Southwest Bolivia is simply stunning... Christi and I are up and out early, exploring our surroundings as the sun rises and marveling at the length of our shadows. We eat a pretty limp breakfast of stale bread and then it’s back to the spectacular scenery: Salar Chiguana (a smaller version of the Salar de Uyuni, but with less salt) followed by Oliawi Mountain (which is spewing toxic gas from its … [Read more...]
Sol de Manana geyser basin, Day 66
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Christi and I are woken at 4.30 am and leave the hostel at 5.30 am in freezing darkness. And it’s scary driving through the desert at night. But in order to have the best experience of the Sol de Manana geyser basin (4,950m / 16,240 feet), you have to arrive by dawn. Surprisingly the area is not too crowded and we get to enjoy the majesty of the towering, hissing fumaroles, the cracked and … [Read more...]
San Pedro de Atacama (Chile), Day 67
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As Bolivia and Chile share a similar landscape in this area, much of the tour Christi and I have just completed has a Chilean equivalent, (in the Atacama Desert) but the costs are much higher here. We had planned to visit the high Chilean Altiplano and geyser fields, but lack of money, lack of motivation for another 4 am start, and the seductive clutches of San Pedro de Atacama keeps us … [Read more...]
San Pedro (Chile) to Salta (Argentina), Day 68
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It seems that many backpackers are attempting to escape the expensive, yet seductive, embrace of San Pedro de Atacama for Salta today and tickets are hard to come by. Christi and I are lucky to get two of the last four tickets on the Pullman company service departing at 8 am (or whenever the bus driver feels so inclined). The bus eventually departs from the waste ground behind the central … [Read more...]
Faces of Argentina, Day 69
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Christi and I ate dinner from a food-stall last night at about 11 pm, which is about the normal time people eat in these parts. What with the long journey and the late night, we enjoy a thoroughly lazy morning before beginning to explore. Salta is by far the most sophisticated town we have encountered since Cuenca, but one fact of life that we shall have to get used to during our stay in … [Read more...]
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