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Published: September 19th 2006
Salt, salt and more salt
This is a shot of Salar de Uyuni...the largest salt flat in the world. The salt is mined by hand by the local villagers and used mostly throughout Bolivia.We set off to Uyuni, the departure point for the 4x4-ing expedition around southwestern Bolivia on a night bus. All in all, the bus wasn´t too bad,however the same couldn´t be said for the roads, which are one part gravel and two parts pot holes...perhaps we got spoiled in Argentina! We arrived in Uyuni in time for our tour, which took us to the largest salt supply in the world. For the next 3 days we would be exploring the most bizarre and extreme landscapes that we have seen on this trip with Agostino (our driver extra ordinaire), Lola (his wife and our cook), the English (2 guys from Stoke), a Japanese girl and a professional traveller from Swizterland. Our first stop was the Salar de Uyuni(salt flat). It was an amazing site, since the Salar is situated where about 40,000 years ago Lake Minchin used to be. Due to climate change the water evaporated and left behind smaller lakes and salt flats. Standing in the middle of the salt flat gave you a good idea of just how massive it was, given that you could only see bright white salt in all directions....good thing we brought our ´black glasses´as advised
Isla de Pescado
In the middle of the salt flat is the 'island of the fish' named after the shape of the island. The only inhabitants on the island are a few birds, cacti and vizcachas (rabbits with long racoon like tails but hop like kangaroos). by the tour company. Our lunch stop on the first day was the Isla de Pescado. Lola cooked up a heafty meal which included llama meat...so much for the vegetarian diet for Ian. I don´t know if there are any other animals ´Ian the carnivore´ can try...chinchilla? The island itself is an extraordinary site...an island in the middle of heaps of salt filled with giant cacti (some measuring 8m) that date back 1200 years. That night we stayed in San Juan, a small village where all the houses were made of mud and thatched roofing. The following day was a whirlwind tour of volcanoes, flamingos, ´gaysers´..or as we call them geysers, and multicolored lagoons. The geology in the south of Bolivia is unparallel to any other place in the world. Words can´t do these landscapes justice..see the attached photos and judge for yourself.
Adios for now!
Senor y Senora Cooke
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Dick the Dad
non-member comment
Gracias
So nice to hear your voice the other day. K you are right - he is the most beautiful baby in the world - so far. Look fwd to your safe return. Calgary is going to seem very clean, orderly, and, I'm sure, boring to you after this.