Salt Plains, far from it!

Turning up in Uyuni it was like walking through tour agency land. As soon as we got off the bus we were accosted by various different people offering exactly the same tour but we stayed strong and pushed through the crowds. The reason for this being that we had read a few horror stories (I know I'm usually a fan but when it actually involves me I'm not so keen) so I had done some research and written down the companies I heard good things about and we were not to stray from the list. The first place we went to was Red Planet and this company came the most highly recommended, however we turned up 2 minutes too late and they had just given away the last 2 seats over email. Oh well it was too expensive anyway and who needs extra oxygen bottles just in case. The second place had no one else booked on the tour already so we took this to be a bad sign and moved on to the next which quoted a price that seemed too cheap and although we are on a budget we did want to come back alive. So in the end it came down to a choice between 2, Blue Line Services or Hadouka Mountain with just a small price difference and both only having 1 good review online. Hadouka won it as they chucked in sleeping bags for free, result!

So the next morning we got up bright and early and bounded round the corner to our waiting jeep. Here we met our Salt Tour crew, Peter and Scarlett (a couple from the UK but Scarlett was actually Belgian), Jacopo from Italy, Yuko from Japan and Mario our driver who we thought was called Carlos for half the trip.

We set off with our bags wrapped safely (sort of) to the top of the car and made our first stop at a train graveyard which was brilliant fun. They had made a playground out of some old parts and you could have a swing or a see-saw (Dan hit his balls!) and we ran around like small children! Next stop was the actual Salar (salt plain) itself, the main event, which was truly stunning. It's so white and there are piles of salt as well as holes with water underneath which look like Eskimos would sit and fish at and the salt also makes sort of hexagon shapes on the ground. We spent a few hours having lunch here and taking the obligatory perspective photos before driving to our Salt Hotel. Literally everything was made of salt here apart from the loo! We managed to nab the last few private rooms and then settled in for the night. After lots of tea and chatting, Mario brought our dinner out which was soup to start and then some weird meat for main. After waiting a bit for my vegetarian option to come I decided to ask Mario what it was to which he replied 'I haven't got any vegetarian food'. The flipping woman at the tour office forgot to tell him and there is not exactly any Tescos on this route. Luckily Mario was a very nice man and made a real effort to get me vegetables and stuff from other drivers so it wasn't too much of a drama!

After dinner we noticed that a few other tables had wine and got a bit jealous so when one of the drivers told us we could get some from a little shop nearby (you see that tiny light over there in the distance?) Scarlett - a girl after my own heart - and I decided to go on a mission, torches in hand and after returning empty handed (we found the shop but no wine) they told us we could just buy some from the hotel, brilliant.

The next day was spent visiting many, many lakes which contained many, many flamingoes some of which were rare or famous or something. We also saw a volcano that was puffing smoke and a rock tree. Unfortunately for poor Yuko who had a funny belly there was a distinct lack of toilets and she became very well acquainted with the outdoors despite all the immodium we all pushed on her. In the end it was only Mario's special tea that could help, not sure what was in it but it was a miracle brew.

The last lake we visited which is where we stayed the night in 'basic basic basic' accommodation as Mario kept telling us was the most impressive. It was bright red and looked like it had glaciers on it. I half expected a polar bear to come strolling out. We were at about 5000 metres above sea level now and it was very cold, especially in the basic hostel, luckily Peter had brought some rum and we had some more wine so we were able to warm ourselves up with alcohol, yummy!

After a chilly night's sleep we drove to the border of Chile (see what I did there?) where we were dropping the others off and on the way we visited some stinky geezers (sort of hot eggy gas rising out of the ground), a toxic white lake and natural hot springs which were also eggy. There was no changing room and after getting out Dan's beard turned to ice!

After saying goodbye to our new friends we set off just the two of us and Mario back to the Uyuni where we first started. With one stop at an old church and plenty of window up and down action to avoid the big trucks spraying sand in the car we got back safely only to board an overnight bus pretty much straight away to La Paz and so the journey continues..