A few days ago, I finished the tour of Salar de Uyuni and the surrounding area.  We started in Tupiza and had four day/three nights in a 4x4 truck.  The scenery was completely stunning.  The land was so barren and harsh.  I have never seen anything like it before in my life.  The days were spent seeing deserts, lagoons, mountains, llamas, vicuñas, and many other things.  The nights were frigid.  We stayed in modest places with electricity for only a few hours a day.  The nighttime lows reached well below freezing.  Looking back on it, it really was not at all unbearable.  It just added to the experience.  I met some other travelers on the tour and I am now with them in Sucre.  We took a night bus from Uyuni.  They are two English and one Scottish travelers.  Really nice people.  I have been learning a lot about different expressions and vocabulary that I had never heard of . . . its been quite fun.  Tonight, we are heading to La Paz on a night bus that should take about 13 hours.  We decided to splurge a bit and get a really nice bus with fully reclining seats.  It should be much easier to sleep on this one than the bus from Uyuni. 

This is a continued post.  I have been HORRIBLE about updating everything.  Part of the reason has been frustration with not being able to get pictures uploaded.  After spending a few days in La Paz, I left my friends and headed to Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca.  It was a bit bittersweet saying good-bye.  They were extremely nice people, but I was also looking forward to a bit of time to myself as well.  In La Paz, we did some different strange things.  It is a very unique city.  One of the things that we did was mountain bike down the world´s most dangerous road.  It was definitely not as dangerous as it sounds, but it was a lot of fun.  It used to be much more dangerous as traffic went in both directions.  Now, they have opened up a new road that most of the traffic uses.  The views were spectacular and it was by far and away the best bike that I have ridden before . . . full suspension, front and rear hydraulic brakes, etc.  I started getting a bit sick towards the end of our time in La Paz.  I´m feeling a bit better, but recovering slowly.  I pushed myself to hike up a hill nearby to get some great views of Copacabana, but with a cold and the altitude it was really slow gowing.  I´m still deciding on my time frame, but I should be in Peru in the next few days.  Here are just a few of the many pictures I have taken. 

Train ride to Tupiza . . . 12 hours after a 3 hour bus ride=brutal

Lago Oruro on the way to Tupiza

Hiking around in Tupiza

Exploring a canyon on a break from horseback riding.

Going up and getting ready to come down on bike - Tupiza

Time for some fun.

It was definitely a more calm ride and not as nice of a bike as the world´s most dangerous road, but definitely worth it.

 

Locals at a small town of about 30 people of the way to the salt flats.

 

Raul . . . the most enthusiastic soccer player that I´ve ever met.

Freezing at about 15,000 feet.

 

The crew

Vicuñas in front of one of the lagoons.

 

Me on what looks like Mars.

One of the deserts we passed through (Desierto de Dali)

 

Another desert, standing in front of Piedra del Arbol.

 

Of course I couldn´t resist a karate pose.

Our wheels for four days.

 

Flamingos on one of the lagoons.

 

More vicuñas

 

KARATE

The crew take two

 

We made it!  Salar de Uyuni.

 

 

12,000 square kilometers of salt flat.

Island in the middle of the flat.

It´s so vast that it is hard to show how big it really is.

 

Of course the salt flats trick shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sucre

Sucre

 Sucre

Lake Titicaca

 Copacabana

 

I hope everyone is doing well!  Much love!