A Long and Dusty Journey
The bus to Uyuni left about nine in the morning from Sucre and was scheduled to make a stop in Potosi along the way. This was a "no frills" experience, meaning no bathroom, air conditioning, or curtains on my side of the bus to shade the scalding sun. But, the good news was that by day's end I would arrive in the famed salt flats.
Leaving Sucre, the landscape becomes almost instantly arid. The approach from Brazil, heading west, has been an environment rheostat, turning gradually less humid.
The city of Potosi, once the largest and richest city in the world, was only a three hour bus journey from Sucre. In the distance, the infamous silver mine mountain loomed. Five hundred years ago the Spanish built up the city of Potosi and its population to pull millions of tons of silver ore from these very mines. This singular mountain was essentially the greatest source of wealth for the Spanish empire. The human downside is that over 8 million people have died in the wealth extraction process.
From Potosi onward the road turned to a dirt dust entrenched wash board, hanging onto crumbling cliff faces. (Some more gradual than others, but still nothing you would want a bus to roll down.)
Without curtains to block the broiling sun, I donned sunglasses, pulled my cap down as far as possible and finally "gave in" to the draining heat for a nap.
The progress of our trip was marked not in miles but in high tension electrical lines. If we simply followed the wire ribbon it would lead to Uyuni.
Behind us we left the countryside thoroughly and freshly dusted.
As the landscape evolved, we actually came across an unexpected aquifer, where the bus driver made a stop to wash the dust from his face and revive his water bottle levels.
Along the day's journey there were a couple of seat-mates but the longest and most enjoyable were Junior and his Mom. He took a little while to warm up to me and the progressive expressions from this 13 month old tyke were priceless.
Who are you? (Don't mind my drool.)
Ok, I'll sleep on it.
What? You're still here? I thought I just dreamed about the funny looking man sitting next to me.
Ok, let's try out my rested lungs.
Junior's Mom had an ingenious way of making fresh baby food. She cut a corner of an apple off and then worked the meat of the apple out in slushy spoonfuls. This continued around the core until all the fruit was exhausted. This has to be better for kids than jarred and preserved product.
The day continued to wear on... and the scenery changed almost imperceptibly.
Abandoned houses and attempted farms or pasture lands occasionally dotted the landscape, providing a welcome focal point to the visual droning.
Rarely, a cluster of buildings resembling a pueblo swished by, embracing our following dust cloud.
Finally, as the light rays lengthened, we knew that both the day was coming to an end and so was this protracted journey, because these roads are too dangerous for this type of bus to navigate at night.
From the front seat of the bus and by hanging my head out the window for the last time today, I was treated to a double sunset, reflecting in the side bus door.
After a long, tiring, monotonous day (only really sparked by Juniors yearling antics) we finally reached Uyuni just as the last glimpses of light faded. Lipika, my German friend from the Navimag and Buenos Aires, had arrived a few hours prior and given the late hour we were both eager to dive into some pizza. We shared dinner with Steve and Emily, two other passengers from the day's travels and mutually schemed the best options for a trip together on the salar.
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