F**ken Frio!!!

Excuse the language but this has been the phrase of the last few days so I thought it appropriate for the title of this post :) Frio (if I've spelt it correctly) means Cold.

Once again I don't have a lot of time,& this internet connection is also competing for one of the slowest I've used thus far, so Ill do a quick over view & expand on it if I can. The last 5 days have been pretty full on & I've had such a good time.

Monday (10/05) = Lapaz to Oruro to Uyuni. Left Lapaz at 8am made it to Uyuni at 11ish.
I woke up rather early (how sad is this but I have to check my pocket diary to make sure I've got the days right!) & went to the bus station in Lapaz at about 6.50am to try & catch a 7am bus to Oruro in order to catch the train to Uyuni. I ended up on a 8am bus & got to Oruro train station just after 12pm. I was like cool heaps of time to buy a train ticket, everything´s great, no problems... Except - Rachel forgot that here everything closes for about 2.5 hours over lunch time... Including the train station. It shut at 11.30 & reopened at 2pm. All I could do was sit and wait. I was rather happy it was a sunny day. I had no problem buying a ticket when it opened & met some cool people that I've spent the last 3 or so days with. We went & had lunch in Oruro then jumped on the train & all stayed in the same hostel in Uyuni & went with the same tour company.

EDIT mon: It was so hard to find a taxi in the morning to get to the bus station. I was very much used to taxis been everywhere in Cusco. I had to walk up a huge hill with my pack on which wasn't to bad & finally found a taxi. The bus was only Bls.10.00 & had been recommended by the agency that I booked the salt pan tour with. I think I was the only gringo on the bus & had a lady sit next to me that has a thousand skirts on so at times was a little squished but considering it was only Bls.10 ($1.50au) for a 4hour trip I cant complain. We headed out of LaPaz & were off to a good start but at the top of the hill they stopped for what seemed like forever for a whole heap of other people to get on. It was a pretty good bus trip though. The train trip was so good, just over 7 hours, but the people I met were really good value so time flew. Daniel, form the states, Martin, form England, Elisa (hope I spelt that right) form Argentina & Dicla, from Israel. Everyone was pretty much traveling by themselves & Daniel, Martin & Dicla met in Lapaz & Elisa & I met them at the train station while buying our tickets. We all stayed at Hotel Avenida in Uyuni which was quite good.

Tuesday (11/05) = Left Uyuni at 11am(ish) with Colque tours. Went to salt pan which was cool then fish island then accommodation for the night.

EDIT Tue: They guys all booked with Colque tours too. Martin & I were supposed to be in the same jeep & the others in a different one. We tried to get in the same group and at one stage she said that would be fine then that changed & I ended up been by myself with a Italian couple & a French Canadian couple, none of them spoke much English. Needless to say I wasn't that happy but such is life, what can you do :) We all stayed the first night at the same place & Elisa was only doing a 1 day tour so the second day of the trip I swapped cars & was back with Dan, Marty & Dicla which was really cool, We had a heap of fun :) My wrists hurt form typing so don't think Ill write any more about the salt flats.

Wednesday (12/05) = Left accommodation bout 7.30am changed groups to be with friends & drove most of the day. Saw some cool mountain formations & awesome lakes & a lot of desert. Oh & was rather cold!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stayed in very basic accommodation & slept in my thermals (long johns included) as well as hat, gloves & socks.

Thursday (13/05) = Woke up at 5.45am was sooooooo cold. Didn't bother taking thermals off just put on clothes over top & was still a little cold. Oh plus had 2 pairs of socks on. Drove for a bit & saw the geysers (don't think I cant spell), I got out of the 4WD once for a photo but just couldn't make myself for the next lot that were supposed to be good... We've got them in NZ so its all good :) We drove some more & it warmed up a little (meaning it wasn't -0 something degrees. Got to some hot springs. Was so strange the lake was just ice then there were the hot springs... Had to go for a dip & was cursing myself that I only have a bikini but managed to change & get in the water with no great effort - getting changed back was a little different :) but I survived.
More driving then about 9.30 we reached the pick up point for the bus to chili & waited round there then about 11am headed form Bolivia to Chile.

Made it to San Pedro just after 1pm ish I think. The trips not that long but for the first time immigration actually looked through my bag (& everyone else's). The nice sealed road & road signs, oh, plus the lines on the road made me think that Chile might be a bit more organized in this respect.
wasn't sure what hostel I was going to stay at but of course there was a tout to meet the bus so I went with the easy option. It costs 4000 pesos a night (just under $10au so really expensive) but its one of the cheapest & nicer ones in town. Its going to take me a while to get used to paying more here... At the hostel I've met 2 English guys & a English girl & we went for dinner & a drink last night. 4900pesos for a steak... & 3700 pesos for a vodka & pina! Going to have to watch my money.

K, need to go now so much more to say but have to try & book a bus... Was going to just go straight to Santiago (24hr bus trip) but Jen, the English girl I met yesterday, is going to Salta in Argentina on Sunday so I might go there then to Mendoza then to Santiago... Have to figure out if I can do it... Will try to write more tomorrow...

San Pedro - Chile, Friday 14th May, 1.05pm