The Largest and Highest
After waiting for three hours for our Landcruiser to be repaired, we finally headed into the white plain that extended from our salt hotel to well beyond the horizon. 
The Salar de Uyuni is highest and largest salt lake in the world with an area of 12,000 sq km at an altitude of 3650 meters. It´s more than double the size of the salt lake in Utah. The smooth plain was a relief from the gravel ruts that passed for roads during the previous two days. Trucks race across the salt at highway speeds without rattling our teeth or knocking our heads against the ceiling. To protect from snowblindness, sunglasses are a necessity for all except the drivers who seem immune or possibly half blind already.
The blinding white landscape spawned creativity for many of the tourists who jumped, danced, walked on water and distorted perspective in hundreds of photographs and we were no exception. During the wet season the dry plain is covered with several inches of water that creates a perfect reflection of the sky, but we only saw a small pond.
Standing in the plain, islands of rock appear to float above the horizon because of the heat rising off the plain. We stopped at a relatively small island called Incahuasi (Inca’s Hope) to play in the salt and climb the rocks. The island is covered in large cacti and all the tourist necessities, such as a restaurant and gift shop.
I would never have imagined that such a simple landscape could be so beautiful and captivating.
