Uyuni & Salt Flats tour

---

Adter visiting the silver mines in Potosí (really saddening to see the conditions that some people have to work in), we left for Uyuni by bus. I'm sure it's less than 100k between the 2 towns, but it's all on unpaved Andean roads and it took 7 hours! As with all these types of journeys, people get on the bus along the way, pay less and then sit in the aisle. The bizarre phenomenen though is that they sit on their bag or with legs crossed, and can then fall asleep bolt upright. All the people bustling past doesn't even seem to wake them. Useful technique.

We went on a 3 day tour from Uyuni to Chile. We were in a jeep with 2 other couples, who were really nice and good fun, so it made the whole tour even more enjoyable. Day one included passing through the Salar de Uyuni (salt flats) and visiting the Isla del Pescado (with all cactii) and then then staying at what was termed a 'moderate' hostal - one toilet for about 30 people, no hot water, no electric after 9 etc... Day two included driving through the rest of the national park and seeing some absolutely beautiful scenery and animals. The Laguna Colorada (bright red), steaming volcanoes, mountains and flamingoes. It culminated in staying at what was described as a 'basic' hostal - no flush on toilets (manual with buckets of water in case you were wondering!), no sinks or running water AT ALL, what would have been flea-infested beds (if it weren't so damn cold), and freezing temperatures. It was well below 0ºc and we were at nearly 5000m altitude. I wasn't sad to leave that place at 5am in the morning, as we headed off to the natural steaming geysers for sunrise. Then we went to the natural hot springs (Jon bathed but I daren't take any layers off at it was still only 7am and my blood had almost stopped flowing). After that, we went to Chile by bus. The red wine was awaiting me.....

---