Let it be known I was not planning to come to Bolivia🇧🇴. This was mainly because I hardly knew anything of this country. The one thing I did know was that it required a $160 visa for Americans. The two biggest attractions of Bolivia are the Salt Flats of Uyuni and Lake Titicaca, which is shared with Peru. When I asked other travelers who had been to Bolivia and the Salt Flats, many of them responded that it was "life changing".
I honestly didn't get it. How could something like that be life changing? I assumed they just meant it was an amazing experience.
My boyfriend and I realized we were going to be able to fit in a 3 day tour of the Salt Flats, leaving from San Pedro de Atacama (S.P.A). So my plans changed and I did go to Bolivia.Well, the 3 day tour from S.P.A to Uyuni through the Salt Flats was life changing. By the afternoon of Day 1, I felt something change inside me. I was extremely excited to be exploring nature and to also see how excited my boyfriend got. I no longer felt the need to go to big cities or fancy tourist attractions. I wanted to see and explore more of natures beauty. Not only that - I realized I had left so much of natures beatify unexplored back home.Justin & I were able to practice a lot of our Spanish with our new tour-buddies from Mexico!Day 1: San Pedro de Atacama, Chile to Bolivia. This day is filled with volcanoes, lagoons, and hot springs. Day 2: Rocks, lagoons, flamingos, llamas, and a salt hotel.We explored a lot of volcanic rocks and more lagoons. This route also lead us through lots of flamingos and llamas. The flamingos didn't really like to be close to humans and stayed far away. As we walked up, some other birds started making loud noises as they flew towards us. We knew immediately we were at risk to be pooped on. Sure enough, as the flamingos flew away, bird poop fell from the air. Thankfully, we all escaped escaped.The llamas also eventually ran away from us, but since we were the first truck we got some good photos in still. We ended the day at a hotel made of salt. The floor was made of salt pepples and the walls of salt bricks.
Day 3: Salt Flats of Uyuni, Bolivia
We had an early wake up call (5:15AM) so we could see the sun rise over the Salt Flats from Cactus Island. What's Cactus Island? Well, it is a really random island in the middle of the Salt Flats full of cacti.
After breakfast, we ventured farther out into the salt flats. It was truly something to be in the middle of so much white. It was fun being able to take classic photos. I definitely want to go back when there is water (December - February).
At the end of the tour, we had the afternoon to explore Uyuni. Uyuni does not have much to offer, but thankfully Justin and I were together for most of it. I said goodbye as he made is way back to San Francisco. I then took my first bus in South America (night bus to Sucre).
