Blogs from Salar de Uyuni, Potosí Department, Bolivia, South America

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(Day 300 on the road)There is a small street in the centre of La Paz where most of the travel agencies, many backpacker accommodations and a popular cafe are concentrated. As I walked down the steep street looking at the tours and excursions advertised by the travel agencies, I realised that I had done almost all of them. Valle de la Luna? Check. Copacana? Check. Free La Paz city tour? Check. Isla del Sol? Check. Tiwanako? Check. Chacaltaya? Check. Chulita wrestling? Check. Pico Austria? Check. Death Road? Check. Huayna Potosi? Check. Check. Check. It was time to leave La Paz and move on. First up were a couple of stops in unremarkable towns like Oruro, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. I had discovered however that the Bolivian cities that are located at a higher altitude (say higher ... read more
Che's original and secret grave
69 million years old dinosaur footprints
The amazing Traffic Zebras at work

South America » Bolivia » Potosí Department » Salar de Uyuni November 16th 2022

Today was the day that we finally made it to the Salar! The Salar de Uyuni is the largest and highest salt flat in the world, with an area of ​4000 sq miles and over 500 ft deep. The Salar is one of the largest lithium reserves in the world and also has significant amounts of potassium, boron, and magnesium. In the dry season the salt flat has a beautiful hexagonal shapes far as the eye can see. In the rainy season a mirror effect will happen. Not only is it beautiful, but GPS satellites will be calibrated by reflecting light off huge surface of the solar, much more effective than the ocean's surface which is the common alternative. We had a lovely picnic lunch out of the back of the truck on our way to ... read more
Fun at the Salar
Sunset over the Salar
Dinner in the Salt Hotel


I told a good friend I was planning to visit Bolivia sometime soon, mostly to see the famous Uyuni Salt Flats and the North Yungas Death Road. He suggested I plan a stay at the San Pedro Prison.San Pedro Prison is one of the biggest in Bolivia (LaPaz) and the common destination for people convicted of breaking the country’s laws. However this is no ordinary prison. San Pedro has gained an infamous reputation with all the bizarre stories that have come out of it through the years. This includes everything from tales of cocaine labs, wild parties and wealthier inmates renting fancy cells equipped with hot tubs and king-size beds. There was even a period when backpackers in La Paz would take tours of the prison and sometimes end up, quite voluntarily, staying ... read more
Four Seasons Istanbul


A lady blogger suggested adding this to a list of potential places to go. As adventurous as I think I am, I wonder, in times of this pandemic, highly skeptical about going somewhere I have never heard of. And worse, what is their vaccination status, and quality of health care? I like the idea of going someplace new and different. But to point to some country I have never heard of seems to tempt fate. Let me just illustrate the folly of this idea. At random, I found Central African Republic, a landlocked country in central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, DR Congo to the south, Republic of Condo to the southwest, and Cameroon to the west. CAR was a French colony, with ... read more
Famous Dancers

South America » Bolivia » Potosí Department » Salar de Uyuni November 13th 2018

Late pick-up today at 09:30, so after a good 7.5 hours sleep I woke up at 06:00 to catch up on this blog but couldn’t publish it because the hotel’s internet is too slow. Today was basically a driving day to get to our last stop before four nights in the Atacama Desert. Soon after leaving the hotel. We went to the same spot where we watched the sunset and Issac showed us how to do some funny trick photos, which was a lot of fun. We then drove for about 90 minutes to Julaca which is a tiny town almost like a ghost town although Issac told us that a year ago there were no shops providing a public toilet but now there are two. After that we drove on with a couple of stops ... read more
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South America » Bolivia » Potosí Department » Salar de Uyuni September 23rd 2018

Day three was dubbed the rock climbing day as again we were the first of the groups to set off in the morning following a pancake breakfast (better than the stale bread we had the second morning). We stopped at various sites, a rock resembling the football world cup and a camel which we climbed on to. Also another group of rock formations where Hoshin our guide got us to climb up 50 meters for a view! We also visited a tiny part of a huge rock landscape that stretches many kilometers. Here we climbed up for a view of a small lake which forms the shape of South America. It was a perfect sunny day and good for some reflective shots! Our final stop before lunch was called the Anaconda, a windy lake in ... read more
Reflective Lake
Salt Flat Cactus Island
Classic Perspective Shot


Here were are, day 3 and actually four of this amazing little trip. As you can guess, since our trip to Uyuni, we have down some solid wine on the way...but what a trip in Uyuni. This is were Cordillera agency guides made a solid difference. Our guide isn't much talkative, so more than once, we share information between ourselves without him being involved, but today, at least, the guides will make the difference, they are turning into top solid photographers! Last trip...it's was more like figure it out yourself. We had crossed the Salar de Uyuni in Winter too...but no sunrise or sunset in sight. Today is different. The guide gave us a choice to depart the Salt Hostal at 5 am or 7am. Obvious choice, a guide doesn't choose on purpose to wake up ... read more
Our guides knew exactly which pics to take!
Sunrise, just magic!
World famous Train cemetery...


Second day in Bolivia, and we are settling at a slightly lower altitude. Most of the day will be spend from 4000 meters to just above 3500 meters. We were normally due to the visit the Geysers area. But here it is, the geysers are at around 5000 meters, and up there, the snow is still massively packed. It is not like they would send snow machines to clear it....no proper roads to clear, smile! So if our drivers told us it's a no go with our Land Rovers, I guess it is actually a no go. Good news is, I've already done it, and Tanya has seen few geysers with me around the world. So we are heading for something we normally don't visit. There were pre-inca writings on rocks...more very weird rock formations....plus we ... read more
Laguna colorado
Done with the church...next, fiesta time...
You can lick the walls...it's salt!


I love this place...and let's put it simply, no way I can do a single blog about our Uyuni 3/4 days trip...so you'll just have to suffer three entries. Yes too, I acknowledge that I'm late already blogging and it will only go worst. I'm still replying to a seriously decent amount of emails everyday, so going through the pictures and blogging is done after visiting, replying to email, simply enjoying every moments of life...and there is only 24 hours in a day, with nights that are way too often way too short! Smile! After some 8 years, I'm back to Bolivia...and specially to Uyuni region, one of the top 10 place for me to visit in the world. Second visit this time, a first for Tanya, but if you ask, yes, we will come back ... read more
Welcome to Bolivia!
Laguna Colorado
He is not afraid....


Salar de Uyuni (The Salt Flats) - The Surreal Realm of Bolivia’s Southwest (17/07/2018-19/07/2018) You´ve probably seen the perspective photos. Millions of years ago, there was a huge, salty lake in the southwest of Bolivia. It´s now totally dried up and has become Salar de Uyuni: the World’s largest salt flat. Beautiful, salty, geometric patterns span over 4,000 miles; welcome to the surreal realm of Bolivia´s southwest. The crew and I chose the 3 day trip (because, why wouldn't we, these landscapes here rock!). We would start in Uyuni and end in north Chile, in San Pedro de Atacama. Easy, peasy. Just imagine.... surreal desert landscapes pretty lagoons wild llamas and alpacas cute desert creatures beautiful pink and black flamingos huge snow-capped volcanoes a crazy, cactus cover... read more




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