Sunday, 13th June

A very early cold start to the day. 10 of us were taken by minibus across the border and an hour on to the Bolivian entry border, our most remote crossing so far. We were divided into 2 groups Tom and I jumped at the chance to be with Frenchies, Claire, Louis and Samuel. Our first stop was the National Park and the Laguna Blanca and Verde both of which were stunning, Blanca mostly salt and Verde more green from copper so no wildlife on this one. A random stop off at the Dali rock desert, odd rock formations thrown up from the volcanos. 2 more lagoons before the Polques hot springs, well worth getting a bit chilly for, the water was the perfect bath temperatureand the view over the salty, frozen lagoon was amazing. Morning Sun Geyser Basin (Geyser Sol De Manana)-bubbling mud, then onto our wonderful 'refuge', and it was just that. Had a good chat with everyone else in the other group, there are some real characters, one in particular is a German lady (Katrin) who busks with a puppet show, she's been sleeping on the streets or in a tent when she can, just travelling in such a different way to us. We all slept in our clothes ,hats, gloves and jackets and didn't sleep very well.

Monday, 14th June

Up and out by 8 although most of us had been awake for a while. We headed over to Laguna Colorada where we got our first glimpse of flamingoes, pink and grey and got up close to some Pukenyas, the lagoon changes colour throughout the day from and orangeyred to yellow. As we were driving away we saw some flamingoes closer to shore so stopped to take some photos and got some great ones of them flying off. Next stop Arbol de Piedra (tree rock), pretty self explanatory. Honda, Chearcota, Hedionda and Canapa lagoons were next, quick stop for lunch at Canapa then on to Ollague Volcano, the only semi active one in the area. We drove over the Chiguana salt flat which wasn't particularly amazing but did some proper off roading on the way to our salty hostal. Hot shower, lots of wine, star gazing lesson from Paulo then earlyish night, early sunrise start tomorrow.

Tuesday, 15th June

After a lot of drama last night over whether or not we could leave early for sunrise at the salt flatswe left at 5am. It was so cold but when we arrived at the Uyuni salar it was well worth it. We gotsome funny perspective shots, the colours of the sunrise were a lot more intense than we'd thought they'd be and really enjoyed being up early and cold to experience it. On to the Fishermans Island (Isla de los Pescadores), in the middle of the salt flat , so called as the salt flat used to be ocean and the mound of land an island. Now covered in cacti, we climbed to the top for views for miles around. A surreal experience was to follow when Katrin set up her puppet theatre on the salt and did a show for everyone. Salt museum and mines next then onto the train cemetary which was pretty eirie but interesting too, 30 years ago they used to build trains in Uyuni and whats left has been left to ruin. On to Uyuni town , dinner and drinks with the Frenchies , Phillip and Paulo then we all went our seperate ways, neither of us feeling well at all so early night.