Tuesday was all about the epic bus journey across the high mountain desert from Uyuni to Calama in Chile. Despite the route being the main road between two commercial centres the road is mostly dirt and very rough 

Feeling fresh at 05:30 before the epic bus journey. At this point I didn’t know how rough the roads were and that the bus had no air conditioning 

Hazards of the road - llamas and alpacas. No animals were harmed in the making of this blog 

 

Mountain rest stop

It wasn’t Gloucester Services but the toilets were clean 

The whisp of cloud on the mountain is in fact a steam vent of a semi active volcano. This region has many semi active volcanoes

Truck heading over the high mountain pass. Despite being a mostly dirt road this is a vital link between this part of Bolivia and northern Chile 

The railway at the Bolivia border with Chile. Mostly used to move minerals to the coast. This region is going to become very important for the exploitation of the lithium deposits. There is already a race on between Russian, Chinese and US exploration companies. 

 Our destination for the day, Calama, is dominated by exploration and engineering companies. The hotel we stayed at for the night, Geotel, was nearly totally occupied by exploration personnel. 

I have to admit that a day on the salt flats followed by the bus journey really took it out of me, Paul.