Monday 9th May:
The joys of travelling with a quintessentially English lady. Whilst everyone else chooses brands such as Marmut, Rohan, Rab, The North Face, Mountain Equipment in which to travel the world, no one does it quite like Lorna. Kaleidoscope, and M&S are the preferred brands for this lady, and both locals and other travellers gaze in envy and shock respectively as Lorna breezes by. Out of over 2,000 people visiting Macchu Pichu, there was only one skirt to be seen, every other lady in trousers. When hiking a 5,000 meter volcano yesterday, the gasps were clearly audible when Lorna came into view, skirt rippling in the breeze, definitely one of a kind!
This was my post on Facebook as a tribute to my beautiful wife, after contemplating her achievements on this trip. Clad in her arresting skirts and armed with one or two trekking poles she has reached places where she didn't expect to reach, bravo.
Today has been one of the most scenic days drive I can remember, although with quite a lot of cloud cover and a bitingly cold wind across the Bolivian altiplano. The range of colours, the light and shade created by the clouds and the diversity of the terrain has been fantastic. Getting out and taking photographs has been challenging, as was having an alfresco lunch in the wind at 4,900 metres. Slightly disappointed we did not see more flamingoes and that the cold prevented us speanding more time photographing the ones we did see at Laguna Colorada.
The quick stroll through the geothermal area got some good images but could have got more with more time. We did set off later than planned to ensure that we got breakfast, 7.30am to be precise, and arrived at the fabulous Alto Atacama at 6.30pm, having added an hour back, now only four hours behind the UK.
We arrived at a very lonely Bolivian border post at 4.30pm to get our passports stamped, and to swap vehicles. Our pick up was clearly not our guide but just transport to the hotel in Chile via Chilean immigration. He spoke only "survivor" English by his own admission and left us with no details of further contacts.
It also meant that Eusebio and Cecilio had to do the return journey back to Uyuni, immediately after dropping us, probably a midnight arrival. Hopefully their good tips will be reward for a tough day's driving, mostly off-road. I gave Cecilio three of my last four 50B notes (£15), and Eusebio one 50B note plus $20, just a little bit more, but it was the driving that was the tough assignment today.
The first thing to note is that it is at least twice as expensive in Chile as in Bolivia, dinner costing around £55 for the two of us, could have had the all inclusive for £40 per head, all wine and drinks included if you want to drink that much that is.
Beautiful starry night and tried to get some night sky photographs, but too much light pollution to be successful.
The joys of travelling with a quintessentially English lady. Whilst everyone else chooses brands such as Marmut, Rohan, Rab, The North Face, Mountain Equipment in which to travel the world, no one does it quite like Lorna. Kaleidoscope, and M&S are the preferred brands for this lady, and both locals and other travellers gaze in envy and shock respectively as Lorna breezes by. Out of over 2,000 people visiting Macchu Pichu, there was only one skirt to be seen, every other lady in trousers. When hiking a 5,000 meter volcano yesterday, the gasps were clearly audible when Lorna came into view, skirt rippling in the breeze, definitely one of a kind!
This was my post on Facebook as a tribute to my beautiful wife, after contemplating her achievements on this trip. Clad in her arresting skirts and armed with one or two trekking poles she has reached places where she didn't expect to reach, bravo.
Today has been one of the most scenic days drive I can remember, although with quite a lot of cloud cover and a bitingly cold wind across the Bolivian altiplano. The range of colours, the light and shade created by the clouds and the diversity of the terrain has been fantastic. Getting out and taking photographs has been challenging, as was having an alfresco lunch in the wind at 4,900 metres. Slightly disappointed we did not see more flamingoes and that the cold prevented us speanding more time photographing the ones we did see at Laguna Colorada.
The quick stroll through the geothermal area got some good images but could have got more with more time. We did set off later than planned to ensure that we got breakfast, 7.30am to be precise, and arrived at the fabulous Alto Atacama at 6.30pm, having added an hour back, now only four hours behind the UK.
We arrived at a very lonely Bolivian border post at 4.30pm to get our passports stamped, and to swap vehicles. Our pick up was clearly not our guide but just transport to the hotel in Chile via Chilean immigration. He spoke only "survivor" English by his own admission and left us with no details of further contacts.
It also meant that Eusebio and Cecilio had to do the return journey back to Uyuni, immediately after dropping us, probably a midnight arrival. Hopefully their good tips will be reward for a tough day's driving, mostly off-road. I gave Cecilio three of my last four 50B notes (£15), and Eusebio one 50B note plus $20, just a little bit more, but it was the driving that was the tough assignment today.
The first thing to note is that it is at least twice as expensive in Chile as in Bolivia, dinner costing around £55 for the two of us, could have had the all inclusive for £40 per head, all wine and drinks included if you want to drink that much that is.
Beautiful starry night and tried to get some night sky photographs, but too much light pollution to be successful.
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