Salar de Uyuni & Argentina

Ok, it's been a while since i've written anything again!  I just finished catching up writing in my journal so updating here was the logical next step!

From Potosi, we bused to Uyuni which landed up being a very bumpy ride but it was accompanied by an incredible sand storm which started mid afternoon!  The winds were howling like i've never seen and as we were driving into Uyuni it was difficult to see across the road at times the sand was so thick!  Thankfully - it seemed to die down minutes before we got off the bus!  The town of Uyuni seemed to be supported solely by tourists leaving on the Salar de Uyuni Tour as there were numerous tour agencies, hostels, and touristy shops!  The rest of the town seemed pretty dead!

While walking around looking for a good cheap hostel a fellow traveler stopped us and asked if we needed any help/suggestions.  It was awesome because she recommended Andes Tour Agency, which is the one we landed up going with upon her recommendation.  We spent the next day around Uyuni just relaxing and resting up before going on the tour.  I was just starting to feel better at this point and eating almost 3/4 of the dishes I was served at meals! 

November 29, we left on the tour and we were joined by Carl and Yvette from Australia, Andreas from Germany, and Fiona from New Zealand.  We had a driver for our old beat up Toyota jeep and our guide.  A quick side note - the first impression we had of Carl and Yvette was Yvette giving Carl a rabies shot since he had been bitten in the leg by a dog in La Paz!  The first day included the salt flats which are incredibly massive and it's an odd prairie type feeling like it goes on forever!  We drove 80 kms over the salt flats to get to fish island which is named such because it slightly has the appearance of a fish...but it's a cool island in the middle of the salt flats covered with cacti - some of which are over 900 years old!  We stayed that night in a hotel made of salt.  Salt blocks made the walls, tables, chairs, bed frames, and salt pebbles made up the entire floor.  Kind of an interesting experience that sparks a desire to stay in Canada's ice hotel some day. 

Day 2 involved a stop in San Juan which had a cemetery predating Inca times where the tombs were hollowed out coral pieces with the mummies laid inside.  The tombs and the mummies were very well preserved and they had made viewing wholes into each of the tombs for viewing.  Every time I look at mummies I can't help but think what kind of sick person would want to look at my bones in a few hundred years.  When we had pulled into San Juan, I believe it was Yvette who noticed one of our tires was leaking air so the guide and driver went to work fixing that as we toured through the cemetery just outside of town.  When we walked back into town - the jeep was gone and the owner of the store where we had parked knew nothing of the jeeps location...yeah we were certainly starting to wonder whether all of our luggage on the top of the jeep was too tempting!  After 5 ish minutes of pondering what to do as we were in the middle of nowhere - lo and behold our beloved jeep showed up!  They had just gone to fix the front latch of the engine hood while they were in fixing mode!  Well fixing mode was back in action a while later as we were making our way down a rough bumpy trail which was now in a location which could be the definition of the middle of nowhere!  The jeep had run out of gas!  Well, their was a jerry can on the roof from which they filled up the jeep but that didn't get it going!  The driver had run the engine so dry that gas wasn't even reaching the fuel pump!  So, with only a screwdriver (since taking tools into the middle of nowhere when you're driving an old jeep doesn't seem necessary), Carl and the driver eventually managed to get some gas into one of the cylinders which was enough to get the engine pulling in more gas from the tank!  That set us back about 50 minutes but we were thankful that the trip could continue!!!  We visited 5 different beautiful lagoons that all had flamingos in them and were surrounded by beautiful volcanos!  The lagoons had different colorations depending on the minerals that were contained within the water. 

Day 3 we woke up at 4:45 am to a brisk morning where we could actually see our breath!  The entire salt flats tour was over 3500 meters in elevation so while the sun was powerful during the day, the nights did cool off quite a bit!  Our first stop was at a site with numerous geysers!  We then headed to Laguna Verde which has green colored water which wasn't as visible while we were there as the wind was not blowing and stirring up the water.  But it was still an amazing view as the volcano behind it had a beautiful full cone!  Our tour ended at the Bolivia/Chile border where there was a bus waiting for us to take us to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile.  The border crossing there was a joke!  There was a Bolivian migration office at the "border" and a "gate" which was open but it was in the middle of nowhere and the gate could easily be driven around!  It was the most pointless thing I'd ever seen!  That and the fact that no one was working at the office that day which seems to be a regular occurrence!  So we had had our passports stamped for exit in Uyuni before we left as we were warned about this useless border crossing! 

Dec 2:  We only spent one night in San Pedro de Atacama as it was more expensive and we headed to Salta, Argentina which made that our 3rd country in two days!  It was a lot of border crossings but they all went smoothly!  Chile and Argentina certainly took them more seriously than Bolivia as we needed to have our bags scanned while going through but there were no holdups.  We arrived in Salta in the evening and immediately bought our bus tickets for 4:00 pm the next day for Puerto Iguazu so we could see Iguazu Falls! 

Dec 3:  We dropped laundry off in the morning as we had not had clean clothes for a while!  They wrote on the ticket that it would be completed at 12:50 pm which gave us plenty of time to get to our 4:00 pm bus!  We wanted to walk around Salta for a while so we decided we'd wait until 2:30 ish to pick up our big bags which we had left at the hostel for the day, and then go pick up our laundry before walking to the bus station.  Well, when we arrived at the laundromat, we came upon locked doors and the closed sign that showed us that they would not be open until Monday (this was Saturday)...we were certainly troubled!  We had the decision to make of just leaving the clothes that we had dropped off and buying replacements at some point or waiting for 2 days to get our laundry back.  Well we decided to go to the bus station first to see if we could switch our tickets and we did - by paying a penalty but it wasn't too bad and certainly cheaper than replacing our laundry items!!!  So we waited!

The next 2 days we walked around a lot and discovered that the stores liked to take an afternoon "siesta" break and closed doors during the heat of the day!  The streets were empty during this time!  While the stores were open - the streets were full of people!  We discovered a great empanadas restaurant and went there twice for the cheap food!  Salta is renowned to have some of the best empanadas in Argentina and they were certainly delicious!!!  It was almost worth staying in Salta the extra 2 days for those!  (ok that's a bit of an overstatement but it helps deal with the fact that we "lost" 2 days!) 

Dec 6 we made it Puerto Iguazu!  It was a 24 hour bus ride from Salta but we changed buses at 6:00 am and again at 11:00 am so that helped break it up!  It really went by fast!  We've taken so many buses by now that an 8 hour trip is a piece of cake!  So 24 hours wasn't that bad either! We were informed when we got to Puerto Iguazu that it is no longer possible to go to the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls without a visa if you need one to get into the country.  For years, an "unofficial" visit to the park was allowed for one day but this was no longer the case!  For us Canadians, it's a $170 visa which we weren't prepared to get just for one day on the Brazilian side!  I was a little let down because I was hoping to take one of the helicopter tours of the falls, but they only leave from the Brazilian side.

Dec 7:  Seeing Iguazu Falls!  UNBELIEVABLE!  Another Machu Picchu moment just on a totally different spectrum!  The Argentinian side is beautiful and has many pathways to walk upon and has great views of the falls so we weren't overly depressed anymore that we couldn't make it to the Brazilian side!  It was a fantastic combination of the falls, jungle and wildlife!!!  Just a great day hanging out at the falls and taking in the sites! 

Dec 8:  Took the bus from Puerto Iguazu to San Ignacio, Argentina.  Today, (the 9th), we toured through an old Jesuit missions site which is located here and it is a beautiful place as well!  It was a rather large complex which housed nearly 4,000 Guarani people at it's peak which I was surprised to discover!  I didn't think the missions had gotten that big!  It is certainly hotter here!  It's also been very humid but we are enjoying the warm temperatures as we try to stay hydrated!  Tonight we leave on the bus at midnight bound for Corrientes.  From Corrientes, we will grab a bus in the morning to Mercedes and then on to Colonia Pelligrini which is in a national park called Reserva Provincial Esteros Del Ibera which is supposed to have more great jungle and wildlife! 

If you've made it all the way to end of this in one shot I applaud you!  Sorry for not updating in a long time!  Hope you are all doing well!