Today started off with Abigail still not feeling 100% which was made worse as she trapped on the bus until gone 8.
When finally in Uyuni we were greeted by a woman who took us straight to her office and checked us in to our tour. After having breakfast and a trip to the pharmacy for some more tablets we ended up buying a hat and some gloves where we had underestimated just how cold the salt lakes would be.
At 10:30 our six passenger jeep arrived and with a French traveller we jumped on. He has told us how Copacabana is a lot of fun so now looking forward to this tour and lake titicarta. A family of three then joined us as we set off on our three day tour.
The first port of call was the train cemetery, and although full of travellers, it had an eerie feel to it, but perfect for pictures. After clambering high and low over the deserted trains and even a quick go on the swing made from the surrounding materials such as chain, we moved on.
Stopping at a small town with the opportunity to buy things for the locals, we have realised that every stall sells exactly the same products and are wondering how they are making money. On the up side Abigail started feeling slightly better as we reached the next part of the tour. This time to look at the salt mounds which were created to pick up greater amounts of salt at a time. The method made sense but it has left the site looking like it had been invaded by moles.
We then turned into generic tourists at our next stop where we were in the middle of salt lakes. This allowed us to stage some fun photo's standing on each others hands and lots more. We also had lunch there and visited the first salt hotel which was built 20 years ago (and it looked like it to).
The fish island was the next scheduled stop which turns out to be an island full of cactus in the middle of the salt planes and no fish. With high altitudes it was a slight struggle but when we reached the top the view of being stranded in the middle of the salt lake surrounded by snow tipped mountains quickly eradicated any struggles we had.
On the way to our accommodation we got a flat tyre, which didn't seem uncommon by the amounted jeeps that had stopped along the way. Our guide seemed to have changed it in the blink of eye but gave us the chance for a final few photos.
Now it is absolutely frozen!! At our accommodation, the hotel made of salt, salt and some more salt. From the bricks to the beds everything with completely made from salt. Sharing a room with the French guy who is hilarious we have just laughed the whole way through our first day.
With a mass gave of cards where all of us played seemed to make time fly by before dinner. Abigail decided to pay for one of their warm showers which turned out tepid at best. It is safe to say she wasn't overly impressed!
We have elected to grab an early night with another early start and busy day tomorrow, so with 2 jumpers, a sleeping bag and sleeping bag liner and 2 blankets each, hopefully we will not catch pneumonia overnight.