Hello from Bolivia.....

From San Pedro we went on a tour for 3 days. On the first day we crossed in to Bolivia, leaving Chile at one border we then drove an hour to reach the Bolivian border- no man's land in the middle then! The three days were incredible although quite tough in places as well. We had been treated on the tour so far to nice hotel rooms and during our salt flat tour it was back to basics!

At the Bolivian border we met our crew- 4x4s and drivers and the amazing chef. We pilled our stuff on board and split in to four trucks and we were off. It was a bumpy and hot ride but the scenery was just incredible. The first day we stopped at hot springs and had a dip and some lunch. In the afternoon we visted lakes and some famous sites and had an interesting experience.... Just as we though we were nearing our lodging for the night the truck got stuck in the sand. We got out and helped the chef lady to push while the driver tried to get us out. Nothing was happening so we had to collect rocks to put under the wheels to try and give it some umphh. This went on for a long time and it was really windy so we were battered by sand and very very dusty! We were starting to panic as the other trucks had disappeared and we thought we were all alone. But then some men appeared on the horizon carrying shovels! We were slightly worried as to who they were but turned out to be other truck drivers coming to our rescue. With the extra pairs of hands and aid of a shovel we were free in a few attempts!

It was an interesting night's stay as there was no running water so we remained pretty dusty! Everyone was beginning to feel the altitude as well and we all felt pretty rough. At this point we were at 4700 metres. Becky was feeling really rough and huddled up under many layers in bed, not making it to dinner. It was a chilly night even having about 4 blankets didn't work.

The altitude, dust and interesting bathroom locations were all worth it for the places we saw: Lakes..Laguna Blanca, Laguna Verde, Laguna Colorado, Geysers, Bolivias only active volcano and thousands of Flamingos! On the second day the desert turned in to salt flats... it was very surreal nothing for miles except salt, salt and more salt. We stopped at a hotel made of salt and got the chance to take some funny perspective pictures.
We also stopped at Cactus Island which is unsurprisingly an island covered in cacti. We climbed to the top and had a group photo...there were some amusing pics taken too! All you could see for miles was salt. An amzing few days overall and one of the highlights of the trip for me. The photos don't do it justice.

At the end of the tour was Uyuni a strange town in which I didn't feel greatly safe. We saw an old train cemetary which was creepy and cool and we also had some great pizza and some beers at Tonito Hotel. The beers did not have a great effect- must learn not to drink at altitude!

From Uyuni we headed to Potosi.....

xxxxxx