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Published: October 7th 2007
We started our three-day trip from San Pedro de Atacama in Chile to Uyuni in Bolivia by stocking up on 10 litres of water and snacks... Then we loaded onto a minibus for the journey to the border where our trusty 4WD´s awaited us.
We were lucky enough to have only two other travellers with us, Louise and Donald both from Scotland. Some of the other groups departing at the same time had up to 6 people in their cars so we were thankful that we weren´t cramped. Our guide was a quiet Bolivian man named Roland who was even quieter given he did not speak English and our Spanish is fairly limited!
Our first day took us past three amazing lagoons: Laguna Blanco, Laguna Verde and Laguna Colorada. The lagoons take their names from their distinctive colours: white, green and red respectively.
Laguna Blanco and Laguna Verde are joined by a small stream in the middle, however, the colours of the water do not mix for some unusual reason. Particularly unusual was the fact that Laguna Blanco was home to an abundance of flamingos yet Laguna Verde is too toxic for animals to survive in. The colours
of the Lagoons were amazing, particularly Laguna Verde which was the most brilliant turquoise colour.
We made our camp in a refuge next to Laguna Colorada. We were expecting a very basic night´s accommodation and we were not wrong. However, in hindsight it could definitely have been worse. It was very cold during the night but the thermals and beanie made for a cosy evening (as well as a silly sight).
It was also the first night spent at altitude (approx 4,200m above sea level) which meant that many people on the tour did not sleep well and several were quite ill.
Day 2 saw us clamour back into the 4WD´s for some more varied scenery. We visited the Stone Tree (see photo) as well as some more lagoons and a couple of small, dusty towns. We saw heaps of vicuñas (which we kept calling little llamas much to our guide´s annoyance) along with some emu type animals and lots and lots of llamas. Our home on the second night was on the edge of the Uyuni salt flats, the main attraction for our tour.
Boy did the salt flats not disappoint! Salar de Uyuni is
the world´s largest salt flat measuring 10,852 square kilometres. We drove for miles through an expanse of white nothingness to an island called "Isla de Pescado" (Island of Fish) which was covered in cacti.
After walking around Isla de Pescado we piled back in the car to drive out into the nothingness for some photos of the whiteness. It was absolutely breathtaking and definitely a highlight so far.
Of course we had to do some of those "perspective shots" where you have someone in the foreground doing something to someone who is really tiny in the background. Lots of fun!
We finished our tour in Uyuni, a small city which is the launching point for salt flat tours as well as trips to other parts of Bolivia. There we booked our bus ticket to our next stop, Potosi.
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