this is the place they filmed part of the Apollo moon landings given it´s similarity to the surface of the moon..."If you believe..." :-)

Goodbye Bolivia - Welcome to Chile...

I was sad to leave Bolivia. It´s a fantastic place, and there´s so much to see and do. There´s stuff I would have liked to do - but I´d like to get a good overview of South America, so had to say goodbye.

So on Christmas Day I crossed the border into Chile. Here´s the border:



As with the border with Peru and Bolivia, I´d like to say there was no difference in landscape - but it´s weird - but you could tell you were in a different place. The landscape changed completely within 10 minutes of crossing the border.

You descend almost 3000 meters, and you can see the desert ahead, and the mountains behind. The road is paved and there are guard rails and signs. And emergency slipways.

50 kilometers later and we made it to the immigration building for Chile (not sure what happens if they don´t let you in) and I another stamp in my passport.

Salt, Sand, and Sulphur...The Bolivian Salt Flats

I arrived in Uyuni at 5.30 am, and had decided to hang around until the Hostals opened and try and get a good night´s sleep, and then set off the next day on a trip to see the famous Bolivian Salt Flat´s. But in true travelling fashion my plans quickly changed.

The reason I´d planned to spend the day in Uyuni was to get some much needed sleep, and so that I´d be on the tour for Christmas day. But at about 6am I kept getting approach by tour operators saying that I could go that day.

One of the guy´s (from Andean Salt Tours) had a tour in English (which no one else had within the near future), which had three French and two Canadians on it. After thinking about it, I thought - what the heck - I´d had no sleep, but I´d go on the tour. I´ve survived days at work with zero sleep in 36 hours when hit by Insomnia - I could manage it after one sleepless night.

I looked around Uyuni (a nice place, but not much to see), and then joined the tour.



Ayn Rand style worker:





Here´s a summary of what we did, with pics:

Day 1
Set off at 10:30am for the Salt Flats. As Uyuni is a mining town, they have a railroad, and the first port of call is the Train Cemetery. They plan to restore some of them (just like in Haworth), to make a tourist attraction. Interestingly - all of the trains were made in York! Here´s some pics:







And then it was on to see the Salar De Uyuni - the world´s largest Salt Flat - about the same size as Northern Island. Nothing can live there as the salt is so corrosive. It´s also famous for having more than half of the world´s Lithium.

It´s an amazing place. Here are some pics:

Amazing sky:



Floating islands caused by the mirages:



So much salt:



Rita and me - tasting the salt:



Of which there is lots, and lots:



Weird perspcetive shots:





A salt man:



Incredible colors caused by chemicals in the salt crystals:



On the way to the Hostal we stopped at Fish Island, where giant cactus grow - basically an island in a sea of salt - some of the cacti are over 9 feet tall:











Rita, Liang, and me:



A final stop that day and we went to see two caves - one with fossilized plants, and the other a burial site:





Talking heads:



Fossilised Plants:



That night we stayed in a Salt Hotel - made entirely of Salt - even the floor is made of salt:



The view from the Salt Hotel:



Day 2
An early start, and we were off. This was the least favourite day for everyone. We seemed to sit in the jeep for hours driving through a desert, occasionally getting out to take a photo:

Lama´s on route to see an active volcano:



An incredible view:



An active volcano (the plume of cloud on the left is caused by volcanic activity):



Then on to see the flamingoes at one of the lagoons, followed by lunch:





YES lunch - with Tomato Sauce!!!!



After lunch we drove through the desert, and a bolt in the suspension sheared off. Juan (the guide) went back to find it, while the driver repaired it using a piece of rope:



A stop at the stone tree, and other rock formations (like Brimham Rocks - just in a desert - hence the sand in the title):







And finally, a lagoon which is red because of algae in the water. It was cold and a fierce wind was blowing - hence my dodgy expression:





That night we got together to have dinner (fired egg, mashed potatoes, and fried onion and tomato), and had a few bottles of wine to celebrate. So glad I took this trip, as we had a great night. We ended up talking until 11:30pm, even though we had a 4:15 am start! We even talked (amongst other things) about etymology (should Gr8 be added to the dictionary), and the sociology of language, and whether we should have a common European language (French gets my vote).





We were over 4000meters in altitude, and the stars are incredible at night. It´s also incredibly cold. In fact it´s freezing - literally. It was so cold I didn´t sleep at all that night - kind of ironic, given I´m trying to have a one year long summer!

Day 3
The early start was so we could go and see geysers at dawn. It was worth the early start. We also saw some mud bubbling from volcanic activity.







Then it was on to the hot springs. There was ice on the floor, and we had to change at the side of the springs - but the water was really hot:





We then drove through Dali´s Desert - so named because it inspired Dali - it was like being in one of his paintings:



How Dali should have painted it:



Colors on the monutains caused by chemicals:



And then it was off to the Laguna Verde. The water is green because of arsenic in the water. It reacts with other base metals and creates a weird foam and whit powder - just like walking on the moon:





And then off we went to drop me at the border with Chile, while the rest of the guy´s returned to Uyuni on their way to Sucre.

Absolutely fantastic trip - with great company, and a fantastic Christmas.



(From left to right: Jean Baptiste, Mailys, Rita, Me, Juan, Liang, Jhibaut).