The extreme fun pub

Dave and Ivan took us along to the Extreme Fun Pub in Uyuni.  I should perhaps warn you now that if you are easily offended, and/or under the age of consent, you might want to stop reading.

This novelty bar is clearly a popular hangout for all of the Dragoman and other tour trucks that pass through.  So what makes it a novelty bar?  The drinks.  Or rather, the drinking vessels.

You can just order a beer in a glass and there are some relatively normal cocktails available too.  Or you can order one of their six shooter drinks.  These come in a pottery cup with one large central cup, six smaller cups around the edge and a drinking spout.  The smaller cups are all connected to the big cup and spout, so that when you drink from it you get a mix of all of the different drinks put in.  They put spirits and liqueurs into the six small cups and either beer or orange juice into the central one.  It is an interesting mix, worth trying for the novelty, but generally not the best tasting.

Then you have the drink served in the cup that has a very large penis as the drinking spout, and the cup shaped like the traditional Bolivian figure of a woman, where you have to lift up the skirt and drink from the ‘vagina’.

Needless to say, Dave and Ivan bought one of each of the three and passed them around resulting in some interesting and slightly dubious photos being taken.

Was it extreme fun - probably not, but it was an amusing way to spend a few hours.

Uyuni Salt Flats



Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia



Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia

Despite enjoying our hotel in Uyuni so much, we did at least drag ourselves out of it to spend the day on the salt flats.  

Salt hotel, Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia



Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia

The salt flats are  12km2 and we were taken out by locals in their jeeps. 

Our jeep already had a rather large crack through the windscreen, and while we were loading up a wing mirror broke off!  But we made it through the trip OK, so it didn't matter.



ColchaniUyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia



Isla Incahuas, Salt Flats, Bolivia



Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia



Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia



The salt flats used to be a lake, but it dried up leaving salt around 7-10 metres deep.  Locals mine the salt and export some of it, but they only work on the edges, so much of the salt flats look pristine except for a few tyre tracks.  It is a strange sensation, as we often found ourselves referring to it as snow or ice, presumably because that is what a large expanse of white would normally be in our terms of reference.


We entered the salt flats at Colchani, which is a mining town, and where we we given the opportunity to look at all of the various alpaca wares and other touristy bits that were on sale. 

    

Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia



Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia



Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia



Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia



Our next stop off was the salt hotel, which is made largely of salt, but is disapproved of by many conservationists on the basis that the waste from the hotel can contaminate the salt flats.  We then headed to the middle of the salt flats to an 'island' called Isla Incahuas, which was covered in large cactii and was where they gave us a picnic lunch at salt tables.

  


Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia



But the main event was in the afternoon, when the jeeps took us out to a very clean area of the flats so that we could take wierd photos.  The reason the photos are wierd is that the unchanging background allows you to bend the perspective so that small objects can appear bigger than large ones.  

We had brought props from the hotel, so we our photos included Nic fighting with a dinosaur and me lying on top of a wine bottle!  But my favourite is the one of mini me standing on Nic's hand.

 

Train cemetery



Train cemetery, Uyuni, Bolivia



Train cemetery, Uyuni, Bolivia



On our way to the salt flats, we stopped off at the train cemetery.  Bolivia had made much use of trains to transport goods around, but as that because unnecessary, the trains were just left to decay.  It is a strange sight, seeing old steam trains rusting and deteriorating.

Train cemetery, Uyuni, Bolivia



Train cemetery, Uyuni, Bolivia



Somehow it felt wrong.  I'm not really sure why - whether it was about the waste of the trains, or the fact that this was effectively a huge dumping ground, but for whatever reason it seemed strange.



Train cemetery, Uyuni, Bolivia



Train cemetery, Uyuni, Bolivia



That said, it offered the opportunity for some great photos for the photographers in the group, and I had a go at a few too.



Uyuni and the Tonito Hotel

After crossing the Altiplano we arrived in Uyuni, a small town in the middle of the desert.  This was our first real taste of Bolivia, and being a desert town, the change from Argentina was immense.  We saw many of the ladies in their traditional big skirts and bowler hats, selling bread and other items on the pavements.  The market places were full of passageways of little stalls selling all manner of foods, materials, clothing and hardware.  And everywhere we looked there were alpaca jumpers, hats, gloves and socks.

Being a small town, it didn't take much walking around to see it.  There were some contrasts of quite old and slightly dilapidated buildings, and some quite modern looking areas, with their monuments and sculptures.  Overall the town seemed quite a relaxed and friendly place.



Minuteman at the Toñito Hotel



However, the highlight of Uyuni town had to be our hotel.  I know it seems very wrong to be in a new town and to pay most attention to where we were staying, but after a lot of camping and dodgy conditions, The Toñito hotel was consistently described by our fellow travellers as a little oasis in the desert.  It is run by Suzi, originally from Uyuni, and her husband Chris, originally from Boston, USA.  It was a nice friendly place, with a radiator in the room and an ensuite bathroom with reliably hot water.  They had some nice seating areas that we could use and had a laundry service.

But the best thing was the food.  They had a small restaurant called minuteman that did fantastic pizzas and great breakfasts.  Now again, it may be wrong, but we ate here both nights and both mornings, and it was great to have easy, tasty and relaxed meals.  We did at least have llama on our pizzas though, so there was at least some South American element to them!