4 hours by bus and some spectacular ever changing views of the mountains, lakes and llamas. Uyuni is the starting point for the Salt plane tours which are designed to show some of the best of Bolivian natural beauty. We took a 4x4 tour with a Spanish guide (seeing that our English guide had to go to La Paz with an ill Japanese tourist who was on the previous trip). Thankfully we had a Belgian guy in our group who studied to be a English/Spanish translator, which was handy, seeing that my Spanish isn't quite on that level as yet. Excluding the driver/guide, we were 6 in total, us 3 girls the Dutch guy and 2 Ukrainian guys. About 3 hours drive from Uyuni we hit the salt Planes, miles and miles of white with the mountains in the back ground. Apparently these were formed by a volcanic explosion which merged two lakes which later dried up and left these spectacular planes. We had a lovely Llama lunch on these planes next to the official Salt Hotel where we also took some pictures of the Decar Monument which took place here earlier this year.

Onwards to Fish Island, in the middle of the Salt planes where there is a land mass island with loads of cactii and coral rocks which apparently formed hundreds of years ago. The island is also known as the "fountain of desire". Back in the land cruiser we covered quite a few miles of dessert ground to get to another salt plane which had a thin layer of water over it to serve as a mirror for the incredible sun set to come. The surroundings and the ever changing colours were a feast for the eyes and a challenge to capture such beauty on film. Sundowners (Bolivian Vino Tinto) with Coldplay's "I'll fix you" playing in the back ground, was just about perfect for the myriad of colours seen in this sunset backdrop. We managed to create a human UYUNI spelling in the reflection of the water layer as well.

The salt hotel was our final destination for today. Absolutely everything was made of salt, the bricks, tables, chair etc. except for the pool table which was our pre dinner entertainment. We accidentally had the other companies biscuits which caused a bit of a commotion. We From this location (in the middle of nowhere) the stars were quite exquisite, millions to be seen with the Milky-way's wake so visible. It was so good that a photographer was out doing star trailing too, we saw some of his pictures and it was just exquisite. It made for sweet dreams.

Day 2 started with a visit to the local village to buy some snacks. Stopped hundreds of times for photos, as one of the Ukrainian guys insisted on until the guide refused to stop any more resulting in us not stopping at an amazing llama photo which I would really of loved to have. We went to volcanic rock formations with an active volcano in the background. On the one side were the lava rocks and the other masses of strewn grey rocks. Here we had a bit of time to just sit and take in the magnificent surroundings. Next stop was a Laguna with hundreds of flamingoes flocked together enjoying the laguna as much if not more than what we did. Here we had a gorgeous Chicken and veggie lunch (not sure how they manage these type of lunches on the go). We drove passed many a coloured Laguna, a phenomena due to the minerals in the water which also makes it sparkle. We entered the national park and stayed at Laguna Calorado. Tonight's dinner came with a vino tinto from Mendoza treat. We also did some star gazing here after dinner of which the beauty and vastness is really hard to describe.

Day 3 had an early start to catch the sun rise over Laguna Rojo. Was so interesting to see how the lake and the mountains changed colours right in front of our eyes. Amazing drive, green lagoon and relaxing in the thermal bath with the natural backdrop. It took us 4 hours to drive back. We got our bus to La Paz just in time.