Definately getting used to sleeping on the bus, I was passed out for a large swathe of the 25 hour journey to San Pedro. However, I was awake long enough to discover I don´t know enough Spanish to watch three films in Castellano and properly understand what´s happening, the North of Chile is pretty grim, and that one sandwich and a biscuit is not enough food for a whole day (meals included ticket... yeah right!). The town turned out to be very pretty and very tiny, absolutely gorgeous weather (being a desert and all) and full of incredibly friendly locals trying to sell you things. On my first day I just about mustered the energy to go and find the recommended tour company to book my salt flats tour (3 days across the Salvador Daliesque Bolivian Salt flats and into Uyun
i), and then ventured back to the awesome little hostel I was staying at to meet my room mates. I was in a room with a young English guy on his holiday from Uni and a couple of German girls (one from Hamburg!), we had a nice evening chatting and discussing the relative merits of the recomended high altitude aclimatisation diet. Post bus starvation I was less than thrilled to be told the best way to feel good at high altitude is to avoid dairy, red meat and alcohol (alcohol seems logical to me, no idea about the other two), however two days of eating cereal and veg later and I was fine when we ascended to 4000m; I´m becoming a big fan of following the advice of locals! We then went to bed at the pathetically early time of 9pm as there´s no electricity after that point, and the desert at night is freezing cold!! The next day I decided to go for a bit of a run around the town, totally failing to factor in the 2500m altitude and being suprised when after a mere 20 min jog I was wheezing like a 40 year smoker running a marathon. Upon realisation I treated myself to a day of Ben Elton and chilling out in a hammock in preperation for the sleep deprivation that was to follow on the Salt Flat tour. I also invested in a pair of llama wool gloves (with llama motif, love being a tourist sometimes) having had a tiny taste the night before of the temperatures that could be expected up so high. And the next day I was off to face the cold and astonishing beauty...
i), and then ventured back to the awesome little hostel I was staying at to meet my room mates. I was in a room with a young English guy on his holiday from Uni and a couple of German girls (one from Hamburg!), we had a nice evening chatting and discussing the relative merits of the recomended high altitude aclimatisation diet. Post bus starvation I was less than thrilled to be told the best way to feel good at high altitude is to avoid dairy, red meat and alcohol (alcohol seems logical to me, no idea about the other two), however two days of eating cereal and veg later and I was fine when we ascended to 4000m; I´m becoming a big fan of following the advice of locals! We then went to bed at the pathetically early time of 9pm as there´s no electricity after that point, and the desert at night is freezing cold!! The next day I decided to go for a bit of a run around the town, totally failing to factor in the 2500m altitude and being suprised when after a mere 20 min jog I was wheezing like a 40 year smoker running a marathon. Upon realisation I treated myself to a day of Ben Elton and chilling out in a hammock in preperation for the sleep deprivation that was to follow on the Salt Flat tour. I also invested in a pair of llama wool gloves (with llama motif, love being a tourist sometimes) having had a tiny taste the night before of the temperatures that could be expected up so high. And the next day I was off to face the cold and astonishing beauty...
llama llama - show us the llama gloves!
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