The salt flats and rugged desert land of Bolivia

Salar de Uyuni

Train Cemetery

If your going to be off roading in the desert, the vehicle of choice is the Toyota Land Cruiser. At least that's the sentiment here in Uyuni, A small town in Bolivia that survives on the profits they make on salt collected in one of the largest salt flats in the world. Then all you need is a driver (preferably one who speaks English) and you are good to go.

The first stop the driver will make is the train cemetery. Here you will find a heap load of coal fired trains come from the United States to here, for the sole purpose of finding their final rest. The rusted out, grafitied trains, do make for some great photos.

Salt collections, each pile to his own

From here the driver will head toward the salt flats. But on the way he will stop at a train bridge, where you will get a great view of some volcanoes. Keep driving along these tracks and you will find yourself in Chile. But you will have to wait a while to see a train, they only go once a week. The view is fantastic, its just flat desert, then up shoots a big volcano.

Endless salt 

Shoot some photos and stretch your legs here. Then get back on the truck. Next stop will be the salt flats. The salt flats are a seemingly never ending desert of white. The driver, who will double as a tour guide, oh and be your cook, will tell you that the salt is 150m deep, and came from a giant body of water that was once connected to the ocean. Funny thing to think of in a place that is 4000m above sea level. Everyone here has there own pile of salt that they collect. There really is more than enough for everyone. While in the salt flats the thing to do for tourists, is to take funny photos that play on the fact that in an endless dessert of salt, there is no depth perception. Don't forget to bring some toys!

Roooarr!

After corralling the troops back into the truck, the driver will then take you, along the rubber blackened salt road, to Cactus Island. Literally an island among the sea of salt, it hosts big fat giant cacti. When it only rains in two months of the year not much grows, and these cacti will only shoot up a centimetre a year.

On exit of the salt flats it's time for the driver to find you a place to stay. If you are lucky it will be Hostel de Sal. A hostel made completely of salt. Even the beds are made of salt! Oh, and please,

Ahh, finally big print in Lonely Planet!

take a shower. It's the last one you will get for a while. Be considerate to the other passengers.

In the morning the driver will take you to some wicked rock formations. It may strike you as a great place to mountain bike, but keep dreaming, you don't have a bike. Take a look at the horizon here, as the volcano you see is constantly smoking. Very cool.

Now buckle up and get ready for a ride through mountainous desert. There are no roads here. That's part of the fun. This rugged desert

We are at 4650m here

terrain is straight from Mars. Eventually the path will take you to the lagoons. Red lagoons, green lagoons, pink flamingos, white flamingos, blue lagoons, white lagoons, more lagoons then you can shake a stick at...

By the end of the day the driver will take you to the geysers. Bubbling mud coming out of the grand, 200 degrees Celsius. High pressure steam coming up from the ground like it was a broken pipe at an oil refinery. Then you will go to the hot springs. You will sleep here. Sitting under the stars, in the hot springs is an amazing experience. The

Red Lagoon

desert sky has no light but for the stars. Incredible.

The last day of the tour could see you going back to Uyuni, on a 7 hour trip, or you do as we did, and hitch a ride to the Chilean border. Viva Chile!

Travelers Notes: We booked our tour with Red Planet. We bought it at Kanoo Tours in La Paz, they did make a mistake and told the tour

Steam from the geyser

company we were booked for 1 day when really we paid and had a reciept for a 3 day tour. Probably just simple mistake. Gravity in La Paz will also book with Red Planet. Red Planet I believe is the most expensive, at like 170 person if memory serves. But they also had the best reputation and English guides. English guides aren't completely necessary, but they are nice. The other thing that made Red planet unique was where they stay: They stay at the salt hostel the first night (I think another company does this too) and the second night is at the hot springs. Staying at the hot springs alone made the increased price worth it. Not much going on in Uyuni, minimize your time spent there.

Hot springs