10/12/2022 Uyuni Salt Flats
Comfy night bus
After a comfortable night bus ride (almost 10 hours) with a blanket and comfortable seats, we made it to Uyuni at 7 a.m..
Uyuni Salt Flats
Starting at 3800m
We got picked up by a Bolivian lady with a sign with our two names – we were quite surprised. We followed her into a little café where an Italian couple and a German girl were already waiting. Later on a Chinese guy joined us. Together with the other four internationals, we were going to start our three-day-Salt Flats tour. We got breakfast in the little café and at 10 a.m. we hopped into the van with our tour guide Viktor.
High expectations
Since this tour with “Perla de Bolivia” got recommended to us by the two Irish guys from the Lost City Trek in Colombia and by a Swedish couple we had met in la Paz separately, we had high hopes for this tour.
Uyuni’s train graveyard
We started the tour with a stop at Uyuni’s train graveyard, where you couldn’t find one old train that didn’t have a tourist (including us) sitting on it in order to pose for a photo. It was all quite touristy!
Salt mines
Next we visited the small settlement of salt miners and learned how the salt is taken from the salt flats and made into salt for cooking. We also visited some handicraft and textile markets here (mainly for souvenir shopping, how sneaky of them) before we had lunch in the same village.
Incredible salt flats
After that we visited the Salt Flats, the main reason why Blake and I had booked this tour! The Uyuni Salt Flats were gigantic (over 10 000 km²)! They changed from salty to seeing the hexagon forms on the salt into a huge mirror where rain had been fallen onto the salt flats and turned them into a massive mirror reflection. It was quite stunning and nothing we had ever seen before. As our guide would say: it was “unboliviable”! 😉
Isla Incahuasi with big cactii
Following, we did a short hike on Isla Incahuasi. This is one of many islands on the Salt Flats with rock formations out of petrified corals and cactii that can get up to 15m high.
Sunset over the Salt Flats
After visiting the island we drove for another 40 minutes over the Salt Flats (that’s how massive they are) in order to watch sunset from a different spot while enjoying some really tasty red wine and snacks. (Even though it was really windy and a bit uncomfortable at this stop, I really enjoyed the red wine as it’s been quite rare for me on this trip to find good – and affordable – wine.)
Separate rooms
In the evening we had our first accommodation ever on this trip where Blake and I had to stay in separate rooms (girls and boys went into separate rooms, which made me feel like I was on a school trip). The rooms were very warm, which was great after the cold wind, and the food was tasty (hot tea with crackers, soup, veggies, rice and chicken or fried eggplant as a veggie option and peaches for dessert). The six of us talked about a lot of travel stories and different cultural stereotypes (where the Germans never look too good). Then we went into our separate rooms for a good night sleep after the night on the bus and after the first day of fun experiences.
11/12/2022 Uyuni Salt Flats
Almost half time
Today Blake and I have been on the road for exactly five months – time flies!
Lots of driving
After our 7 a.m. breakfast we had a long drive ahead of us, which went alongside the border of Chile for most of the time. On the way we learned about quinoa and how quinoa flour was made. Moreover, we stopped at the Chiguana Desert, which was surrounded by volcanoes (up to 5800m high), and stopped at some rock formations for lunch.
Unfortunately, the weather was really unsteady with a mix of sun, wind, rain and even hail. The landscape was beautiful though. And on the side of the road we could often watch lamas or pekuñas hopping by.
Ingo flamingo!
After lunch we visited two lagoons which were both filled with lots of white and pink flamingos! I loved seeing them (I could have done without the rain though 😉).
It’s time for des(s)ert
We then visited the “Desert of Sioli” at 4550m, which is the highest and driest desert in the world (even though it rained when we got there). We even saw chipolis (a type of rabbit).
Furthermore, we stopped at the “Rock Tree”, which is a lava rock formation from a former volcano eruption.
Red Lagoon
For our last stop of the day we visited the national park “Eduardo Avaroa National Reserve” (18€ entrance fees, also included the next day). Here we overlooked the Red Lagoon with lots of flamingos again.
A very cold day
But let’s face it: The day consisted of a lot of driving (which I usually don’t mind at all) and it was pretty cold and rainy for most of the day.
Wine and tea to warm us up
That’s why we were all quite happy when we arrived at the accommodation. This time girls and boys didn’t have to sleep in separate room – all six of us slept in the same room!
Unfortunately, this accommodation wasn’t as warm as the last one. But the hot tea and the portable heater definitely helped to warm us up.
The six of us had a great evening and a very tasty last dinner (peanut soup and spaghetti with tomato sauce). We even got a bottle of red wine on the house from our tour guide. Around 9 p.m. we all went to bed as we had to get up at 4 a.m. in the next morning! Fun times ahead!
12/12/2022 Uyuni Salt Flats
Early start again
Getting up at 4 a.m. is never fun! Not even when it’s on a one-year-trip for a fun activity. We had fresh pancakes and a strong coffee at 4.30 a.m, before heading to our first stop of the day: the active geysers.
Smells like rotten eggs here
The “Sol de Mañana Geyser” lies at 4900m and looked really impressive, but the sulphur smelled quite extreme. Its boiling mud pots can get up to 150-200°C hot!
It’s getting hot in here
Next, we stopped at the natural hot springs that were 40 degrees hot. Luckily, we had blue skies and the scenery was just picture perfect: We bathed in the hot springs surrounded by white glaciers and with flamingos in the pools behind us!
Besides the Salt Flats on the first day, this was definitely one of the highlights of the tour for me!
Time to say goodbye
After the hot springs we drove through the Dali Desert. The final stop for everyone on this tour (except for Blake and I) was the Green Lagoon, before reaching the Bolivia-Chile border where it was time to say goodbye to the rest of our group. We were very lucky with our group as they were all great!
A long drive back
And then it was only Blake and I left to return back to Uyuni with the driver and the tour guide for the next eight hours. We passed incredibly beautiful landscape and saw lots of lamas and pekunas on the way.
It was really great to see Bolivia’s countryside in such a short time. When we arrived back in Uyuni in the evening we caught the night bus to our next destination in Bolivia: Sucre, Bolivia’s “real” capital.
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