We weren’t planning on going to Bolivia, but when San Francisco-based BFF, Alan Montelibano, heard that I was going to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile, he convinced me to take the tour of the Uyuni salt flats in bordering Bolivia. He said it was the highlight of his visit.

Plus Filipinos aren’t required visas to Bolivia. With that, I was sold.

While still in the Philippines, I emailed our hotel hosts for tour agency recommendations, except that searches on the internet turned up rave reviews, as well as nightmare tales. I told Nicolas that we’d have to take our chances and choose an agency ourselves once we arrived at San Pedro de Atacama.

Once in San Pedro, we left the choice up to the recommendation of the charming and affable, Vicente Guidi-Morosini, the Italian-Chileno tour guide of Atacama Loft, who had fast become a friend. His initial query among his friends in town turned up the names of two agencies but, upon further investigation online, I found the same rave reviews and nightmare tales. He said to give him more time to ask more friends. Later, he told us that Cordillera Traveller was our agency. He said that a reliable friend told him that all the tours would be the same but that, at the very least, Cordillera Traveller’s first hotel would be better than the others.

This turned out to be false (and Vicente cursed the reliability of his friend) and, although I had come across the positive and negative reviews of Cordillera Traveller during my initial research in the Philippines, at the end of the day, their office was open when we needed them to be and, as Vicente pointed out, when asked if they had room for us on their tour, they immediately replied, “Yes, we do!”

Nicolas and I paid the equivalent of US$220 each for a three-night, four-day tour. The third night and last day was really just to get us back to San Pedro de Atacama. Otherwise, the tour ended at 1 PM on the third day and most people in our group stayed on in Bolivia.

There were 12 of us all in all, split into two Toyota Land Cruisers. In our car were me and Nicolas, a French couple (Olivier and Sylvie), and a Swedish couple (Johan and Linnea) and our driver, Rafael.

Left to right: Me, Nicolas, Rafael, Sylvie, Olivier, Johan, and Linnea. At the Salar de Uyuni.

The configuration in each car: the driver and one passenger (me) in front, three in the middle, and two at the back. It wasn’t bad, except maybe for the Swedish kids at the back, but they were very nice and cool about it. (The French did swap with them on one day and, when Nicolas and I offered to swap with them on the last day, they assured us they were fine.)

All the luggage and the water supplies went on the roof, where they were wrapped in tarp and tied securely.

In the other car, were English couple (John and Cat), Dutch couple (Raoul and Sophie), and teenaged volunteer workers in Cordoba, Beth (English) and Hart (Kiwi), and their driver, Jorge.

Clockwise from the guy in the center: Raoul, Sophie, Beth, Hart, Cat, and John.

In the end, we were thankful for the big group. It turned out to be more fun and it made us feel more secure having two cars traveling together, especially when we were driving around in the dark in the midde of nowhere.

Although accommodations were spartan, to say the least…

We were one bed shy of accommodating the Seven Dwarves. Our first night’s accommodation at the Cordillera Traveller hotel. It had one unisex bathroom with two toilets, two sinks, and no shower.

… we all knew what we were getting ourselves into and we were lucky that there were no divas or primadonnas in our group and that everyone was easy going and in good spirits.

In spite of the headaches, that is. Altitude sickness is a very real concern here. We climbed to almost 5000 meters on our first day and almost everyone had headaches. Nicolas had it worst. He got extremely sick, which was exacerbated further by the smell of sulfur at the geysers. He could barely move and suffered from nausea. He became very sensitive to sound. His condition only improved when Rafael gave him some meds and hooked him up to some oxygen.

Rafael and Jorge put Nicolas back together again.

I staved off mine by constantly chewing on coca leaves. I still had a bit of a dull headache so I took some aspirin and, in the morning, when it seemed worse for everyone (- even Nicolas, after his miraculous rising from the dead, had a mild headache), I downed some paracetamol, and that was the end of that. I did feel out of breath a lot and it was difficult to climb even the slightest of inclines.

Food was also very basic. Following is a list of food that we had:

First Day

• Breakfast (at the Bolivian border): bread, ham, cheese, coffee and tea

• Lunch (at the Cordillera Traveller-owned hotel): mashed potatoes, sausages, sliced avocados, tomatoes, and cucumbers, bananas, and Coke

Missing from the pic is Nicolas who was sick in bed, and me, of course, because I was taking the picture.

• Snacks: crackers, coffee and tea
• Dinner (also at the hotel): vegetable soup, pasta with tomato sauce, frozen peaches, and bottled water

Second Day

• Breakfast (also at the hotel) – bread, butter, jam, manjar, scrambled eggs, coffee and tea
• Lunch (at a restaurant): fried rice, tinned tuna, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, oranges, and Coke
• Snacks: crackers, coffee and tea
• Dinner (at the salt hotel): vegetable soup, steak, french fries, and wine! Hurrah!

Third Day

• Breakfast (at the salt flats): bread, butter, jam, manjar, yogurt and some sort of corn puff cereal, coffee and tea

Breakfast by Isla Incahuasi, Salar de Uyuni.

• Lunch (at a restaurant): macaroni, breaded chicken fillets, boiled potatoes, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and green beans, and Coke

Coke seems to be the non-alcoholic drink of choice for lunch in Bolivia.

• Dinner (at a hotel): vegetable soup, mashed potatoes, some unidentifiable meat, sliced tomatoes and green peppers, and bottled water

Fourth Day

• Breakfast (at the Bolivian border): same as First Day Breakfast

End of tour.

Again, because we were in The Middle of Nowhere, Bolivia, we didn’t expect much, so we didn’t mind the sausages and tinned tuna and if (we suspected) the soup and the mashed potatoes came out of packets. We were pleasantly surprised that we had any vegetables at all! We just smothered everything with mayonnaise and ate with gusto. The wine was a nice touch and was very much welcome. They even gave us lollies in the car!

To call us “happy campers” would be an understatement. We were beyond exhilirated. We were all blown away by the amazing scenery around us and were grateful for the professionalism and dedication of our guides and the hotel/restaurant cooks and staff. We were in an extremely harsh environment and the staff was doing their best, and we appreciated their service and the opportunity to be in this astounding, awe-inspiring place.

And, boy, what scenery we beheld! Here are the highlights:

The bizarre Isla Incahuasi, where cacti grow out of a mountain of calcified coral. By the way, the blue is salt, not water.

And of course, the Salar de Uyuni…

Best of all was we got to take pictures like this:

And this:

And this:

Como se llama, llama?

… vicuñas…

… and flamingos.

Flamingo Road.

We saw so many llamas, vicuñas and flamingoes that we stopped trying to take photos of them and could spot them easily from afar.

We also saw some viscachas – squirrels with bunny heads.

No, we weren’t smoking any funny stuff.

Although there are private tours that you can book for US$800 to 1200 per person with slightly better conditions, we were glad for the company and felt more secure with Rafael and Jorge working closely together.

Here is some advice should you ever decide to do the trip:

1. Bear in mind that choosing an agency is like Russian roulette. You have no way of knowing your fate until you’ve pulled the trigger. Once you’ve crossed over to Bolivia, anything can happen. We were lucky to get two responsible drivers who took their jobs seriously and looked after us well. And it seemed to me like Cordillera Traveller has learned from its past mistakes (and the bad Trip Advisor reviews) and gotten its shit together. As far as I was concerned, the whole thing was organized very well. Except for the three-hour wait between the end of the tour and the transfer to the next hotel. Although I wouldn"t be surprised if that was intentional, to get tourists to spend more in Bolivia before returning to Chile.

We were all waiting to leave for different destinations at the same cafe near the Cordillera Traveller office in Uyuni. Left to right: Beth, Raoul, Sophie, Hart, and me.

2. Invest in warm, windproof clothing! Nicolas and I were prepared for the cold but not for the wind and nearly died from the windchill. The first thing we did when we got back to San Pedro de Atacama was hit the North Face shop for some gear. Now, at least, we’ll be prepared for Patagonia. I hope!

3. While all the hotels, except for the first one, had hot water in the showers, the rooms did not have any heating and, in the desert, the temperature drops very low at night. We slept in sleeping bags over our beds. They helped keep us warm. I borrowed a Salewa sleeping bag from a friend that served me well when I climbed Mount Pulag, while Nicolas bought a Deuter sleeping bag before we left Manila. Both were light and compact. We also brought travel pillows which were quite bulky and a hassle to bring, but they were a good supplement to what passed for pillows in Bolivia.

4. You’ll need some pretty strong sun protection, not only for your skin but for your eyes too. The sun is very strong at altitude and can cause some serious damage. You’ll also need a hat with a visor.

5. Lip balm. Keep it in your pocket and use it often.

6. Other things you will need: Your own towel, toiletries, toilet paper, flashlight/headlamp, snacks (although we didn’t really eat ours until the end of the trip and only because we had them and wanted to share, not because we were hungry).

7. You will also have to bring your own supply of water. Allot about three liters per day per person. Remember that the big water bottles will be going on top of the vehicle where they will be covered in tarp and strapped down, so you will need to transfer some water to a smaller bottle that you can keep inside the car. The air is dry and you will be thirsty often. Drink a lot of water to combat dehydration and altitude sickness!

8. Be prepared for altitude sickness. You can buy coca leaves anywhere in San Pedro de Atacama for about CHP1000. Chew on them as soon as you feel any discomfort whether you are ascending or descending some height. We were told to chew the leaves and eventually swallow. Others were taught to spit the leaves out. Spit or swallow – it’s a personal choice. And have a stash of paracetamol or aspirin in case you do develop a headache.

9. You will be told that you will need about 250 Bolivianos each for the trip. You will need them to pay for park fees and to use the toilets at rest stops. But do get more Bolivianos, in case you want to buy beer or some souvenirs, or for your three-hour wait in Uyuni after the trip but, most especially, because you will want to have some extra Bolivianos to tip your guide at the end of the trip. And the driver who brings you back to the border.

This is Bernardo who drove us three hours to our hotel in Villa Mar, then four hours the next day to the Bolivian border. He had the worst taste in music but, at the end of the trip, gave us sage advice, not to stress too much. I’m not sure if or why we seemed stressed to him but “Calma corazon,” he said repeatedly. Here, Bernardo, Linnea and Nicolas are saying, “Calma corazon.” We emptied our pockets of Bolivianos for him.

Oh, you’ll have to pay for the hot water shower at the last hotel so you’ll definitely want to have some Bolivianos for that!

10. Brush up on your Spanish. Most, if not all, of the drivers speak only Spanish (- they don’t even know what “cool” or “the internet” means!), but the Bolivianos speak slowly and very clearly. When I focused, I could actually understand them!

This is one of those trips of a lifetime that you never forget. It was like a journey to another planet, visiting alien landscapes. Even the sunset over lonely mountain trails on the three-hour drive to our last hotel was nothing short of spectacular, as was the sunrise the next day on our way to the border.

The sun set the sky ablaze on our way to Villa Mar.

Amazing. Absolutely amazing.