After arriving in Uyuni at 5.15am, we were shepherded along to an easy going cafe by a tiny Bolivian lady for breakfast before wandering around Uyuni itself to kill time as our tour check in was at 9.30am. Uyuni was an interesting town, undergoing the change from farming community to tourist-driven economy. All around the town houses were being built, along with western stye restaurants and hotels. In stark contrast to this, piles of rubbish lay on the streets and packs of stray dogs roamed around the town.

After what felt a very long while, we piled into a 4-wheel drive along with Peter and Sabrina, a medical engineer and physiotherapist from Holland; Jason and Karen, an American engineer and Peruvian naturopath/translator that met during a volunteering project in the Andes; our driver whose name I can't recall & Gonzalez, a larger than life tour guide who, fortunately, spoke fluent English!

Our first stop on the tour was the Cementario de Trens, a graveyard of old steam train husks, rusting and falling apart. They also made good climbing frames! That said, it was quite a sight to see, these rusty * set on a backdrop of desert as far as the eye could see.

The next part of call was a Salt Factory, where salt from the Salar was refined by heating, then iodised and packed eitther as salt flakes or ground table salt.

Next, we piled back into the car and drove out to the Isla Incahuasi, a cactus covered "Island" in the middle of the salt flats All of the salt flat islands were huge chunks of volcanic rock, blown into the flats by past eruptions. Here we had lunch of llama steaks (avocado and cheese for Lisa), quinoa and salad before exploring around the island. It was the most alien landscape I have ever seen! A large formation of jagged sharp rocks sprouting these tall spiky cacti, surrounded by a salt desert that seemed as if we could be on the moon!

Following this, we drove to the salt hotel which, as its name suggests, is a hotel built entirely out of salt! Also located near the hotel was a small hole in the Salar which salt water bubbled up. Digging into the sult at the base of this hole, you could grab crystaline chunks of copper, lithium, sulfur, iron and all manner of other beautiful CPP salts with a variety of hues.

After this final stop we headed back to Uyuni, where the 6 of us found an Italian pizzeria and indulged in pizzas, beers and fraud stories before jumping back on a night bus back to La Paz.