On January 1, 2011 we made our great escape from La Paz (almost as quickly as the transportation strike began-- it thankfully ended) and we headed south to Uyuni. We spent a relaxing day in Uyuni (much needed after the chaos of New Years combined with an overnight bus trip on an extremely bumpy road) and booked our Salar de Uyuni tour (salt desert) for the next day.
I do not even know how to begin to describe our salt desert experience... It was as if Utah, Southern California and the Moon had all combinned together to create the most beautiful scenery one could ever imagine. Our tour was 3 days and 2 nights and each day was jam packed from dawn until dusk with amazing sites to see and things to do. We got around in a giant Jeep loaded up with 8 people (Beth, myself and 4 friends we met in La Paz), our guide Maria and our driver Milton. We had great music blaring the entire trip and it turned out to be one epic road trip through the desert! I have always loved road trips, but this just went above and beyond any experience I had before... A personal driver, delicious meals cooked for you, a guide and honestly the most incredible and unique surroundings you could ever imagine!
Some Salar de Uyuni highlights include: an abundance of beautiful flamingos chilling in pristine lagoons, my first vicuña spotting (another member of the llama/alpaca family), staying at a hostel made out of salt, an early morning dip in a gorgeous natural hot spring, salt flats a plenty, getting up close and personal with geysers, visiting an island composed fully of blossoming cactus plants, a visit to the Salvador Dali desert and of course the general experience of road tripping from destination to destination across a salt desert... It was beyond amazing!
After our salt desert experience we spent another night in Uyuni and then continued on south to Tupiza-- a beautiful little town surrounded by red rock. It is a relaxed, gorgeous and extremely friendly town-- we are really enjoying ourselves here! Today we spent the entire day poolside and did pretty much the same yesterday-- it was heavenly! The weather here is mostly hot and sunny, which is exactly what we need after an insane amount of time at extremely high elevations which feature extreme weather. Tomorrow we will be partaking in the Tupiza Triathlon: biking, horseback riding and Jeeping our way through the red rock country that surrounds Tupiza... Should be amazing!
After Tupiza we are off to Salta, Argentina and the next chapter of our journey begins! Bolivia has been simply incredible and I am sad to leave. Hopefully I can make it back here within the next 5 years-- afterall they make US citizens pay for a 5 year visa-- I want to make the most out of my $135 entrance fee! That said, for now red wine and red meat are calling my name...
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