Salt flats tour - accommodation

We'd been warned that accommodation during the tour would be basic: dorms with beds with three blankets, no showers the first two nights and limited electricity.  We rented sleeping bags for £5 because the stops were remote and at altitude, with no heating.

I think everyone had been expecting the worst so we were pleasantly surprised by the first night's accommodation.

Unfortunately I was in a dorm with 5 blokes.  Guess what the first thing I heard was when I took my earplugs out in the morning.

The second night was more basic.

Beds made of something like concrete, with a mattress and blankets.  The ceiling was made of straw so it was definitely colder!

Fortunately, there was a wood burner in the building.  Initially, Paul and I tried to warm ourselves with PMA - pretending to warm our hands on imaginary heat from the wood burner.  Patricia the cook did a double take when she walked past us.  She must have thought we were raving mad because it turned out there was actual wood we could burn.  Paul included lots of little bits of kindling in the wood he collected, only for one of the staff - a small woman in traditional Bolivian dress - to pour petrol on the wood in the burner and throw in a match!  The explosion was pretty spectacular but I'm sad to say I did not catch this moment on camera, just the resulting happy tourists.

The last night was positive luxury.  We were in a hostel on the edge of the salt flat, that was largely made of salt - tables, seats and salt on the floor.

We even got a private double room.

And electricity and alcohol!

There were even hot showers for the grand sum of £1.  A few people had cold showers until Paul realised you had to pay a dude first.