¡Buen viaje!: Uyuni (again) and La Paz (again).

The crossing from Chile into Bolivia was spectacular, the same kind of scenery we had seen some months before on our Salar de Uyuni tour but this time the mountains were all snow covered. We passed through the border uneventfully and when we changed buses it was obvious we were back in Bolivia - the music was blaring out of cellphones and there were tassles and religious trinkets in the driver´s window. We cruised into Uyuni for the second time and once again were not too impressed with the town itself. The prices, although high for Bolivia in Uyuni, were a welcome change! We found a hotel room and ate a pizza each in front of the TV all for around $50 total for both of us, room included. We also booked a tour for the next day to the salt flats because we wanted to see what it looked like covered in water. We weren´t dissapointed - it was so different. Again it was hot and sunny but this time the 4x4s drove in 6 inches of water and rain clouds threatened off in the distance. We were really happy to have seen it a second time but agreed that it was more impressive when dry. After we came back to Uyuni we waited until 2am for a train to Oruro, where thankfully we didn´t have to stay the night, and caught a bus right away to La Paz.

The border between Bolivia and Chile.

Yup, we´re back in Bolivia.

One of the 70 or so trucks heading out on the watery salt flat.

Elise times two!

Mike times two!

Under this water is salt.

Trucks driving through the water on the salt flat.

Once in La Paz we settled in for a couple of nights to do some laundry (which took three days!), organize a bike tour and see some Cholitas wrestling. In La Paz and all over Bolivia you can´t help but see women in wide skirts and a sort of top hat in the streets, usually carrying a multi coloured sack around their backs. These women can be found in La Paz selling everything and anything, especially vegetables. Well the Cholitas wreslters take their hats, skirts and long braids into the ring for choreographed wrestling between eachother and also men. To say it was the funniest thing I´ve seen in Bolivia is an understatement - it was HILARIOUS. They all had characters, good and bad, and the moves were rather shoddy but the atmosphere was great. We had wrestlers thrown beside us into the crowd, were sprayed with soft drinks and watched as a tiny woman launched herself from the top rope onto the ground, not the ring! At one point a wrestler known as ´the pirate´ smashed his opponent over the head with a bag of garbage, full of chicken bones. A dog in the ring loved eating the leftovers. The only bad thing were the rowdy tourists who were buying sandwiches and jello to throw at the wrestlers. Not cool.