Bolivia – Unpaved. Uncouth. Unforgettable. cont.

After getting our fill of $0.50 hamburgers and having seen the “sights” in La Paz, we decided it was time to move on to a place where the air is breathable, zebras don't direct traffic, the bedbugs are not as plentiful, and Wifi exists. La Paz wasn't all bad. We ate at a delightful thai/indian/chinese restaurant and bought some gifts, of which you will all surely reap the benefits (I still remember not to end my sentences with a preposition!).

Since we were on a time crunch to meet some friends in Patagonia, we decided to go ahead as start heading south. Booking buses in Bolivia is far more complicated than anywhere else. Unless you are going to La Paz, bus options are limited to two or three days a week and there is no such thing as a "nice" bus. So we bought our tickets for an overnight bus to Uyuni, home of the world's largest salt flats YUUUMM!

The bus trip started off just as all of them do, with many many stops on the way out of town to pick up locals that know how to avoid the bus station. At every stop I asked Byron to look out the window and make sure no looters were taking our luggage off the bus (we heard that was pretty common in Bolivia). At around 3am we stopped for a bathroom/snack break and to change bus drivers. Although this bus trip is expected to be 12 hours, the buses do not have bathrooms on them, and that is a luxury that I had grown quite accustomed to. Not only were we missing bathrooms, but the roads were missing something too - pavement. The bumpiness was unbearable, to say the least.

At about 4am, I finally got some sleep because the bus was stopped completely for about an hour. I was too tired to wonder why we weren't moving, and of course, Byron was sleeping through it all. So around 5am, in the cold, dark, endless abyss of Bolivian landscape, everyone was asked to get off the bus and start walking. We walked past a big semi that was apparently stuck in this tiny stream of water in the road. We kept walking until we all crossed the stream. Our shoes were a little muddy, but it certainly didn't seem like anything a huge bus couldn't get across. So we watched as our bus crossed the 'treacherous' body of water, got back on, and eventually made it to Uyuni.

Although tours of the salt flats can last up to four days, but we opted for the one-day quick trip, mostly because money was starting to run thin. As soon as we stepped off the bus at the crack of dawn in this tiny tourist town, four people walked up offering us their company´s tour packages. Since we were completely drained and frustrated, we went with the guy who spoke English. Good job buddy!

What exactly is a SALT FLAT? Exactly what it sounds like. A dried up flat lake that left it's salt deposits for all of us to enjoy. The four-wheel drive vehicles tours begin by taking you a "train graveyard." Sounds cool, right? Wrong. See photo evidence. The trains were all covered in graffiti and virtually unrecognizable as former locomotives. From there, we drove about 20 km to a town made complete of salt, all the houses, tables, statues, souvenirs, and more souvenirs. It all looked pretty cool, but tasted even better. Once we drove onto the actual flats, things started getting truly impressive. You are requested to bring sun glasses because the glare of the salt is so intense, which also meant the heat pounds right back up at you. There were parts where nothing but salt could be seen in any direction, as if you're in the middle of the ocean. They really got lucky on this tourist attraction. It is amazing!