Salt flats day one

From Tupiza we embarked on our four day tour of the salt flats. We were grouped with a couple, she was from Slovenia and he was from Boston. She wore the trousers and was like the woman out of Jurassic park. So they became known as "JP" which then became "JP with cheese" whenever they had a romvom moment. It was us, JP, a cook called Porfe and the driver, Vincent, in the jeep together. On the first day we drove for 11 hours over the most epic mountainous roads and up to an altitude of almost 5000 meters. JP produced a bag of coca leaves to help with the altitude and we decided to give them another chance A) because we were all feeling it massively and B) this time they had the ash needed to activate the leaves. You roll the leaves into a ball and bite off a minuscule piece of ash, any more and it will burn your mouth. The ash made the world of difference and we got a fully numb mouth but I don't know if it helped with the altitude, paracetamol worked a treat.  The driver must have packed about one hundred into his mouth, relentlessly stuffing them in, tearing the stem out with his teeth. We drove past wild llamas and alpaccas, had lunch out the back of the jeep in front of an amazing view. Stopped at mud villages which were too basic for words. Not a single shop, just a school and a pharmacy. They have their priorities right! 

The playlist in the jeep was jokes - power ballads such as "love isn't always on time" & "eye of the tiger" etc. We drove past some kids straightening out the road and we gave them bananas and money. There were about 5 jeeps in convoy that looked so cool burning along dirt roads, on the edge of mountains, leaving trails of dust, like airplane trails, behind them. Driving through streams. 

On the first night we almost couldn't stay at our arranged accomodation, as our room was given away to a family who had just rocked up. We contemplated the idea of sleeping in the jeep but after eleven hours of driving weren't massively keen. We were in the middle of nowhere after solid driving into the wilderness all day and the option of staying elsewhere would mean another few hours driving.  Luckily they let us in and after a meager dinner we looked up and because of the lack of light pollution, saw stars... So many stars! The Milky Way! Boom. JP asked whether the stars in Southern Hemisphere are upside down? Were we seeing orians belt in reverse? Deep.

The accomodation was basic but at least we had unlimited electricity to charge our batteries.

Sleeping at altitude is harsh. There is only 60% of the oxygen at sea level so it is hard to breathe and sometimes wake up gasping for breath. I Woke up and didn't know which country I was in as they were serving dolce de leche for breakfast! We loaded the jeep and set off for more epic scenery and concentrated jeep time with JP.