Over winter break I traveled to Bolivia with four friends. One place we ventured to was Salar de Uyuni. My friends and I invested in a 3 day/ 2 night tour. I lathered up on sunscreen; I could feel the sun beating down on my skin. Our tour guide, Gregario, spoke zero English and kindly humored our very broken Spanish. The Salt Flats were our first stop. My friends and I posed for perspective pictures, taking advantage of our chance to create unique illusions without the need for photoshop! It was miles and miles and miles of salt. I felt like I could see the curvature of the Earth. Pictures couldn’t do it justice. I was awe-struck.

The views throughout the tour were out-of-this-world beautiful, but the hostels were far from glamorous. However, it’s worth mentioning the hostels were interesting in that they were mostly made of salt bricks.

We stopped at several lagoons, two of which had flamingos! The diversity throughout the tour surprised me.  The ability to witness the seemingly endless Salt Flats, red volcanic rock, and turquoise lagoons with flamingos all within the first 24 hours of the tour astonished me.

On our last day we stopped at a cluster of geysers. There were no barriers preventing you from walking inches from the edge of these thermal pools of bubbling mud. The strong smell of sulfur was distinct. We mindfully walked through the maze of geysers, careful not to get too distracted by their unique allure.

One of our last major stops was a hot spring. We paid six or so Bolivianos to use a changing room. I was bundled in sweatpants and a jacket before stripping down into shorts and a sports bra. We quickly slid into the hot-tub-like water and relaxed in the natural warmth for twenty minutes. People from all over the world surrounded us; girls on my left were speaking Portuguese while a group of people on my right were speaking Japanese. Once again, I was left in awe!

These are a handful of the dozen breathtaking stops along our tour. If you ever make it to South America, Salar de Uyuni is worth the trek to Bolivia.