Day 110 - Uyuni. What a fascinating place.

We woke bouncing around in our seats of the bus with nothing to be seen but sand, rock and llamas. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, Uyuni comes into sight. This dusty town (pop 12,000) is only there because of the largest salt flat in the world, the Salar de Uyuni. People either work in salt harvesting or tourism related jobs. We arrived in Uyuni a little over 2 hours late. Not bad. It's one of those places that has nothing to attract people to it except as a way of getting somewhere else. In Uyuni's case people pass through on their way to the Salar de Uyuni salt flats. An ancient lake that once covered this part of Bolivia and when it evaporated it left behind a vast expanse of salt.

Once settled in our very odd hostel - hot showers, well any water in fact, only between 8 - 10am and door locked all the time by string! - we find a resturant that serves breakfast in what must hold the record for the slowest service. Not that we are complaining as there was not much else to do. Our plan was to travel from here, across the salt flats, over some very high mountain passes and through the desert to northern Chile. All very adventurous, but it meant we had a day in Uyuni with not a lot to do except find someone to take us on a 3 day drive to the Bolivia / Chile border. Opting for mid range in price and the best advertised quotes about good food - very important - we go with 'Oasis Tours'.

One chore we did complete was a haircut for Ed. The barber's clippers only had a grade 2 attachment, so that's what he got. Sunburn is now high on the agenda.

The only other midly interesting observation was Gemma spotting a pattern amongst Uyuni's dog population - they all have short, stumpy legs, regardless what breed. We had visions of a midget casanova - perhaps a good looking sausage dog - roaming the streets seducing any bitches with medium length legs or longer. He's done some impressive work!

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