Unyuni Salt Flats

I embarked on the 3 day salt flats tour with excitement. I made my way into the very back of the 4WD and wedged myself between two Russion girls I had not yet met, they didn’t seem overly happy that I was there. A grim expression set of their faces. I smiled and tried to inititate conversation. A few minutes later I gave up, and was forced to endure the harsh russion dialogue in both of my ears until we made our first stop at the ‘Train Cemetery’. The ghostly rusty machines sat patiently under the fierce Bolivian sun, as tourists from all over the world clambored from engine to carriage without too much respect for the rich history embedded within their rusty metal, including the ultimate demise of Butch Casidy.
After the delegated 5 minutes of photo time ( I have a feeling that the ‘guided tour’ travel may not be for me) we were herded back into the 4WD. As I clambored over the seat, that the driver refused to pull all the way down, I caught my thigh on a giant screw, I mouthed a course expletive before taking my seat. Steam was pouring from my ears as I awaited the rest of the cars 8 passangers to climb in.

Even as the bruise developed i knew it would not be the worst of my pain for the trip. As the altitude sickness i was suffering increased. At one stage in the journey we were 5000 meters above sea level.Nothing helped ease the symptoms which are too lengthy and horrible to relay here. Suffice to say, three days in a bumpy (almost broken) 4WD with a half crazy, half asleep driver, launching us into ditches propelling me into the front seat (no seatbelts) was a painful but memorable experience. The scenery was amazing, so i would do it all over again.

The images tell the rest of the story...