Uyuni

With my Bolivian visa in hand, Leonie and I took an overnight bus to the Argentianian and Bolivian border towns La Quiaca and Villazon, respectively. The immigration officers put my passport on the table, without looking at it, while we waited in the cold and I crossed my fingers and held my breath. Finally, the officers stamped the passport, indicating that we had left Argentina but with no indication that we entered Bolivia. We asked six different officers for the entry stamp but were unsuccessful. 

We took a cab to Tupiza, where we acclimated to the altitude for two days and ate at the same restaurant four times. When we told the hostel owner about our immigration worries, she suspected that the officers wanted us to pay a fine for not entering the country legally. We were bummed because we did everything right. We asked for the stamp and the green piece of paper and everything! 

We left for our four day, three night Uyuni Salt Flat Tour with our new familia - Leo Ventura the driver, Julia the cook, and two car mates Cassandre and Patrice from Switzerland. Another law student! I can't escape. 

The tour built each day, and we visited inca ruins, rock formations, the red, black, and white lakes, and saw flamingoes and llamas. I got to swim in my first hot spring! We stayed in basic accommodations (aka cold) and spent a night in a hotel made of salt. 

The salt hotel overlooked the edge of the flats. During tea time, I sat outside and watched one of the most beautiful sunsets of my life (I cried). I struggled to rank it in my top three, amongst the the sunset in Nafplio (I cried) and the sunset at the end of the Camino (I cried). I marveled at the differences between the three emotional outbursts. I cried in Nafplio because I was in love in a deeply and consuming way. I cried in Finisterra because I was overwhelmed by the incredible feat I had accomplished - happy that I did it alone but excited that someday I'd be sharing the sunset with someone else. I cried in Uyuni because I was content with every difficult decision I've ever made, because each difficult decision led me to exactly where I needed to be. With most sunsets I feel a tinge of sadness, thinking about what I haven't accomplished and what still needs to get done. But with this sunset I felt at peace with where I am and hopeful about what's to come. I was thankful I had the resources, friends, strength, courage, and faith to make those difficult decisions, which helped create this current version of me.

On the final day of the tour, we hiked before sunrise and took what Leo called "fotos locos" at the salt flats. We stayed the night in Uyuni and felt the glory of a hot shower and of wifi.

We learned at the Uyuni immigration office that the border crossing process changed its stamp policy three weeks ago, hence our crossing confusion. Bless! The guy even let me take a pic of the memo that was issued for when I exit Bolivia (such a wannabe lawyer move).