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Day 27: Uyuni
Leaving Potosí for Uyuni this morning. All packed up and ready to leave with a few minutes to spare to test the new charger I bought the night before from the place that fixed my phone. And of course, it doesn't work. Goddamn it Potosí! With the bus late, I had just enough time to run back down to replace the 200Bob (€25) piece of crap. But, typical, the shop's closed. I go into a neighbouring shop, just to find out if it works or not. No, they confirmed. And it wasn't a real apple product, like the shop guaranteed, either. They then told me that they'd ordinarily charge 40Bob for that... wow. I'm such a bloody mug. Not the first time on this trip I've been taken advantage of - what is it about my stupid face that makes me such a target! (B)olivia, I'm very disappointed in you...
Narky, with my piece of s*** non-working charger in hand and deeply dissatisfied, I got on the bus, happy to be leaving Potosí after the rigmarole of the day before.
Time spent on the bus through an ever changing landscape however served to calm my frustration. We drove for five hours and the scenery became drier and more dessert like. It was beautiful. And then we could see the Salt Flats, a white flat plain that stretched into the distance. We all got excited.
We arrived into Uyuni (3,600m above sea level) in the middle of the afternoon and headed out for lunch after checking in. Not like anywhere else we'd been, this town was flat as a pancake. The roads enormously wide and either just dirt roads or paved with large hexagonal concrete pavers.
After lunch the group set out to buy props for photos on the Salt Flats. Spoiler alert: I just bought a few postcards. The temperature dropping fast and hard we took refuge in a cafe and ordered a hot chocolate while I wrote my letters home.
The cold here was nothing like we'd felt yet. Even colder than the Lares Trek, it would cut you in half! Everywhere we went we hugged heaters. Every layer available was required!
That night, we went for pizza - and yes, gluten free pizza for me! (I know I go on about it, but honestly, it's so exciting to find GF stuff here... it's rare, therefore noteworthy!).
We finished off the freezing cold evening in the Extreme Fun Pub (it was fun, but I wouldn't say it lived up to the name). Vale ordered us a drink in some, eh, questionable x-rated pottery. We were all amused. Around plastic patio tables on a sand and gravel covered indoor yard, we passed the evening.
Accommodation: Samay Wasi
Weather: I was not prepared for how cold it was. Well below freezing at night. Everything glittered with crystals of frost.
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