Finally, I headed to Salar de Uyuni, a place I had longed to visit.
I left home at 8:30 p.m. the night before and arrived in Uyuni by overnight bus for about nine hours.
From there, we signed up for a tour and started the tour after breakfast! (During breakfast, we enjoyed chatting with tourists from various countries in Latin America 😋 It is one of the wonderful things about Latin America that even if you meet someone for the first time, you quickly become friends with them.)
After visiting a train graveyard and touring a salt factory, we finally headed to the salt lake.
As one would expect from Salar de Uyuni, we saw a few Japanese here and there. After driving for a while, we found ourselves surrounded by pure white salt. It was truly beautiful.
What a lunch we had in the middle of the salt lake with the pure white scenery.
It was all very rich, like fried chicken and yakisoba noodles 😂, but it was a great lunch in the white salt lake ✨.
Then we went to take pictures and videos of trick art. We had a great time running away from the monsters, coming out of the Pringles, and shooting with a Peruvian couple from the same group: ☺️
Finally, we went to the mirrored area.
A place I have dreamed of for a long time!
It was truly beautiful and out of this world 🥹✨ I’m so glad I’m alive! It was a view that made me feel so happy to be alive.
After returning to La Paz…
After returning from Uyuni, I spent a few days in La Paz!
We made and served curry to everyone, took the ropeway, La Paz’s public transportation system, around the city to enjoy the scenery, and went on a short trip to Copacabana, a small town on the shores of Lake Titicaca.
And the last day…
Because it was the last time, my host mother bought me a lot of Bolivian food and I was full all morning 😂.
Neighbors went out of their way to bake bread and cakes for the gathering, and we had a great time at the end.
It was really sad to say goodbye to my host family who I spent 10 days with, and we all cried together at home and at the airport as we said goodbye. I cried even harder when my host family said to me warmly, “Don’t forget that you have family in Bolivia,” and I promised myself that one day I would come back to see my beloved family again.
The next destination is Medellín, Colombia!
Interns at the Japanese Cultural Center “Spring Hinata.