Salar de Uyuni - Days 2 & 3

---

It's impossible to put into words the experience we had on this trip, at every turn there was a sight to take your breath away, it just got better and better.

We started on the salt flats with it's strange optical perspectives and weird islands, one of which is populated with a silent army of cacti. We then moved on to a desert with an alien landscape with multi-coloured volcanoes and lagoons full of flamingoes and even stopped at bubbling geysers with foul-smelling steam rising from them. It is such a diverse landscape, you move from one spectacular sight to another.

Thanks once again to Max and Lucy for the organisation and some of the photos.

At this point you can jump to the photos if you like but if you want to read the details then...


Tue 30 Nov – The Tour Continues

Up at 5:45 to see if the sunrise is as good as last nights sunset. But no ... the sun is already up. Back to bed for another half hour.

A new driver today, he chewed coca all day so was probably a bit high most of the time as he drove skilfully over rough terrain and dirt tracks.

Stone animals museum in Chantani town was a little bit silly.

Inka Wasi – An island made entirely of coral and covered in a silent army of huge cacti – Never seen anything like it.

Had lunch in a cave on an island that looked like a much smaller version of Ayres Rock. More mummies in a cave nearby.

And then said goodbye to the salt flats. They are like nothing we've seen before.

A shock absorber went (though we didn't notice it) so we stopped while the driver crawled underneath and changed it. It was really hot, we just hung around and tried to find shade. Felt a little bit guilty ... but only a little bit.

Ollague Volcano – on the Argentina/Chile border. There is smoke rising from the Chile side which is still active.

Laguna Kañapa – Beautiful place with our first sight of flamingoes here.

Laguna Hedionda – Even more beautiful and even more flamingoes.

Our desert hotel was in the middle of nowhere (see photo) in the Siloli Desert. Nothing as far as the eye could see. The electricity was turned off at 10pm but we were in bed by then. The stars were amazing.


Wed 1 Dec – The Final Day

Alarm at 04:45, the sun had not come up yet but still no electricity.

Water that we had left in the land rover overnight was frozen solid.

Arbol de Piedra (Stone Tree) – We have seen lots of weird geology in the last couple of days but this was one of the strangest sights.

Laguna Colorado – Red – Amazing.

Dali Desert – the rock formations here look like they were created by Salvadore Dali

Our highest part of our trip – 5000m

Sol de Mañana Geysers – What an incredibly diverse trip!

Seven-coloured mountain – Amazing.

Lincancabur Volcano – Stunning.

Laguna Verde – A perfect finale.

Then across the border into San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

---