Day 26

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Our last night on the salt flats wasn't pleasant as the toilets were disgusting, there was no electricity and all night we heard gushes of wind blowing the rocks on the tin roof. It was also 4,300m so I kept waking up gasping for air. The altitude really affects both dad and I- we have low resting heart rates, so when we sleep we don't breathe often enough to supply enough oxygen because the air is so thin. I finally got to sleep by 3am, wearing everything in my suitcase! But had to wake at 5.30am. We headed off by 6am and soon arrived at the hot springs near another Laguna. I have been in hot springs in the mountains in Nepal, and as great as they are I couldn't think of anything worse than getting out trying to get changed in the freezing wind with people watching so I just put my legs in, which was warming enough. Next we headed into a little hut for breakfast then continued the 4WD journey. At some stages during the day we were over 5,000m high. We saw several volcanoes, some of which were still active. The scenery was more arid and desert-like than the previous days, and a particular area we wandered around was named Dali in reference to the artist Salvador Dali's paintings. This sparked my interest as mum and I briefly saw his exhibition when in London. We finally made it to Laguna Colorada which was the highlight of the day. The bright red lake with flamingos only feet away from us, and again stunning mountains plus blue sky really set the scene. Arriving back in Uyuni by 6pm we were all grateful for the experience but so glad to get back to normality with no crazy Bolivian drivers or their blaring music, and most of all enjoy a hot shower! We also headed to dinner with the group, and said goodbye as they had to catch the 8pm bus to La Paz. Dad and I stayed the night in Uyuni and instead booked a flight to La Paz in the morning.

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