In the desert

We're writing this from Potosi, the world's highest city at 4060m above sea level. The altitude hasn't quite knocked us for six, but we're not feeling too spritely either.


From La Serena we caught a bus to San Pedro de Atacama which is a dusty desert town, lined with adobe houses and catering for nothing but tourism. Our first night we went to a fantastic talk by a French astronomer who showed us the night sky in the middle of the desert and blew our minds with discussions about the edge of the universe and space-time. The sky was crystal clear, and we saw constellations we had never seen (e.g. the southern cross). We also took in the Tatio geysers at dawn the next day (big spurting fountains of steam at 4300m, so breathtaking in both ways) and a trek around Death and Moon Valleys (spectacular eroded rock formations) the day after.


We crossed into Bolivia via the Salar de Uyuni. We booked places on a three-day tour in a 4x4 and were lucky with our fellow passengers who were all very friendly.

The first day (after taking care of border stuff), we took a swim in a thermal pool and passed by some beautiful lakes, including the incredible red Laguna Colorada with oodles of flamingoes wading around with their crooked beaks trawling the water for food. They make a really funny sound as they filter through their beaks. There were also cute baby flamingoes, greyish white, learning the ropes.

Second day we drove all the way to the edge of the Salar de Uyuni, crossing surreal countryside like a rock formations eroded into a tree, tortoise-shell-like rocks and more coloured lakes. The most memorable moment is when we sat stock still by the side of a lake for 10 minutes, observing flamingoes incredibly close by. (Attenborough commentaries running through my head.) We stayed the night in a salt hotel, made of solid blocks of salt.

On the third day we woke for sunrise on the salt flat (salar), and drove across back to Uyuni via Incahuaca island (island in the massive salt flat). The salar is an amazing flat sheet of white salt crystals, the largest in the world at 12,000 square km in area. We heard satellite cameras calibrate their white colour using it, it's that large and uniform. The salar formed from an immense inland salt sea, which evaporated. The island was a coral colony in this sea, and now is dead rock - full of towering ancient cacti (they grow at 1cm per year, and some are 9m tall - that is 900 years old!) and beautifully contrasting with the white salt surrounding it.

In Uyuni we just chilled. Em was ill - the 7 hour ride up bumpy mountain roads to Potosi in a tiny, packed, smelly bus hasn't helped either... but we're back on our feet today.

Hope all's well back in Blighty.

Frank & Em