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Published: December 5th 2007
27/11-30/11/07
After our memorable bus ride from Potosi to Uyuni, we were in no mood or shape to jump in a jeep for 10 hours for the next 3 days so spent the day sleeping in Uyuni.
There really isn´t anything to do in Uyuni. The Lonely Planet lists one museum and thats it. It is purely a base to head out to the salt flats and beyond. So after booking a 3 day tour with Juliet Tours, I spent the rest of the day in bed. Awesome.
The next morning we jumped in our jeep which turned out to be pretty good. Especially after all the stories you hear of brake downs, bald tyres etc. Our guide Alex and wife? Nellie (our cook) were really cool.
First stop was the train cemetery where numerous carriages and engines have been dumped out in the middle of nowhere in what can only be described as a graveyard for trains.
Next stop, the salt flats. I had heard through other travellers that the salt flats are amazing and its really only until you see them for yourself that you really appreciate its beauty. Kilometres and kilometres of salt
Salt Flats
Salar de Uyunithat goes on forever and ever. It is truly magical. There are apparently roads but it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere completely lost. The only land marks you had were the mountains like Volcan Tunupa in the distance and Isla Incahuasi. The photos speak for themselves. The good thing about our tour was that our guide made every effort to ensure we were by ourselves the whole way. Most tours have a reputation for creating a convoy of about 24 jeeps following one another. But not our tour. It made us feel that little bit special to be experiencing all the sites by ourselves.
After having lunch at the base of Volcan Tunupa, we made our way back across the salt flats to Incahuasi, an island on the flats which is covered in cacti which apparently grows only 2cm a year. The photos speak for themselves on their height. Fairly impressive and a great view of the flats from the top. After visiting the Crystal Galaxy, a cave discovered only 4 years ago with strange stalyctyte formations from the ceiling, we headed for our hostel entirely made of salt (fish & chips anyone?). Another quick
trip to the salt flats to watch the sunset, we drank a fine bottle of Bolivian red to toast a great day.
The next day we headed south and came across several Lagunas (lakes) with pink flamingos. Great to see a fascinating bird I have never seen before. Several more lakes and volcanoes later, the scenery was pretty cool, we arrived at Laguna Colorado, a lake made up of red water created by leeching of minerals etc. That night we bunked down in a hostal at around 4600m asl so was pretty cold and very windy outside.
The next and final day was an early one, up at 4am to drive further south to check out the thermal activities, geysers and then a good soak in the open air hot springs. Being about 2 degree outside, it was difficult to remove the forty layers of clothing but once you were in... pure bliss. From there, we made a short stop at Laguna Verde (green lake) where the volcano backdrop reflected perfectly in the water before we dropped off half the crew at the Chilean border and said goodbye before Paul & I, Alex & Nellie headed back to
Cacti of Incahuasi
Salar de Uyuni
(Cacti grow only 2cm per year, you do the math) Uyuni.
A great trip and highly recommend these guys for value for money.
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Gerry
non-member comment
Thanks for the info - good blog
Hi. I came across your blog while researching an upcoming trip to Peru and Bolivia. I plan to do a very similar route from Cusco through La Paz to southern Bolivia and I found lots of useful info (especially good to know about various bus routes, timing, hostels and tour agencies). Just wanted to say thanks ... you covered a lot of territory in a short time. Gerry (from Canada).