Breathtaking Bolivia

It had to happen when there was only an outside toilet available in minus temperatures - my tummy decided to misbehave. Mr C suggested I make use of my time outside to enjoy the night sky - with no light pollution, the stars were fantastic. After taking the necessary medication, I was able to continue with the 4x4 journey, leaving in the dark, and only needed to get the driver to stop once.

We headed high into the Andes, reaching am altitude of over 5,000m. We stopped to view several fascinating and beautiful lagoons - white, green and my favourite, red, where we saw hundreds of pink flamingoes. The colours of the lagoon were just fantastic, but the flamingoes were too far away to see clearly. We could discern the band of pink amongst the other colours.

We continued on very rough tracks to the border, where we left our driver. We got our exit stamps, and as we collected our stuff from the jeeps, people who had arrived from Chile, got on. We then transferred to the mini bus they'd got off, and continued on rough tracks down to the Chilean entry point about 40km further on, to the outskirts of San Pedro de Atacama. Here the officials stamped our passports and after having a rummage in our bags, we were in Chile.

San Pedro is a delightful little backpackers community, with unpaved streets with a lot of tacky shops selling alpaca jumpers and woven rugs. The food is good and wine available, though at similar prices to home. As the museum was closed for renovation, we had a relaxing afternoon drinking wine on our veranda- it was great to get a hot shower and the luxury of en suite.

I'm blown away by the beauty of Bolivia - breathtaking in both senses of the word.


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