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So after a funny day in La Paz, where Jo and I were sleep deprived and Jo managed to fall down in the street, fall down the steps of the coffee shop we went to for breakfast and pull down a rail in an outdoor store (where there where people from the coffee shop who observed she wasn't having a good day) we headed off on our overnight bus to Uyuni, where we would start our Salt Flats tour.
We have become expert bus travellers - we have sleeping bags, socks, eye masks, ear plugs, snacks and wine, toilet paper and dry handwash. It's practically home away from home and we can sleep anywhere, anytime.
We arrived the next morning in a cold gray and barren town, but the sun was shining brightly. we had made friends with a croatian girl, Katie, who lives in Cork and she wasn't on a tour so she came along with us and tried to get on ours. Lucky for her there was one spot left! Also in our truck was Andreas and Anja, a really nice couple from Germany also doing a round the world trip. After loading up with water, we jumped on our Blueline (that's the tour company) and they were very good and headed off for the salt flats.
We were on a 2 night, 3 day tour through the flats. It was beautiful scenery - just incredible to see the salt and the whiteness and the endless blue skies!! we also saw amazing coloured lakes and endless flamingoes soaring low over the lakes.
The first night we stayed in a salt hotel - our hostel was completely built out of salt - including the tables, chairs and our beds. the only thing that wasn't salt was the bathrooms. Jo had bought a salt ashtray which got dirty, and she washed it - and it disappeared!We'd forgotten it was salt.
The second night we were in a slightly more dodgy hostel on the edge of a lake at about 3500m above sea level, and it was freezing! After our walk around the lake, we were icy cold, so it was time for red wine, whiskey and coca tea and playing cards - while we all wore all our clothes. At about 9 o'clock we were told we had to go to bed by the owners of the hostel as they didn't have enough electricity for us to stay up. Things are very basic out there and our hostel looked a bit like a shanty room, but it was fine for us, and we were all sort of warm after 5 bottles of red wine and half a bottle of whiskey.
The next day we were up at 4.30 am to see the sunrise over the thermal springs. Unfortunately having a group of 5 girls and 1 guy even though we were one of the first groups woken up, we were the last to leave - but our driver was amazing and put his foot flat on the pedal, so we were one of the first groups to arrive and could avoid the masses.
After the thermal springs, we were dropped off at the border with Chile, and Tom, a guy from Melbourne who had been in one of the other groups joined the 6 of us as the rest of his truck were heading back to Uyuni. We all headed into Chile and spent 2 nights in San pedro de Attacama, which after 3 nights of not showering was really welcome! And it was warm, so we were in heaven. San Pedro de Attacama is a pretty, but very touristy and very expensive (hostels rooms are between $25 and $50 a person) town. But perfect for a little rest and relaxation. And it was fun having a big group of us all together.
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