The Salt Deserts

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Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

- Mark Twain

And this was it. This was to be my last Bolivian adventure. I had had a huge desire, above all other countries to visit this one and it did not disappoint. Not knowing what to expect is always a good thing in my book as it usually leaves you with that very lack of disappointment. The trip to Uyuni was another horrid bus ride and very surreal place. The desert surrounding the town was covered in litter. Small sticks for shrubs that seemed to have caught every polythene bag known to mankind gave the place a look of pity as we entered it. The place seemed to be a monochrome shade of an unrecognisable colour, somewhere in between stale Grey and sterile Sand, it was dusty and tumble weedy, yet somehow colourful, vibrant and well kept. As we were approaching Christmas too there was a buzz round the town, although I was a bit puzzled as to what everyone gave to each other for Christmas here as all I could make out were WWE wrestling figures, padlocks, batteries and shoes. I had taken the journey with Simone, a German mathematics teacher who went through the silver mines with me. After we had checked into our hostel we began searching for the right tour company as there are hundreds of them. The lonely planet guide will tell you that you must be careful who you choose to go with on these tours as some really are cowboys and your safety is paramount. In the last few years there have been several deaths on this trip. Some drivers drinking and rolling the cars. Two jeeps even collided head-on in the middle of the salt deserts. How? I hear you ask, can two jeeps crash head on in a flat desert with nothing to see but the horizon?! Well it has happened. We found a guy from a recommendation and I decided that despite my time restrictions to get to Buenos Aires for Christmas, I would sign up for the 3 day/4 night trip.



When we were walking back through the town I was delighted to literally bump into Rowan and Kath whom had become great friends when we were on the jungle trip in Las Pampas! We all went for dinner and had a great night laughing about other nights out we had all had. Sadly they were off the next day but we knew we would meet up in BA after Christmas, which we did. So the next morning we set off on our Salt flats journey, starting with the train graveyard.


The Train graveyard was a fantastic and very surreal place. Just about a half hour out from the town, was this time-absent gathering of rustic old machines. Each of them looking like some form of giant metal exoskeleton caught in another dimension, pilled up behind each other from some king of ‘Mad Max’ era unsure of whether they belong to he past or the future. Our group of 7 people all running about in their couples and singles, each not really knowing the others yet and taking their perspective and artistic shots of this strange but wonderful place.


We moved on then to the start of the salt deserts. Coming to this sea of flat white stretching as far out to the horizon, the glare was blinding. Incredible to think that this vast area was once a huge salt lake, with all of its remaining water now underneath the salt its self. We stopped at the salt hotel, where everything is literally built out of salt. The chairs, tables, beds, walls etc… all built from salt. Outside we wandered in the brilliant white glare, stunned by the glorious view and surrounding. Back in the jeep and onto Cactus island for lunch. This was where we got to play with the cameras and the perspective shots, you know, with a person in the distance where it looks like they are being held up by the person in the foreground. These were a lot of fun to do, but you need a bunch of creative people and a lot of patience.


The whole trip was awesome. We were constantly surrounded by dramatic landscapes. Even when out of the deserts and when we climbed up in altitude, the hills were stunning. Some of the tracks we ha to exit the jeep and walk a K or two due to the unsuitability and danger of the of the road, our driver with a cheek full of coca leaves to keep his concentration up. Thankfully our driver didn’t drink. Our first night was in our own salt hotel lodgings, very fun and thunder storms in the distance. A rather loud group of Brazilians keeping us entertained over our evening meal. the meal unfortunately being the second case of Bolivian stomach and had me up all night long feeling very unwell. I was exhausted the next day, not having slept at all that night and embarrassed at the probablt prospect of having to get the driver to stop every half hour for me to relieve myself in the desert. For some reason the toilet Gods were once again looking out for me, or maybe it was the Bolivian “anti-dihoerretica” chalk liquid that I had downed that morning?! Either way I was very happy (if still very uncomfortable and sure I was going to vomit at every lurch) that the worst had passed.



We drove passed the famous top heavy rock, where we actually broke down too, thankfully with no drastic consequences and our jeep did make it all the way home too. We saw a plethora of flamingos in lakes full of Borax too. All the hills looked like those sand and water picture frame thingies you used to get and flip upside down to watch how the two elements passed each other, portraying an alien mountain range. Our last night was at very high altitude. We were so cold that some of us had on all of our clothes under inside our sleeping bags and under the covers. If you needed the loo, you held it till the morning. It didn’t warm up until a few hours into the day. We visited hot springs but with no towel to dry myself before getting back into my clothes, I passed on the idea of instant pneumonia, but thanks for offering it me anyway. Instead I roamed around taking landscape shots to add to the travelling portfolio of awesome images.



And that was pretty much it, well, for everyone else on the tour. By now we were at the Chilean border where everyone was getting off the jeep and crossing the border, except me. At the time I was quite cross with myself for not having decided to go the same route and from Chilli heading into Argentina. Not what I was doing, which was spending the next 12 hours in the jeep heading back to Uyuni to then spend the next 3 days on buses to BA. But it turned out to be for the best as I had so much time to write and reflect on my own in a very bumpy but great journey. There was this streak of rainbow in the clouds that we followed for about 4 hours. It was a brilliant slice of colour that I took so many photos of but came to the conclusion that it was a moment to witness and use for inspired writings as apposed to recording. As it began to fade too there was s downdraft in the clouds ahead. I was having one of my buzzing moments on the high of nature and the beauty of the surroundings, reflecting on thee past journey and revelling in my current situation. The great thing was that the day before I had been asking the guys if any of them had ever seen a tornado. And here was this huge grey/white cloud with a large cone starting to down. As we came over the hill there was an evenly wide (about 500m) base that was starting to form, both spirals gathering speed and attempting to join as we headed right for it.



Unfortunately, even though it was an amazing spectacle to see at this stage, it didn’t join to form a complete tornado. Which was probably no bad thing as as we drove right through it, it collapsed and dissipated altogether. On arriving back into Uyuni o collect my bags and get the train, we found out that the train was full and so many travellers were stranded. There were last minute busses that were organised thankfully, for what was to be the worst buses I took in South America. So, without and guarantee of success, myself and a few other travellers, headed together to try to reach Buenos Aires for Christmas.

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