17th Feb - 19th Feb

We had booked a 2 night 3 day trip to the Salar de Uyuni. We were in a group of 5 with 2 german guys and an American guy (who was fluent in Spanish so could translate for us BONUS!!) as they were all over 6ft we gave them the front seats so we were cramped in the back of the jeep - at times we regretted being so nice haha!!!

Day 1: Our first stop was the "train graveyard". Many years ago Uyuni was covered in precious minerals so to easily transport the minerals away they built the best railway network in Bolivia, but after all the minerals were mined there was no need for the trains anymore so they were left at Uyuni and have now turned into a tourist attraction. On our way to the salt flats we stopped in the middle of nowhere as we had a flat tyre haha!!! Good start! Whilst our guide/mechanic/cook/photographer Elias fixed the tyre we went and annoyed some llamas :)

WOW the salt flats were amazing!!! So beautiful! We were near the end of the rainy season so there were dry patches but also wet patches. Our guide had brought along many props, including a car, hulk, dinosaur etc. so we spent a long time trying out many different optical illusion photos - some better than others haha!! (Look at the one on Facebook of me trying to push the toy car! Epic fail). We had lunch on the salt flats - llama!!! Mmmm was so good, tasted like a mixture of beef & pork. What a beautiful setting for lunch. After lunch we took more photos and headed to our hostel for the night... Made out of salt! Salt walls, salt tables, salt chairs, salt beds... Salt toilets (haha i'm joking!!!) the rooms were so warm when it was freezing outside!! We headed back out onto the flats for sunset. Wow!!! The most beautiful thing I have seen - so many different colours everywhere you looked. Our guide took us to a location that had a thin layer of water which was amazing as the fading light reflected off the surface. IT WAS FREEEEZING!! I thought I was going to get a) blown away or b) frozen solid! Poor clothing worn (shorts and one fleece haha) after the sun had set we headed back to the salt hotel for dinner and played cards. An American lady staying at the same place as us didn't wear sunglasses during the day and her retinas were burnt from the reflection of the sun - my super bad sunburn on the backs of my legs didn't seem too bad after that!!!

Salar de Uyuni: 3600m above sea level, it's 17000km2 in size and it use to be part of the Pacific Ocean before continental drift - the water dried out and left the salt behind, therefore forming Salar de Uyuni. The salt ranges from 3-50 metres deep in places.

Day 2:

We departed at 7am and had a long journey to our first stop a little mining village - we peaked through some bars and watched the children in their school assembles - lots of singing! Our second stop was at a collection of lava rock formations which we could climb and overlooked a snow capped mountain. At the second lagoon we visited we had lunch (chicken & rice) surrounded by snow capped mountains - beautiful!! At a third lagoon we saw loads of Flamingos and rested here for a while. On our way to the red lagoon we visited the rock tree, a rock in the middle of nowhere that looks like a tree!! (I have no idea where it's name came from...ha). The red lagoon looks red due to the micro organisms in the water, there were over 1000 flamingoes in the lake. We then headed to our hostel and had a traditional Bolivian dinner; potatoes, sausage, beef, onion and many other ingredients!

Day 3: We left at 4am - was still pitch black. Our first stop were Geisers (4800m), there are 72 geisers in total, we stood very close to them, inside was 700oC - a man fell in one and died in 12 seconds!! We saw the sun rise (like the lion king) and headed to the hot springs (4500m) where the water is constantly 35oC. It was freezing so we stripped to our bikinis and ran to the springs. Put one toe in OW was SO hot!! It went one toe, out, one foot, out, one leg, out, the other toe/foot/leg out and then we manned up and got in - was so painful on my burnt legs but was so nice!! After an hour or so and with the sun fully risen we had a very awkward drying/dressing moment by the jeep and headed to the green lagoon (4400m). The wind changes the colour of the water due to minerals underneath - copper & zinc. Behind the lagoon there was a 5970m volcano. We dropped the guys off at the Chilean border and began the 8 hour journey back to Uyuni which was followed by a 13 hour bus journey to La Paz - the guy behind me didn't stop kicking my chair gah!!!