Stranded in the desert

And it was beautiful. Uyuni itself is unremarkable and touristy (only as a transit point). But the salt flat is spectacular, gigantic, and white. We started at the train cemetery. Here, the name says it all - everything is full of rusty freight trains and tourists (unlike 7 years ago when we were alone). Still a nice climbing park.

On the salt flat, there is endless whiteness and the distant mountains and cars are reflected in the shimmering air. These are then higher than they are long, which is very funny. In the middle of nowhere and undisturbed by other tourists, our driver set up a picnic table for us: lunch with llama meat in the endless white salt desert. Only a Jurassic, carnivorous reptile kept us company. Suddenly, in the midst of the vastness, the Inkahuasi Island (House of the King) appears. A nice walk among meter-high cacti and through barren rock landscapes. The day ends at the salt hotel with a free glass of wine.

The next day was supposed to be dominated by the color pink, mainly by one-legged bird creatures. In fact, we drove from one lagoon to the next on the Altiplano, all glowing in different colors and housing many, many flamingos. With the fantastic mountains and volcanoes in the background, the view is breathtaking. We enjoyed our second lunch in front of such a backdrop.

On the third day, we set off at half past 4 in the morning to the geysers, whose sulfurous exhalations shoot 15 meters into the air and appear very mystical in the light of the rising sun. When walking through the openings in the twilight, you have to be careful not to step into one of the craters with boiling hot mud. After 20 minutes, our noses were irritated, and our feet were frozen. A bath in natural hot springs at about 35° with an outside temperature of 6° helps. Wonderful.

B U T

Then the real adventure began. Unfortunately, in a negative way: After the exciting experiences, we wanted to relax in San Pedro de Atacama (Chile). The tour ended at the Bolivian immigration control, the Chilean one is 5 km away (Hito Cajón Pass). From the former, Bolivian drivers are no longer allowed to continue; otherwise, they would enter illegally. Therefore, a Chilean bus was supposed to pick us up at the Bolivian border and drive us to the Chilean border station until we reach San Pedro. Haha. After we paid a small bribe for the departure from Bolivia, we were informed that our bus had left early, even though we were registered as passengers with them. Another bus couldn't take us either because they were all fully booked. Great. So we stood for hours in the middle of the desert, exposed, hoping that another Chilean bus could take us. But they refused. There is also no cell phone reception or internet. The Chilean border is 5 km away, and we had 2 backpacks per person with a total of 18 kg, no money, and no water. And all this at an altitude of 4800 m in the driest desert in the world. Great. Our Bolivian driver felt sorry for us because no one wanted to take us and drove us illegally a piece of the way to the Chilean border, but only so far that he couldn't be seen from there so that they wouldn't arrest him. We sat in the car, ready to jump out, tense, hoping that no police would be waiting around the next corner. At least that went well. We walked the remaining 2 km to the border on foot. Tired and thirsty, the border officials did not want to let us in because we had no transportation. So Eva called the great bus company (there was internet). After several conversations and fits of anger, the boss finally agreed to pick us up there. She wanted to blame us for not being there on time (which is not true). Besides, it didn't matter, they can gladly blame the Bolivian company for that, but they better come and pick us up now. Eva explained to her on the phone that we would not pay a single cent more for the extra pick-up. She then came to pick us up but did not change her mind about not leaving people in the desert. Seems to be okay for her because it supposedly wasn't her fault. There was another German couple with us who didn't speak a word of Spanish. No idea what they would have done in that situation, probably gone back to Bolivia. The border officials wanted to support our point of view, but it didn't help. It's a shame what tone Eva had to use to get things moving. Super stressful. Welcome to Chile.