Uyuni reminded us of Alice Springs in Australia. A lazy small town with nothing going on. We arrived at 6am after a very bumpy ride and had a rest in the hostel before booking ourselves on a three day tour of the Salt Flats and surrounding area. The next morning we met the five others on our tour and began our journey to the salt flats and beyond! Our first stop was at the old trains which were used to transport precious metals from Bolivia to Chile. The trains were owned by British companies and they had an agreement with the Bolivians to keep transporting these goods until the trains no longer worked. As this long lasting agreement wasn't in the Bolivians favour, they never repaired any faults on the trains and aided in the malfunctions to end the contract as soon as possible. The trains are now completely rusty and are surrounded by piles of rubbish for as far as the eye can see. Bizarre tourist attraction. Driving further out of Uyuni we arrived at a salt processing factory. A worker showed us the small rooms used to heat the damp salt. Once dry the salt is refined before being packaged. Despite the large amounts of salt in the country, they are unable to export it as neighbouring countries have land thats in the same condition. The young girl who was sealing bags using a flame upon a metal rod was so young and must have been so bored doing such a monotamous job. Mounds of salt were built up on the salt flats to help dry it out. This made the load lighter to carry back to the factory. As we stood on the salt flat we could see how it extened to the horizon! It was so bright as the sun reflected off the white floor. We played on these mounds for a while, taking photos before piling back into the car. Lunch was eaten at the salt hotel. Everything in the hotel was made from salt; tables, chairs, statues, clocks and bed bases. We sat outside on salt benches and tables and enjoyed lunch in the sun. After lunch we went to an island of rock and cactus in the middle of the salt flats. The salt flats are the remains of what used to be a sea, and the island we were walking on was full of dead coral. We made our way to the top of the island taking in the views as we went. Afterwards we had time to mess about on the salt flats taking photos. It was quite funny walking about and seeing patches of yellow salt! As it was so bright, we all struggled to see the camera screen and make certain shots line up properly. Additionally, the afternnon sun cast shadows ruining the illusion in some pictures. Luckily some of our photos turned out quite well! We spent our first night in a salt hostel, similar to the one we had visited in the day. Beers were sold in the local shop so we all bought a few. Shops in Bolivia are nothing like shops back home. This one was lit by a single candle and a torch was shone on the prices. The floor was covered in pig poo, and the piglet was roaming freely around the shop floor. Its awesome! Our second day began early and we passed dessert land as we drove to the active volcano. The land was covered in red hardened lava. You could see how it had dripped and bubbled asit glided over rocks! It was pretty awesome to be standing in the sea of hardened lava with the volcano in the distance. We could see smoke blowing from a hole on the side of the volcano! The rest of the day was spent looking at different coloured lakes. As exciting as that sounds, it wasn't. The first one or two were ok as we saw flamingos in the wild, but once you've seen two hundred flamingos, you've seen them all! We also stopped at random rock formations and other pecular attractions. The hostel on our second night was a little chilly. I felt fine in what I had on but Simon kept instructing me to wear more as my mother had told him to look after me! I almost felt like my mum was on the tour with me!! We were again at alititude so the temperature dropped. We ate, chatted and then made our way to bed, wrapped up in several blankets! The final day of our tour was pretty dull. We woke up, packed and drove to the geysers. It was so cold and smelly outside of the car! We stopped for a few minutes for photos then ventured on to the hot springs. None of our group decided to go in. It was so cold ice had formed on the floor beside the hot pools! I was still trying to get rid of a cold so didn't fancy stripping off at seven in the morning, and the thought of getting out of the hot spring into the cold air with no-where to properly warm up was horrific!! Instead we sat inside a shelter with hot drinks and pancakes. We then drove past another lake or two before dropping one of our group at the Chilean border. The border control was basically a large shed beside two barriers! After that we drove for miles and miles until lunch, then drove some more until we reached Uyuni again. Out the window we passed mountains, saw twisters form and carry sand a few feet and spotted llama just standing in the middle of the road as we drove through small towns. It was a very very long day!!