First of all Happy Easter to all my friends and family. I feel as if it has been an eternity since I´ve written. I was really hoping the wifi would work today so I could get in touch with my family but alas it is down, even in the high tech country of Argentina. After a 12-hour bus ride today, Anna and I decided to make Tash´s and my mom´s favorite dish for Easter- mashed potatoes! We went to an actual super market and bought all the fixings plus a secret amazing ingredient (my favorite food ever!) pesto! We made a ratitoulle and mashed potato dish that was out of this world! I´m nice and full and ready to write all about the tantos adventuras I´ve been on in the past week.
After Sucre, we made our way to Potosi, Bolivia where we made our way down into the depths of the silver mines at a very high altitude (4,300 metros approxicamente). We donned all the gear the miners wear including the hard hat and light and proceeded to descended into a totally different world- one that proceeded to be very cold then stiflingly hot from one moment to the next. What harsh conditions the miners work in. Just climbing down, walking around and taking it all in was quite the chore for me. After all was said and done our tour group decided to buy some TNT and set it off. We had 4 minutes before the bomb went off so of course our guide proceeded to hand off the TNT to each of us for an exciting but unnerving phot opp. Man, was it loud when it finally went off!!!!
Potosi was on our way to our grand adventure in Uyuni, Bolivia. We took a 3-day guided jeep tour through the amazing desert of Uyuni which proved to be one of the most memorable parts of our trip so far. We started off in the small town of Uyuni where everyone swore there was no water (there was). We booked a tour, found a guide, and proceedeed to entrust our lives to our guide Elias as we embarked on an epic journey through the Salar de Uyuni.
The first place we came to know was known as the place where trains go to die. Picture rust and debree dating back to the 1950s. We ran around the train cemetery, walked on top of dilapidated trains and climbed inside of strange debris. It was definitely a trip... After we finished our first tour it was time to see the infamous salts flats of Uyuni. We drove and drove and drove into the desert when we finally arrived into a sea of pure white salt surrounded by majestic mountains. We took some amazing if not silly pictures using depth perception of us standing on pringles cans and people´s hands. I´ve never felt such beauty in a place that could be construed as so empty. I suppose within the emptiness the beauty of the place was fully realized for me. If you took off your sunglasses you were invaded with pure white glaring salt for an eternity of pure white inspiration.
After a full afternoon of salt hotels, salt tables and mirrored images of rain water against a pristine backdrop we left the salt flats and entered desert that stretched for miles upon end. We finally made it to our refugio in the middle of no where, where we were greeted with tea, galletas (cookies) and a lovely staff. The refugio was made entirely out of salt--we´re talking about the walls, the dinner table and even our bed frames--todo hecho de sal (all made out of salt!!).
The next day we woke at the reasonable hora (hour) of 7 am and made our way to see the lagunas (lakes) and flamencos (flamingos) of Uyuni. We saw lakes made out of salt and lakes that looked like they were made of salt but were actually borax. I wish I could tell you more about the chemical compounds that made up the pink stuff that flamingos eat to give them their color but alas, that is not my forte. About half way through our day we arrived at the Arbol de Piedra (Tree of Stone) which I expected to be some sort of petrified forest, but ended up being a volcanic rock that looked just like a tree. We spent about 2 hours scrambling up rocks that looked like gorillas and other crazy things from my whacky overactive imagination. After a full day of volcanoes, flamingos and purely amazing topography we made our way from the Laguna Colorado to our hostal at 4,500 metros.
The next day we had to get up at la madrugada (before dawn-4:30am) so we could see geysers at sunrise. They were muy impresionante but I was pretty used to volcanic activity after living in both Hawai´i and Mammoth Mountain, not to mention very tired. After our early morning drive we made it to the aguas termales (mineral waters) next to a beautiful borax infused lake at sunrise. We hung out in the water and enjoyed the last part of Bolivia before we made it to the Chilean border at about 11am... We thanked our guide, said good bye to our new Swedish friends and got on a bus to Chile. By noon we in the town of San Pedro de Altacama and down to 2,000 metros. Right away the topography changed drastically into the driest desert in the WORLD (even drier than the Sahara--no joke). We asked our driver what the skinny llamas were eating to stay alive (sobrevivir) and found out that they were eating tiny microscopic plants that were virtually invisible to the human eye. How did the llamas find these so called plants anyways?
We found ourselves a nice hostal after walking along with our gigantic backpacks for about an hour and finally took a shower...How do spell relief...S O A P!!! We decided to have a bite to eat in the center when we were accosted by Rodrigo with an offer of sand boarding. It was a cheap price and an exciting offer so despite our fatigue we decided to try sand boarding (snowboarding´s distant cousin without the chairlift). It ended up being a blast even though we were taken to a place called Valle de la muerte (Death Valley) which was excrutiatingly hot. I took to it pretty well given my snowboarding background but soon found that sand can be pretty unforgiving when you face plant into it! Wow!
We finished up our 1 day excursion into Chile and made our way this morning into Argentina via a 12-hour bus ride... Happy Easter to all! It was by far the most comfortable (thank you semi-cama) and sweet smelling bus ride I have been on thus far. It really made me happy to be back in civilization again. So we are finally in Argentina and I couldn´t be happier. We fell back today when I felt like we should have sprung forward (I forget my life or continent was flipped upside down as it were) so we got an hour less of sleep when we could have had one more. I am ridiculously tired but had to get this out before all I´ve seen fell into the ether of my memory and collapsed. I will report back more soon. Teaching in Buenos Aires here I come! Miss you all and to all a Happy Easter and good night!
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