Uyuni
Hey guys,
How are things? Right, we left you in Villazon. Had a nice ride on the train from Villazon to Uyuni. Felt like we were on the Orient Express. We had bought first class tickets, with tv and music in the wagon and even got a meal. We reached Uyuni at midnight and followed a wee guy through the train station to a hostel. At one o´clock, he eventually convinced us to buy a three-day tour starting the following morning at 10:30am.
Had a rough night and managed to be ready for the tour. Uyuni is the starting place for visiting the salt flats. We were 8 people in a 4WD: the driver/guide, the cook, a Swiss and a Danish couple with their two and a half year son. Felt weird to see a baby participating in such a tour. They are traveling for 10 months and their next stop is Africa! I wouldn´t imagine traveling with a child. It is great though...
So the first day of the tour which was Sunday, we saw the salt flat and had 
lunch on a cactus island. Many years ago the Salar of Uyuni was a sea together with the lake Titicaka. So the island was made of corals. Very unique experience to be surrounded by cactus, walking on corals and seeing a salt sea all around the island. We slept in a hostel made of salt, with salt eveywhere on the floor and even our beds were made of salt. ´T was fun.
On Monday we were up at 6am and drove to some lagoons. They have lagoons of every color (green, blue, pink and red). The red lagoon is the most important flamingo reservation in Bolivia. This time we slept in a normal hostel, the seven of us in the same room. No water either. We were so tired. The rest of the group had been in Peru and Bolivia for a while so they were used to altitude but coming from Argentina, we weren´t. So everyday we had big headaches, my nose was bleeding and we weren´t in great form. We had tried to chew coca leaves 
during the Salta tour but with no improvement at the time.
On Tuesday, we were all up at 4am, we could already see some light on the horizon. We drove to some geysers. The sun was already rising and it was beautiful to drive through the desert. It was so cold though. We got to some hot springs and enjoyed the warm water. Three days without taking a shower. The hot spring did us some good! We drove to the Chilean border where the Danish couple had to take a bus to 
San Pedro de Atacama. We were only three hours from San Pedro. We had planned to go there too at first but the landscape is meant to be the same in Chile and Bolivia. After doing some last few stops wandering throug stone forests, we drove for many hours and were back to Uyuni in the evening.
Today is Wednesday. Had a lazy day in Uyuni. It is packed with tourists everywhere. All you hear is English or French around you. Tonight we will on the bus to La Paz. Bye for now!