Subject: Post: <p>As planned earlier, we started our journey towards the mountains and Uyuni in the morning. First transport method in today's selection was the local airline, Boliviana de Aviacion and their old Boeing 737. The flight was relatively empty and the flight attendants were not really busy, so I used the opportunity before departure and requested if they could ask the captain can I travel in the cockpit, handing my pilot license. The helpful and nice flight attendant went to ask the captain, but unfortunately there was already an instructor pilot in the cockpit occupying the third extra seat.. So no luck this time, but would have been if the seat was free. :)</p><p>The short flight landed to the capital Sucre in half an hour, saving us a day long bus trip on the bad quality mountain roads. We explored the white capital for a while, carrying our annoyingly heavy bags around. Sucre is already relatively high in the mountains, so temperature was much more confortable around 25C, which made carrying the bags much more tolerable. I found myself a shop selling local handicrafts and got a nice handmade sweater for like 15 euros. Have to shop a bit more clothes later in La Paz, and maybe a hammock too.</p><p>After reaching Sucre Timo and Kim decided that they were not actually interested enough in seeing the Uyuni salt desert to sit half the day in bus again. The guys were just not completely recovered of our two days bus trip earlier yet, so they decided that they would stay a night in Sucre, see the city (and probably the American tourist girls Kim met in the previous hostel....) and then fly to our next destination La Paz. So, the boys stayed while we others continued down towards Uyuni, and we would meet again in La Paz on Saturday morning.</p><p>From Sucre there was two options to continue to the next waypoint, the mining city Potosi. Three hours by bus or two hours by taxi, without any actual price difference so the taxi was a pretty clear selection. Somehow we just managed to find the slowest taxi driver I have ever seen, he actually used three and half hours to travel the 200km trip over mountains. Maybe next time we try to select a car that has more than two horsepower and a bit more active driver.. Well, at least price was not bad, some 20 euros for 200 kilometers by taxi.</p><p>Due to that slow taxi we arrived Potosi kinda late, only having maybe two hours in the city. That was just enough to get us bus tickets for the last part of the journey to Uyuni and half a chicken to eat in the bus, but touring the silver mines of Potosi had to be skipped. An underground tour to the mines would have been interesting, not to mention the fact that they actually sell dynamite as "souvenir" near the mines, $1 a piece. Could have picked up a couple to use later on in the desert but didn't have time now. :)</p><p>Now we are high in the mountains, over four kilometers altitude already and the air is really thin compared to sea level. That is starting to show as slight signs of altitude sickness. Just being tired, easily out of breath and a bit light-minded, nothing more than that though... And it should disappear in a day or so when our bodies adapt to the high altitude. Our fresh drug addict Lukasz is medicating himself in his own way, munching coca leaves continuously just as all the locals. They are said to help and are completely legal and widely used in Bolivia.</p><p>In Uyuni we have a really nice hotel booked, Jardin de Uyuni. The hotel was basically almost similarly priced than the cheapest options in the town, but looked much better to me in reviews and pictures so had to invest a bit more to it. Also Uyuni being high on mountains is cold at night and only the better hotels have actually working heating, so didn't want to risk with freezing all the night. Looking forward to their extensive real hotel breakfast in the morning, will be munching everything. :)</p><p>After arriving to Uyuni guy from the company with whom we booked a Salar de Uyuni tour tomorrow picked us up at the bus station and dropped us at the hotel. Tomorrow morning it will be departure at 10 to one of the emptiest and most hostile but still beautiful places in the world, the huge salt desert of Salar de Uyuni.</p> Latitude: Longitude: Security Code:
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