Salar de Uyuni
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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,
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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.
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| Hot springs |
