The Clark Family's Amazing Adventures

Rewind to 1/2/13.

I’m sitting on a train, as we make our way south on the 7 hour train journey through the spectacular southern Altiplano to Uyuni, Bolivia, catching up on blogs and diary in between looking out at lakes full of flamingos, small farms and villages and the occasional distant snowy peak! Martin is catching up on sleep and the kids are watching Mr Poppers penguins in Spanish. Everyone is happy!

Beautiful lakes with flamingoes which we cross on the train.

The peaks of the Andes, seen from the train

We’re in executive class with flat screen tv, drinks and snacks served and already the floor has been cleaned twice, our tickets cost a whopping £10 each for adults and £5 for kids. It’s a far cry from this morning’s filthy and smelly bus which was luckily only 3 hours (actually 4 due to delays!) but you couldn’t help thinking you might pick up a few nits or fleas and felt exceptionally mean forcing Lara to wear the seatbelt which I could barely touch putting on her!

The bus was filthy but we had panoramic views which we could appreciate when it finally stopped raining and the leaky window stopped soaking me! Actually I think it looks pretty plush now I look back, must have been spoiled!!

Hey ho, I love the extremes of this travelling malarkey – for every not so good/clean/easy experience, we appreciate the next bit of luxury all the more! This is a major part of our lives on the road:)

Boarding the train at Oruru. There are not many trains in South America, this is a classic and continues on south right into Argentina

We pull into Uyuni station some time after 10pm, just after the kids had fallen asleep!!! Aggghh – have you ever woken a just-asleep 5 year old and asked her to put on a rucksack and walk through a rather eerie dark dusty town to find a hotel? On the way Ben stumbles and hurts his leg. Mean Dad gets out his camera! I am not so mean as to post that pic!  Ben and Zoe’s rucksacks are getting heavier with bits n bobs acquired and so have a tendency to pull them right over if they stumble! We’re looking forward to a good sort and opportunity to send things home with Oma and get the weight more manageable again!

We’re booked in at the Hostal Magia, where the Bremners are but the have no record of us! Luckily they have rooms but insist on giving us two doubles rather than a bigger triple to share. They assure us they will charge the same (already expensive) $70 for both rooms  and we turn in, really excited about catching up with our friends at breakfast!!