6:30am: Driing Drrinnggg time to wake up. A little stiff from yesterday's hike, but not too bad!
7am: breakfast at Pachamama's... the usual, bread, butter and peach jam + tea. We plan the day: 1) going to the "aqua thermales" in the morning, and 2) take the bus to Uyuni the afternoon. It'll be a long string of bus rides totalling 12 to 14h, really not looking forward to that.
9am: We scour the village to find a driver to take us to the agua thermales. We end up meeting Andres' wife who calls her husband to drive us there.
9:30am: we arrive at the place, and walk 15min to reach the site. We have plenty of time, so we decide to wander in the fields and befriend the nearby alpacas/lamas. They let us come fairly close (~5m) before prancing away.
10am: we head for the thermal water pools. There is a complex with 2 houses and 1 big pool where you can sort-of swim. Looks OK but not great. The guy in charge tells us that there is a smaller pool 5min walking distance, so we immediately head that way hoping to find something a bit more personal.
10:10am: JACKPOT! What a cute little pool we find waiting for us. The water must be at ~35 degrees Celcius, just awesome. We change into our swimming costumes and get in. It's just amazing to take a dip in a natural pool, surrounded by fields full of Alpacas/Lamas on a backdrop of snowy mountains. Unreal!
11am: we are all very prunny by now. We get out of the pool, dry up, and head back to the parking to meet Andres.
12:30pm: The old lady at Pachamama isn't around today, so we decide to have lunch at another "restaurant", the place that we initially got out of when we saw the state of the rooms. Lunch wasn't bad, we were served a hearty soup, and then a plate of rice + Lama meat. Lama meat is definitely tougher than Alpaca meat, which confirms what we heard earlier.
2pm: a friend of the Pachamama's husband picks us up at the lodge and drives us to the Chilean border where we were told we could get into a bus to Patacamaya.
From this point, the weather worsened: strong wind and rain started pouring down. We were very lucky to have such an amazing weather yesterday for our big hike!
2:30pm: we arrive at this little town at the Chilean border... Looks awful to live there, big trucks everywhere parked along the town. fortunately, we were given good information, and we find a minibus willing to take us to Patacamaya immediately. The 3 of us get in, followed by 4 Bolivians/Chileans and we are on our merry way. The driver looks like he's 12 which we find very odd... A few minutes later on the outskirt of town, the young driver stops the car and runs towards a house. Seconds later, and older man approaches, climbs on the driver's seat and get us back on the road. The other 4 passengers aren't surprised or shocked... I guess that must be common in this part of the world :)
6:30pm: we arrive at Ururo after catching another bus in Patacamaya. Based on the outskirts, Ururo seems like a worse version of La Paz. Everything is in construction, half built, wild dogs everywhere. It's really not attractive at all.
7pm: we have booked overnight tickets to Uyuni for tonight, and head into town.
7:30pm Arriving in the center, the city improves a bit, it's more welcoming and warm. There are a lot of people in the street to celebrate Xmas. One thing that shocked me is that everyone is pretty small. I can see above everyone's head! I guess thats what it must feel to be 1m90 in San Francisco, Paris or Perth :)
We go to a local pizzeria. Everyone looks at us funny... Probably not that many tourists in Ururo! Pizzas aren't very good I thought, but Max and Camille seem to have enjoyed them!
9:30pm: we arrive at the bus terminal and locate our overnight bus.
10pm: we are on the road. The heat starts to rise in the cabin. Max and I end up sleeping in our boxer shorts. The bus stops every 2 hours and switches on the main lights to let passengers out. It obviously wakes up everyone as well. Next time I'll remember to pack a sleep mask!
7am: breakfast at Pachamama's... the usual, bread, butter and peach jam + tea. We plan the day: 1) going to the "aqua thermales" in the morning, and 2) take the bus to Uyuni the afternoon. It'll be a long string of bus rides totalling 12 to 14h, really not looking forward to that.
9am: We scour the village to find a driver to take us to the agua thermales. We end up meeting Andres' wife who calls her husband to drive us there.
9:30am: we arrive at the place, and walk 15min to reach the site. We have plenty of time, so we decide to wander in the fields and befriend the nearby alpacas/lamas. They let us come fairly close (~5m) before prancing away.
10am: we head for the thermal water pools. There is a complex with 2 houses and 1 big pool where you can sort-of swim. Looks OK but not great. The guy in charge tells us that there is a smaller pool 5min walking distance, so we immediately head that way hoping to find something a bit more personal.
10:10am: JACKPOT! What a cute little pool we find waiting for us. The water must be at ~35 degrees Celcius, just awesome. We change into our swimming costumes and get in. It's just amazing to take a dip in a natural pool, surrounded by fields full of Alpacas/Lamas on a backdrop of snowy mountains. Unreal!
11am: we are all very prunny by now. We get out of the pool, dry up, and head back to the parking to meet Andres.
12:30pm: The old lady at Pachamama isn't around today, so we decide to have lunch at another "restaurant", the place that we initially got out of when we saw the state of the rooms. Lunch wasn't bad, we were served a hearty soup, and then a plate of rice + Lama meat. Lama meat is definitely tougher than Alpaca meat, which confirms what we heard earlier.
2pm: a friend of the Pachamama's husband picks us up at the lodge and drives us to the Chilean border where we were told we could get into a bus to Patacamaya.
From this point, the weather worsened: strong wind and rain started pouring down. We were very lucky to have such an amazing weather yesterday for our big hike!
2:30pm: we arrive at this little town at the Chilean border... Looks awful to live there, big trucks everywhere parked along the town. fortunately, we were given good information, and we find a minibus willing to take us to Patacamaya immediately. The 3 of us get in, followed by 4 Bolivians/Chileans and we are on our merry way. The driver looks like he's 12 which we find very odd... A few minutes later on the outskirt of town, the young driver stops the car and runs towards a house. Seconds later, and older man approaches, climbs on the driver's seat and get us back on the road. The other 4 passengers aren't surprised or shocked... I guess that must be common in this part of the world :)
6:30pm: we arrive at Ururo after catching another bus in Patacamaya. Based on the outskirts, Ururo seems like a worse version of La Paz. Everything is in construction, half built, wild dogs everywhere. It's really not attractive at all.
7pm: we have booked overnight tickets to Uyuni for tonight, and head into town.
7:30pm Arriving in the center, the city improves a bit, it's more welcoming and warm. There are a lot of people in the street to celebrate Xmas. One thing that shocked me is that everyone is pretty small. I can see above everyone's head! I guess thats what it must feel to be 1m90 in San Francisco, Paris or Perth :)
We go to a local pizzeria. Everyone looks at us funny... Probably not that many tourists in Ururo! Pizzas aren't very good I thought, but Max and Camille seem to have enjoyed them!
9:30pm: we arrive at the bus terminal and locate our overnight bus.
10pm: we are on the road. The heat starts to rise in the cabin. Max and I end up sleeping in our boxer shorts. The bus stops every 2 hours and switches on the main lights to let passengers out. It obviously wakes up everyone as well. Next time I'll remember to pack a sleep mask!
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