uyuni, bolivia

i am so behind on this keeping-you-updated thing. but hey, that means i am busy, either having fun, or sick in bed for two days, or both. :) but i´m back!

after la paz, we took a 10 hr overnight bus to uyuni. a 10 hr bus ride that turned into 15 because the driver didn´t bring enough gas. seriously. they kept stopping to restart the engine, until it didn´t restart anymore. seriously, they didn´t have enough gas, and 30 minutes before getting to uyuni, it just stopped. we decided to get our backpack and start walking in the sun, but 10 minutes later a taxi drove by and picked us up. 

uyuni is a tiny town where people live (mostly) off of tourism or the salt industry. that uyuni salt flats are about 12,000 sq km and supposedly, it was formed out of prehistoric lakes. so, we took a 3 day trip to go see the salt flats and the national reserve (park) Eduardo Avaroa. 

the tour starts at the train cementery. there used to be a lot of trains coming and going between bolivia and chile, from uyuni and other mine towns nearby and it looks like they just left a lot of them there to die... the landscape, with the blue sky and desert-y feel, along with the rusty beasts is actually kind of beautiful. 

after that, we went to the salt flats and, like every tourist, took silly pictures... there were parts that were covered in water, and the reflection of the sky made it look like things were floating.

after the salt flats we went down to the national park over the next two days all the way down to the border with chile. it was amazing, the views, not the part where you are on a jeep for hours, but the views made it worth it. :) here are the pictures:

the rock valley:

i don´t remember the name of this lake: :S there was a lot of sulfur in the soil and water, so it smelled weird...

this was our group, claudia and rosmel were my travel partners in bolivia, the other three friends we met on the trip. :)

this is the green lake:

the rock in some part is very brittle and over the years, many rocks have been shaped by the wind into really cool looking shapes. this is the stone tree:

red lagoon:

we stayed in really ¨basic¨ places, basic as in, you have to pay for the shower separately, there are no windows in the room, you have to bring your own toilet paper and there are a million flies everywhere. you know, stuff like that.

the third day we woke up at 4 am to go see the geisers. it was a little bit too dark but still really impressive. it was so loud and there were really small holes on the ground were i could put my hand close and feel the warmth of the gases. (i know... not safe at all...)

after that, we went to the hot springs at the border of the lake to see the sunrise. let me tell you, it was instant happiness and magical. i totally forgot that i was so tired from waking up so early. magic sunrise.

on the way to the border we drove by the salvador dalí desert. they call it like that because apparently there are strangely shaped rocks that look like a dalí painting. however, we couln´t get closer to appreciate it better. :(

...and this is another lake that i forgot the name and i can´t find my notes. sorry! ;)

fun times, but the way back was 7 hours to go back to uyuni... oh, it was a bit exhausting.