We left Uyuni to take a 2.5 day tour of the salar and other otherworldly places. The salar is hundreds of square miles of salt, one of the most bizarre landscapes I,ve seen. The first night we stayed in a small hotel made completely of salt blocks, with the entire floor being loose salt grains. It was cold, but not too bad. We drank and played cards with the two couples we were travelling with, Australian and French. We learned a french card game that is similar to hearts. The second day, I started to feel sick and it only got worse. It must have bacteria or something. I started vomiting early in the evening and tried to go to bed early, but guess what? It got down to 20 below freezing! I slept a total of maybe 2.5 hours and had to get up to vomit in the night. We were at 4300 meters (over 14,000 ft) and I was extra dehydrated because of the vomiting. Needless to say, it was a rough night. We saw a volcano, geysers, wild foxes, vicuñas (llama family), flamingos, etc. It was incredible. We crossed into Chile yesterday and now are in a small town in the driest desert in the world (Atacama). I feel completely well now and it also feels good to be at lower elevation and in a warmer climate. Chile is very different from Bolivia. I am not used to seeing white people that are not tourists. The sound of the Spanish is more difficult to understand and everything is more expensive. Bolivia is the poorest South American country and the most indigenous, very different from Chile who has received many European immigrants over the past two centuries.
1 comments:
good to hear you're feeling better...sounded terrible. thanks for the history comments and whatnot.. very helpful
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