illusions and delusions

sitting in an internet cafe in the small tourist trap town of Uyuni, Bolivia. Why did we come here? The same reason most come here, to see salar de Uyuni, the largest and most extreme salt flats in the world. It isn´t really possible to accurately describe this place, or even capture it in a picture. Imagine bright blue clear skies, and as your eyes fall down to the horizon, they are met with an endless expanse of white salt, salt that is 12 meters thick. In the distance are some mountains, but when they meet the horizon, all that is seen is a surreal reflection. It seems as though there is no perspective, depth, reality to what you are seeing. The reflections of the mountains are so clear, at times you don´t know where the real mountain ends and where the reflection stops, which reminded us of the ink blot pictures shrinks show you. On the first day our guide, Garcia, a shy, quiet, disco hits loving young bolivian man, drove us all around the flats. We stopped at a hotel that is made completely out of salt and had lunch there. Dylan and i indulged in the tourist pastime of taking perspective pictures that allow you to make something in the foreground look much much bigger than a person that is standing further back. After adventuring all over the flats he took us to our hostel, which was also made of salt, and at the base of a volcano, and surrounded by ponds with little frogs and flamingos. The next morning we climbed the volcano, making a quick stop to view some ancient mummies in a cave on the volcano. The mummies predate the incans and were mummified in really strange positions, such as the infamous thinker pose. reaching the top of the volcano was quite a feat, at the top we were at about 4200 meters (14000 feet). We also visited an ísland on our excursion, isla incahuasi. The entirety of this ancient sea bed is barren and desolate, but on this island lay more cacti than i have ever seen in my life. the island was made of igneous rock and ancient coral skeletons. some of the cacti were over 12 meters tall and 1200 years old!!!! It was a sight i could hardly believe. dlyan and I just sat on the top of the island in wonder and awe.
When we arrived back at uyuni no one in the group seemed to believe what had just happened. we all stumbled out of the car unsure of what to do or what had even just happened. so, we went and had a couple of beers to relax and digest. A new friend, lucas of spain, joined us and we sat and talked for hours. Into the coldness of the night, so, instead of going to buy bus tickets for the next day, we went back to our hostel and got warm and cozy. Hence, the reason we are still in uyuni. this morning we discovered that the bus was full, so, we have another day and a half here. There is nothing, nothing..to do in uyuni. i have been going a little crazy. Hope you have enjoyed this update.
much much love to everyone at home!
jacqui y dylan