Day 22 - Tupiza to San Antonio De Lipez (Day 1 of Salar de Uyuni Tour)

I was up early for the start of my 4 day Salar de Uyuni tour, and had my breakfast with Daniel (the musician from Scotland) and the four Czechs that would be travelling in the other vehicle. The other travellers were staying in another hotel and were joining us a little later. 

We all finally set off together in two vehicles at 8:30am. In my vehicle there was Javier our driver and cook, Frasier and Joanne (a young married couple from England), Rob the Dutch guy (who spoke perfect English) and Daniel.

Our first stop was the 'Sillar Region' (moon valley) which was 13km outside of Tupiza and at 3650 metres altitude, which offered some amazing views. Shortly after this we stopped for lunch and it was here we started to get to know one another a little bit better. Daniel was a musician and entertainer living in Belgium, Frasier had recently quit his job as a trainer for the British basketball team, Joanne had taken a year out from teaching and Rob (who appeared to be the joker of the pack), had sold his recruitment business. Rob had been travelling around South America for the last 6 months, Frasier and Joanne were on a magical worldwide trip for a year with 10 months to go, and Daniel was only travelling for a similar length to myself and had travelled from Brazil, and was heading to Peru. Javier seemed a very funny man but unfortunately spoke very little English, and rather embarrassingly for all of us it was only Rob that could speak Spanish!

The Sillar (Moon Valley)

After our lunch we continued on the tour and later stopped at the village of Nazarenito where we met some lovely local children just sat around which made for some wonderful photographs, although they did want paying for the privilege! We then continued through Chilcobija, Awanapampa, Cerrillos and Polulos before reaching our accommodation for the night at San Antonio De Lipez. It was very basic; with all five of us in the same room (which is what we were really expecting).

Children in Nazarenito

Nazarenito

Nazarenito (Drying out meat)

The church in Nazarenito

Chilcobija

Awanapampa

Cerrillos or Polulos?

Whilst Javier cooked our evening meal all five of us decided to climb the nearby hill to watch the sun go down. On the way down Daniel and I stopped at a nearby sheep pen where there was a couple of local ladies tending the sheep, who didn't appear to be too happy when they saw us taking photographs! We did however manage to take a picture of one another holding a very cute lamb!

View of San Antonio De Lipez 

San Antonio De Lipez

Holding a cute lamb in San Antonio De Lipez!

We all had our evening meal together at about 8pm (which was proceeded with tea and biscuits). There was also another team of four (from another tour company), consisting of a young English couple and a young Chinese couple. It was whilst eating our dinner we realised that the other team (the four Czechs) were nowhere to be seen. We asked Javier and he informed us they were a few hours ahead as their driver was not stopping at all of the sites along the way? We all thought this was a little strange especially as last night the hotel owner had told us we would both be traveling in convoy together? (We were supposed to be sharing the cook!)

After our evening meal we were all ready for bed, however just as we were settling down for the night we had a knock on the door. Four young local boys wanted to sing for us, how could we refuse! They were truly amazing and very entertaining; we all dropped 20 Bolivianos in one of the boy’s hats which seemed to put a smile on their faces!

Children in San Antonio De Lipez

Children in San Antonio De Lipez

Children in San Antonio De Lipez

We were told by Javier we need to rise at 5:30am tomorrow morning, as it's going to be a long day!