Given that I have uploaded 75 pictures of the Salar de Uyuni I think you can assume I was pretty imprresed by it. In two words - only two I hear you cry - bloody marvelous! I loved it! Ok, thats 3 extra words but it has to be seen to be believed.

Thanks to Bernd once I arrived in Uyuni I didn't have to spend ages going to all the tour agencies to find the best deal. He had done all the leg work (love that German efficiency!) so I just turned up at the office and left the next day. The next problem was what to do in Uyuni. It wasn't exactly a happening place. Walked out to the´Cementerio de Trenes'. I still haven't managed to find a satisfactory explanation as to why all these old trains have been dumped there but it was fun climbing over them and reading all the graffiti. I particularly liked, "G W Busch. Como este train terminadas. f*** you".

The walk down the track to the 'Cementario' was hardly a stroll in the countryside given you had to walk through rubbish people had dumped let alone the piles of s*** everywhere. Deep joy! Had lunch but wasn't able to hold it down so spent the afternoon in close proximity to el baño chatting to the girl who ran the hostal who was lovely.

The next day we left Uyuni for the 'tour'. As soon as you saw it there was a collective 'wow' from everyone in the truck. It was an amazing sight. It was though incredibly bright and my cheapo Ecuadorian sunglasses (4th pair I might add) were bloody useless. Cathryn had seen these photos in a bar were you use the salt and the horizon to creat a mirage and we proceeded to spend hours lying on the salt taking very silly pictures. It was a lot of fun but I guess you had to be there!

The next day we had a really early start in the morning but by the time Domingo had repaired our truck at least 20 times during the course of the day we needed it. The second day was a series of beautiful lagoons (6 in total), with huge flocks of flamingoes, vicuñas, mountains, volcanoes, desert, rock formations, etc. Bloody marvelous!

That night we stayed in a dorm room with at least 5 other groups that were doing the same trip. There was a collective sigh when we got better acquainted with the other groups. It was really interesting watching the other group dynamics particularly after dinner once they started drinking and playing cards. Our 4 bottles of vino tinto and a few rounds of s***-head were tame in comparison. We made a rapid retreat soon after dinner particularly as we were playing cards wearing our hats, gloves, scarfs, etc. It was freezing.

On the last day we got up before sunrise to go and see the geysers. It was impressive stuff but it was so cold that it was difficult to really appreciate them when you are standing next to a truck with its engine running and you know it is going to be really warm inside. Yet another lagoon then we dropped Cathryn, Vinny, Jiska and Riem off at the Chilean border and made the long trip back to Uyuni.