Salar de Uyuni (Bolivia)

The next morning, Monday, we woke up, ate, and headed right to the Brazilian embassy.  This visa process took much longer than Bolivias, and we ended up dedicating close to 4 hours all together.  We had hoped the process would be done Friday, but unfortunately, they told us we couldn't pick up our visas until the next wednesday.  We headed back to the hostel to figure out activities, and decided on the salt flats.  We booked our 3 day trip, to leave that night for Uyuni, and bought bus tickets, as the drive was long and the road mostly dirt and gravel.  We packed our bags, and after a few hours rest, went to the bus terminal.  We are apparently either naive or untrained for overnight bus trips, because we had no idea that the trip would be so cold.  I think Jared saw the thermostat at -15 celcius at one point.  Thank God A) they provided warm blankets (that should have been out first clue) and B) for Advil PM (thank you Nicole Jafar!).  We got a stunted sleep with the chill and bumpy roads, but enough to survive.  We arrived in Uyuni at 7am, and walked around a bit looking for a tour agency.  We easily found one, and booked our next three days.  After a good breakfast and crappy coffee, we met with our group, and packed up our 4x4 car to head out.  There was one guide and six tourists, all four besides Jared and me traveling solo. Our first stop of the day was a train grave yard, full of rusted old cabooses.  We climbed around and through the old trains, me constantly thankful for the scientific technology behind the tetanus shot, before piling back into the car.  After a bit more driving, we arrived to the salt flats, the world's largest.  Apparently, an unknown number of years ago (our guide was not super informative), there had been a huge salt lake that evaporated leaving these salt flats.  The big thing is apparently to take perspective photos,  so we hopped on the band wagon, and attempted some not-so-original shots.  It was a bit fun, and a bit silly, but not quite as fruitful as we had hoped looking back at the shots.  After a bit, we headed for the Isla de Pescado, which isn't even actually the original Isla de Padcado (which is a bit farther into the salt flats, and actually in the shape of a fish), but was (again for some unknown reason) coined that years ago.  The island is full of huge cacti, and allows from some great views from the top of its small summit point.  We ate lunch and started off on another drive.  We were pleasantly surprised with the food at this point, and just kept having flashbacks of our Panama-Colombia boat trip disaster.  By the late afternoon, we arrived at our hostel, made completely of salt.  We had a nice small pre-dinner snack of tea and cookies, before our main meal came out, again a pleasant surprise of veggie soup and veggies/french fries/sausage stir fry.  We were pretty exhausted after not having slept much the night before and fell into bed. The next morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, and loaded up the car.  The day consisted of a lot of driving, with about 5 photo op points.  We first went to a series of lagoons with lots of flamingos, which apparently I am enamored by, as evidence by the ridiculous amount of photos I took of them.  The last lagoon was quite impressive, Laguna Colorada, which turns red due to its high algae content.  After about 30 minutes of photos, we got back in for more driving.  Our second to last stop was a set of geysers spewing out sulfuric steam.  We took a few photos, but the temperature was dropping as we climbed higher, and the stench was pretty toxic.  Just before sunset, we arrived at our last stop, a thermal bath.  I had been trying to squeeze in a thermal bath, but every one we went to was at a hotel or hostel and was constructed to look like a swimming pool, effectively taking all the charm out of the thermal bath allure...I can go to a heated pool anytime.  This bath, however, did not disappoint.  Set in the middle of nothing, right next to a lagoon, it looked much more "authentic" and charming.  Despite that the temperature was frigid, we put on our bathing suits, followed by our warming layers and braved the weather.  The first few steps actually hurt it was so warm, but once out bodies got used to the heat, it was glorious!  Getting out was our worry.  We had prepped well though, and were able to quickly dry off and bundle up well.  When we walked back to the hostel, hot tea and cookies awaited us.  It was perfect timing!  Dinner followed, and our guide pulled through and somehow got us a bottle of wine!  The accommodations at the hostel were "basic", but the bathroom was horrendous.  Sleep was a bit more difficult for everyone that night, potentially due to our snoring roommate.  The next morning, Jared, myself, and another girl from our group woke up at sunrise and headed back out to the thermal bath, for an absolutely beautiful sunrise over the mountains and lagoon submerged in hot thermal water, really a great moment.  At about 7 am, we headed back into the hostel for breakfast, packed up, had a near-death experience while breathing in the bathroom, and headed back out on the "road".  I should mention, that I use the word "road" loosely.  We were basically driving in the desert, with no actual road or signs.  There was no possible way Jared and I would have been able to do this solo.  The last day of the trip, we went to one more lagoon, which unfortunately was not all that impressive as the algae was also suppose to change the color of the water, but had not yet that day.  We finished off at the Chilean border to drop off three of our passengers and headed back to Uyuni.  We arrived at about 4:30 pm, had dinner, and prepped our warm clothes for the overnight bus back.  We had been told we would have heat, but were not willing to put our faith in that.  Once on the bus, bundled, and benadryl-ed up, we started lulling off to sleep, when the heat kicked in...big time.  I was shedding layers like they were on fire.  Until...the heat turned off, and in a Benadryl-induced-coma, I tried to find all my clothes and re-layer up.  The night's sleep was not as good as the first bus.  We arrived back in La Paz at about 7:30 am, and made out way back to the hostel.  We still had several days before our visas would come in, and even though lounging is wonderful, we felt like we should make the most of our time here, as we will be so short on time for the rest of the trip.   We arranged to go on an Amazon jungle trek for the next day (tomorrow).  The rest of the day, I took a much-needed nap, Jared took a much needed shower, and we lounged.  Jared splurged on awesome laundry, while I opted for sink laundry, let's hope it dries by tomorrow.  We walked around for dinner, had our free beers at the hostel (oh right, I don't think I mentioned that the hostel in La Paz is a micro brewery and they serve a free beer every night).  We are pooped, and have to wake up at 4 am for our flight to the north, so I am out!