Uyuni

We arrived in Uyuni Fortunately with our luggage and selves intact.  After shopping around for a good company the 5 of us booked a 3 day salt flat tour with Red Planet which I would highly recommend for the English speaking guide, food and non-drunk driver!  That night we had to check out Minuteman Pizza which featured in the lonely planet as an "our pick" so you know it must be good...and good it was, even if we did order enough pizza to feed an army! With full tummies we waddled down the street to the "Extremely Fun Pub" which may well have been extremely fun if we hadn't been there on a "Dry Monday" which meant no drinking in Uyuni anywhere that night - typical!

The next day refreshed after our "dry" nights sleep we set off in our jeep with tour guide Oscar.  The first stop was a train cemetery which despite sounding pretty dull was quite cool and a good opportunity for some novelty pictures aboard old rusting trains.  The cause of death of these trains was Bolivia's defeat to Chile in the Pacific War. We then stopped for lunch where we got to try Llama steak - ironically picnic style in a field amongst the living variety! Apart from being a bit tough the meat was tasty if a bit salty due to the llamas grazing by the salt flats. We also had quinoa - a grain commonly grown and eaten in Bolivia - much more expensive back home.

Next stop was Incahuasi Island, full of cacti, which we walked up and around which was a bit tough in flip flops but amazing to see so many cacti with the tallest over 9 meters!  The views were also spectacular of the salt flats which looked like sheets of perfect white snow.

After the island, the mission for good perspective shots of us on the salt flats was on.  We started off with our guide taking some pictures of all of us being chased by toy dinosaurs and jumping out of a pringles can amongst others before taking on the task ourselves with some interesting results! We ended the day with a short jeep ride to another part of the salt flats to watch the sunset.  That night we stayed at the "Salt Hotel" which as it sounds is a hotel made of salt, including the walls, beds, tables and even the floor was a carpet of salt!

The next day the jeep drove us into the national park where we encountered many flamingoes bathing themselves in the mineral rich lagoons.  We also climbed up to a view point of a semi active volcano which we could see smoking in the distance.  The jeep also took us to see the "famous" tree rock which is literally a rock in the shape of a tree - not the most exciting site we've seen so far but the spectacular desert landscape sure made up for it.  We had our last dinner that night with everyone on the tour and played cards before getting an early night in anticipation of our 4am start the next day.

The following morning was absolutely freezing and dark when we left and our visit to some geezers was a short one as none of us could bear to be away from the warmth of the jeep.  The geezers were pretty cool though - giant spurts of hot steam rising from the volcanic land.  The jeep then dropped us at a hot spring which was like a naturally occurring hot tub and at around 40 degrees was very appealing.  The strip down to bikini in the freezing cold however was not and  was a quick affair!  The water was so hot compared to the air outside, it really stung your skin as you got in but after some time was heavenly!  After we'd bathed ourselves until covered in wrinkles, the change back into clothes was equally as quick before welcoming a pancake breakfast.

We had a long drive back to Ayuni which we broke up with stops at a couple of lagoons, one of which we had a big group picture before some people on the tour left to cross the border into Chile.  We stopped for lunch in a little place called of which I forget the name but was like a green oasis in the surrounding desert scape.

Once back in Uyuni we said our good byes to our guide and driver, grabbed a bite to eat and were soon on our way to Potosi by yet another bus!