journey to the salt flats: day 1

Less crowd, more sites to see. Sold. Steeper price? It was money spent that's worth every centavo.

I took the overnight bus from La Paz to Tupiza to start the Salt Flats tour there. I initially planned to take the 5-day tour which includes hiking up a volcano but all other people booked the 4-day tour so I had no other option. I paid 210USD which covered everything except for entrance fees and use of toilet. The lady then explained to me that the accommodation would be very basic and shower would only be available on the third night. She gave me a brochure and mentioned the places we would be visiting but I was only half-listening. Take me anywhere, as long as it's beautiful.

Fold.

Day 1 - Who-the-heck-is-Butch, llamas and more llamas, coca, football 

 I met the guys who would be on the tour with me during breakfast. The first question to me was if I was the girl from the Philippines. Yes, and that meant he had seen the registration form where I half-willingly wrote my profession. The tour organizer asked for it and I didn't know what for. I should have put unemployed but anyway, I just didn't want them to know because they would probably ask questions during the trip and I might not have the answer. True enough, the other guy asked me to explain something after we saw our first otherworldly scenery. He assured me that that would be his first and last but of course, it wasn't. He had more questions in those four days but I welcomed them. And when I didn't have an answer, I told him to give me time to think and I would get back to him. I actually felt good when I was thinking and trying to recall what I learned years ago. (I know it wasn't that long ago but I tend to forget stuff especially if I don't have practical use of them.) The gratification was more about me knowing that I still know those things than him learning some geology.

We left with one more group of four travelers in another vehicle. There was only one cook and she rode with us on the first day. Six persons inside the vehicle including the driver was comfortable enough. Our driver/guide and cook didn't speak English. The guys speak a little Spanish. So I missed many of the names and explanations about the places we visited.

Spires or fins? Explain how they were formed.

We headed a little to the north of Tupiza to Quebrada de Palala and drove on a dry wash (Can I say it's a bed of an ephemeral stream?) bound with remarkable rock formations called fins. Our first stop was in El Sillar along the road on a narrow ridge. There we caught up with about four other tour groups from Tupiza. Still not much of a crowd. An impressive view of spires lie in the valleys. I had seen something like that on the road from La Paz but didn't got the time to really admire them. (I didn't know how those formations were called and when I learned about it, I think I haven't come across them before. Or have I? Give me a geomorphology book.)

While driving on the wash, our driver mentioned Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I didn't know if we'd been to the place where they were supposed to have been killed. I had no idea who they were when I first heard their names. But according to what I read, they were American bank robbers who met their doom after they robbed the payroll of the mining company they worked for in Bolivia.

It took us about two hours to reach our next destination, Awanapampa. I was waiting for our cook to take out our lunch. It was still early but I was getting hungry. When she didn't, I just headed out to the field where there were hundreds of llamas. We had already seen a lot along the road but I wanted to take a photo with a cute one. I guess llamas don't really like people. Every time I tried to get near them, they moved away from me. I tried to move like a sneaky burglar but even the ones facing away and busy nibbling grass easily noticed me and slowly walked away. Then I just ran after them and of course it didn't work. At least I think I annoyed them for being so snobbish. (Llama to me: Go away! Stupid.)

Awanapampa. Llamas in southwest Bolivia outnumber people.

We finally had our lunch in a small abandoned village. I needed to pee so I asked our driver if there was a toilet there or along the road. There was none. It was so naive of me to expect. While eating, cold wind started to blow and it got really chilly I needed my thick jacket. The sun was high up and I wondered how cold it would be at nighttime.

We continued driving for a few hours passing through some mining villages. One guy joked that I should help him find a river and pan for gold. If only that was possible, I would and use the money so I could travel more. Haha.

The whole time we were in the vehicle, our cook was chewing dried coca leaves. The two guys had some to prevent altitude sickness. They were prone to it, I wasn't. But I believe that going to Bolivia without trying coca meant that my trip wouldn't be complete. I also didn't find anything wrong with taking it in it's natural form. Coca is just a leaf; coca is not cocaine. The guys didn't like its taste. It was pretty okay to me. What I didn't like was the numbing effect to the mouth and tongue. It felt like I was in a clinic waiting for the dentist to clumsily and morbidly pull my teeth. Hate, hate, hate it.

The town of Polulos. There are electric wires but there's no electricity yet.

After a few hours, we stopped in a village. The itinerary said we will stop at Cerillos but the sign said it was Polulos. Not that it mattered. The villages we've seen almost looked the same anyway with houses made of mud bricks. And it seemed as if nobody lived in those villages sprawled in the middle of nowhere.

At around 5pm, we reached San Pablo de Lipez where we spent the night. Our accommodation had two bedrooms. The toilet was clean enough and had running cold-only water. We had some time to kill before dinner and the boys played football with some local kids. They also invited me to play but after a few minutes of running (err, walking and just standing there actually), I was already breathless because of the altitude so I just left. Later that night, I learned that the kids killed them. I'm guessing the altitude contributed a lot.

While waiting for our food to be served, I had a chat with a Malaysian guy from the other group. He has been traveling for three years and a half and he's not stopping for at least a year and a half more. I so envy him and wish that I can do what he's doing.

The tranquil village of San Pedro de Lipez. (Or is it San Antonio?)

After dinner, some kids came and played music to us with their local wind pipe (zampoña) made of bamboo. I appreciated it and they looked adorable. But their faces showed that they were not enjoying what they were doing. And I really don't like it when someone is forced to do something they don't want to, especially kids.

Anyway, there was no electricity in the village so it was very dark. But the darkness gave way to the beautiful sky lit up by millions of stars. I could see the Milky Way. It would have been great to just lie down on the ground, look at the light from stars emitted years ago; and ponder about life and all the time that has passed by. But it was very cold so I just went inside our room and found comfort under the blankets.