Salar de Uyuni - Day 1

April 11

My friend CC whom I met here in SPA and I booked our Salar de Uyuni tour.  Its 3 days 2 nights and takes us from SPA through Salar de Uyuni (largest salt flat in the world) and ends in Uyuni Bolivia.  This is suppose to be an amazing tour and even though its costs $95k Chilean pesos ($160 USD) I feel that it will be worth all of that.  Plus it will get me into Bolivia and towards Sucre where I want to study Spanish.

From my research, I’ve discovered that because I have a US passport, I am required to have a Bolivian visa and pay $135 USD.  Since there is a Bolivian consulate in Calama (1hr) away, I took a bus there and tried to get one.  However they don’t issue visas there and I couldn't tell for sure with the language barrier if I could get one at the remote border crossing that I would be taking on the tour.  I talked to the tour operator lady and she said it would cost $60 USD or maybe $80 and I would be able to get one there.  I’m a bit skeptical as I read that they can be shady at the border crossing and require more money and never even give a visa or an entry stamp.  I was pleased to see that they process everyone quickly at the crossing and took my $60 USD and gave me a sticker visa in my passport along with an entry stamp.

We transferred from the van that we rode up to the border post into Toyota Land Cruisers.  There were 5 of us not counting the driver.  There were 2 other Land Cruisers in our group, and they had 6 tourists each.  It definitely was nice having the extra space.  There was a UK couple (Alex & Louise) and an Aussie guy (Ben) as well as CC and myself.  Our driver was Simón who spoke a little English, and had a lot of different music that he played through the stereo.  A great group of people to spend the next 3 days with.

The first places we visited was Laguna Blanco and Verde.  I think the Laguna Verde would have been better if it had been a sunny day.  Being overcast didn’t make the green color come out as much.  Seeing the Guanaco at Laguna Blanco made up for it though.  I must mention that we were at around 4300m (14k feet) and so there was much less oxygen.  The highest we got today was 5000m and the hostal we stayed at was 4300m.  My favorite part of the day was visiting a hot spring (Aguas Termanles Polques) and having a nice soak.  Wow! Did that dry me out at that altitude. haha!  We also stopped by a Geiser Sol de Mañana which sounded like a huge jet engine with all the gas escaping the earth.

We arrived at Hostal Huayllajara late in the afternoon and had lunch.  3 hours later they fed us dinner.  I wasn't really hungry but tried to eat some of the soup.  I then went to lay down as the altitude was causing me to not feel well. (around 14k feet)  The soup didn't stay down long and I ended up throwing it up.  I felt a lot better after that and went to sleep.

Salar de Uyuni - Day 2

April 12

The days first visit was Laguna Colorada where 80,000 Flamingos are.  What an amazing site as the pink from the Flamingos makes the clouds have a pink color.  To hear them call and see them flying around was spectacular.

The takeoff...

The next place we stopped was Árbol de Piedra, which is huge boulders in the shape of trees.  It was fun climbing around on them.

Majestic Mts surrounding the Piedras

Lagunas Altiplánicas was a very reflective lake with a cold gray feel of the mountains surrounding it.  The area conveyed a feeling of cold and yet stunning beauty.

On the drive to Salar de Chiguana, which is a smaller salt flat than the Salar de Uyuni.  We stopped by some other rock formations where I saw 2 interesting things.  A green mossy looking flora that grows on the rocks and my first sighting of a Chinchilla in the wild.  We also stopped by a Quinoa field as Bolivia is a huge exporter of this grain.  Towards dusk we arrived at Salar de Chiguana.  The 2nd half of the crossing there was a bit of water, and we almost got bogged down in the mud in one place.  It was an exciting crossing for that fact alone. haha!

Salar de Chiguana

Late in the evening we arrived at Hotel de Sal.  Its a hotel that is made of salt.  It was very neat as they had salt pillars holding up the beams in the main room, salt seats for the table, and salt bed that the mattress rested on.  It made me think of the experience one can have in Iceland staying in an Ice Hotel.  I was glad that it wasn't cold, and that we were at a much lower altitude. (9800 feet)

Salar de Uyuni - Day 3

April 13

We drove to the Salar de Uyuni before sunrise.  It was spectacular to be out there in the huge expanse and watch the sun come up.  Then to drive across it and look at objects in the distance and realize that its very far away but seems so close.  The Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt flat in the world.  Its a must see if coming to S. America.

Driving to Isla Inca Huasi

Isla Inca Huasi where cactus grow.

Alex and Louise taking perspective pics

My new office

We stopped to help this jeep because the driver did not have the correct lug wrench to take the nuts off. 

My group of jeep amigos

We ended the day by visiting Cemeterio de Trenes near the town of Uyuni.  Its a huge yard with old steam trains just rusting away in the sun.  It was fun climbing around on them and taking pictures. :)

Amigo CC

My 3 day trip concluded in Uyuni.  I would definitely do it over again in the future as it was a beautiful drive with so many diverse things to see.