Blogs from Salar de Uyuni, Potosí Department, Bolivia, South America - page 56

I've never felt this way before, but I am amazed by the flamingo. I admit it's always been an eye-catching animal, in a freak-of-nature sort of way. Flamingos are pink and funny-looking, good for some amusement. But now, after visiting the Salar de Uyuni and its surrounding landscape, dotted with multicolored lagoons, I feel a newfound respect for the bird. Up here at 4000 meters above sea level (and even higher!), three species of flamingos have their home: the flamenco andino (Andean flamingo), with a black butt; the flamenco chileno (Chilean flamingo), nice and pink; and the smallest, the flamenco de James (James' flamingo), a white variety. I cannot understand how this silly creature balances that oblong body on scrawny little legs, especially while bent over with its long neck twisted to better shove its beak ... read more

Hey everybody! Happy New Year! Feliz Año Nuevo! Just got back from Salar de Uyuni (massive salt lakes in the middle of the Bolivian desert) and the nearby lagoons... haha... well that was interesting!!! So there were six of us and our driver Juan the coca-leaf chewer (the leaf that cocaine is derived from... chewing it doesn´t have the same effect but its meant to keep you awake) in the jeep for three days... I´d heard plenty about the dodginess of Bolivan tours especially in the Salar, but I was always like "yeah yeah"..... so we set of from the actual Uyuni town towards the salt lakes, drove for hours saw the salt lakes which were crazy, just miles and miles of salt as far as you can see. Because of the freaky perspective when you ... read more

Well it was somewhat of an early morning with a wake up call at 6:30AM so that we could be ready for breakfast at 7AM. Somehow, I was ready and packed pretty early, so I decided to wander around outside our hostel until breakfast was served. The fields were empty, unlike the day before when they were filled with llamas and sheep. I could see a bit of movement up the hill behind our hostel and found two corrals full of llamas. Pretty quiet animals I must say and they didn't make any sounds, rather than the passing of some gas, as I approached them. Pretty cute animals, but definitely not good animals to use to protect you as they don't squeal, bark or moo at you. Breakfast was served right at 7AM. Seemed strange that ... read more

I thought that as part of our travels, I would occasionally pen down some thoughts for would be travellers or those already on the road out there.... In one of the guidebooks, it is written that it is hard to recommend agencies given the explosion in competition in Uyuni. That is not far from the truth considering how the numbers have grown from about 40 in 2004 to the current 65 or so agencies. As we traversed through the salt plains, desert and climbed high altitudes to get to the various sights, the terrain is not only rough on the 4WD (our bums are literally bummed out! Pressure sores could have developed if we weren´t let out at intervals!), they are tough on the driver who has to concentrate hard on the rough terrain while the ... read more

After lake Titicaca we had some serious bum-blistering travelling ahead of us with a day bus to La Paz (4 hours) - night bus to Potosi (11 hours) - day bus to Uyuni (8 hours while being shaken at between 2-20 Hertz all the way.... Enduring memories of Bolivan mountain roads remain.) We arrived at Uyuni around 4pm and were accosted by many people wanting to help carry bags or sell us trips to the salt plains. Obviously low season had intensified the competition. We decided to take the offer of a short lift to a hostel we had in mind from Celia of Blueline Tours ( a recent start-up) in exchange for a no strings attached introduction to the tour her company was offering. We first checked in and went back across the road (yep, ... read more