Bolivia

Flying flamingoes in pink flocks were overhead as the riders crossed the Uyuni Salar, the solid blinding white mass of flat hard salt in Bolivia. In this place lonely salty place on earth it is essential that you not only slather sunscreen on all exposed skin but that you remember to cover the bottom of your nose in between your nostrils too as the reflection can cause a mighty bad burn!

The daily bike tracks are taking us into village and town areas of Bolivia and on the outskirts we are sure to encounter a few llamas, vicuñias, goats, pigs and even some sheep.
The roads are challenging so these sweet diversions are a welcome uplift on a long ride.

We camped in slaty desert area right near a salt lake and a flock of standing flamingoes…they were standing and walking all over in the afternoon but early in the freezing (literally, the non salt water we had was ice) they were all huddled together as one mass of pink and salmon coloured feathers in the middle of the small lake, keeping each other warm.

One highlight of the week was our lunch stop at the foot of a steaming volcano. Volcan San Pedro which did not let us down and kept spewing white clouds of smoke right out of the top into the clear blue sky. As we climb higher and acclimatise to the high levels of altitude (we are in 3,500 to 4,000 for a while now) we often see stunning mountains and volcanoes all around us.

   – Ruth Schonblum