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Kyles worldwide travels
Hello all,
Uyni was the beginning of an amazing trip. The town is pretty much just a starting point for the Salt Flats. There isn't a great deal there but you have to say over night there before you can head out to the Flats...so that is exactly what we did.
We had to take two 4X4 trucks to fit us all in. Our first day was expected to be a long drive..it was about 1 hour to the start of the flats and then another 1.5 hours to the first Salt hotel and then another 3 hours to our hotel.
The first hour wasn't to bad, we visited a train grave yard...i know that sounds exciting doesn't it...hehehe. We did take a few cool pics on a train that Butch Cassedy had robbed...wow that's even more exciting it's it...i bet you are all wishing you were with me on that one...i'm snoring just re telling the story!!!
We then went to a salt factory, which is run by a family...when i say RUN by the family i mean the entire family including the five year old and the three year old girls. The salt is brought in from the flats and is put on hot plates to dry and then bagged and sealed with a hot flame...the small children seal the bags...and have absolutely no fear of the heat...their poor little fingers must get burnt about 100 times a day. The factory makes about 300 bags a day and only gets about 30 soles which is about AUD5.00...not much compensation for having no finger prints left at the age of 6!!!!!
The flats were covered in about 20 cm of water, at first we were so disappointed but then realised that it was the best. The reflection of the sky and clouds on the water was amazing...some times you couldn't work out where the water stopped and the sky started, there wasn't a horizon...you have to see it to know how amazing it was.
We spent heaps of time taking awesome pics and had heaps of fun making some really silly ones, which you will be able to see on this site...(hopefully soon!!).
The first hotel on the flats is entirely made out of salt...the chairs, tables and walls...it was great. It was a little cold but still really cool to see.
We had to drive to our hotel, it took about 3 hours and the water got a little high for my liking. At one stage our car in front had gotten to dry land and was trying to direct us out of the high water...everyone was out of the car, that made about 8 people and they were all waving of us to go right but for some reason our driver kept going left and we ended up taking out a big metal post in the middle of the flats...there was not a thing around it but we managed to hit it...go figure!!!! We all survived and got to the hotel in one piece.
We visited a few local caves and met the cutest little girl Sophia, she was really friendly. We took pics of her and her cousins and they were all laughing at themselves on camera...i don't think they had seen it before....very cute.
The altitude was still rather bad and it made it hard to breath...so we decided to challenge a group of local kids to a soccer game...what on earth were we thinking...they kicked our ass!!!!
After all that activity i needed a good sleep...on our salt beds..yes all made of salt, except the mattress of course.
We had a tour guide with us all the way and he brought his wife to do all the cooking for us....the only thing i was worried about was that all the food had come with us from Uyni, so that meant that the food we would be eating on the second day would be in the car with us from the very beginning!!! I had good reason to worry...i spent the next two days with it coming out of both ends...on the trip back over the flats to Uyni i could have killed someone for a loo. We did find a toilet at the only other hotel on the flats but not only was it not working when we got there and i had to wait 5 mins for them to empty it, i had to pay for the privilege for using a disgusting bathroom...dont worry my thighs are getting the biggest work out squatting...hehehe
I managed to make it back to the hotel without to much trouble but then i started all over again...the worst part was that i had to catch an overnight train to Ouro...i wasn't in a good shape.
After six hours of either being sick or the other end i started crying and wanted to go home...Anne (the mum in the group) was so helpful, she kept telling me i'd be ok, i told her i just wanted to go home and my dad make me a cup of tea and make it all better...i was the biggest baby but i don't care, i'm a daddy's girl and that it!!!!! I managed to sleep the train trip away and felt heaps better when i work up....
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