Salar de Uyuni and La Paz

After a few hours of sleep, we had to get up early the next day to start the 3-day tour to Uyuni. First, we took a minibus up to the border with Bolivia at 4700m. Already on this journey, we could imagine that we would be surrounded by unique landscapes in the next few days. At the border, after a small breakfast, we changed vehicles to a 4x4 jeep, which would be our home for the next few days.

Our 4x4 Jeep being loaded with our luggage.

Before we set off, there was time for a round of football.

As luck would have it, we were once again fortunate with our group. On board were two Italians, Francesco and Alessandro, with whom we immediately got along well, and an older Spanish couple, Pepa and Miguel. Pepa was an incredibly warm-hearted person who took care of us in the next few days and was very eager to teach us more Spanish. Also on board was our Bolivian guide, who was also a pretty funny guy with a unfortunately not very varied taste in music. So, in the next few days, we had to listen to Despacito in the car about a thousand times, apart from that, we communicated in Spanish, English, Italian, German, with hands and feet, and above all with a lot of laughter. So, a pretty international and funny group. The adventure could begin.

From left to right: Francesco, Alessandro, Pepa, Andreas, myself, and Miguel

The first destination were the Hot Springs, where we could take a bath with a fantastic view.

After that, we went to the geysers, where Andreas had a mishap that fortunately ended well: Somehow, he managed to step into the geyser mud and just in the nick of time pulled his foot out. Fortunately, the mud was not too hot, he spent only hours cleaning it off his shoes...

A lot of work to get this shoe clean again

Finally, on the first day, we went to several beautiful lagoons, one of which was red and full of flamingos. In the evening, we slept at 4500m in a fairly comfortable accommodation in the midst of the mountains.

Our room already looked like a mess after 5 minutes...

The second day did not differ much from the first. It was very nice to drive around all day in this environment with this group and visit one unique place after another. But at this point, it's probably better to let the pictures speak.

The children in the second refuge also had fun with us!

The highlight, however, was still to come on day 3, the huge salt flats near Uyuni, Salar de Uyuni. We started very early to be able to watch the sunrise in the Salar de Uyuni. Over thousands of square kilometers, all you can see is white, truly a breathtaking place where we spent several hours, took many funny photos, and which would also mark the end of our tour. The Salar de Uyuni covers more than 13,000 km2 and is thus larger than the whole of Tyrol!

Smoking just for the picture

Mama Pepa taking care of us

After that, we all went to Uyuni together. We spent the afternoon with Francesco and Alessandro before continuing to La Paz, the supposed highest capital city in the world, by night bus. (Officially, it is not the capital of Bolivia)

Pretty exhausted, sleep deprived, but above all, completely without expectations, we arrived in La Paz, at our Couchsurfing host Manuel's place, and it took us a while to realize that we once again had incredible luck. After a few hours of sleep, Manuel came back home during his lunch break, to his truly extraordinary, luxurious apartment, served us expensive whiskey, told us about his life, and then had lunch with us, which was served by his house staff.. And when he asked us if we would prefer homemade ice cream or a mix of fresh fruits for dessert, we could only laugh. We felt like we were in the wrong movie, never would we have expected, especially not in La Paz, to live with a pretty wealthy man through Couchsurfing, who spoiled us from front to back.

Indulging...

I think in the next few days, we drank alcohol worth more than our previous travel budget, always had a great lunch served, and also realized more and more that Manuel was not only very successful and rich, but also a quite eccentric person. He told us very bizarre stories from his life, and the climax was probably when he introduced me to his little stuffed dog named "Ton," which he allegedly took everywhere with him. At first, I thought it was just a funny joke until he proudly showed me Ton's Facebook page. It was full of pictures showing the dog sitting in a restaurant or in business class in front of his own expensive meal. It was also full of pictures with celebrities or in front of famous monuments. Especially how proud and serious he told me all this made everything a bit strange. Anyway, he was generally a nice guy, and we definitely can't deny that we enjoyed staying with him. During these days, we also explored the nightlife in La Paz a bit. As luck would have it, we also came across the famous, infamous underground bar Route 36. Pretty much every backpacker in La Paz wants to visit this bar, but since it is not official, changes its location frequently, and of course, does not have an official address, it is not easy to find. We found it without really looking for it, and what a coincidence, we met two Tyroleans from Jenbach in this bar.

Having fun..

In the following days, our luck left us a bit. After the initial joy over the cheap and good food in Bolivia, we soon regretted not being more careful about what we were consuming. Almost simultaneously, both of us got a stomach infection and were completely bedridden for a few days. Since Manuel had to fly to London, we stayed at a hostel in La Paz for a few days and during this time, we saw nothing except our bed and the toilet bowl. Not exactly nice, but it is probably part of the experience, and afterwards, you can appreciate traveling, the beautiful things, and simply the feeling of being well and healthy even more. Soon, we continued to Copacabana and towards Peru..

Author: Gabriel

Edit: Andreas

PS: Alessandro and Francesco put together a video of our Uyuni trip, here is the link: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10212283570296847&id=1006211164