Day three of our Salar trip began bright and early at 5:30 am. Our first stop was the train cemetary. These trains were used to transport silver from Bolivia to Chile. Once built, there wasn't enough money to maintain the train system, so they simply stopped running. This particular train has been sitting here since it stopped, and is now used as a tourist sight.
We stopped at the local shops right before we got to the salt flats. Charlie and I knew not to buy anything here because it was clearly a tourist trap. We recognize things like this easily do to our heritage of living in Okoboji. Every tour group stops there, so of course the people raise the prices. We did manage to take a picture with one of the salt sculptures. We had to do it quickly because climbing on the sculptures is probably frowned upon.
We finally made it to the salt flats. "Salar de Uyuni" The salt was covered with a little bit of water, which beautifully reflected the sky. We visited on a perfect sunny day. It's hard to tell where the sky line ends and the salt flats begin.
This building is where we ate lunch. It's a hostel open most of the year. Everything inside it is made out of salt. For lunch we ate LLAMA. It was actually pretty good but very tough to eat. Charlie had no problem gnawing the meat to the bone.
Flags from all over the world. Except the United States.
More fun pictures....
After our trip we decided to stay one more night in Uyuni. Neither one of us had showered so rest and bathing was necessary. We also decided to go out and ended up drinking a few too many. You will notice from the next series of pictures that we did not wear the appropriate amount of sunscreen for we look like lobsters. One of the bartenders had too much fun with us, and keep giving us free drinks. Maybe we were the best tippers? Maybe he was slightly intoxicated? Picture order as follows: 1. The three of us. 2. Charlie and the waiter taking a flaming shot that required two people. I didn't want to partake in it, so I got stuck with the "funny drink." 3/4. Mom, I'm really sorry.
Too much sun.
Tomorrow I will update with all our remaining pictures of our first night out in Cusco, boarder crossing, pisco sours, etc.
Love always,
Matti Jo and Charles Dale
Salt flats are so beautiful...WOW! And don't think I dare comment about the happy hour happenings but I think you would find them quite clever! MOM Wendy
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