The border between Chile and Bolivia that is used when heading to Uyuni was allegedly opened just for tourism purposes. When it isn’t closed due to industrial action, it might be the easiest border crossing in South America (I only speculate, it was my first!). Stamp in, stamp out – no searches. The border crossing outside Copacabana, to get into Peru from Bolivia (I hear it’s a bit more irritating the other way) might be the second easiest. Bus Titicaca took us to the Bolivian side and dropped us off to get our exit stamps. Then we walked to the Peruvian side, got stamped in (90 days, no questions) and the bus came and joined us (I think it had to sort out some of its own paperwork too) – then we were outta there. The baggage stayed in the bus and wasn’t searched as far as I could tell – though if/when they do, you may not be there, so I’d lock your bag if you can. Back in the bus for a bit, and you’re in Puno. I took the approach to the centre of Puno (which the bus terminal is about a 10 minute walk from) as a sign of things to come – a seemingly unending road of garages, petrol stations and car yards. The bus terminal is typical, just like the one in La Paz really. Walk out the door and through the mud field full of combis and turn right onto the main road and walk into the centre of town. You’ll know you’re there when you cross the railway track!
It started raining just after we got home from dinner on our first night in Copacabana and it didn’t stop for 18 hours. We decided to stay in bed and miss our boat to Isla del Luna and Isla del Sol – which would have been miserable. There wasn’t much to do (the poncho museum was closed) once we had checked out, so we had a leisurely breakfast and a bit of a wander when the rain eased and then bought tickets for the afternoon boat. The boat is 20b one-way and takes 1.5 hours (in the afternoon – morning is different as they stop at Isla del Luna). By the time we arrived, the rain had stopped and the sun had come out and we climbed up the Inca steps and walked along the rough road to our hostel – the Hostal del Sol.
They do end, eventually
Hostal del Sol is nice (although I think they forgot we had paid 10% through hostelworld.com) and has 24/h hot showers (which didn’t work for us – I think they’re solar) and WiFi (which I wasn’t expecting and didn’t use!). We ditched our bags and went for an explore of the island. What you can explore is heavily curtailed due to an ongoing dispute between the different communities on the island (information current as at March 2018). The paths out of the south part (where the boat lands) are blockaded and the (albeit friendly) locals don’t let you pass – no aggression or intimidation, you just can’t pass. One afternoon and evening on the island is therefore sufficient (probably). We wandered as much as is really permitted, watched a disappointing sunset (full cloud cover) and then went for the best trout we’d had yet. All that was left was to sample the hot shower. Nevermind. The hostel is still nice though, and, being the highest on the south part of the island, has an unobstructed view for sunrise.
Sunrise wasn’t up to much – this is the view though
It also does an OK breakfast (which is included) – just the basics but it’s all nice. We’d packed light, so after breakfast we were able to check out and go off for more exploring – down to various coves and headlands that we hadn’t explored the previous day. As you wander, every now and again, a donkey will appear, apparently pursuing its own agenda around the cliff paths. There’s probably more donkeys than dogs – just for a change. Once we felt we had explored down every last path, we made our way back to the dock, where we were in time to get the earlier (3pm) boat back to Copacabana.
Donkey: doing its own thing
Back in Copacabana, we got a better room (same price but ensuite double) in the same hotel and went out for a bit of dinner. More trucha! Copacabana is the kind of laid back place where once we had ordered, the staff disappeared. We had to go looking for them up the street to be able to pay for dinner. The majority of the stall holders offered to accept the payment on their behalf, and when we found them, they didn’t seem fazed at all – just accepted the money, gave us the change, and continued. I guess if anyone runs away from their bill, they’re fairly easy to find in Copacabana!
Title borrowed from a book by Peter Moore. The exact words used by the driver on the bus from La Paz to Copacbana were “No poop amigos”.
I actually though that would be a standard feature on the buses but as it turns it out, it was just that particular bus.
30 Bolivianos buys you a seat on the gringo bus from La Paz to Copacabana. The destination may be the main factor in determining who the passengers are, and it may not – but it was a 100% foreign tourist bus. If you like to avoid the people from your own country when travelling abroad – then maybe don’t travel on Bus Titicaca, as they’ll probably be there! As such, the bus operates a bit differently to the other buses at the bus terminal – you can expect gringoes to turn up early, and sit patiently on the bus until its ready – which we did. Other buses seem to have to make lots of stops on the way out of the terminal to pick up more passengers, and things are a bit more fluid (and confusing) but if you make your money by transporting docile foreigners, everything can be quite simple! The quality of the bus wasn’t any higher, the suspension left a lot to be desired and it wasn’t overly comfortable – but it seemed safe and it got us there. In case nobody warns you – it stops when it gets to Lake Titicaca and you have to go over on a ferry (I think it cost 2b). Your bus goes over separately on a barge (it doesn’t look like it will make it but it does, they all do) and then you can get back on. One lady was “lake sick”.
The welcoming committee when you cross the lake
It was fun seeing the BoliviaHop passengers being carefully rounded up by their guide and put back on the bus like children – our bus just revved its engine and we all ran back on. For some reason all western tourists around Titicaca seem to be addicted to Pringles. They sell the small cans of Pringles at the little stalls, for about twice the price of the big ones, and something hardly anyone seems to be able to say no to. They quicken their pace, and mob the stall until they’ve got what they want. I don’t really have any explanation for this, and it seems to mainly just be a Titicaca thing.
Pringles available
Being a tourist bus, and gringo bus too – it also makes an unscheduled stop at the Hotel Mirador on the way into Copacabana, so that the owner can get on and extol the virtues of his establishment in a manner that you’re supposed to trust and appreciate. He made the usual comment about the bus company owning the hotel or the hotel owning the bus company and then asked everyone if they had accommodation – standard stuff. After we’d got rid of him, we drove round the corner and they started sorting us into who was travelling onward to Puno and who was going to Cuzco. They seemed to have lost interest in those of us who were actually staying in Copacabana, so we got off and pulled our luggage out of the hold and went for lunch. Some other people sat patiently on the bus – we saw them later, between sopa and segundo I think.
I’d prebooked the Hostal Luz Yhobimar, which has a OK location and is fairly cheap. The water wasn’t hot (I think it might have been solar powered), the mattresses weren’t great and it was a bit cold – but it was good for the price. They were friendly and stored out bags while we went to Isla del Sol. Once we were checked in, we went for a bit of an explore – there’s easy walks up to some good viewpoints looking out of the lake, and you can walk a long way along the shore. It’s a pretty big lake, you could probably walk all the way to Peru I suppose, but we left it at a mile or two. It’s quiet and everything looks nice – a great place to go from La Paz, and if you’re on your way to Isla del Sol – it only gets better!
Other blogs (eg Along Dusty Roads) mention that one of the best activities in Copacabana is eating trout, we’d had 3 trout meals between the two of us by the end of the first day, and it should probably have been 4 – my steak at lunchtime was nothing to write home about. The first evenings trout was taken down at the lakefront, where the prices are low and the quality is good. Thanks Along Dusty Roads! And thank you stall 4 on the Copacabana lake front.
After we found the ATM, we went to Vicuna Travel on Murillo at booked ourselves onto a combined trip to Chacaltaya and Valle de la Luna.
It was a Monday morning so the tour van was a bit late, but we did get collected and taken to Chacaltaya in the end. Not just to it, but nearly all the way up it. La Paz sits at around 3800m, Chacaltaya summit is 5400m. We were heading stradily up for most of the drive, with a steep climb at the end on a classic mountain road. By the time we stopped, we were only 160m from the top. It was steep, but 160m isn’t much of anything.
Just 160m left.
Because we’d driven, and thus ascended quite quickly, we were discouraged from staying long, just climb up, take photos, climb back down, and go. It’s cold up there, and it was snowing (or hailing) but we weren’t there long. Hats and gloves and lots of layers for comfort, and hiking boots for the climb – but one girl went in jeans and trainers and she didn’t die. She was treating the trip as what it was, a chance to see how she felt at 5400m (the highest altitude she had yet been to). It did feel a bit harder to breathe, but it didn’t immobilise any of us (one person wasn’t interested and stayed at the alpine retreat but I don’t think he was sick). Once you’re at the top and stop climbing, it’s no problem at all and you can wander about and take some photos without any discomfort (my experience only) but it probably isn’t a great idea to linger too long. We climbed down (which was kinda harder because it was slippery and the surface you’re going up and down isn’t that wide) and were back in the van fairly quickly before heading down the narrow, winding road in the elderly combi – that might have been the most dubious part of the whole adventure!
The view from the top – bit of a whiteout!The climb back downViews can be had though
It takes a couple of hours to drive from Chacaltaya, back through central La Paz, and out to Valle de la Luna (yes, another one). Valle de la Luna turns out to be in the lowest, warmest, airiest part of La Paz – where the really well off people live. It was thermals coats, hats and gloves weather when we got into the van, and t-shirts and sunscreen weather when we got out. The tour pretty much just stops here 40 minutes for you to walk the circuit and take your photos and then they want to you back in the van so they can head back to La Paz and get it over with. It’s probably enough anyway. I’ll let my photos explain what it was like there:
La Paz has a bit of a reputation for being a city of extremes, particularly to do with it’s altitude, but also with the difference between its affluent lower climes, and the El Alto sprawl. One day in La Paz also showed us the extremes of the weather – a pleasant sunny afternoon gave way to a torrential downpour (this turned out to be a daily occurence). That was after our trip to the cathedral where we were told the original construction was destroyed and had to be rebuilt. Any glazing over and daydreaming was shattered when instead of mentioning an earthquake or a fire (standard things for destroying cathedrals in these parts), he said “by a snowstorm”. For bonus points – it’s even true!
Since our first day in La Paz started off sunny (the suns warmth having been a bit of a rare treat in Bolivia so far), we kicked off by going for a wander. It was Saturday. Perhaps La Paz was always like this (it wasn’t – it was just Saturday). The Saturday market sprawled all over the area west of the big road that flows like a river of traffic through the canyon at the bottom of the city. Saturday is the day to go shopping in La Paz – if you’re just looking, you start to feel like an idiot if you don’t buy anything – there is something in that market that you’ll probably end up buying somewhere else later – you might as well get it here, you’ll have a vast choice and nothing seemed to cost much. We bought some tea (then lost it in the hostel kitchen somehow) and a cooking pot (with plans to take it to Torres del Paine). Apparently the market in El Alto is even larger – but we weren’t even looking for this one, we just wandered into it. The market taking up every inch of space on every street meant we wandered through the so-called “witches market” without even noticing. This was after lunch though. Lunch was good – apart from some grey potatoes. They only looked like potatoes – the consistency was something else. The taste was a bit like old fish, and that seemed to release a smell too. On the whole, they seemed like something that should have been sold in the witches market. This was the first time I encountered these potatoes in Bolivia, but it wasn’t to be the last.
After a survey of the options for daytrips available from the line of travel agents that stretches from the witches market to the main road, we went into the Church of San Francisco. I’m not 100% sure if you can look around there without being an official tour, but we got hustled onto one anyway and propelled around the interior before they let us up on the roof. I was surprised to find a higgledy-piggledy roof of terracotta tiles, rather than the steep, black slate roof you’d find on an English cathedral.
Bit different to Ely
We were back on our own side of the Prado when the sky turned black, so we scuttled back to the hostel to wait it out. It didn’t go on too long, and before it got dark, we wandered through the now clean streets to our local Teleferico station. Oh I forgot, the MRT in La Paz is a Dopplemeyer cable car. No underground railways for these people – their city is upside down in terms of the elevations of its neighbourhoods (well off at the bottom, less well off at the top), so it seems logical that the MRT flies above the city. Our eastbound Teleferico ride (6b) took us across a ridge to Villareal, where we found another ridge, with a crowded plaza on it. There was some dancing, blowing bubbles, and food stalls. Remember it was Saturday night. Since it was Saturday night, we got burgers on the way home. They may have had an adverse effect on the workings of our digestive systems – but you can always blame the altitude when you’re in La Paz.
Heading up into Villareal
That trip to Villareal had given us ideas, and we set off the next morning for Parque Mirador Laikokota. From a distance, this had looked like it would have views both ways back up the valleys, including the famous stadium where nobody seems to be able to beat Bolivia, and where they famously annihilated Argentina 6-1 and ended a 40 year unbeaten (in world cup qualifiers) record for Brazil. These days, the mirador is a childrens playground (3.5b entry) and it wasn’t really worth the walk. Nevermind. We spent a fair amount of time after that searching for an ATM that fit the following criteria:
a) accepted Mastercard
b) had money in it
c) had comms
This proved reasonably difficult, probably in part because it was Sunday, but we eventually got what we were looking for at Mutual La Primera on Avenida Mariscal Santa Cruz. At least in Bolivia there are no charges for using ATMs. Having persuaded the ATM to give us some money, we were able to go up the road and book a trip to Chacaltaya to find out what a bit of real altitude felt like, more on that tomorrow.
It did have a view
The great ATM hunt had taken us up to lunch, so we went for lunch (with jelly for pudding) and then went to see if the witches market looked any more exotic when it wasn’t Saturday. It didn’t. We could see the warning signs by now and headed indoors to escape the rain. It didn’t go on long, and we went for our traditional afternoon Teleferico ride. On the way, we swung by the bus station to buy a ticket to Copacabana.
But not as good as the one from the Teleferico that goes to El Alto.
Every now and again we spring for a room that we aren’t really going to use (really early start, day use only). I went off the idea after paying about $85 for a room in Darwin once and arriving in it after 4AM (what, the airport isn’t comfortable enough?), and have subsequently been making friends with the floors at KLIA2, Singapore, and wherever else was necessary. We relented a bit and had a room for the day (diareha changes things) in Pushkar, and we did the same here in Uyuni – room rented from about 4 in the afternoon til about 1AM. Probably worth it – did some internet research, slept a couple of hours, and cooked a noodle or two. We’d booked our train ride from Uyuni to Oruyo before leaving San Pedro. I don’t know if that made it easier or not. We started our catalog of doing inadvisable things by leaving the hostel at about 1:15AM and walking to the railway station. It was only 100m really, and a dog picked us up just near the hotel and escorted us to the train station, before curling up next to a woman who was sleeping there. Presenting our e-ticket to the ticket office at the station really seemed to be a headache for him. About ten minutes of consulting his email, talking to the train guard, and (I think) making a call or two, produced nothing, but he seemed convinced by the genuine nature of our booking (ticketsbolivia.com), so we were put on the train anyway and everything seemed fine. Things seemed to have worked out so far, so we put or bags in the overhead rack, with the little ones at our feet, and then let ourselves have a bit of a snooze – probably not recommended practise. Wikitravel is full of tips to stay safe in Peru (although it does recommend checking the trunk of Peruvian taxis for people hiding, and making up Peruvian friends that are expecting you).
I’d been expecting a loco hauled train with several carriages and a slightly colonial feel – not luxurious, just functional. The Wara Wara del Sur is a diesel railcar (an old one, I think), but with toilets and a kitchen. One carriage. It sways along across the altiplano in a nonchalant fashion as if it was making a quick run from Crewe to Chester and I can’t decide whether the surrealism adds to the experience or not.
Despite travelling in a shuddering diesel box, we seemed to pick up some sleep here and there and woke around sunrise as the train passed along a causeway through a lake, before it arrived into Oruyo and cooled on the platform as if nothing had happened. By bus, this part of the journey is done on an unpaved road, so I’d recommend the train. Productivity isn’t that high after a night bus ride anyway, so who cares if it takes a little longer.
Not much to look at
As things were continuing to go well, we ran out of the train station and spoke to a friendly lady in the tourist information office in broken Spanish (we learned some new words from her). She directed us to the bus station that serves La Paz and gave us a map, so we wandered there on foot.
Oruyo!
At the bus station, we found most of the buses appeared to be going to Cochabamba – but there were a few operators who’d heard of La Paz and had buses going there. For some reason we picked Trans Naser (who ever knows how these decisions are made) and it was fine. The boarding arrangements were a bit ad-hoc so we tried stuffing our bags into the overhead rack and they fitted so we went with that. The bus rolled through the Bolivian countryside pretty easily until it reached El Alto and then crept through the crowded streets (I reckon it would’ve got to La Paz at the advertised time otherwise) and then zoomed down into La Paz. We once again threw caution to the wind and walked to our guesthouse (it was downhill anyway). Hospedaje Yannacocha was quiet and friendly (a family operation) but the WiFi sucked (not sure if this is a Bolivia thing or not).
This is what we saw in Oruyo
La Paz is a bit worn, and very up and down – which for some reason seemed a lot more classically colonial to me. We obtained a tourist map from the information office in Plaza Murillo, and were able to use that to take ourselves all over central La Paz for the whole time that we stayed there. It all seemed OK to walk about in the daytime and all the Bolivians we met were friendly and helpful. So, perhaps we had a day of doing the things you shouldn’t do, but we never felt at risk and nothing happened. Wandering around with our big backpacks and white skin – we’re the archetypal gringoes!
An abundance of water in the Salar means we drive all the way round to Uyuni, and stop off at the train cemetery. I was expecting something a bit sad like pictures of the wrecking lines at Doncaster in the 1960s, but somehow it wasn’t. The engines and rolling stock were rusted and ruined, but they just made an interesting feature out in the desert. After wandering amongst them, we had our breakfast – before driving to the main attraction; the Uyuni Salt Flats.
Maybe it’s the bright, blue sky
The amount of water on the flat meant we were driving with the running boards under water (and salt water at that, bye bye land cruiser!) but the water got a little shallower after we passed the original salt hotel, and we hopped out and took all those classic photos that everyone plans when they book the Uyuni trip. Get far enough away from your subject and it’ll be reflected in the water, wait for the right weather conditions, and the sky will be too (or just tweak your levels a bit) – just make sure your flip-flops/jandals/thongs/crocs aren’t packed away on the roof (mine were) – that salt is sharp!
Making waves as we drive inReflectiveMy own reflection. Try to ignore the hat hair and sweatpants rolled up
An overcast day isn’t really optimum for Salar de Uyuni, but that the rainy season for ya. Bluebird days, with a cloud or two, are probably what’s needed for that classic blue tinged reflection, presumably that’s more a dry season thing. I wonder if the dry season presents the risk of a blue sky and no reflection, because the surface water has drained/evaporated though, so I was pretty happy to be standing there in three inches of water.
I think I mentioned the salt is sharp
Lunch on day 3 is a little later than you’ve become used to – we pulled up to a Polleria at about 2pm. It was closed. They opened the door and we had lunch that had nothing to do with chicken. I don’t know if the tour companies have prior arrangements or if they just knock on doors and say “I’ve got half a dozen hungry gringo’s here, do you want to make some money?” – but the foods always good (and included in the tour price anyway) so who cares? That’s pretty much where the Uyuni safari ends – the final drop off was at the company office – and from there you can walk to everywhere in Uyuni easily – hotels/hostels, markets, places to eat, other tour companies, the railway station…
Spring out of bed and visit more lakes – that’s the general idea on day 2 of an Uyuni safari. It’s more fun than it sounds. Except the springing bit. Some of us needed fires lit under our beds to warm us up before we were flexible enough to go through the various positions required to get to the breakfast table (sitting up, standing up, jumping quickly back into bed, being restrained, threatening violence against anyone who interfered with the blankets, carrying out the threat, realising you were now out of bed, getting dressed faster than you can remember…). It happened though. Breakfast was a social experiment; five people, 12 pancakes – let’s see what happens.
You can get up to see the sunrise if you like. It’s too early.Back to the Laguna Colorado. Not sure who that is in the bottom right…
After Colorado, we hit the stone tree area, featuring…the stone tree. There a bunch of other volcanic boulders there too. If you wanted some space, this is the place to get it – as well as wondering how these enormous rocks got here, looking at how far away from the nearest volcanoes they are.
How did these get here?No shortage of space up here
We took what I think was a detour between the Stone Tree and Laguna Honda, to drive along the path of a stream, where the viscacha are known to be friendly. Viscacha are the andean rabbit – which seems to be prefer the rockier places on the altiplano. Friendly means they’re pretty aware that humans will give them food, so they’ll come out and allow themselves to be photographed. Here’s one allowing itself to be photographed.
Wildlife photography needn’t be challengingColour’s a bit overdone but it was almost this green!
After lunch, we took in the Valle de Roca. There must be quite a lot of Valle de Rocas scattered around Latin America; this one has some cool stuff in it:
Like a condor
We could also see the distant volcano puffing from here before we drove along the long road to a green, fertile valley full of Llamas/Alpacas and sheep.
Llamas or Alpacas. I haven’t learned to tell the difference yet.
This day covers a fair bit of distance so there’s lots of driving. The driver will always stop if you ask to take pictures of anything that interests you. One of our final stops was at what passes for a bar on this part of the altiplano – for your choice of artisan beer – coca, cactus or something that I can’t remember. I tried the coca (of course) – it was OK, I won’t be ordering a crate delivered to my home though.
45 minutes drive from your last drop of coca beer, is a hotel made of salt (you have to drive around the edge of the salt flat to get there). I licked the walls to make sure – it really is at least partially constructed from salt. You might not believe it because a) there are a lot of bricks apparent in the construction, and b) there didn’t seem to be any salt available at dinner time. It’s not actually on the salt flat – if you’ve heard about the salt hotel that was closed down, it still is – and it’s right in the middle of the salt flat – see it the next day. This is just a salt hotel. It’s owned by the tour company, and we were the only ones in it, which was an experience in itself given the size. The Shining but saltier. It looks out across the salt flat and gets windy in the evening but gives some nice views. When we stayed, the electric comes on from 6PM (so get those camera batteries charged), and hot showers were available (at an extra cost).
Looking out at tomorrow’s SalarMoon over Salar de Uyuni
Disclaimer: some of the stops may be in the wrong order – but it doesn’t really matter. Unless the Uyuni tour companies are reading this, then they might go in the wrong order and waste a lot of time and petrol. I’m not too worried about that happening though.
The big adventure in San Pedro is the 3 day jeep safari to Uyuni in Bolivia. Salt flats, border crossings, high elevations, hotels made of condiments – this trip has it all. We booked ours with Estrella del Sur in San Pedro for 100,000 CLP each (after a fair bit of research) and we also booked a cheap hotel in Uyuni before we left. The plan was to use the hotel as a bag dump and a place to catch a couple of hours sleep before getting the night train (booked online at ticketsbolivia.com) to Oruyo and a bus onward to La Paz, which is in fact what happened. This also left us the option of a sunset tour to the salt flat in Uyuni if we felt we wanted it.
On the first day of the Uyuni trip, the Chilean end of the operation comes to your hostel in a van and takes you to the Chile-Bolivia border. Unless you have a US passport (extra paperwork, $160 charge) this is a fiarly straightforward one. We had no bag searches or anything like that, just a few stamps and we were on our way.
Basic border crossing
It’s cold up on the altiplano (this is real altiplano, much higher than San Pedro) – I wore three layers and some people were in more, and thicker ones. Thermals are worth considering, a a woolly hat, scarf, gloves – all that sort of thing. It had warmed up by the time we arrived at Aguas Termales de Polques for a bath. Just as well; another case of stripping off – but this time the water is warm, and it just about the hottest part of the day – not exactly scorching up on the altiplano, but warm enough to minimize discomfort. Don’t forget your sunscreen though, the sun burns quite fast at these elevations. The pools cost 6b and are totally worth it. You’ll spend a big portion of this trip wearing all the clothes you brought with you, it’s nice to be out of them.
Nice to be out of your clothes once again
Higher and higher you climb, up to the Geiser Sol de la Manana at almost 4900m. Breathing’s a bit harder up here for the uninitiated, and the sulphur fumes don’t help. It’s probably a bit more atmospheric that the Geysers del Tatio, and the fumes climb high into the dry air, or blow far in the wind.
Fumaroles blow across the “road”
We’re not exactly working hard here riding around in a land cruiser looking at Geysers and different coloured lakes – but we’re pretty happy when we stop for lunch. This is at the hostel we’ll be staying the night at – a basic affair, still high up on the altiplano. Lunch was on the light side but that’s probably a good thing up high. Electricity comes from a generator so the lights go out around 9-9:30PM, there’s no WiFi (or device charging), and no hot showers – be warned. It’s pretty cold, so there’s about 6 blankets on each bed (most people were still cold though, bring your pyjamas and more). We stayed in a 6 bed dorm, but it was more like a big family room – with beds (not bunks), and the kind of trust engendered by remote location. There’s actually shops in the cluster of buildings where you can buy stuff like biscuits, alcohol and hats and scarves.
After lunch we drove across a rather featureless desert to Laguna Colorado. There’s a stuff wind blowing here (much worse along the ridge), but you get the change to see a vast number of flamingoes. Whatever flamingo picture you’ve been wanting to take (flying, dancing, landing, walking) – you’ll be able to take it here, you get an almost infinite number of tries – just make sure you’ve got enough space on your memory card!
Day one is done after Laguna Colorado – back to the hostel for tea and biscuits, then dinner and a chilly nights sleep!
Took a few attempts but I got the picture I was after
ducksoftheworld 