i know this is terrible bratty thing to say but after traveling for a while, certain things that normally would have astounded me under any other circumstance have started to feel underwhelming.. like UGH another UNESCO world heritage site?! Do i realllllyyy have to visit? (But reallly.. who decides on what gets to be a world heritage site cus i have a couple of complaints btw…) i guess it’s human nature to start taking things for granted which is terrible because I’m living my dream (go ahead.. punch me in the face) but man.. the landscapes in Southern Bolivia and Northern Chile are amazinglyyy spectacular. i've never ever encountered anything like them before.. super trippy... especially Salar de Uyuni
i was really lucky to travel with 2 awesome Aussie chicas, Megan and Krista, who i met in Sucre. We took the night bus to Uyuni and arrived at around 4AM and started shopping around for tours at 6. We booked one and were on the road at around 11. The highlight of the day was obviously the salt flats where we had a fun photo shoot and since girls just wanna have fun, we got neeeeekid... and rode bananas (not at the same time cus thats too sexual)
We also stopped by Fish Island which is a steep island where gigantic, phallic shaped cacti, some over 9 meters tall (!!!!!!!) cover the landscape. It was great since i love pricks & dicks HAHAHA.
After spending the night in a hotel made completely out of salt, we made it to Laguna Colorada the next day which was one of the most spectacular things i've ever seen. the water is bright red due to the result of high levels of algae and plankton. There were sooo many flamingos too!!
We also stopped by the Siloli Desert where we saw a ton of bizarre rock formations, such as the famous Tree Rock; Sol de Mañana, a volcanically actively region where the landscape is marked by sinkholes of bubbling mud and geysers spewing steam 50 meters into the air; Termas de Polques, where locals believe the mineral-rich water relieves arthritis and other ailments. The refreshing waters are exactly what guests need after a few hard days of travel across el Salar de Uyuni; and Laguna Verde... (if you can't tell i totally stole the description above from some tour operator website.. sorry, my brain is soooo dead and LEZZZ BE HONEST... i know most people came here to just see pics! reading aint as fundamental as it use to be)
After crossing the border from Bolivia into Chile, which was pretty much hassle free (yay!), we made our way to San Pedro de Atacama.. the most driest place on earth (the thirst is realll y'all).. it was so nice to be back in warm, sunny weather.. and despite the fact that we woke up 4AM... since we had limited time, we decided to hop onto two more tours that lasted until 11PM ... and made our way to Valley de la Luna & Valley de la Muerta which looked like the mooon and we also did a stargazing tour at night since it was the optimal time to watch meteor showers.. i saw the biggest shooting star i've ever seen go across the entire sky.. and had my first glass of amazing red wine which was the absolute besttttt.
Anywayy.. that's all for now. I'm in Santiago, heading to Valpo so finally have decent WiFi. I'll be spending Christmas in Vina del Mar with my lovely friend from home, Kendra.. it'll be nice to be with familiar faces :) Till then XOXO