part I: uyuni.

the bus to uyuni from la paz was hilariously tormenting. we were sitting in the back of a chicken bus for 13 hours.. the lights didn't work and my ipod busted last week so there was no means of distraction.. however, the real cause for complaint was the fact that looking out the window and straining my eyes, i couldn't tell if we were actually driving on a road or not. we were getting tossed left and right, and the incessant jostling was making me a bit delusional. had it any shocks whatsoever, we certainly couldn't feel them in the back.. the agonizing bumps were absurd, in a humorous way.. until i somehow managed to fall asleep.. then woke mid-air, and slammed my forehead into the side of the seat. a goose egg reminding me it was no so humorous after all. and it turns out we were, in fact, joyriding through the roadless countryside - through rivers and lakes and whatever came our way.. not surprised.

we had met two swedish guys before boarding the bus, and arriving in uyuni the next morning at 8 we decided to a 2 day tour of the salt flats together, leaving at 10:30. we ate breakfast and packed an overnight bag, and away we went in a 4x4.. it was a little bit cloudy that day, but there was still a substantial amount of blue sky overhead.

stopping first at the train cemetery, we were allowed to climb and explore a mass of rusted old steam engines before continuing on to the salt flats. being rainy season, the flats were actually flooded with about 4 inches of water, more in some places.. the reflection of the sky and clouds on the mirror-like water below gave the illusion that you were floating.. one couldn't tell where the ground ended and the sky began. driving through the water felt like we were driving through the sky.. very futuristic. it was surreal. the misperceptions of distance and size made for some cool photos..

back in the jeep, we headed to our lodgings for the evening.. a 'salt hotel'.. made entirely of salt.. beds and all. not exactly comfort.. (and as we would later find out, not exactly waterproof..) we arrived and lunched, and were left to our own means until lunch the next day, when our guide would again be back with food, and off we would go for another few hours of exploration before heading back to uyuni. much to our amusement, our rooms were 'in the back'.. like, past the kitchen and the toilets.. separate from the rest of the hotel entirely.. and not exactly up to the standards of every other room we passed.. the swedes room had a beach umbrella in the corner, and the boys had a beach party of sorts that afternoon.

the sunset that evening was indescribable. clouds were creeping in from the east, but the oranges and yellows splashing over the reflecting water and mixed with the greys was magical. we watched as the sun slowly set into a double horizon, and the night sky morphed into a double lightning storm. i can't imagine what sunset would have looked like on a clear night, but i feel extra special for getting to experience the storm.

dining on chicken feet soup (danelle and i getting plain spaghetti and the s-a-l-t-i-e-s-t eggs i've ever eaten in my life; perhaps they were also made of salt).. we spent the evening playing cards and drinking wine with the swedes and our new companions. retiring to our rooms, i found that there was a leak in the roof above my bed, and so i snuggled in with danelle. mike's bed also had a leak above, but he was not concerned. axel, one of the swedes, came into our room and opted for my bed.. and waking in the morning, i found out why: if you looked in the doorway of their room, you might not have thought it had a roof at all. it was raining. inside. we realised then why there was an umbrella nestled in the corner..

the next morning we attempted to wake for sunrise, but the sky was too cloudy and there was still a bit of rain coming down. we had breakfast, played some more cards, walked around the area, and after lunch headed back to uyuni under a clear blue sky, stopping once more for more photos.