Four day 4WD trip

The four day, 4WD trip (10th - 13th April) around South West Bolivia was fantastic, and rather than boring you with lots of writing I am going to post lots of pictures instead.

On the first day we went to Salar de Uyuni, the world`s largest salt flats. They are 3653m high and cover 12,000 sq km. They are also part of a prehistoric salt lake. We spent most of the day driving across these, and we stopped for lunch at an island in the middle of the salt. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, and of course none of these pictures do it any justice at all. You have to see it for your own eyes.

Charlie, H, Erica, Me, Lizzie and Jess.

The Mince! (for those of you that miss it!).














Salt!














Salt (again)!














The view from the island where we had lunch.














We spent the first night in a tiny village called San Pedro. We were the only gringo´s there and had to pay 5 Boliviano´s (40p ish) for a hot shower the following morning. We had to be on the road by 7.30am so it meant a very early start and a cold run across and courtyard to the shower. By 9 o´clock we had already ran into trouble when the 4WD got stuck in the mud.















We spent the rest of the day driving around to a few different lagoons, most of which had flamingo´s in them. H took hundreds of pictures of them. I just did an impression (and a very good one at that too!).




















And so did Jess, Charlie and Erica.














But the scenery was stunning.














Lake Colorada, 25km east of the Chilean border.














And me in a hot spring at Lake Colorada (the girls later pointed the toilet paper out to me that was floating in it and our guide said it was used as a toilet..nice!)



















We had to spend our second night in the same room. It was time for Shithead (by the way, H is now beating me 104 - 88 but I finished the 4 day tour as the Champion of our group - unlucky Charlie haha).















We had to get up at 5am on the third day and get to the Sol de Manana and the 4950m high geysers for sunrise. It was a really stunning place and the hot sulphurous air was just what we needed as it was freezing cold. Check out my poncho/hat combo.....































































































After sunrise we were driven to Termas de Polques, which are hot sulphurous springs at 4200m that spout water at 30 degrees. It was gorgeous and a great way to wake up. I did all this before I would have normally left for work back in England. Maybe early mornings are a good thing!















H, Jess, Charlie and Erica.














Another highlight of the third day was when we were driven to Laguna Verde at 5000m. It sits in the very south west corner of Boliva and there is this huge volcano behind it, called Volcan Licancabur, which rises to 5930m. Another further and we´d be challenging Everest. The border between Chile and Bolivia goes through this volcano. We were also very close to San Pedro de Atacama which is where Argentina, Chile and Bolivia meet.

H, Lizzie, Erica, Me, Charlie and Jess at Laguna Verde.














And Laguna Verde with Volcan Licancabur in the background.














On the final day of the tour we drove back to Uyuni and H and I decided to head to Sucre, via Potosi, that night with the girls, as it was Charlie´s 23rd birthday the next day (on the 14th). It had been an amazing trip and one I will never forget, even though the girls had given me the title of "Papa J" (no thanks to the tour operator who took our booking - when she saw I was with 5 girls she called me Papa and unfortunately they all heard it).

For those of you who want more, I have posted links to Jess and Charlie´s blogs on the left hand side (and H will update hers as well...one day ;-)).