Marine Iguana Contemplation

After being back in quito a few weeks, the adventurous spirit in Daniel and I had not subsided, so with that Daniel had us booked in for a weekend of rockclimbing...

We were 5 in all in the class, with me being the only girl...I was not so brave as the boys and did not always make it to the top of the face we were climbing. The guys were great though giving me plenty of encouragement, telling me where i could find a nook or cranny which to grip to get me up a little further...However, they understood when encouragement was enough very quickly, when at one point I no longer felt comfortable climbing and asked to be let down...

¨You can do it, just put your hand here, put your foot a little more to the left, grip with your fingers, do this, do that!¨ All of it a mishmash of English and Spanish...

Mind swirlng, eyes brimming, muscles aching and shaking , and in the most lady-like fashion, (when you´re sprawled like a starfish against a vertical wall, held up by ropes tied to a harness) I called out for them all to ¨Shut up! And just let me down...¨

A few more expletives were involved. All in all a fantastic weekend, with loads of laughs!

All too quickly came the time for Daniel to return home to Sweden.

However in the meantime, I had been on the job hunt and was over the moon when, the Friday before he left, I was offered a HR position in a big international company, where I would be the only non-Ecuadorian. Daunting in some respects, but how much fun!!

With Daniel leaving on Tuesday, my starting day would be the Wednesday, however I was asked to come to a 3 hour HR meeting on Monday just to get a feel for what was planned over the next few months - Exciting stuff.

So after a hopeful goodbye at the airport, I went home to get ready for my big first day....Huge in fact, so huge I lasted a whole 20 minutes!!!

I arrived at 9am, as discussed, to be sat down and told that after their Monday meeting they had decided that they had no time to induct me properly. Soooooo, they had put the position 'on hold' for another 3-4 months, with no guarantees that I would be the top candidate, that it would be the same position....So with my head held high, I caught a taxi home and had myself a Pity Party, (thank you so much for that term Marianna!!) with the thought that vodka at quarter to ten in the morning sounded pretty damned good!!!

My party lasted about an hour and a half, before I picked myself up and made some decisions.

With Greg and Mum arriving in just a few weeks, I thought that at least I would have time to plan their trip, do some sightseeing with them, and run around and visit some places I still hadn't seen in Ecuador!

Greg arrived on a beautiful sunny day, along with Liam, aka Lili (a guy he'd been travelling with for a while)...That afternoon, Greg and I were having a coffee and commenting on the 'Gringo Trail' - The fact that when you travel for extended periods in Sth America, you will always bump into someone you've met at a hostel, beach, pub, etc in a totally different country....

And along came Marianna, who'd met Greg and Liam in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, then Panama, and now Ecuador!!! A night out was in order - A night out with a fishbowl, courtesy of Raj!!!!

With Greg and Liam, we did the must-see trip to the equator line...My third. And balanced my egg again!!!! Have to go to understand!!! Think the guys enjoyed it....(Either way, I did.) Then a few girly trips, with Marianna, were in order: Shopping for shoes, pedicures and manicures! What bliss!

Brother and sister then headed out to the coast!!!

Firstly, to the sleepy little town of Puerto Lopez....Very chilled out. From here many people head out to Isla de la Plata, dubbed The Poor Man's Galapagos, as you can see many frigates, and some boobie (birds) varieties, without the cost of going to the actual Galapagos Islands.

Greg and the local kids catching a crab!

Greg and I decided that some scuba diving would be fun!

I have never seen so many sea turtles!!! It felt like around every corner we went there was another. One had unfortunately slipped its head through a rope with a plastic bottle attached...Our divemaster was able to slowly slip it over and off the turtle's head.

There were also a heap of moray eels - Scary looking things!!! Big eyes!

From Lopez, we went a few kilometres south to Montanita - Surfy party town! The type where don't actually need to be smoking anything to be high...Everyone else is doing it for you, so a walk down the main road and "Hey, how are youuuu? Isn't the world beautiful? Maaan, what were we talking about already...? Hehehehe..."

The little hostel we stayed at had a lovely little area with hammocs, which Greg, his guitar and I put to good use! Even learnt how to strum a few notes on the guitar and tried my hand at singing.....Lots of laughs were had - By us at least, don't know about the other people who were staying there!

Fantastic few days spent with my brother...Very cool - Had an awesome time, thanks for everything shared.

After a few days back in Quito, Greg took a few days out and went to Banos....Where it rained non-stop. I then, took 3 days and went hiking around Quilotoa, a crater lake, south of Quito. Quite the experience being on a bus along with the locals, their hens, and piglets etc....

It was just stunning if not very cold and very windy, with me wondering if I'd be blown off the ridge I was walking along!

Then Mum arrived and the Corcoran Trio were reunited!!! First stop...The Galapagos Islands! Mum and Greg went on a cruise for a few days together, (Mother Son Time) and as for me...Well, I sat in the sun and read, snorkelled and went diving.

Saw so much down there, including a hammerhead shark!!!! So very cool!!! That was just the beginning of the diving though - In all I ended up doing six dives, (including a wreck dive!) and was amazed every single time! Love having you as a buddy by the way Greg!!! Will have to do this more often!

The world is small though, when you realise that your family went on the same cruise as two people you had met six months previous while working in Quito! Bruce and Laurie!!! And just like you they got on like a house on fire! Very funny which led to all of us having dinner and a few bottles of wine together.

Mum and Greg, I think had an amazing time on the boat - So much so, they felt that they needed a holiday after their cruise!

We spent some time on Santa Cruz and San Cristobal - Mum thoroughly enjoyed the Interpretation centre on San Cristobal which explains the islands from their creation to the mysterious deaths which have occured to the problems they are facing now.

Brilliant times were had! And brilliant food!!! Gotta love a sizzling tuna steak on a hot rock!

Then we headed out close to Mindo, an area approximately 1 hour out of Quito known for its abundance of humming birds...WOW!!!! Unfortunately my pictures were not brilliant, (they're fast little things,) but I can tell you that standing only a metre away from the feeders and having up to 10 birds whizz past you so that not only do you feel them, but hear their wings fluttering so fast you could imagine a motorbike driving past...Was at times, well a little scary.

Tried putting my camera on the highest film speed available...And even then, the birds' wings don't come out properly...They are wingless bodies in my photos!

So full of colour though!!! Emerald greens, deep sea blues, purples and pinks...And the colours shimmer!!! Really and truly a big WOW!

In the time I was able to tear myself away from the birds, we did take some nature walks...And there too...WOW! Nature holds such simple intricate beauty. From the smallest flower in the underbrush, and why it has a certain shape or colouring to the magnificent height of the trees - It was just spectacular!

A stunning moth...

Time really does seem to just flit away and disappear when you're having fun...Before you knew it, it was time for Greg to move on further down the coast of South America!

Mum and I had one last week together...We made the most of it and did some girly stuff like go shopping and getting pedicures!!! Yay!

Merci Maman, for being there!

Then, the night I took Mum to the airport...Once I had made sure she had paid her departing tax, said a tearful goodbye, and was on her way, I walked across to Arrivals and picked up Ange, a friend from Sydney who was coming to do some volunteering on the Galapagos Islands - Great timing guys!!

Ange and I did some hiking and got caught in a whopping hail storm...Didn't make it to the top of that mountain! And we also spent a frenzied scarf shopping day in Otavalo!!! Much fun, many laughs!!!

And then it was time for me to leave....Leave my little Sth American home...

The Plastic Backpackers - Uruguay & Buenos Aires

Yet, another night bus drove us to Buenos Aires...Where we had originally thought of staying, however the idea of staying just one night with the skies weeping the way they were, decisions were made to catch the ferry straight to Colonia del Sacramento, in Uruguay.

The Buquebus station was overflowing, (we should have suspected something....) and so the Plastic Backpackers, on a roll now, could only get tickets in first class on the slow boat. Oh, well.

Was super impressed...The entrance of the boat looked like we'd walked into a hotel, complete with plants and lifts. There was a games room, and duty-free shopping.

We really should have suspected something....With Uruguay being such a short distance from Argentina, it being Easter weekend, therefore looooooong...We had real troubles finding accomodation...Our first night we spent in a 4 star hotel, complete with jacuzzi in the bath, and a two pools...Let me tell you we made the most of it!!!

Colonia is such pretty little colonial town, with tiny little cobbled streets, old fashioned light posts...It was first colonised by the Portuguese who wanted to spy on the activities across the water of the Spaniards!!! So a lot of the signs, and menus are not only in English and Spanish, but Portugesh!!! (No Susie, I did not try out my one and only Portuguese phrase ;o)

We did our own little self guided tour of the old town, which was fun, stopping in at a few museums, and eating lunch in the plaza...That evening we spent some time in a cheese shop laughing with the ladies there, and bought dinner; Cheese, olives and nuts....Accompanied by bread, a bottle of wine and some Cat Stevens on the sound system back at Hostel de los Poetas...Fabulous evening.

The next day, we hopped on a couple of buses, zipped through Montevideo, the capital, right to the other side of the country, to Punta del Diablo - Devil's Point. All this took us less that 12 hours, including waiting for our second bus...Small country huh?!

Punta del Diablo...How do you describe it other than a conglomeration of tiny beach shacks...Some with electricity, some without, however all perching on a piece of land, subjected to the elements...The atmosphere is one of relaxation...Not much is important other that what you are doing right now...It was gorgeous.

Our little shack was one of those without electricity...Our landlady, Mirva although a little eccentric, was lovely....

Our first night...Daniel woke up in a fit of coughing due to the shack being too warm and stuffy, so I opened up the window at the end of the bed, just a tad...The next day, looking for my sunglasses, I realise that my bag where we had all of our documents, (passports, tickets, etc, my credit and key cards, Ecuadorian Id) had vanished...And so our time at this beach side paradise started with a few hours spent at the police station reporting the stolen bag.

Well, at this point I'd like to say how lovely the policeman was who was there...It took us quite a long time to get everything sorted simply because not only did he make all the phone calls to cancel the cards, and alert the necessary people that our passports had been stolen, he wrote down all of the events, forms and the rest, manually....Not one computer in sight.

What a step back in time....

From there, seeing as we were meant to be flying out in 5 days time, we thought it better to change the flights because the closest Swedish Embassy was in Buenos Aires, and the lovely people at the Swedish consulate told Daniel that they would need at least a week to Fedex him a new passport...That was after they told him he could wait 3 months for them to isssue one from Sweden!!!!

A very stunned afternoon at the beach....

The next day, after just getting out of bed...We were summoned to the police station because the bag had been found, in the water at a nearby beach....The person who stole it must have been super disappointed as there was only $70, ohterwise they stole a gold chain of Daniel's...Everything else was still there...And very very wet...

I was happy to see that the Rough Guide for Sth America a friend had lent me was back, so picked it up and the amount of water that book held almost literally flooded the small police station...Oops.

REALLY enjoyed the beach that afternoon!!!!

We tried to change our tickets back to our original departure date, to no avail, so decided an extra week in Buenos Aires was in order.

Day4 it rained all day, so we spent most of it in the shack playing backgammon, and reading...

Day 5 under pouring rain, we caught the bus back to Montevideo.

Montevideo was a fabulous city...Very modern, and some very interesting architecture....We just had a ball walking around, and enjoying a 'Medio medio' at the old fishmarkets, now converted into a zillion restaurants.

A medio medio, is a mix of slightly sweet white wine, and champagne....Quite refreshing on the palate.

Then back to Colonia, from where we had to catch the ferry back into Argentina...on our first visit here we had wanted to make the journey to Fray Bentos, a little town approx 200km from Colonia and visit the meat extracting plant...Thought that as we had some extra time up our sleeve we would rent a car and make the journey.

Boy, did the rain and wind follow us that day, and the wind....However the elements weren't the only things to brave in our Uruguayan equivalent of a Festiva - The Potholes!! At some points the road looked more like foul grey Swiss cheese, than a long flat expanse of tar. Slalom driving was in order...That was of course when there were patches of tar to drive on....Not even 200km away from a major tourist town, the tar gives in to dirt.

Finally arriving into Fray Bentos, we make our way to the meat plant...However with the rain, they are not doing tours of the plant...Only the museum is open, and the one and only restaurant in sight is closed - It's way past lunchtime...

Bellies groaning we enter the museum, which although the door is open, seems very shut...We are the only tourists...The museum is ours.

This plant, during the world wars, was a major source of 'Oxo' the meat extract sent to the soldiers fighting on the fronts...Much of the beef and manufacturing from the Oxo products actually occurred there in Uruguay, with two cargo ships leaving weekly en route for Europe.

Another point of interest is that the factory was the first ever place in the whole of Uruguay to use electricity. Two years after electricity was invented the first lightbulb illuminated the plant - This was 3 years before, Montevideo, the capital, had electricity...AND believe it or not, they still have the original lightbulb there on display!!!

We also went to see the administrative area of the plant, which has been left as it was used...Not one chair or desk has been rearranged....Even the old accounting ledgers are still in place...A rather eery visit....Especially seeing the markings in the floor of an employee who worked at the plant for over 40 years - He sat in the same place, and had a habit of shuffling his feet back and forth....Definitely left his mark.

Then back over the 'roads' to Colonia and onto the ferry to Buenos Aires.

Buenos Aires- What a marvellous city!!!! Probably a great thing my credit card had been cancelled, as I could have gone a little wild!!!

We hopped off the ferry and decided to sit in one of the main parks and decide where to stay...And nearly had Daniel's bag stolen.

Beware of South american-looking people asking you where you can change money. Thankfully nothing was taken, but it definitely shook us up a little, especially so close after our last encounter!

We found a great little hostel in San Telmo - Hostel TanTelmo. Great staff, great location if any of you are in town!!!

So what do you do in BA...? Visit Eva Peron's grave in Recoleta Cemetary, (where many of Argentina's elite are now buried - very interesting), Casa Rosada (known for the 'Don't Cry for me Argentina scene in the movie,) tango lessons, shop, check out La Bonbonera or Boca stadium, (the team Maradona debued and played for), take in some of the colourful streets of La Boca and of course go to the biggest game in South America: Boca vs. River Plate!!!

Basically, have an absolute blast!!! We wandered around...Walking kilometres!!

After our extra week, and a huge dent in the budget, it was finally time to go....End of this holiday...Time to plan the next one!!

The Plastic Backpackers - Salta & Mendoza

So I left you all in Potosi...

After a fantastic, if not at times, a little scary day spent in the mines, Daniel and I found ourselves on yet another night bus to take us to the border between Bolivia and Argentina...

I can tell you now that one of my pet hates is getting off a bus, where people have been snorting and snoring all night, before sunrise and being pounced upon by 10-12 vulture-like bus tour operators....Even worse is when they follow you down the street when you have given up saying you're not interested, and have now decided to ignore their constant screeching about what times the next busses leave - And all of this before 6am...

I can also tell you the border town of Villazon, Bolivia, has absolutely nothing happening at that time or at any other time of the day, for that matter...However we did find a tiny hovel, owned by a very lovely couple, who made us coffee and bread, while we slowly got our brains into first gear.

We then took the short walk to the bridge that made the border...Got out of Bolivia, just after 6am, only to have to wait to get into Argentina - Border didn't open until 7am...Gave me a great opportunity to get beaten at backgammon a few times, and for the both of us to meet a Hugh Grant lookalike, who gave us some great tips on doing Mendoza, Argentina's wine region...
All in all, it's not so bad waiting at borders, if you're going to get advice on how to best sample the wines of a country.

Finally after 20hrs of travel time, we arrived in Salta. Decided it was a good idea to break the trip up and stayed there 24hrs. Salta is a lovely little town, and had we stayed here a little longer, we probably would have made it to the vineyards here too, but hey....Can't have everything.

This is also the place where Daniel decided it was a fabulous idea to leave his keycard in an ATM...And to realise he'd done so half an hour later. Wouldn't have been so bad, if both of us hadn't been starving....However dinner was postponed and calls to brothers partying in Spain, (long story, too long for the blog,) and brothers sleeping in Sweden were made, cards cancelled and two bottles of red promptly consumed...

Funny how us girls are absolutely fantastic at spotting things...Inbetween, losing the card, organising our bus down to Mendoza, doing some quick sightseeing, I spotted my first souvenir!!! An Oliva (Argentinian Bag Designer) handbag...Ladies it is just gorgeous and it was just begging to be taken home by moi!

Before we knew it we were back at the bus station, to travel down to Mendoza....

Now is when I should explain 'The Plastic Backpackers'...The term came up in Chile when Katerina told us we were not real backpackers as we had unassumingly booked a bus to the north with reclining seats and the price included snacks...Apparently this was luxury travel....

Well, Katerina, if you thought that was luxury... After not having slept properly for almost 72hrs, I was happy to pay a little extra on another overnight journey...We travelled first class from Salta to Mendoza...Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that bus travel could be so comfortable, and hilarious.
You could almost fit another half a person in your leather seat...You had a blanket that covered you from head to toe when you were lying horizontally to sleep...The food was not so bad and included wine, AND (this was the best part,) you get to play Bingo with the rest of the passengers!!! Daniel was very upset, when he lost with just one number to go. Poor baby!

In first class there were five of us...One German, and Italian, a Dane, Daniel and myself...Well, once we hit the open road, the German promptly poured himself a whiskey, and insisted we all join him - It would help us all sleep!

The movie that evening happened to be the latest Rocky....Seeing as I hadn't seen the first many, it wasn't the movie I was laughing at, but the Italian and the German, who were cheering at the happy moments arms and legs in the air (this can be done when your seat reclines all the way back), booing at the bad guys, were waving their arms in the air when the music came on. Needless to say it wasn't the movie that was the comedy.

Just outside of Salta the bus, along with a few kilometres worth of cars behind us were stopped on the highway due to a demonstration of somesort...Fires, dancing, drums...It lasted approximately half an hour, before we were rolling again...With me almost missing the bus, I was so intent on what was going on...

Finally arrived with a decent night's sleep, to a very, very, very wet Mendoza....We were driven with the Danish girl to one place...But the Plastic Backpackers preferred having a private bathroom, so decided to walk to another hotel. By the time we made it there, we looked worse than drowned rats.

However, after a hot shower, we headed off to the Museo de Area Fundacional....Our main reason for going was to see the Incan mummy found on the slopes of Aconcagua, (Sth America's highest mountain). How disappointing....They only had a photo.

The museum made up for it though, as they did have an olive oil tasting which was amazing!!! Found out about Prensa, Frantoio, Arauco, and Manzanilla, oils which are named after different olive varieties...With exception of the first which is a blend of the other three....Very yummy - Couldn't help ourselves, had to buy a couple...One which would make its way back to Sweden.

So here we were in Mendoza, heart of the wine country of Argentina....Plastic Backpacking fever hit us again, and instead of doing a bicycle tour of the vineyards, we chose a few exclusive vineyards to see over the space of two days, hired a driver and organised lunch on day one in a place serving typical food, and on day two in a French restaurant....It's a difficult life.

La Rural, Familia Zuccardi, Carmelo Patti, Achaval Ferrer: All the vineyards were amazing, as all of them included a tour of the vineyard and an explanation on how their wines are made...Fermentation time, el sombrero, new versus old processes, and the famous oak barrels...Most of them are from France. Apparently French oak is definitely the best to age wine in...Needless to say a few bottles were bought....A few bottles were sampled...

One of the vineyards which caught our attention was Carmelo Patti...Wines simply bearing their maker's name...And so they should be considering he makes the wine himself from A to Z: From manually selecting the grapes, to emptying and cleaning the vats, to checking each corked bottle for oxydisation, to sticking the labels on the bottles, to putting them in boxes ready for shipment...For 9-10 months of the year there is only him and another man working in his little winery...Three more people are employed when it comes to harvesting time...

That's wine made with a lot of love...


The Mendoza region is best for growing Malbec, which comes from a translation of French meaning 'bad mouth' - It was a grape variety which did not grow well in France...Hence the name. Boy did we drink a lot of it. By the end of our two days, I was feeling extremely knowledgeable - Almost expert material; Give me the grapes and the machinery and I'll make it for you!!!!

Our time in Mendoza was clouded though - Quite literally....Mendoza usually gets 200 millimetres of rain per year...During our 5 days there, they received half of that, which is quite unheard of, and a worry for the wine makers....Too much water in the soil, means watery tasteless grapes...Not good for vino.

While in Mendoza we also went to a tango evening...A dinner and dance affair...No, not us dancing - Professionals. It was just sumptious. The restaurant was located in an old wine cellar, and vamped up. The dancers glided throughout the restaurant, while we were sampling a scrumptious plato para picar.

We also decided that a few days hiking to the base camp of Aconcagua were in order...However our dreams were quickly swept away when we went to book our nights in the geo dome - It had been snowing and the geo dome was closed...We could do it ourselves, but would have had to buy a heap of equipment that either both or one of us already had...Just not in Argentina...So we decided on a one day tour instead, to get a decent view of the mountain.


There isn't much to say about the actual tour....Out of the 11hours of the tour, we spent approx 8 of those on the bus...Not brilliant. However we did see Aconcagua...With a lecture:
We were told that part of the tour was a 1.5-2 hour hike within the national park...Well, when we arrived at the park road, we were met by big cement trucks who were doing road works, and so we could not get to the start of the trekking path....


We all jumped out of the bus about 200m away from the trucks, to take our photos...I pretended not to hear the guide telling other people in the group that we could only go a distance of 100m from the bus for our photos...Dreadful view of the mountain as there was a hill infront of it. So, Daniel, Tom, (Austrian guy) and I walked to the top of the hill to get better photos...I kid you not, the top of the hill was a further 100m...Boy did we get into trouble when we got back....Rebels!!!!


Funny part was everyone, in the bus telling us that we had done the right thing.

The Mighty Aconcagua....And us.

After five days...It was time for us to move on...Direction Buenos Aires, to catch the Buquebus across to Uruguay....


Time for another blog....
More pictures available on: http://www.ringo.com/profile/alex_corcoran2000.html

The Plastic Backpackers - Chile 2 Bolivia

So being unemployed has its advantages....Not having to ask work for permission to go on holidays!!!!

Mid march saw me catching yet another plane, to head to Santiago in Chile...The start of 3 weeks travelling parts of Sth America with Daniel!

We had planned to stay only the weekend in Santiago, enough to visit many of the tourist sites, (most of which I had already seen last year,) and spend an afternoon with the Gorgeous Katerina, and her family. Was fantastic seeing Katerina a year after our celebrating our birthday together in style...The fabulous news was her upcoming wedding to Rodrigo. Congratulations guys. Love you both to bits.

After a few Mango Sours, Rodrigo and Katerina drove us to the bus station for our, (quite surprisingly, pleasant) 24hr bus ride to San Pedro de Atacama, in the north of Chile...The border with Bolivia.

San Pedro is a gorgeous chilled out little town, where you expect cowboys on horses to be ambling by. From here we wanted to organise a trip to the Bolivian salt flats...When we asked at the hotel where to go for the agencies, the lovely lady gave us directions to the main street...

San Pedro is located in a very arid, desert-like landscape. They haven't had rain in one year...Not one drop fell in Jan & Feb, their rainy season...

Seeing as we had a couple of days there, we made the most of it and did some sightseeing, visiting La Valle de la Muerte, (Valley of Death), which had us scrambling up one of the most gigantic sand dunes ever! and Valle de la Luna, (Valley of the Moon).

Valle de la Muerte

Valle de la Luna (Below and Right)

In keeping with the desert-like atmosphere, it was very hot during the day and rather cool and breezy in the evening...

Also visited the salt mines out there...quite interesting to see rocks made of salt just jutting out of the earth...This planet is just amazing. Just when you think you've seen it all, something rather small makes you realise there is so much more....Will there ever be enough time to really see it all?

The next day, along with 3 young Norwegian girls, and a French guy we all embarked on our 3 day journey through the Bolivian border onto the salt flats...Most of this trip, although it didn't feel like it, was done at an altitude of over 3,500m...Quite breathlessy (literally) incredible!

From San Pedro, we drove into the desert for a good hour...Into the middle of nowhere stood a small mud shack with the Bolivian flag flying...Border Control.

There we had some tea, met each other, our driver, Javier, and the vehicle which was to take us from one end of the desert to the other....

Our first stop on this first day, once across the border was at the national park entrance where the last 'toilets' were available for a small price...I didn't have small change for the privilege of using the facilities...So when I asked the woman what the solution was, she asked for my earrings, which I promptly gave away - Priorities are priorities.

I must say, I was glad it was just my bladder that was almost overflowing, because had it been anything else I would have been at a loss with the lack of instructions....

After the necessities were over and done with we stopped at the Lagunas Coloradas...Laguna Blanca, Laguna Verde, y Laguna Colorada....

Laguna Blanca is white from the amount of salt in the water...Laguna Verde is that colour due to the amount of arsenic...And both are within 20m of each other...Rather bizarre seeing wildlife on one lake and nothing on the other!

Laguna Colorada is this amazing ochre colour...With colonies of flamingoes adding a pink hue...Wow.

At Laguna Blanca, Javier is buried deep in the bonnet of the jeep...It starts.

We also had a stop at a thermal bath at 3,800m....Felt rather the fool being the only Australian, and also the one most resembling an aspirin...The Scandinavians were bronzed bodies, with tufts of yellow straw for hair....

We stopped along the way, at the Dali Rocks; a collection of rocks resembling those in Dali's Melting Clock paintings (Not that Dali ever came anywhere near here, but hey,)....Head goes back in the bonnet....

Our last stop on this day, was a set of boiling mud pools at over 5000m...Quite impressive and smelly. Puts a whole new slant on the whole 'mud bath' - This stuff was literally boiling and you had to be careful in some areas, as it would splash out a couple of metres....

Slept in very basic dorm accomodation at approximately 4,800m...With some of us feeling the altitude ever so slightly.

Day 2...So we're all set to go. Car is packed, everyone has everything, everyone is in the car, when Javier tells us that we all have to pile out again, because one of the tyres is flat....Off he goes to pump it up....

This day is a lot of driving to get us to the start of the salt flats...A lot of driving, but not short of amazing landscapes...It may be a desert, but it is so pretty...

We stopped at some amazing rock formations in the middle of nowhere...A rock that has been wind swept into the shape of a tree...Use your imagination.

Here Javier, has a friend to look into the bonnet with him.

This day as well, we saw some amazing high altitude lakes...Filled with birdlife...Funny how human nature can get quite blaze about its surroundings. We were all still admiring the beauty and where we were, but tended to take out our cameras a little less.

We had lunch at one of these lakes...Back in the 4x4...And 10min down the road, Javier opens his door, sticks his head out, and realises something is wrong...Very wrong....The part holding the suspension to the bottom of the car is broken and dragging in the ground...All is well, though, because the suspension can now be tied to the car with rope!

Feeling very secure, we troop on....Now in the space of 200 square kilometres we are traveling along with maybe another 19 cars...Not many, given the amount of space and lack of proper roads - Make your own way...However, we had to give it to our fabulous driver, who very skilfully manages to hit another car!!!!

And when one very angry driver comes to chat to him about the damage...Our driver, decides that the best solution is to back up, so as not to have to talk to the other guy!!!

All of us were very relieved to reach our hotel...In one piece.

The hotel was rather special being made almost entirely of salt...Right down to the beds and the floor covering...So off course there were the obvious jokes over dinner about taking small chunks out of the table to season the meal.

Day 3...Onto the salt flats!!! Yay!! Almost....200m down the road, sorry, need to get out of the car again, flat tyre. Right that's it, I've had it, as does the other Alex, the French guy....(Go the Frogs!!!) And well.....I have my say. Our cherished Javier does not really appreciate a white woman letting him know she is not overly happy....He tells us, amongst other things, that while he changes the tyre we can walk. The Scandinavian contingent, have already started to do so...Alex and I are behind them after a few more heated words and the offer of helping ot change the tyre...

So that by the time the tyre is fixed, Daniel and the Norwegian girls are mere specks on the horizon....Javier decides it is really funny to drive past Alex and I, and wait for us to walk to the rest of the party...And that honking will make us hurry up...I've developed a sudden love to stroll.

Nothing could have taken away from the beauty of the salt flats though...Quite simply wordless to explain them...Can only do it through photos....

Just before rolling into Uyuni we also visited the train graveyard...A placejust outside of town where all the old steam engines which were once used to cross the desert have just been abandoned...Makes for some very cool scrambling and climbing!

We arrive at Uyuni, and knowing that Teesh should be arriving into town soon, we settle ourselves down to a bottle of local beer...And wait till our night bus to the mining town of Potosi.

Unfortunately we missed Teesh by about 30min...And took one of the noisiest, smelliest, and bumpiest rides, arriving into Potosi at 1am, not having organised a hotel...And not realising that they just happened to be having a tourist guide conference at this time....Checked into a hotel that blew the budget just a tad...

Right: Potosi & Cerro Rico

However it was all worth it! Potosi is rather an incredible town...Not only is it the highest city in the world, at 4100m above sea level, it also happens to have Cerro Rico, a mountain which for the last half a century has been mined ruthlessly for silver.

Cerro Rico, quite literally means Rich Peak - It was discovered in 1545 by a sheperd who was caught out with his flock at night and noticed a trickle of small silvery liquid coming out of the fire he had lit. News spread fast, making Potosi one of the largest cities in the world in the 17th century....160,000 inhabitants - Larger than Madrid, Paris & London in the same era.

Between the years, 1545 - 1872, (until independence from Spain,) a total of 9 million people died while working the mines.

Today a total of 15,000 still work in the mines, (directly and indirectly the provides for approx. a third of the population of Potosi,) and a miner can be as young as 12 or 13 years of age. The average life expectancy of a miner is 45 years...Every week 3 miners die of black lung or silicosis, and 15-20 per year, die in mining accidents.

Nowadays it isn't only silver they mine, but tin, lead and zinc.

Cerro Rico, once used to tower 5100m, however with the amount of mining it has undergone, it has lost some of that height and now is 4800m....

So of course with all of these scary statistics, we had to go and check it out!!!! And boy was it amazing. No tour is complete without a quick look at the miner's market where you can buy coca leaves, (what the miners chew during their 8 hour shift - They cannot eat in the mines,) a bottle of fizzy drink, and of course dynamite!!! No license needed, just waltz on in and hey presto, walk out with a few dozen sticks of dynamite!

Above: Me laughing with my dynamite in my hands, Johnny our guide, in the yellow shirt.

We then suited up and headed up the mountain....Johnny our guide innocently asked if we were claustrophobic...Maybe we should have answered yes.

We spent a few hours walking bent over, crawling through holes only just big enugh to fit your shoulders through, or climbing up very rickety ladders, not attached to anything.....And all of this with only the light of our head torches...Once they were off, it was pitch black...Blacker than black.

Must admit, I was relieved to see the light of day again. It was a fantastic tour though, and definitely not to be missed, if you're in that part of the world....

Potosi also used to be the city in which many of the world's currencies were fabricated...So we took a quick look at La Casa de la Moneda...(The house of money) Again, quite a fascinating tour when you consider the conditions people and animals were working under...

That night we hopped on yet another night bus to the Argentinian border...Story for the next blog however....

For those of you with more time on their hands....Check out:

http://www.ringo.com/profile/alex_corcoran2000.html and go into the 'Sth America with Daniel album'

It is still a work in progress though...