HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOUISE!! xxx

Another 6.30am start, breakfast and set off at 8.. but the sun was shining! Yay!

We drove to a little town called San Cristobal to have a little wonder and stop at the shop!

We then drove quite a while to a train cemetery.

An antique train cemetery. It is 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) outside Uyuni and is connected to it by the old train tracks. The town served in the past as a distribution hub for the trains carrying minerals enroute to Pacific Ocean ports. The rail lines were built by British engineers arriving near the end of the 19th century and formed a sizeable community in Uyuni. The engineers were invited by British-sponsored Antofagasta and Bolivia Railway Companies, which is now Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia. The rail construction started in 1888 and ended in 1892. It was encouraged by Bolivian President Aniceto Arce, who believed Bolivia would flourish with a good transport system, but it was also constantly sabotaged by the local Aymara indigenous Indians who saw it as an intrusion into their lives. The trains were mostly used by the mining companies. In the 1940s, the mining industry collapsed, partly because of mineral depletion. Many trains were abandoned, producing the train cemetery. There are proposals to build a museum from the cemetery.

We then drove to Uyuni to sign some paperwork before heading into the Salar! En route we stopped in a little town called Colcharui where we had lunch and bought some souviners.

Next and final stop salt flats!..

Salar de Uyuni (or Salar de Tunupa) is the world's largest salt flat at 10,582 square kilometers (4,086 sq mi). It is located in the Potosi in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes, and is elevated 3,656 meters (11,995 ft) above the mean sea level. The Salar was formed as a result of transformations between several prehistoric lakes. It is covered by a few meters of salt crust, which has an extraordinary flatness with the average altitude variations within one meter over the entire area of the Salar. The crust serves as a source of salt and covers a pool of brine, which is exceptionally rich in lithium. It contains 50 to 70% of the world's lithium reserves, which is in the process of being extracted. The large area, clear skies and exceptional surface flatness make the Salar an ideal object for calibrating the altimeters of the Earth observation satellites.The Salar serves as the major transport route across the Bolivian Altiplanoand is a major breeding ground for several species of pink flamingos.

We drove until it was dry and stopped to take photos - the whole Salar was flooded! (Our driver said they had not had that much rain fall since 2000) We were gutted as we thought that was all we were going to see - but then our driver said we were going to drive through the water! I cannot describe the view - it was simply amazing. We were all in oar - Kings of Leon was playing in the car stereo (Joe´s ipod) and we just sat taking in the view as we drove through all the water.

We drove for a while then we arrived at the salt hotel (We didn´t actually go in but everything is made of salt except the toilets!) Trousers rolled up and shoes and socks off we went out onto the Salar to take pictures (I will upload v soon!) We spent ages taking silly pictures! The reflection of the clouds on the water was beautiful - we couldn´t tell where the salt flats ended and the sky began!

It was amazing to see it flooded but I imagine a totally different experience to when its dry!

We drove back to Uyuni, said goodbye to our driver - and some of the group as they were heading back to San Pedro. We headed to our hostel and had nice warm showers! (12 of the 16 from the group remained in Uyuni - Us 5, 3 Austrian Lads - Robert, Raol and Floren, Thomas from France and his girlf Yumi from USA, a lad Arno from Holland and Yvonne who was in our 4x4)

We all headed off to book our bus to Potosi (6hrs away) It was a strange little bus office (not a bus station!) We expected the bus to interesting the next day! We think there was some kind of carnaval in Uyuni when we were there as all the kids had water pistols and water bombs and loved to soak us!

We then all headed for few drinks and then to a restaurant called Minuteman (supposed to be best pizza in South America) owned by an american guy - the pizzas were amazing!