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Published: June 24th 2016
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hell
My Hell After a relaxing night in Bahia Inglesa I booked a nine hour bus to San Pedro de Atacama; 8,000ft. high in the Atacama Desert of Chile. Unfortunately the ride took twelve hours and I showed up into town around midnight with no where to stay. At least I got to watch the Rambo Saga during my journey, all four movies of it in Spanish, yay! San Pedro is small enough though and I was able to get a place to stay no problem. My first impression of this place was that it was like Santa Fe, New Mexico. This late at night it was a quaint little desert village and the stars were amazing. The next morning I woke up and the quiet dusty streets had transformed into a mass of foreign backpackers all sporting their finest North Face apparel and brand new Gortex hiking boots. This is my hell.
San Pedro de Atacama is a transport point for people who have come south from Uyuni, Bolivia and for others like me heading north into Bolivia. In between the two cities is the famed Salar de Uyuni the worlds largest salt flat at 4,086 square miles. Also in the region
are volcanoes and various lagoons chalk full of various elements providing out of this world colors and landscapes. I booked my tour straight away with
Atacama Mistica at a cost of $CLP$65,000 for a three day two night journey into the the Salar which would include all transport, accommodation, and food for the journey. I was super exited. The tour company was very professionally run and put together. As a bonus our Bolivian driver was informative, funny, and most important - not drunk! I had a great group of people on the trip and the experience was fantastic.
Our first day consisted of driving on the dirt roads visiting the aptly named Laguna Blanca, Laguna Verde, and my favorite Laguna Colorado. The lakes were of a brilliant white, green, and red respectively. Seeing Laguna Colorado with its blood red water and flock of pink flamingos was like being on another planet. I often had this feeling during my time on the Salar. The landscapes and scenery were unlike anything I have ever seen (always a treat for me to be able to say this). Our first night we stayed at the hostal provided by the tour company. The accommodation was
very basic and the night temperature was freezing at about 4 degrees F. We were sleeping at around 13,400ft. and many succumbed to altitude sickness on the first night. Even I had a mild headache, but nothing serious like some of the others. Must be the Colorado in me.
The next day we trucked on further into the desert where we were treated with massive mountains and active volcanoes all around. We also were able to visit a set of geysers that emitted a noxious cocktail of sulphur gasses spewing forth from the center of the Earth. The National parks here are great. You can damn near stick your finger in the boiling mud if you would like. No gates, safety fences or anything. Also on this day we viewed the very strange looking stone tree which rises from the sands out of nothing. At night we stayed at a hotel made completely of salt with the promise of the next day we would finally reach the massive salt flat.
Up early the next morning after another freezing cold night we had arrived at the Salar de Uyuni. The massive expanse of flat white nothingness was an exhilarating
site. Our first stop was a large island that sprouted out from the middle of the vast void. Very bizarre indeed. We were able to climb to the top of this "island" where we were bestowed extraordinary panoramas of the Salar.
After the island we drove further onto the flat until there was nothing around us but white for as far as the eye could see. It was difficult to tell where the land ended and the sky started. Everything seemed to mix completely together. Here we were able to take some fun perspective photos on the salt flat. The weather was nice. No wind, relatively warm, and just an overall nice day and happy time.
The three day tour of the Salar de Uyuni was something I had read about quite a while ago and I knew it was a must do for me whilst in South America. It was a journey into the bizarre workings of nature and evolution on our planet. I'll never forget it. I hope the photos provide some insight into this strange realm.
The end of the road for us was the outpost town Uyuni, Bolivia where we were taken to
some sort of train cemetery to finish the tour. It was so out of place considering the places I had been the previous three days and a really strange way to end the tour. Once in town I had to go to immigration to obtain my Bolivian Visa which cost me $135. Ouch. I curse the US State Department for making things difficult for me in certain countries.
Bolivia is unlike any country I've been to so far in South America. It is very underdeveloped and very, very poor. A final dinner with the group in Uyuni and I went to bed only to be woken up with my first (hopefully only) case of food poisoning during my five months or so here in South America. Welcome to the third world.
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