Uyuni Salt Flats

We spent the entire day touring the Salt Flats.  Tremendous! Fabulous!  The flats are so big and so disorienting that you must go with a local guide. Even the local guides claim to get lost when the weather turns bad and they can't see the mountains along the edge.

The first stop was a tour of how they process the salt. Not much has changed about this process for the last 100 years.

Then we stopped by the old salt block hotel which is in the middle of the Salt Flats.  This hotel is no longer in use but is a nice place to escape the wind when the weather turns nasty.  The collection of flags out front have been hung by visitors.

Then we drove at least 40 minutes straight across the flats at 65 mph to reach an island which is just about in the middle of the flats.  The size of the Salt Flats is truly mind boggling. You can see the curve of the earth as if you are on the ocean.  

We hiked on the island of mutant cacti for about an hour while our driver prepared our lunch.

Lunch on the flats

Then we stopped to take pictures.  Taking goofy pictures is the best thing about visiting the flats.  Behold our fun

The following is my favorite vacation picture ever.  Look how annoyed Butch looks. Can't you just hear him... Would you get out of that bottle already?

We finished the day watching the sunset over the flats.  Tomorrow morning we fly to La Paz for our last day in South America.