The Salt Flats Tour

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After the Lares trek, we had 10 days left before we had to catch our flight from Santiago in Chile to Auckland, New Zealand. We had thought about bussing it down to Santiago from Cusco and stopping off in places along the way, but so many travellers we met kept saying how great the Bolivian Salt Flats were. So we decided to go back to Bolivia. Easier said than done!

The 3 day tour of the salt flats would leave us in San Pedro de Atacama, just over the Bolivia/Chile border, and from there we could make our way down to Santiago. To get to the salt flats, tours started from a little town called Uyuni. So we had to bus it back to La Paz, and then get to Uyuni from there. It was going to be a long journey!

We would recommend book tours midweek as tour operators seem to close down at the weekend (would would think that wouldn't be the case!). We tried booking a salt flats tour, but there were no offices open, so we left Cusco hoping we would get onto a tour when we arrived in Uyuni. From Cusco, we got a 10pm bus overnight to La Paz (another tip- don't believe what they tell you- the bus DOES NOT go direct!), and it was due to arrive in La Paz at 12pm the following day. The bus arrived in Puno station at about 5:30am, and there we learned that we had to change buses in 2 hours to get a bus to Copacabana. We were definitely NOT going to be in La Paz by 12pm! In Puno we met a Kiwi named Dylan, who had been doing volunteer work at an orphanage in Cusco. He was heading to Uyuni to do the salt flats tour aswell. We got on our bus to Copacabana (passport stop included- see previous entry!) and when we got there we had a hlaf hour to get something to eat before changing buses again (direct me swiss!). We met a girl from Minnesota named Briana, who is an archaeologist and has been working in Puno every summer for the last 7 years, digging at pre-Inca sites. She was going to La Paz to visit a friend. Briana and Dylan came for food with us. We got on our new bus to take us to La Paz, we went back across Lake Titicaca on the ferry and back on the bus again (see Copacabana entry!).

One thing about South America: actual travelling is part of the travelling. Wondering what time you'll get to your destination; is this your stop?; will your bags be still on the bus when you get off?; how long is the bus stopping for?; do we have time to get off and eat?; can we get some toilet paper in the toilets?....

We got to La Paz @ 5pm and headed to Toto Turismo, the offices of the bus Dylan had booked to get to Uyuni that night; to see if we could get a couple of seats on there too. We waited in a waiting room till about 6:30pm and finally we got tickets to get the bus that night at 9pm, and arrive in Uyuni at 7:30am the following morning.

We had a bit of time before the bus left so we went to a "Chinese" diner that only sold chicken and rice. You could get a full, half or quarter chicken and you could get it fried or rotissary. After that we went looking for a pub which was a challenge in itself! Half an hour later, after asking 5 or 6 people, we found a bar and had a beer. Dylan gave us loads of tips for our NZ trip.

The bus journey was ok, we got food on board and watched the Planet of the Apes movie. For the last few hours of the journey, though it got really bumpy because there are no paved roads in this part of Bolivia. It got extremely cold- luckily the bus had heating- and the windows had started to freeze over.

We got to Uyuni and before we had time to get off the bus, Dylan shouted into us that the company he had booked with still had places for us to start a tour in a couple of hours.
We went to the office of "Tito Tours" and booked our places. We weren't impressed with Uyuni at the start- it is a town on the edge of the flats in the middle of nowhere...and it was so early nothing was open, there was no one around really. Then the 3 of us went to find somewhere that sold hot drinks and was indoors- it was FREEZING! We found a restaurant that did breakfast- hot porridge and pancakes. We hung out there for a while until it got a bit later and some shops opened (we had arrived at 7:30am). Once the shops opened and the town started to wake up, we quite liked it! We ran a few errands and stocked up on snacks and supplies for the 3 days. We met back at the office to start at 10:30. There was another couple on the tour with us- Benn from the Isle of Man and Cathy from the Filipines. They had lived in Hong Kong before they went travelling so we picked their brains about the city! Our guide, Tito, was friendly but unfortunately had no english so Dave and Cathy and Benn had to translate for me and Dylan.

Our baggage was tied to the top of the jeep, and off we went on our 3 day tour. First stop was a little trading post- right at the edge of the flats. It was our last chance to pick up supplies so DAve bought a haki sack for 5 bolivianos. Toilets cost 4 bolivianos to use and were a hole in the ground. Not pretty. Once we got sorted, we headed off in the jeep to the train cemetery- a dumping ground of old steam trains. It made for some great photos and we could climb on all the old trains. There were swings and see-saws made out of old train parts. It was great fun!

After that we went out onto the salt flats- which used to be a lake until the water evaporated. The landscape was unreal- like on a different planet- and the photos don't do it justice at all. We saw the piles of salt drying out for harvest, and stopped at a flatter area where we could take some interesting photos! We had lunch sitting on the salt flat- a nice way to have lunch! There were holes in the salt, and we could see there was water underneath- and it was pretty cold!

We stopped next at an island in the middle of the flats covered in cacti, where we hiked to the top and had a great view. We drove then to our accomodation for that night- a hostel made out of salt. We were happy to get there- two night buses forced us to push the boundaries of personal hygiene. In Bolivia, running water is a luxury- never mind hot water, so a warm shower was welcomed! We had to pay 10 Bolivianos extra for hot water which was luke warm but better than freezing cold. We had a hot cup of tea and then dinner- afterwhich we decided to get some wine to warm us up. We had a few drinks before they turned the electricity off at 10pm, and had great craic- particularly when 2 Americans had a rap battle complete with a human beat box. That night we slept on beds whose bases were made of salt! It was a cold nights sleep, but we heard from other travellers that the second night would be much worse!

The next day we set off around 8am after breakfast and stopped in a village called San Juan to get more supplies (ie- wine) and then it was on to the railway track that links Chile and Bolivia, where minerals and salt are transported. Tito said that Bolivia can't afford to exploit all of their natural resources, and alot of rich countries have offered to provide labour, but Bolivia are holding out until they can afford it themselves.

On the drive we saw great views, as well as Vicunas, a type of Andean deer. We stopped at a lagoon where there was a flock of flamingos feeding. The views were spectacular. We stopped at another lagoon for lunch- Tito tended to take us places away from the other tours, which was great because we got the feeling we were the only ones there. Next stop was Arbol de Piedra "The Stone Tree" which is a piece of volcanic rock that looks like it shouldn't be standing, as it is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. There were loads of random rocks around, blasted out by all the volcanoes. The next lagoon we stopped at was bright red in patches, due to micro-organisms living in the water. Around the lagoon were pools of dark green algae- which made for great photos.

We got to our next place of rest about 4pm. It was a concrete shed with concrete floors and beds with concrete bases. It was cold. We decided that we should crack into the wine asap! We had a few glasses then Tito brought us out some dinner and wood for the stove. We knew we hadn't enough win to last us the night so we asked him did they sell some at our accomodation. We bought two more bottles and then Tito brought out a complimentary bottle from the company. So in all we had 6 bottles between 5 people. It was going to be a fun night! We had a game of cards that Dylan taught us called "King or Asshole". Poor Benn kept losing and became the resident asshole for quite a while! The game lasted till all the wine was gone, at which point we went to bed before the electricity was turned off. We all shared a dorm, which was probably for the best as it was sooooo cold!

After a dodgy, cold nights sleep, we got up the following morning at 5am. We had all slept in every stitch of clothing we owned, as well as sleeping bags and 3-4 blankets each. I swear I have NEVER been so cold. We were at 4,600m above sea level and the air was so thin and dry it was hard to breathe. We had a 2 hour drive ahead of us to the hot springs, and when we got there we had breakfast and then Dave, Cathy and Benn got into the pools. Dylan had just gotten tatoos so he couldnt get in, and I was just too cold! We got back into the jeep and headed for Laguna Verde where we took a few photos- especially group ones- as it was nearly the end of the tour. Tito then took us to the Chilean border where me and Dave would catch our transfer across the border to San Pedro de Atacama. Cathy, Benn and Dylan were all going back to Uyuni so we said our goodbyes and headed across to Chile.

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Photos

A statue in Uyuni
Made of old train parts

Giant Rugby Ball, Little Dave
This was a great opportunity to take some cool photos. Us and the rest of the masses!

"Salt" Fishing
Thanks to Benn!

The next morning
L-R Benn, Dylan and Cathy