Welcome to Bolivia. Enjoy our Awesome.

Pictures are updated for your perusing pleasure.

Entering Bolivia from Argentina was a bit of a shock. Bolivia is a bit rougher around the edges: the roads are bad, the people work hard for just a few dollars a day, trash piles up on the side of the highway... not to mention gourmet ice cream shops and steakhouses are completely MIA.

But we've been amazed by the friendliness of the people and the unbelievably beautiful scenery. Our introduction to Bolivia was Tupiza - a desert town with beautiful red canyons and cacti dotting the landscape. But when we're talking of beautiful scenery, we have to focus on our 4-day tour of the Bolivian Altiplano and the Salt Flats.

This tour is a popular one and with good reason. The Altiplano ("high plains") comprises the Southwest region of Bolivia all the way up to the Capitol at La Paz. The area actually is home to the majority of Bolivia's population, but it's also barren in places and it's home to snow-capped mountains, smoking volcanic geysers, pre-Incan ruins, and beautiful flamingo-inhabited lagoons.

Sound cool yet? It gets better. The spectacular culmination is the "Salar de Uyuni," aka "The Salt Flats." The Salt Flat is actually a gigantic salt lake, but it doesn't look like a lake. There's a massive deposit of salt at the surface that's 2 feet thick. It's also perfectly flat. This creates 2 different effects: in the dry season, the lake is parched and you can see nothing but blindingly white salt. But now it's rainy season, and the rains have left a 2-inch layer of perfectly flat, still water on the surface of the salt. The result is a mirror effect, the sky reflects perfectly on the surface. Combined with the fact that you can see forever out into the horizon, you lose your orientation. You can't tell up from down, and it looks like you're literally walking on clouds. Stunning.

Words do no justice but we'll do our best:

Day 1
Bags thrown on the roof and us piled into the Lexus 4x4, a Swedish couple, our guide/driver Dieter and our cook Aidey. Crawled slowly out of Tupiza's desert on dirt roads, eventually reaching a flat grassy plain at 11,800 feet where llamas and donkeys graze. Several great lookout points with great views, including one with ridiculous wind. Stopped in a small village to take pictures, fascinating but don't like treating the locals like they're in a zoo. Settled for the night in a tiny village at 13,500 feet after 8 hours in the 4x4 sightseeing.

Day 2
Ridiculously early 4:30am wakeup call, lots of ground to cover. Bread and dulce de leche for breakfast reminds us of Argentina, but when we hit the pre-Incan ruins at sunrise you're instantly back in Bolivia. We get along really well with Joel and Ami our Swedish company, and we all enjoy the lookout point over the lagoon at almost 16,000 feet, not the highest we'll be. After 7 hours on dirt "roads" in the 4x4 we soak in the excessively anticipated hot springs and it's totally revitalizing. After lunch the highlight of the day hits us at 16,404 feet above sea level: a group of smoking volcanic geysers shooting steam straight out of the ground and causing the mud to boil... well worth tolerating our driver's latin club music for 10 hours. Tomorrow is for Ipods. Sleeping at 14,000 feet causes head and muscle aches for some.

Day 3
Another early wakeup call at 6:30 and we're tired from sitting in the 4x4 for 2 full days and have another long one. Flamingos at 14,000 feet in front of a snow-capped mountain is a new one for us. Rich survives a jump off a boulder in the Valley of Rocks. Kendra enjoys the sweet potatoes for lunch that are still good even in the rain. Lots of driving, snow-capped mountains in all directions. Beautiful. We settle in the tourist-trap known as Uyuni, settling for cold showers but they're oh-so-needed.

Day 4
The culmination and the highlight: The Salt Flat. Unbelievable. Incredible. Indescribable. It looks and feels like you're walking on the sky if it weren't for the salt crunching under for your feet. There is no horizon, it just disappears into the sky. The pictures are amazing. We spend well over an hour enjoying the surreal, unearthly place that's like no other we'll ever see. We come back to Uyuni and have some cold beverages with our now good friends the Swedes. We hit our pillows amazed, and exhausted.

Seriously, we have to come home in 2.5 months?!