Travails of the Wide Eyed Wanderer

I arrived early into Uyuni having had little sleep. This was due to a combination of the huge Bolivian woman who smelt of fish beside me and the crying baby in front. The town of Uyuni is not particularly exciting, although the nearby salt flats are, so I quickly joined a tour of the Bolivian Altiplano for the next 3 days.

The salt flats were as beautifully blinding as they had been described. Visiting them during the rainy season enhanced the experience as the shimmering water reflected the clouds above.

Everything was perfect until, returning from the Salt Hotel (where, you guessed it, all the furniture is made out of salt) the jeep broke down and steam began to billow out of the car. After a delay of several hours, we decided to continue the tour the next day. Away from the salt flats, the area became more arid yet almost always we were surrounded by snow capped peaks.

We stopped for the night at a red lake with hundreds of flamencos. Try as I might to part the red water, it quickly became evident that I lacked the special touch required. The next morning we awoke early to visit steaming geysers and hot water springs before being dropped off at the Bolivia-Chile border. Cue another unnecessarily inefficient, complicated and tedious process.

Eventually, I arrived into San Pedro de Atacama - a trendy town in the middle of the driest desert in the world. That afternoon I visited the 'Valle de la Luna' where the salt sediment and barren landscape creates the feeling that you are walking on the moon. I stayed for sunset as the fading light cast shadows across the weathered rocks.

Despite being trendy, money is clearly not one of San Pedro's strengths. Today I tried to take out money to last for at least a week, but found that both of the banks are broken and that no shop will accept a bank card. Foresight had ensured I had an excess of Bolivianos which I exchanged for Chilean Pesos, but I had to use my emergency $50 to pay for my bus ticket out to Santiago. Consequently the sandboarding I had hoped to do today is no longer an option. It goes to show that even the best laid plans go awry...

After a day of rest in Arequipa, I travelled to Puno, a town on the Peruvian shores of Lake Titicaca. The town itself is nothing special (except for the chaotic carnival scenes during my stay) but the port acts as the starting point to the nearby islands of Uros and Taquile.

The Uros Islands are unique as they are manmade floating islands, made out of reeds, which are anchored to the bottom of the lake. Despite the spongy experience of walking on the islands, they support 2000 inhabitants. The only drawback to this original idea is that the rotting reeds need to be replenished every couple of months. Following a 3 hour journey across the lake (spent sunbathing on the deck) we arrived at Taquile - a beautiful rural island with stunning views of Titicaca.

The next day I ventured across the border to Bolivia to reach 'Copa, Copacabana...'. In addition to having a great name, the tourist town also has a daily blessing of cars outside the cathedral to ensure a safe onward journey, and a imposing hill to observe the sparkling lake and spectuaclar sunset.

After a day in Copacabana, I moved on again to La Paz - the highest capital in the world at 3640m. Arriving in the evening I immediately reserved a place to cycle what has officially been declared 'The Most Dangerous Road in the World' and is also known as the 'Death Road'. Indeed, people have died on such trips in the past year.

The ride started from a height of 4700m and the 64km journey was almost always downhill. The precearious trip was made all the more dangerous for me (hardly necessary) as my right contact lense quickly fell out - rendering me with only one eye to negotiate the loose rocks that threatened (and in my case frequently did) throw me off my bike.

One particularly spectacular crash saw me nearly fly over the handlebars. As I was crashing, potentially with severe consquences, what did I think about? Did my life flash before my eyes? Did I think of family and friends back home? No my final thought was that the crash would ruin my suntan...how shallow am I?

Having just about survived the ordeal (and got the free T shirt!), I am spending my second day in La Paz sightseeing before boarding another overnight bus that will take me to southern Bolivia.