Day 66 - Barbie is everywhere!

Villa Mar to Villa Candelaria

We were told breakfast would be ready at 7.30 and we would be leaving between 8 and 8.30 - of course none of us were prepared for "Bolivian" time, which is pretty similar Island time, Indian time, African time, and lots of other international times!

Today the scenery on offer was quite different, today was a day of rocky landscapes and greenery in unlikely places, whereas yesterday was a day of lakes, mountains and desert.

First rock stop was to see formations like "World Cup" and "Camel Rock", and there was a little bit of rock climbing involved so we could get up high to see some great views.

Funny looking camel if you ask me

As it was early in the day we kept running into groups like ours at the same stops, not a bad thing in itself, but we had to be patient for our photos while waiting for some groups to finish with their "special" poses .... what is it with backpackers and stupid photo poses?  Arms in the air, everyone jumping in the air at once, one arm up and one down, the list goes on. There was one particularly loud group that K was sure was a bunch of Americans (yes, we have found on this trip that the stereotype is common), and poor Derek (who was nothing like that) said he was used to it .... we later found the worst person in the worst group was an Australian ..... lesson learned, you should never stereotype in public!!

The lunch stop was in a beautiful valley with great rock formations and icy water flowing over what seemed to be a type of grass, into a lake with bullrushes, with llama grazing close by. We did a bit of rock climbing while lunch was being prepared, and then relaxed in the sun until it was time to head off again.

We've been doing well with the lunch stops

After lunch there was a view of a huge canyon, then a bit of a drive during which the signs of habitation increased. At one point we had a flat tyre, but Rudolfo had it changed over in about 10 minutes, while we all stood around gawking like tourists! 

We stopped for a short time in the small town of San Augustin, where we were able to buy an ice cream, after which we pushed on to Julaca, an almost derelict railway town, where K saw a traditionally dressed woman hand in hand  with a little girl dressed incongruously in a pink barbie dress carrying a barbie bag.


We arrived at out salt hotel in what we think was the town of Villa Candelaria (based on Google Maps, we didn't see a sign). The hotel was amazing, everything was made out of salt - the floor (crushed salt), the walls, the pillars holding up the roof and even the beds!

After this, I think I would now like to stay at the world's first pepper hotel

The first room we were shown had two single beds with a shared bathroom and shower across the hallway. Neither K or Pan were happy with this, so with some money changing hands we were "upgraded" to room with a double bed, ensuite, hot (well, lukewarm) water, and electricity. Our fears of very basic facilities have proven to be unfounded, we've stayed in worse places (e.g. in Africa!).

Salt bricks ... lucky it doesn't rain much here

Dinner was held in the huge salt dining area, we sat at our salt table on on salt stools (with cushions) - an amazing place. Once again we had no trouble with the cold, although the altitude made sleeping a little difficult, and the dryness meant dry mouths and cracked lips - nothing we couldn't handle though.