Kienitz and Webster:Our Bolivian Safari: A Trip of a Lifetime/Waking Nightmare

"The Bolivian Border Patrol let us in for $50 US dollars, a bribe as we understood. " Kienitz

"There wasn't even a bathroom, just a plethora of Land Cruisers." Webster

"The wind was so strong we could feel our very intestines of our bodies being racked and ravaged by it." Kienitz

"There was no coca tea and I had a hard time due to the elevation." Webster

"The desert is beautiful. Vast. Incredible and harsh." Kienitz

"My mind was scrambled and I couldn't remember where I was or what had happened to get me there." Kienitz

"We covered our faces and wore our sunglasses but the dust still found its way into our lives." Webster

"Shortly after seeing some anemic looking flamingos the mighty wind came. I will never forget that storm." Kienitz

"Javier found a hospedaje for us to eat at and spoke quechua with la duena. She was dressed in true Bolivian fashion, sparkly skirt, shawl, and leg warmers and charged us to use her bathroom." Webster

"Our time at this place was dismal at best." Kienitz

"Morale was down." Webster

"We pulled into our hotel, but due to wind the water was not working so we drove around looking for a place to host and feed 18 strangers." Webster (We found a place)

"The drive was gorgeous, streams meandering through patches of green in the desert slowly being painted purple and pink by the setting sun, slowly awakening with magic and mystique." Kienitz

"I almost cried I was so cold I nearly lost the plot, but I just kept picturing getting off the plane and seeing Evey to make me feel better, also I didn't want to cry for fear that the tears would freeze to my face." Webster

"I went to sleep in a creepy, drafty, cracked, mint-green room with silky pink 'comforters'." Kienitz

The Sun Shows Its Face

"We drove in the sun and sand until we reached the salt flats, this amazing expanse of a dried up lake is 4000 miles and really extremely bizarre." Kienitz

"It was white everywhere and the only things I could see seemed like an oasis." Webster

"We went to Incahausi, an island of cacti that the Inca's used as a refuge whilst crossing the salt flats." Webster

"The huge expanse of salt white and salt forever was framed with 360 degrees of blue mountains and volcanoes and prickly pokey silly looking cactus plants poking up in the foreground." Kienitz

"I have no idea how the Inca's did it, how did they carry their food, their water, and dress for the elements?" Webster

"There also live small, scratch that, huge rodent, squirrel, rabbit beasts on the island. It had the largest tail I have ever seen, if it can survive here, there is no hope." Webster

"Two young girls packaging salt, scooping it from a large pile and into plastic bags and sealing it on a burning piece of metal." Kienitz

"Uyuni was a small place with a bit of an eerie feel to it. I didn't want to leave it felt so mysterious and different." Kienitz

"Uyuni is where we were introduced to our only hope for return to San Pedro. Flavio, Flava Fave, Payaso, etc, he is crazy. He is 24 years old and clearly still lets his amygdala make the majority of his decisions." Webster

"This part of the trip was especially long and sort of frightening. Hannah and I both admitted later we had both imagined some pretty awful daymares of armed guards and accidents, shootings, and being stranded in the deathly desert, maimed, wounded, limping, and mad." Kienitz

"We drove about thirty minutes before we ran out of gas on the road in the driest desert in the world. Why didn't he check it before he left?" Webster

"We continued on and drove through a lake with a truck stuck inside and for some reason, Flavio thought we could maneuver our way through it even though a truck twice our size couldn't, by some miracle we made it through." Webster

""It was dark, and of course, cold. I slept in two pairs of pants, three layers on top, including my jacket, two hoods up with my hat on in a down sleeping bag under two heavy blankets, that's how cold." Kienitz

"The rooms kept getting dodgier and dodgier, but in this room I had a really nice velvet bedspread to warm my cold cold body." Webster

"We consumed some instant potatoes, hot soup, and small weenies." Kienitz

"Being back at the Bolivian customs was the feeling of survival, unexpected survival." Kienitz

"Exhausted and dusty, mostly now made of dust, we ended our adventure. A bit shell shocked and thankful for life." Kienitz.