We were given an extra twenty minutes sleep to what we were expecting, although still woken up in the dark of night at 4:50. Frantically packing everything away as quickly as possible due to the unbearable temperature we put our sleeping bags in the jeep for an extra layer of insulation.
Abigail woke up feeling worse than yesterday and choose to clamber into her sleeping bag and watch the sights from the jeep. It was made worse as we continued to climb to 4900 metres above sea level which is higher than the tallest mountain in Europe (mont Blanc) we were told. After triple checking she was alright and with her permission I went galavanting around the stops with Arwen (the French guy).
Still being pitch black at our first stop we arrived at the gazers which had steam shooting out of the ground because of the high pressure from the volcanos. With no sunlight to offer warmth, we were trying to be as quick as possible until we posed for pictures putting our hands in the steam and discovering how hot it was. Our hands were instantly revitalised, but immediately returned to a frozen state once taken out. Adventuring into some of the bigger gazers, you would become completely engulfed in the steam but the stench of sulphur coming from them encouraged us to return to the jeep.
The next stop was one that had created the most excitement throughout the tour, but also an element of dread. The natural hot springs were not acidic like the lagoons and we were told that we could swim in them if we wanted. Without a moments hesitation both myself and Arwen headed for the springs, while Ab who was tempted to join us, choose to stay in the van and warmth of her sleeping bag. The springs were delightful and the combination of the steam generated from the heat along with the lack of sunlight it made it difficult to see to the other side of the small spring. The warmth that had enticed us into the pool didn't disappoint and after lounging for thirty minutes we remembered the reason the others had elected not joined us. The brisk temperature that awaited us as we got out wasn't the best part of travelling so quickly drying off and putting our clothes back on we returned to the security and warmth of the van.
The final activity of the tour was to stop at the green lagoon. It was pretty and again surrounded by mountains but didn't stand out overly in comparison to the others so quickly went back to comfort Abigail who was drifting in and out of sleep.
We went to the Chilean border to drop the family of three off, who have invited us to go to Switzerland to stay with them and having snowboarding lessons. A few group photos later, we set off to Uyuni on exactly the same route home, so sleeping bags in place we tried to sleep the whole journey back.
We made it a couple of hours before pulling up alongside a group of jeeps. Some minutes later we were informed of the bad news. One jeep had broken down and that meant us moving from our luxurious jeep with loads of space into another jeep making it completely full and still had hours left to go.
The others in the jeep we had joined seemed quite friendly as we had lunch as a group. Abigail was livid as she had specifically asked for no fish and for lunch we had tuna. She had to make do with rice, vegetables and a well needed apple. We all slept on the way back to Uyuni making a couple of quick stops before returning from the marathon of a journey.
Another quick stop for dinner and we were back on the road again, this time for La Paz on a night bus. The roads in Bolivia are awful, while sat in our seats, we are literally taking off as the drivers are apparently unaware of how to use brakes. Abigail has even winded herself as she was thrown into the air and landed on the arm rest. We had heard numerous people were killed by buses in Bolivia but we always thought it was pedestrians not passengers.