Bolivia part 2

The last day was definitely the best of the trip, despite the early start. We headed towards salar de uyuni which is the salt flats. It is blindingly white and you need sunglasses just to look at it. Our first stop was at a random island in the middle of the flats with a massive hill and lots of cacti. We wandered around and decided to try and trek to the top. There was some very impressive views of salt for as far as you could see.

After this we drove for a little while till we were in the centre of the flats. We parked next to a hole someone had made in the salt. It was full of water and Flavio said the salt went down 7-8m and the water was so salty!  We spent the  next hour taking photos on the flats which was very fun, although we did get sunburnt. We then headed out of the flats to a sort of service station with a shop and somewhere to eat lunch. After a good lunch of pasta and vegetables we headed to Uyuni and the train graveyard which was pretty cool, but equally creepy.
We then were taken to uyuni centre where the majority of the group were dropped off. Us and a Spanish couple were heading back to san pedro via another village to spend the night. After three hours driving off road through the desert and a stop to try and cuddle some llamas we reached the hostel which was basic but fine. We slept well but had to leave at 5 am to get to the border for 9 am. The drive was uneventful and thankfully so as we were all so tired. The border procedures didn't take too long and before we knew it we were back in San pedro going through chilean immigration which is the most thorough we've gone through as they scan your bags and you have to fill out various declarations about what you're bringing into the country. By 11 we were back at our hostel ready for a shower and a rest.
In the afternoon we headed into town to try and book some Sandboarding, which was successful, and to buy some food for dinner. The whole day was relaxing and peaceful.
Yesterday was fun as we did the Sandboarding in the valley of death. It was so hard as you have to climb up a sand dune which was about 75m high in the heat. It was pretty hard going. The actual Sandboarding was really fun. After an hour or so we made our way to the valley of the moon to watch the sunset. It was stunning to watch it set over the valley. The walk back to the van included an almost vertical climb down a rock face but we both survived :-) showers were massively needed to get rid of all the sand.
Today we chilled out in san pedro doing some souvenir shopping and having a relaxed lunch. We're taking another night bus tonight to Arica which is near the Peruvian border.