Uyuni Salt Flats

So the big moment has arrived and it hasn't disappointed.  We were all up at 4(ish) to get out and watch the sunrise over the Uyuni salt flats and it was well worth the effort.

After some messing around from the Italians who were in another car in our group - I ahave no idea what they were doing but never mind......

It was off to an island in the middle of the flats.  And I managed to get what I consider to be a classic picture from here with the car racing across the flats.

The island itself was pretty cool and covered with cactus. 

This was my favourite though

Got to love the bunny rabbit cactus.

Anyway, after that it was breakfast and a bit of a walk around the island.  So cue some silly perspective photos which take quite a lot of effort to put together......

They were taken with someone else's camera so you'll have to wait for me to get the pictures sent to me to see some of the results of the hard work.

It was also quite alarming to realise that the flats were only about 2 inches thick of salt and then underneath is a big lake of brine.....

It seemed solid enough though, but you did have to be a little careful walking around so you didn't step in a hole.  And there were all kinds of trails that looked like roads to nowhere.

After all that there was time for our group photo.

(From the left:  Daniel, Johnny (the driver), Adrian, me, Katherine, Javier, Roman.  A good group!)

And before we left, there was one more gift, a rainbow in the plains.....

And then to head off the salt flats where we ran into a load of other groups coming the other way.  I think we were quite lucky because most people do the tour in a different direction to us so it was quieter and the salt flats are definitely the best thing to finish with.  Here's a look at all the groups just as they were stopping off.

So right now I'm heading back to San Pedro de Atacama with a Chilean couple and a Chilean woman and her son.  A fun group even if I don't understand half of what they are saying.  The 'hostel' we are staying in is a little more basic than before with the wind howling around but the beds are fairly comfy and the blankets good and heavy so hopefully it won't get too cold.  It's another early start at 430 to get back to the Chilean border and then onwards to catch my flight back to Santiago before heading into Argentina the following day.

As for the altitude sickness, I think I got it maybe three times me I'm not sure if you could call it that.  I just suddenly got out of breath, my pulse shot up and I started to sweat.  It was close to a panic attack but more breathless and it was always just after climbing up something or walking too fast so it was probably just the altitude but it was definitely weird.  It was definitely strange being somewhere that was so high but gave the appearance of not being much above sea level. 

That's all for now, tomorrow is a travel day so not much to report but I've got a long train journey so I'll probably do an overall write ip then providing my battery holds out.