salt, flamingos and cocaine

Travel Tales #8
Salt, Flamingos and Cocaine

Uyuni is a dusty little Bolivian outpost, high up in the Andes Altiplano. Although it is around 3600 metres above sea level and cold, it reminded me of scenes from old spaghetti westerns - wide half-deserted streets surrounded by barren plains stretching to rocky mountain ranges on the horizon.

We spent one night in the exotic sounding Residencia Copacabana. The name made me think of white beaches, palm trees and Barry Manilow, but the reality was not quite so glamorous, not by a long shot. The place was a dive. But all we needed was somewhere to sleep for the night, before we headed off to explore the Salar de Uyuni - the world's largest salt plane.

The Salar is a prehistoric lake which has long disappeared leaving behind almost 11,000 square kilometres of snow white salt punctuated by islands covered in cacti, and occasional collections of boulders balancing in precarious gravity-defying arrangements as though placed by giants, or maybe dinosaurs.

Not much survives in that strange and harsh environment - that is except for thousands of bright pink flamingos.

Sidenote - did you know a group of flamingos is called a 'flamboyance'? So far that is the best new thing I've learnt this year.

We shared a 4x4 with two British couples. Drew and Gale were both accountants and contrary to reputation, hilarious. They were on an around the world trip and entertained us with stories of India.

Drew told us about an enterprising shoe cleaner in Delhi who put dog shit on Drew’s shoe, then chased after him chanting, ‘Sir, Sir, shitty shoe, shitty shoe!!’, hoping for some business. We all laughed so hard.

The other couple Frank and Vicky, were outdoor types. They suited each other well and looked the part - in addition to their packs, Frank carried a surfboard and Vicky a guitar.

Our first day of driving took us to Isla de Pescado (Fish Island). A fish-shaped land mass, rising up from the salt, covered in giant cacti. (That's Jackie sitting amongst the spikey giants.) Some are over 10 metres tall.

That night we stayed in San Jaun, a tiny out of the way town that made Uyuni look like a bustling metropolis. We played ball games with two curious young Bolivian girls and then ate llama for dinner. (Sorry llama.)

The next day we saw hundreds of bright pink flamingos trawling the shallows of small waterholes. They sure did look flamboyant against the white of the salt. I think Salvador Dali would have really liked it there.

Later in the day we arrived at Laguna Colorada – a shallow salt lake spanning 6000 hectares overlooked by dormant, snow-specked volcanos. Local legend claims it is stained red by the blood of the gods, but scientists claim it is due to algae and minerals. I like the first option best.

We were now up above 4,000 metres elevation, and that night Jackie and Gale both went to bed early feeling sick with thumping headaches. We were well into altitude sickness territory, so I was very grateful to be feeling ok.

I wondered if it was thanks to the bag of coca leaves I’d bought in Uyuni and chewed on as we drove through the altiplano. It is said they help to avoid altitude sickness. Jackie hadn’t been keen since cocaine is made from them.

All they really did was give me a slightly numb mouth – a bit like a trip to the dentist.

Whilst cocaine is a massive illegal export industry for much of South America, the coca leaves themselves are grown as a legal cash crop and contain a range of beneficial vitamins, minerals and essential oils.

Coca leaves have been chewed and brewed into tea by Andean locals for centuries and are believed to be beneficial for health. Coca leaf extract was even used in the original recipe for Coca Cola.

Did I mention it was cold… literally freezing? We were pretty much always cold. So the next day when we visited a thermal spring we couldn’t get in fast enough. We all stripped off and quickly jumped into the crystal clear (hot!) water. It felt so good to have a warm body again. Even if it was short lived - when we got out our hair froze into icicles.

When I was pondering memorable travel stories for this series the salar was definitely front and centre.

But turns out it’s not so easy to write a captivating story about scenery.

So I hope this was a satisfying-ish read, considering nothing much really happened other than me chewing some coca leaves (which I lead you to believe might be a cocaine story), and taking in some bloody lovely scenery.

I could tell you about being kidnapped by cocaine barons and held for ransom, but that would be a lie.

Leonie x