From Potosi to Uyuni, Bolivia

From Potosi to Uyuni slideshow

I almost took the bus from Potosi to Uyuni but I am glad I didn't. The 160 miles is mostly dirt road and some parts just rocks. We did it in five hours on a 4X4 Toyota Land Cruiser, but the bus takes at least seven hours. The car shook us at lot on some parts of the road and I couldn't imagine that much shaking in a bus with a bunch of people with the windows closed. There was a lot of dust and diesel coming out of other vehicles.

The views were magnificent! Mineral rich mountains of all different colors, vicuñas, llamas, horses and cows grazing on paja brava, wild straw, very prevalent in the region. A landscape that changed from very dry to very high. At one point we were at 14,100 feet. We passed mining towns and mines. Our guide was very good at explaining the history, geography and topography of the region. However, I found strange to see a small vanilla scented US flag hanging from the front mirror of the car. The driver and guide drank coca cola the whole trip, and after the first couple of hours of Andean type music, only American music was played. There was a certain mismatch for me, specially in the land of Evo Morales.

Vicuñas are a more feminine type of llama, a wild animal, in extinction, so they cannot be killed only their fur can be harvest. A vicuña sweater is a lot more expensive and warmer than a llama one, or even an alpaca one. This is how it goes: the most expensive is vicuna, then alpaca, then llama. I also learned from our guide, that a male vicuña wonders on his own and has six female vicuñas to himself, like lions. Weather the llamas live in a community. I am not sure they are monogamist but for sure it is not six to one.

I was told that the 15,000 people community of Uyuni is one not to hang out for more than a night to go on the Salar de Uyuni tour. But it is actually not so bad. I arrived on Sunday, July 26th, and there was a market, so the town looked alive. Then I had two coca mojito drinks with a medallion llama steak, so huge, I could only eat half of it and I am sure that is what kept me awake half the night digesting. Llama meat is low in colesterol – it is not very red, the color is a cross between chicken and beef. The Kactus restaurant is very cool, with heating and good music. There was a group of six young Brazilians there coming back from the Salar and we chatted until close to 7pm when they left for Potosi.