Salt desert, flamingos and volcanoes

With a heavy heart, we say goodbye to Kathrin, who is still not well enough to accompany us due to her health, and we head to the bus to Uyuni. We have no high expectations for this small town on the edge of the famous salt desert, but this is where the tours of the surrounding area start. We decide to go on the 3-day tour with Red Planet Expeditions. Uyuni is full of tour operators, but after extensive research, Red Planet seems to be a reliable provider without drunk drivers and junk vehicles.

The next morning at 11 o'clock, we start our journey in our jeep with driver Leonardo and guide Lucio. Our fellow travelers are Heike from southern Germany, as well as Martina and Ida from Sweden. Our first stop is the Uyuni train cemetery... so after a 10-minute drive, everyone gets out again. But we will get in and out countless times on our tour...

We continue to the Pueblo..., where we are shown the process of salt extraction. There are also countless stalls with identical merchandise waiting for shopping-hungry Gringos (tourists), and we are served our lunch. Rice with vegetables, veggie croquettes for Lisa, and of course, Coca Cola, without which nothing works in South America. For dessert, we have apple pie, a nice change.

The next highlight takes us to a green high plateau with llamas. The proud animals patiently endure the visitors' selfies, but at a safe distance, and graze on the lush area bordered by small streams.

Refreshed, we now head into the salt desert, a gigantic white expanse with volcanoes visible in the distance. The deep blue sky completes the unique natural spectacle of vastness, salt flats, and distant peaks perfectly, as the sun shines down. This place is naturally the setting for various perspective photos and videos that Lucio takes with us and the other group members from the neighboring jeep.

After the photo shoot, Leonardo takes us to a peaceful viewpoint with a mountain panorama, where we admire the sunset. The orange ball sinks deeper and deeper until the salt and horizon are immersed in pink-violet-blue light.

Once the sun has disappeared behind the dark mountain giants, we disappear too - heading towards the hotel.

Here, we warm up with a hot cup of tea or coffee (Lisa) and look forward to dinner. Unfortunately, it doesn't turn out as good as our lunch, but we are so tired that we fall into bed soon anyway. It's cold out here in the desert, but we don't need the warm sleeping bags TONIGHT...

On the second day of the tour, we get up at 6 o'clock, and even have some slices of Gouda cheese for breakfast - probably the first one we eat in South America, wow!

Today, we continue to higher altitudes, which can also become very windy. Our first stop is the red lagoon. After a long uphill drive through the dry and rocky desert, a flat lake with a reddish hue suddenly appears in front of us, surrounded by mountains. As we get closer, we also catch sight of the residents of the lagoon: flamingos. Hundreds of them stand in the shimmering water, looking for plankton. We get out of the jeep to observe this natural spectacle more closely, while the wind blows fiercely around us - which is not surprising, as we are already at an altitude of 4000 meters, even though it feels completely unreal.

Today's travel day is full of activities - we climb some rocks in the middle of the desert and see two more lagoons, including the famous Laguna Colorada, located in ... National Park. We have lunch outdoors at nearly 4800 meters, and during the digestion walk, we should acclimate ourselves to the altitude, because later we will be walking around an actively bubbling volcano at 5000 meters above sea level.

A bit overwhelmed by the sensory input, but full of spectacular impressions, we eventually drive from the volcano to our accommodation and park in front of a half-finished building in freezing cold. Tonight, we are sleeping at an altitude of 4400 meters, a record height for the night - Lisa takes a few pills (against altitude sickness).

Without sleeping bags, this night would not have been enjoyable - despite her sleeping bag and three additional blankets, Lisa shivers and feels as if she has run a marathon - the altitude does not leave us unaffected. Sebastian marvels at the incredibly sparkling starry sky at night (approximately one star every 2 cm), before he crawls into his sleeping bag and falls asleep comfortably warm, unlike Lisa.

The next morning, we start again at 7 o'clock in the morning. Today's program is more relaxed, as half of the group will return to Uyuni and the other half will continue to Chile. We make some stops at lakes and lush green meadows with llamas and reach our starting point in the late afternoon. Quite exhausted and full of impressions to process, we only have one plan for today: to chill! So we decide for the classic evening program - pizza and Netflix! Almost a little bit like home...but only almost.