The luxury bus to Uyuni.

Very excited now. Getting close to one of the highlights of the trip – the Salar de Uyuni. Arrived bright and early at the bus station ready for our luxury bus trip. Followed the cabby’s instructions to go to bay 2. Found out the bus left from bay 8. Watched all the local buses come in and exclaimed at the poor state of repair of most – bald tyres, rust, bits hanging off – so glad we had paid the extra for the luxury one.

But hang on – there is no luxury bus! The aforementioned was in fact our bus. Oh dear. Do we bail and go find a long distance taxi? Do we see if a luxury bus does in fact exist? Spanish continues to be lousy, so figure the best thing to do is jump aboard and cross all the fingers and toes and pray that the Virgin on the front of the bus will take care of us. There was a young French couple already on board, so reckoned if they could do it, so could we.....and off we go, bumpity bump, all the way to Uyuni.

Once again, broken seat, but comfortable. Once again, the aisles filled with luggage. And once again, spectacular scenery and a lot of fun. And we did have a loo stop along the way. Yup the blokes jumped out and lined up along the wall. The Bolivian women just squatted beside the road. The French lass and I found a Boliviano style loo – starting blocks. Not comfortable but serviceable.

Arrived into Uyuni mid afternoon. Dusty, wide streets, mining town though now a tourist mecca as everyone heads to the salt lakes. Comfortable hotel, decorated with cactus wood but no hot water, sadly. Found a much lauded pizza joint run by a not friendly Yank and his Bolivian wife. Having been told to eat carbs to help with altitude sickness, thought this should do the trick. And ok it was. One of the best pizzas I have ever eaten, washed down with a nice chilled Chilean sauvignon blanc.

And tomorrow – off to the salt lakes YEAH! (We ha a first glimpse today - awesome!)