Salar de Uyuni

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Our journey from Potosi to Salar de Uyuni was one I don't think we'll ever forget, we have never seen so much dust inside a bus before! The road was not sealed and with cracks above him in the ceiling the dust was soon raining down on Vinny. Whether it was the amount of dust he inhaled or the generous mouthfuls of coca leaves chewed earlier, poor Vinny was ill when we reached Uyuni but thankfully he made a full recovery for the start of our tour through the salt flats. We loaded into the 4x4's with the first stop at the train cemetery, where 100 year old steam locomotives have been left to rust. Then we headed out onto the salt flats where the reflection is blinding but the scenery was absolutely stunning. On the first evening of the trip we stayed in a Salt Hotel, built from salt bricks set on a base of stone. Oh, the joys of sleeping on a salt bed with a salt bedside table! Not as bad as it sounds but we were grateful for two sleeping bags and lots of alpaca blankets. The next morning we set off across the altiplano leaving the salt flats behind to travel between strange rock formations and lots of lagoons before arriving at our hotel for the night which was freezing! It was a pleasure to head to our multi-layered beds where we were extremely cosy till our 5am start to cross the border into Chile the next morning. At that time of the morning it was so cold it was freezing on the inside of the jeep windows, Brrrr!! We won't ever complain about an Irish winter again!

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