The Rest of the Tour

On day three of our tour from Tupiza we awoke with everyone at least a little sick, including our driver and cook. About the only food we had in common was the wine that we had had the night before. Mandy and I seemed in the worst shapem but we pressed on to the ¨stone tree¨which is a group of lava rocks in unusual shapes. I found a small daisy-like flower in the gravel that doubles for soil at these altitudes, but while it was rooted there was no sign of a plant, and the flower was green with the centre being a slightly lighter green. Gerardo thought that it was the beginning of a mound of moss waiting for water to arrive, but .......
We passed atotal of five lagunas (lakes) all with Flamingos, and got some great close shots at the one lake of at least 2 types. We finally passed an active volcano, although the steam was only rising from a side vent. But we has lunch in the middle of an old lava flow, looking at a field of rocks which had been thrown there during a previous erruption. That evening we arrived at the Salar de Uyuni and bunked down in a building made of salt blocks, on beds of salt. They were actually quite comfortable and we slept well. Joy did a nice painting in the village and made some new friends as she always does when she gets her paints out.
Naxt day we were up and on our way by 5;30am to catch the sunrise on the Salar. The Salar is a huge salt lake about 12,000 sq. km in size and up to 20+ meters deep (or is it thick?). It is etched by a pattern of lines amd was quite beautiful in the morning light. We stopped at one of the ïslands¨in the salar, and this one is made of coral attached to volcanic rock, indicating the 2 phenomenons which created the salar. Joy did a lovely painting of the island and then did sketches for Gerardo and Sylvia, while our 2 Australian friends were off with Matthew (from London) doing funny photos out on the flats. We later saw holes filled with salt water from springs beneath the salt. We were a little nervous because it felt like walking on thin ice back home. We visited the famous salt hotel which is now a museum and has been replaced by new salt buildings near-by. We also saw the salt workings and arrived at Uyuni after a visit to the ATM.
Uyuni is mainly used for a military base, railroad town, and salt mining. One of the few tourist sites in town is an area of scrapped railroad equipment and Joy and I decided to walk the three Km to see it the next morning. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I spotted 2 young men heading out from town on an intercepting course. You must realize that the three kms cover flat, but desolate area with no people and the train wreckage would be the perfect place for us to be freed from the weight of our cameras. I could not think of any reason for them to be going out there, so we spun on our heels and walked briskly back to town. They carried on for a short while and then returned the way that they had come. They may have had some reason for their walk but they were paying a lot of attention to us, so it was right to skip the train graveyard.
Nect post I will fill you in on our visit to Potosi, once the richest city in the world, and the miners festival that we stumbled on to.
Jim