Uyuni Salt Flats

After sleeping off our challenging journey to Uyuni, we were very excited to be joining a small group in a 4x4 to explore the Bolivian salt flats and surroundings which we have heard are some of the best in the world.

Train graveyeard
For some inexplicable reason, the first stop on the tour was what can only be described as a train graveyard. As the train service in Bolivia is nearly non-existant (we tried unsuccessfully to get tickets on the train to our next stop, Villazon, before we left for the tour, but there are only two trains a week and therefore impossible to get tickets...), I wouldn´t have thought that there would be much call for a place for trains to go when they die here but there you go... Having said that, it was great fun to climb on some of the old bangers and it made for some great photo opps!

The Salt Flats
The main event was much better than expected and the recent rains gave us the opportunity to take some very interesting photos...

In the middle of the salt flats we discovered an island which we parked up near to and when exploring. Some of the cactus there was supposed to be over 900 years old!

We had a lovely lunch on the beach of the island and as we had finished up a little earlier than expected, Henri, our driver, promised that we could stop off at a spot where the salt was really impressive so that we could take some "trick" photos. It turns out that on the salt, the camera looses all perspective and allows you to take some really funky shots. Ironically my reasonably "low-tech" camera takes better photos in this environment than Johan´s which had problems focusing on anything :)

Salt Hostel
The first day exhausted, we drove for a while to get to our lodgings for the night. Turns out that when you are surrounded by mostly salt, you use it for everything, including building materials. Our room was made completely from blocks of salt, the floor was made of ground salt, the cement around the windows was salt, the bed, bedstead and bedside tables were all salt... Fantastic! Thankfully the roof was thatch and there was a good mattress and blankets on the bed which made the room quite comfortable, if unique. Hot showers cost 5 Bs and were very welcome!


Day 2 - Lagoons
We were well into "middle-of-nowhere" territory by now with the odd quinoa plant or vicuña (a type of wild llama) to break the now increasingly desert landscape. The morning of the second day involved lots of driving before finally reaching the first of a series of flamingo populated lagoons. The flamingos generally ignored us unless we really got too close, which allowed Johan to take some truely stunning photos. The lagoons were looking a bit sparce - I guess that it isn´t the right time of year to see them, so we largely missed the vibrant colours that they are supposed to reflect. Still, the sight of water in a desert at 4000m altitude is always impressive.

The day ended near to Laguna Colorado where we could see a bit of its pink colour. Our lodgins were the only building in sight and were where everyone on these tours stayed. We had a large room for the 6 of us and after dinner (with wine), we hit the sack. Tomorrow morning, Henri promised to wake us up well before the crack of dawn to leave by 5am!!

Final day - Aguas Calientes
True to his word, we were awakened by a loud banging on our door at 4:30 am and we all groggily roused ourself from our deep slumber, pulled on our clothes (no showers here) and packed our stuff and ourselves into the 4x4. After driving for about an hour and a half we reached the geisers which were the first stop. With no pesky health and safety regulations, we where able to walk as close to the geisers as we dared. They were beautiful to see with the rising sun in the background.

After taking lots of pictures, we jumped back into the 4x4 and headed for our next stop, the hot springs where we had an early morning dip before tucking into pancakes for breakfast. Lovely!

The tour was unofficially over now so the next stop was the nearby Chilean boarder where we dropped off two of our number and then settled in for the 8 hour ride back to Uyuni. It was a very visually satisfying tour and we were able to see many beautiful natural scenes. I read somewhere that Bolivia was a great undiscovered tourist destination and in many ways I think that it is true. It is a very basic place though and if you can deal with that, then this is the place for you.

As for me, I am looking forward to hot water, busses with toilets and high speed internet access which have all been promised to us in Argentina. Bring it on!