Salar de Uyuni: Day 2

I woke up with a bit of altitude sickness. My eyes felt like they were trying to melt their way out of my body, my head pounded as if it had stopped breathing. Altitude sickness means your blood is not oxygenating properly, aka. there is not enough O2 circulating your body, and thus your organs struggle to function properly, particularly your brain. This happens because at high altitude there is a lower supply of oxygen in the air. We slept at 2,900m. Mild symptoms: headaches, nausea, dizziness, lack of appetite. All me. Severe symptoms: coughing up weird coloured liquids, breathlessness, confusion or loss of consciousness. Not me. Remedy: walk slowly or sit down, go down to lower altitude if experiencing severe symptoms, remove layers of clothing to allow your blood to flow unconstricted, sip on water at regular intervals and check you're peeing regularly too. This is a good sign your body is adapting to the altitude. Medical lesson complete. Now onto day two. 

First stop:

Red Lagoon (Laguna Colorada) 

The morning air was crisp, the skies warmed with a pink hue and the soil moist with hints of snow. We were one of the few tour groups at the lagoon at this early time. There was a peace in the air, one I had never felt before. It was as if I was alone enveloped in this beautiful landscape. The water was still. It reflected the curves of the surrounding mountains and the silhouettes of the birds and flamingoes. By far, one of my favourite landscapes.

We then drove to the highland lagoons of Bolivia: Lagoon Honda, Chearcota, Hedionda, Canapa, and drove through the Dali Rock Desert, aka Desierto de Siloli (Arbor de Piedra).

Lunch break

At a reasonable hour, Fran plated up a selection of vegetables, rice, potatoes, tuna and sausage to have while we soaked up the view of the lagoons amongst the beautiful rocks. It was windy but warm. In the far distance, we eyed up some vicunas, a smaller wild version of the llamas, and a volcano. 

Third stop
I won't bore you with the details of a lack of a toilet. Let's just say, men have it easier. Thank god for the rocks. As we headed off, we realised we could connect Alex's phone to the jeep and played her one and only playlist: a combination of sad and foreign songs, intervalled with some reggaeton and the odd last year summer tune. Perfect for a road trip. We stopped at the Chiguana Salt Flat where there is a trainline, a favourite for tourist selfies which made it hard for Matt to take his iconic railway shot. Nonetheless, we achieved the following:

And lastly, the Salt Hotel: Puerto Chubica. Yes, we slept in a hotel made out of salt. Walls, bed (under the mattress), floor, tables, chair like stools. Despite it being such an incredible experience in theory, when looking for a tour company we were looking for other sleep alternatives. It's important to be aware that building a Salt Hotel affects the local environment, often because of its waste management and of the extraction procedures of the salt found in the surrounding landscape, i.e. the Salar de Uyuni, a UNESCO world Heritage Site. However, unable to find an alternative, we just hoped to minimise any waste impact the two of us could have.

Our evening was entertained with music, good conversations and a meat-lover dish. So much for vegetarian catering. Early to bed = early to rise. We were excited to wake up early on our last day. We were going to see the sunrise and explore the salt flats.