Salty clouds - Bolivian babies

Slow ride! Take it patiently! Damn right. Bolivian internet sucks! But, apart from an irritatingly slow interconnectedness websitean wants AND needs, Bolivia has been better than I expected. We, meaning Jonathan, I, and our hilariously fun traveling French companion Nordine, have been biting through Bolivia. Yesterday, we awoke early to beat traffic at the border, but had a stupid issue with the sole-working border cheif, who took forever to attend to our needs to cross into Bolivia. It turned out the only thing that was out-of-line was that there were no more GREEN stickers for my passport clearance. So, we waited and waited and he FINALLY found one in a HUGE safe, probably filled with just GREEN stickers. Scared we´d miss the bus to Uyuni, we moved like dogs to the terminal. Amazingly, upon arival, we discovered that the BOlivian time zone is an hour back, giving us just enough time to buy a ticket and hot cinnamon juice and jump on the sketchy looking bus.

You know what, Bolivian buses DO suck! I still cannot believe the trek we did, constantly bumpy, winding up dangerously curvy mountain sides. The desert landscape was empty and pretty much the same the whole way, but twas nice to be on the road. After a strange vomit-like substance flooded the floor, we got some deep naps. After 8 hours, we made it to Uyuni, met two Columbian backpackers and followed them to a nice hostel, where we layed our stuff down - eventually getting 10 hours of sleep. But before that we had a great night.

Imagine a small fried chicken shack filled with Bolivians glued to the TV screen shooting big Hollywood KING KONG into their faces. Yeah, we were into it to. Yay Hollywood...or not.

Later, we followed loud noises and found ourselves inside a humungous packed gymnasium, where the Uyuni girls basketball championship game was in full force. Twas super awesome being part of another communal gathering.

On the record, BOlivian babies are the cutest in the world and I WANT ONE!

Today, we took a tour to the worlds greatest salt flats, which blew our minds to salt crystals. Imagine a vast white desert of salt. Blue sky, white ground. Even the clouds were filled with salt. In the middle of the white desert lies an island of ancient coral reef. Some quick history: the salt flats used to be an ocean tons and tons of years ago, and now it has dried, and on this random huge island, cacti have grown. Crazy views. Beautiful scenery. Lots of pictures and fun. We ate quinua and meat, salad, drank coca cola, and chewed on some coca leaves. Good for digestion and altitude sickness. What a crazy day.

Tonight, soon, very soon, we will take a night bus to La Paz with our crew of 5 and continue to on Copacabana, a Lake Titicaca pueblo. We have a few days to get to Peru, but we´ll make it. The road never ends. We are ready for more.