Bolivia: Uyuni Salt Flats

 Took an overnight bus ride in order to venture into the Uyuni Salt Flats. 

Literally bribing the Salt Flat ranger with coca leaves because our company didn’t obtain proper paper work to enter the Flats.

  An obligatory picture at the Salt Flats is a fun perspective photo.

 

Team 2! Girls from Norway, Ireland and the US.

 National Park island within the Salt Flats.

 Filling our SUVs with gas as we took an “Incan Bathroom” stop.

Rocky terrain. Over the course of the three days, we drove 30 minutes on pavement and the rest was on salt, rock, boulders, gravel, sand and snow. These vehicles last less than two years due to the conditions they have to drive in. But man, going 100mph on the wide open “roads” was a blast.

 

 
Woke up at 4am with temperatures well below freezing in a hostel with no electricity. Sunrise this morning at Sol de Manana hot springs. I was too cold from the 5am geyser hike that I couldn’t bring myself to endure much more wind.

 

Stunning scenery here. Years ago and meteor hit this area. NASA and other organizations came in to do research on it and found the area’s conditions were remarkably similar to Mars. They then conducted Mars trainings. Before our guide told us this story and when we were on the other side of the mountain, it reminded me of images of Mars.