04/04/23

At breakfast, I exchange ideas with the Australian about Bolivia. He still has the Salar tour ahead of him. After that, I stroll around the market and buy a juicy mango, dry cheese empanadas, and Bolivian student food with exotic nuts and banana chips. Freshly squeezed orange juice is available on every corner for around 70 cents. In the afternoon, I go to the Bancofie branch and Alhamdulillah they have my card!

Afterwards, I take a mindful walk to withdraw money and buy a bus ticket on Fernbusstraße (there is still no proper bus station in Uyuni). To find the bus street, you don't need Google Maps, you just need to follow your hearing. The numerous bus companies lined up next to each other all have at least one person shouting random city names, which then mix into a chaotic canon. Most of the time, La Paz, Oruro, and Potosí are shouted; these seem to be the most popular connections here.

The culinary selection as a pescetarian is very limited in Uyuni. There are countless grill restaurants, chicken roasters, hamburger stalls, and open-air grills, mainly offering llama meat, but also lamb, beef, and pork. After a long search, I find the Llama Cafe, which contrary to its name is not a llama meat specialty restaurant, but a veggie cafe with local dishes interpreted in a vegetarian way and various craft beers. Of course, it is full of European tourists. The food is a welcome change from pizza mozzarella and dry cheese empanadas. The owner is talkative and proudly tells me that he wants to make a statement against the excessive meat consumption in the region and wants to convince locals of his cuisine. Very honorable, but still a long way to go.

In the hostel, I pack my things and chat with Hector, also a hobby photographer from the Dominican Republic. He has been waiting for days for more rain to take drone shots of the reflection in the Salar.

The night bus of the company Emperador is old and musty, and the saleswoman obviously lied to me when she assured me that they were Cama seats (reclining seats). There is not much more to adjust than with a normal car seat. Combined with my height, for which the buses here are never designed anyway, it is a largely sleepless night.