The Salt Flats of Uyuni, Bolivia

After the train graveyard, we piled into a car with two Brits, an Argentine couple, and a Bolivian tour guide, who drove us out of town and onto the "Salar de Uyuni," the biggest salt flat in the world. Stretching more than 4,000 square miles, the size of the Salar is absolutely staggering. It extends so far in every direction that, standing in the middle, it is impossible to see the edges-- you see a flat white expanse in every direction. The salt is clean, pure, and firm under your feet. You feel like you're walking on concrete, though the appearance is of walking on snow. The highlight of our excursion came at the end, at sunrise, as we came upon an area with a thin layer of water resting on the sand and creating a mirror for the sky. We watched the sun descend behind the mountains and the stars come out, then we piled back into the car and rode back to the small city of Uyuni, all of his filled with a mutual sense of awe for all that we had seen over the course of the day.