Salty

After far longer in La Paz than originally planned, we caught an overnight bus to Uyuni, a small town famous only for being near to the amazing Salar de Uyuni. We had been told by Arturo that it was better to get the train, but it wasn´t running that day. He was right - the journey was around 500km, the final 200km of which were on unpaved road (also known as "the open desert") and so bumpy our bags ended up three seats back from where they started. I hoped that this would act like a Slendertone as seen on infomercials and I would emerge from the bus toned and lithe, but sadly no amount of bumpy road can counteract my new addiction to Oreos.

When we arrived in Uyuni we picked a tour agency, got in a jeep with four others, and after a detour to the train cemetary (very wild wild west) and the salt mines, headed off to the salt flats. This was really spectacular, a vast expanse of flat white salt stretching off to the horizon, surrounded by mountains and bright blue sky. We spent quite a long time taking silly pictures using the perspective and the blank canvas of the salt to make it seem like I was squishing Chris under my thumb or whatever. We stayed in a hostel made of salt that night, which I had imagined to be rather like those luxurious ice hotels in Scandinavia but actually turned out to be much more basic and less exciting than it sounds. The following morning we got up to watch the sun rise over the flats, and spotted our jeep, buried up to its axles in salt and mud, out in the middle of nowhere. We had to wait 7 hours for them to free our jeep plus another one which went out to help and also got stuck. So the second day was a bit of a write-off, as we then had to rush past all the lagoons and other sights we were supposed to see in order to get to the next hostel by dark. We still don´t really know why our jeep was out there in the first place, and the tour company were less than helpful when we got back. Anyway, the final day was more spectacular coloured lagoons, flamingos and rock formations, then a long, bumpy drive back through the salt desert to Uyuni. Back in Uyuni, we found that the tour company (Ripley Tours, for those of you who wish to avoid them in future) had also failed to buy our train tickets to the border, and the ticket office was closed.

Undaunted, we took a bus the following morning, 7 more hours of unpaved road to Tupiza through amazing desert and mountain scenery just like in Quantum of Solace, and then another 2 hours in the dark to Villazon on the Bolivian border. Yes, we are now so blasé about land border crossings that we do them at night without any onward tickets. Surprisingly, they just stamped our passports and the next thing we knew we were in Argentina. No bag searching, form filling, or spending 20 minutes in the wrong queue like at normal border crossings. However, also no money-changers, so we still had a pocket full of Bolivianos and no Pesos. We then scored the last couple of semi-cama seats on a night bus to Salta using good old Visa, but weren´t able to pay to use the toilets or for any food. We had a nutritious dinner of a beaten-up Snickers that I found in my backpack.

Argentina is like a whole other world compared to the other places we´ve been. For starters, the roads are paved and the buses are modern, so we slept like babies on the overnight journey.
Although there is still plenty of poverty, there are also many more affluent people. One immediate difference is the number of fat people, whose size is not obviously due to having eight kids and wearing four layers of woollen clothes at all times. Last night we had "empanadas salteñas" (mini cheese pasties) followed by the most enormous and delicious steak for the princely sum of US$10, which may go some way towards explaining their obesity. Another difference is that after following the rainy season for so long, we´ve hit high season. Many Argentinians are now on their summer holidays so we´re suddenly finding it more difficult to get hotel rooms and bus tickets.

In a couple of hours we´re getting another bus, to Mendoza. It´s 16 hours overnight, but we´ve splashed out for Ejecutivo Class seats. This means that they recline way back, they are much wider than normal, and include dinner with wine, whisky and champagne. Argentinian buses are famous for their luxury so we felt we had to try it, and this isn´t even the most luxurious option! Mendoza is smack in the middle of the wine region, and there are lots of wineries for us to visit. Latin America has some great local beers but I´ve really missed having a nice glass of red wine ...