I slept like a log last night!! The salt hotel I stayed in was amazing. I loved that a lot of the furniture was also made out of salt, include my breakfast table and the stool I sat on. It was so quiet and tranquil there!! It's exactly what I needed!!!
Soon after breakfast, it was time to go. I checked out of the hotel, and after I packed my bag into the 4WD, I stood in the car park and just took in the amazing views of the town, the volcano and the salt plains. I couldn't think of a better view to look at first thing in the morning!!
Paulo and I walked down to Tahua town centre. Here we looked at and walked around the town church, which was really cute. Soon after Simon drove up to the church to pick us up. It was then on to the salt plains.
We were taking a different direction today, whilst we were heading back to Uyuni, the town in which I started, we had a couple of different sites to see before I was dropped back there.
On the salt plains, there are a number of different 'islands'. These are the remnants of mountain tops that towered over this region thousands of years ago, before the tectonic plate shift created what is now the salt plains and lakes.
The islands, are made up of coral and volcanic rock, and is an extremely dry and barren land mass. Not much survives on these islands, either plant or animal life. But either way, it was still amazing to see these large rock formations in the middle of the salt plains.
As we continued to drive, we edged closer and closer, until we reached our first island, the Isla del Pescado. This is the largest of the islands, however there are no inhabitants here. Simon drove us up onto the island, and let Paulo and I out. We circumnavigated the foothills of the island, looking at all of the cacti and rock formations before us. Paulo was madly looking for an Andean rabbit to show me, however I was more impressed with the spectacular view of the cacti and the rocks, all set against the perfect white backdrop of the salt plains.
We then drove to the second island, Incahuasi. This was a smaller island, however was inhabitated. As we pulled up to the island, we could see the coral rock buildings that had been built to help with the ever increasing tourism trade on the salt flats. To the side of the island, on the salt flat we could see them setting up chairs, with covers. Paulo said that he thought that it was a performance, however I said that I thought that it looked more like a wedding. He laughed it off!!
Paulo and I started to hike up to the top of the island. After yesterday's hike, I wanted to take it slow. So I slowly climbed the stairs, one by one, very slowly. I remembered to take deep breathes, and actually found the climb a lot easier today. It helped that it wasn't as long or as high, however I was super stoked that I got to the top and felt pretty good.
The views from the top were awesome. I had a 360 degree view of the salt plains and the surrounding Andes mountain ranges. The cacti on this island were huge, and they looked amazing, especially when they were set against the bright blue sky and the white of the salt.
Apart from Paulo and I, there was only one other person up the top, a Japanese tourist. The only words that came out of his mouth were 'holy s***'. Kinda sums up how good this place was.
As the Japanese tourist headed back down the hill, Paulo and I made a side detour. We headed down a separate path, that took us through this amazing cave system. Every now and again, we would come to an opening, that would provide the most perfect natural frame for photos (as per the cover photo).
We then made our way on to the path that led us back down the hill. Just in time, as a tourist bus had arrived.... and they all began to ascend the hill.
It was time for lunch, and today we were having llama steaks. They were actually really nice, and it tasted like a cross between beef and lamb. We happily ate our lunch out in the beautiful sun. Our view...... Was the wedding that was taking place. Yep, I guessed right!! We watched from a distance, as the bride accompanied by her father nervously made her way, on a very long walk down to the salt plain and her waiting groom.
As the happy couple were officially united as husband and wife, we finished our lunch. We walked back towards the car, and Paulo asked if I wanted to go up and have a closer look at the wedding. I said that I was right, however if he wanted to go, by all means he should go. So Paulo decided that he would have a closer look, whilst I was more than happy to keep basking in the warm sun. I actually think that he thought that he might get an invite to the reception!!
I watched as the members of the tourist bus all filed back on to their awaiting bus.
Just as Paulo arrived back, I stood up to start heading back to the car, and as I looked up, I saw one of the tourists collapse to the ground. Holy crap.
I ran over to see if she was ok, and she wasn't. She was having a whole lot of trouble breathing. I started to ask some questions, which someone was madly translating from English to Dutch, and then Dutch back to English. She was hyperventilating, and really struggling to catch her breath. I finally got a little history, as she was recently seen in a clinic a couple of days ago with bad altitude sickness. Well we have our culprit. As I helped her to try and regulate her breathing, Simon grabbed the oxygen from the back of his car. We put it on, and along with getting her to do some yoga breathing we manage to settle her breathing down. I knew that she couldn't have the oxygen on for too long, so we managed to reduce the oxygen flow and eventually turn it off. The girl started to manage fine, and we started the long process of sitting her up, and then very very slowly transferring her on to her bus. She has already been taking drugs to help with the altitude sickness, however obviously they aren't working. Unfortunately there is nothing else we could do, she just needs to get herself to a lower altitude. With a lot of thank you's, Simon and I made our way back to the car. We actually made a good team!!! In a couple of weeks I will be back at work, so I guess this was a good test to see if I had lost any of my skills!!
We took off again, along the endless white horizon. As we drove, we noticed a hell of a lot of 4WD's heading in the opposite direction. I was so glad that I had my first day out on the salt plains yesterday. We hardly saw any other cars yesterday, it was as if we had the salt plains to ourselves. It would have been a different story today. We must have seen a convoy of at least 20 4WD's heading in the opposite direction. As the afternoon went on, the cloud cover descended on the salt plains. The wind really picked up as well, creating a salt storm. It was hazy, and it just made me realise that I had the best weather yesterday as well!!
We made our way to the next stop, which was the first salt hotel in the world. It is no longer used as a hotel, and has been turned into a museum that houses a number of sculptures carved out of salt blocks. After we walked around for a while, we made our way back to the car. We were off again, this time to my final destination, Uyuni.
We drove back in to town, and I was soon dropped off at my hotel. I walked around for awhile, and then headed back to my room.
What a good night to watch movies. I found an English movie channel, which is harder than what you might think!! Catching up on some classics, like Crocodile Dun Dee, and the Goonies!! Hahahahaha funny movies!!