26-27.08.24

We return to our heroes at the bus station…

Yeah they changed their tickets no problem. Just explained we picked the wrong month and the changed it for us no charge. Phew!

This is going to be a shortish entry… arguably as there probably isn’t much to say! After we had sorted out the tickets all went pretty smoothly. Bus was on time, there was a ticket system for bags in the hold etc. We’ll skate over the part where packages were lowered from the office to the floor next to the bus by a rope paying no mind to any of the people below.

We got on the bus and the seats themselves were pretty comfy and had a good recline on them… and I was prepared that the person in front of me would also recline. I took some Dramamine and a drowsy antihistamine and got cosy, so we were off to a good start.

Alas. The bus itself was freezing. I had all my layers on and my warm scarf as a blanket but it felt like there was a howling gale coming through the side of the bus! Then the person in front of me, who I thought was fully reclined, dropped his chair back even further fully smashing into my poor knees.

Needless to say I didn’t sleep really. We arrived in Uyuni an hour early at 4am. First port of call was a weird cafe that opened at 4am that was thankfully close as we were both desperate for the loo. We hung out there in the weird morning hinterland drinking tea and hot chocolate, and booked a hostel for the day because no way were we hopping straight onto a Salt Flats tour.

The hostel was as odd as any we’ve been in and as freezing cold as many hostels we’ve experienced thus far. We were given a fire hazard of a space heater and promptly got under the covers fully clothed for a kip.

We awoke mid afternoon feeling marginally fresher than we had, and went off to book our tour. Luckily we had a list of questions to ask such as what’s included, can we have a private room, are sleeping bags included and so on. We also specifically did not go for an English tour as they ramp up the price… figured I could do a fair amount of translating. If you like, here are the Spanish questions to ask and useful phrases:

• Un tour en español nos funciona
• Queremos una habitación privada. 
• ¿Están incluidos los sacos de dormir? 
• ¿El transporte a Atacama está incluido o es adicional? 
• ¿Cuánto dinero en efectivo recomiendan que llevemos?
• ¿Nos quedaremos en aguas termales?
• ¿Es ese el mejor precio que puedes ofrecer?
• Vale, gracias, queremos ver otras ofertas pero ¡esperamos volver!
• Queremos un poco más información de los actividades 
• Cuanto por la entrada de los parques nacionales?
• Habitación privada por los dos noches si? También un baño privado? 

Anyway after checking with a few we decided on Red Planet which was highly rated and was very comprehensive in what was included. Thus sorted, we went to a vegetarian place for dinner where I had a big place of quinoa, avocado, and potatoes. And a local quinoa beer which was well nice.