frozen and burnt at the same time

Travelled from  San Pedro in Chile  to Uyuni in Bolivia, which took four days.

The sun was scorching, the air was bone dry and at night the wind was howling and at night it was down around minus 15. All this with accomodation that was to say the least basic, forget about electricity, internet, mobile phones air conditioning or heating. Oh and the altitude varied from 4300 to 4900 meters ( thats 14,700 to 15,300 feet in old money). To say I was gubbed at the end of it was an understatment. Fortunately other than tiredness and my skin drying up and scabbing, I dealt with the altitude ok, unfortunately this wasnt the case with some others. God knows what I would have been like if I hadnt spent three days acclimatising to the altitude at San Pedro.

I cant comlain about the organisers of the trip, as they warned me about the nature of the accomodation, and the potential effects of the altitude and the trip delivered everything they said it would: unbelievable scenery comprising salt lakes, snow capped mountains, multi coloured lakes and weird wildlife. But there is only  so much scenery you can take before the misery inflicted by the environment starts to undermine it. I am glad I went onto the Alto Plano but there wont be a second go. Oh and I dont want to see or eat another llama in my lifetime, it tasted ok, but I now associate it with purgatory.

First impressios of Bolivia to follow at a later date.