BOLIVIA - SALAR DE UYUNI

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Once our driver, Santos from Tupiza Tours, picked us up we headed off for the Salar de Uyuni. Before we got there we stopped at the original salt hotel which had been turned into a Salt Museum. Not much to see although there were some good salt sculptures.

Onwards for a couple of hours and we were at the most dramatic part of the salar, Fish Island. It was a cacti covered oasis in the middle of the white washed landscape. Fish Island was spectacular and we walked over it for an hour or so taking dozens of photos of the rocky hill. It was the setting that made it so unique, in the distance were giant mountains and all that lay in between was the white cracked salt plains. We sat for ages and watched a hummingbird tend to its nest in a cave and for the first time heard the buzzing sound of a humminbird’s wings, echoing through the cave. When we finished our walk around the island we were delighted to see that Santos had laid out a picnic for us on one of the salt tables and chairs. The food was good and it was such a great place for a picnic.

After lunch we took the compulsory salar photos of us balancing on various different objects. Amy’s favourite was her balancing on Rosie (her favourite fluffy toy).

Our drive to our hotel was a little hair-raising as Santos was clearly very tired, he kept yawning, shaking his head, among other things and Andy kept a close eye on him to make sure he hadn’t fallen asleep. The only consolation was that if he did fall asleep there was absolutely nothing in the salt desert to hit. He dropped us at our new hotel - Cristal Semana, a new salt hotel. It was truly enchanting, with a crunchy salt floor, salt walls (which Amy thought were fun to lick!) and furniture.

There were people working on some salt sculptures of snowmen too and there were loads of Christmas decorations around. We even had a Christmas tree in our room. It felt like we were the only people in the hotel, although they assured us there were others. At dinner it was just us and at breakfast too... perhaps the other guests weren’t hungry.

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Photos

Salar de Uyuni
At the end of a long day on the salar