Monday, January 20, 2014

Bolivian Salt Flats - Day 3

On the last day of our Uyuni Salt Flat tour, we are told that we need to be in the car by 5am in order to see our first attraction - the natural geysers, which only spout in the morning. If we don't get to them first thing in the morning then we'll just be looking at holes in the ground. I wake up around 1:30am to go to the bathroom and unfortunately cannot get back to bed, so I only got a few hours of sleep and so I skip breakfast and just get in the car after brushing my teeth in the room. Unlike the first night, me and Andreas slept in a room with the four others from our group. I'm usually ok to sleep in a room with others, but for some reason this night was just not easy for me. I'm in the car waiting for everyone to come back from breakfast and get in, and of course they tell me that today was the best breakfast; pancakes and yogurt and granola. Of course - the day I'm too tired to get to breakfast it's the best of the trip. Classic. Anyway, I have a Snickers for my breakfast and we get to the geysers around 6:15am. I'm not that impressed, but I get out to take a few pics. Hope you enjoy my tired face…

To be honest this third day got the best of me. I really couldn't catch up in sleep even though I passed out between each thing we saw that day. I didn't complain, but I was very quiet and slept a lot in the car, so Miguel made a funny comment that I'm not a "morning person". Funny cause anyone that knows me knows that I don't talk much in the mornings anyway…so you can imagine how silent I was without much sleep at all. Anyhoo, the next stop after the geysers is Laguna Verde (green lagoon), that's not actually green early in the morning because it only appears green when there are waves on the surface of the water - which only happen later in the day. Again, I'm not impressed cause we've already seen so many beautiful lagoons, although there are some amazing red colors on the mountains surrounding this lagoon.

After Laguna Verde we head to a hot springs which our driver has been touting as the highlight of the trip since we began. Luckily we get there and there aren't many people in the water (apparently most of the other cars stopped at the hot springs before Laguna Verde). I was so-so about getting in the water but after some prodding I got in and couldn't have been happier. So chill, with amazing views in the background. There are some good pics of our group below. As we are getting out of the water I hear that Amelia (girl from Argentina) has fainted. Apparently the elevation combined with the early start to the day combined with the heat was too much for her. We stayed there for a while to help her get better and then headed back to Uyuni. Although I was a bit of a baby on the last day, I've gotta admit that this trip was so unexpected and so amazing at the same time. I had never expected to be in Bolivia, let alone in a jeep with native South Americans and a German guy. Such beauty. Such fun times and great conversations. We get back to Uyuni and bid our farewells. I hope that Miguel and Val have a great rest of their trip. I hope that Amelia feels better.

Andreas helps me find an internet cafe where I can print out my Argentinian visa. Yes, this time I actually looked up the requirements for getting into the next country (thanks, Stephanie:). We print out my visa and then grab some food before parting ways. Andreas is heading back up to La Paz and then into Peru before heading back to Munich. As we are sitting down to eat, up walks Rafael - hahaha. Classic. So we all eat and drink and then Andreas and I head to the bus station. As I'm leaving Rafael I tell him not to think so much, and he replies with "Just FEEL". I couldn't agree more. Sometimes you meet people and there is no need for names. There's no need for getting to know one another. Sometimes you are just on the same plane and things continue at the same pace. I was glad to meet and speak with Rafael, and I hope to see him in Paris this spring.

Andreas and I walk to the bus station and I bid him farewell. He's been my first travel buddy and I couldn't have asked for a better person - kind, considerate, honest, and funny. I hope he has a great remainder of his trip and I will see him in the spring in Munich.

Oh - forgot to mention that on our ride back to Uyuni we stopped in this little town and I saw an Onion flag in the window of someone's house. Hilarious. Took a pic for you, Owen.












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