Mama told me there would be days like this!
Perfect weather, incredible scenery around every corner, and no rush over 209 km to the Salt Flat town of Uyuni. Driving out of the high altitude Potosi and its dust, was not unduly difficult, given that every car and bus wants to cut you off, so we managed to head down the very narrow streets and take to the hills.
And magnificent hills they are. We passed through a couple of small towns, one being around a mine for zinc called Porco, and others mere vestiges of villages. The mountains were spectacular with huge geological folds visible in every direction, and "miradors" (Spanish for Look Out) every mile or so. I was the last rider today and stopped regularly. I put the GoPro on my topbox facing backwards for some nice video.
As it happened Jeff was in a much better physical state than over the last few days and would have ridden, but Willy had not yet changed his front tyre with the bubble in it. (I was very glad he had seen it in time, as a blow-out at speed could have been disastrous for Jeff).
About eighty percent of the way to the hotel, there is a luscious green valley called the Llama Valley by locals, with thousands of llamas spread across the plain and managed by local co-operatives. I stopped to let a whole family of llamas cross the road at one point, then joined all the others at another point where we walked out onto the flat to take dozens of pictures of the llamas, the river in the valley and the hills surrounding it. They were very special, given great light and no wind. I just stood and looked around 360 degrees in awe.
As we came to Uyuni, JC and I stopped on the hilltop overlooking the town and the saltflats beyond and marvelled at the scale and the pink. Apparently this is the only place on earth with a consistent flat surface that can be seen from space, with less than 1m of variance across the whole area.
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