12/10/2013 + 13/10/2013 Rest day in Uyuni and bus trip to Villazon

2013-10-13 click for more

12/10/2013 + 13/10/2013 Rest day in Uyuni and bus trip to Villazon

A day of pigging out in various restaurants to make up for what we'd missed . Uyuni doesn't have much to see so we chilled out and checked the bus routes . A 5.30 a bus would take us through a notoriously difficult section of 100% ripio with lots of sand and not too much to see .

The bikes were quickly loaded into the luggage area under the double decker seating area at the back. You could probably have fitted a small car in the same space. I had loosened the handlebars to let them lay flat which prove to be completely unnecessary as the whole space was for our bikes.

The journey itself was initially as expected , a desert like landscape with sandy tracks and not too much to see , we stopped for a break at Atocha which was incredibly bleak and inhospitable and we were glad to move on again. Lots of climbing followed with some hairaising moments when the drivers assistant had to get out of the bus to check the bus wheels would remain on the track and not go over the edge and down the cliff .

Approaching Tupiza the scenery was awesome with amazing rock formations and lots of fluting and rock stacks. It was very reminiscent of the archetypal wild west scene which not too surprisingly is why they filmed “ Butch Cassidy and the Kid” here .

Eventually we got off the bus in Villazon which is the Bolivian border town which is linked by a bridge to Quiaca the Argentinian border town where we stayed the night.

Argentina was immediately very different. Newer cars , more wealth, better choice of food and not too surprisingly much much more expensive .