Blogs from Salar de Uyuni, Potosí Department, Bolivia, South America - page 8

Back on the road again felt good. We looked forward to new sites, experiences and surprises offered by traveling to outpost far and away. Uyuni is just the place, a weathered Wild West type town surviving on the edge of the world's largest salt plains, hemmed in by incredibly dry dusty deserts and surviving as the start for Toyota Land Cruiser trips across the arid Altiplano of Bolivia. Uyuni existed years past as a central railroad yard, delivering supplies and hauling out gold and silver from nearby mines. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid stalked the area, robbing trains, raising havoc but eventually being cornered by the Bolivian army and killed. Surprisingly, the locals speak kindly of them, noting their Robin Hood ways and a bit proud their notoriety brought to the area. Nevertheless, we arrived ... read more

I stayed in Laz for a few days after my attempt at the mountain, I was feeling rubbish so took a few days to recover which was not possible at altitude . I saw a few of the sights of La Paz and did some shopping as Bolivia was sooooo cheap - just a shame I don't have a bigger bag. I decided to treat myself and fly to Uyuni which is where my salt flats tour began, flaights in South America are expensive so was a little bad but I couldn't face a 20 hour bus journey. After walking along the runway and other planes getting re fuelled and ready to take off (H&S is very different out here) we boarded the plane. The 45 minute flight was good with amazing view of the baron ... read more

For the unitiated, Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt flat in the world. That sure sounds exciting eh? Those who know, KNOW, that actually its brilliant. For many reasons. But none more important than the stupid photos it allows you to take. The salt flat, as you may imagine, are white, and flat. It looks like snow. But slightly less cold. And i do mean slightly as it was bloody cold up there. First stop was an abandoned train yard, which has since been turned into some kind of playground. We posed for photos on derelict trains and went on the swing and seesaw. It was odd. At the end of the day, everyone is just waiting to get on the salt flats... and soon enough we were there. And he photo based hilarity ensued.... ... read more

The train from Villazon to Tupiza was delayed 2 hours until they finally decided to depart without a generator. That meant no lights and heating for the duration of the 5 hour trip which would reach a chilly -20 degrees for the people staying on passed Tupiza....luckily we were departing at Tupiza! After finding a hostel the 4 of us booked on to a tour of south west Bolivia for 4 days. The itinerary was fairly bespoke as the driver, Denisimo, gave us the choices prior to setting off each day. It took me a while to remember his name and I tried to call him “Den!” a few times which he was not too happy about. Denisimo had been doing these tours for years and knew everything about the sights, in Spanish of course. Day ... read more

Standing on the precipice of what looks and feels like an alien world is undoubtedly one of the most surreal experiences of our journey thus far, perhaps ‘the’ most. Yet here we are, at the Bolivian ‘border,’ a comically unintimidating adobe hut in the centre of an immense open range of nothingness. A single distinguishable landmark can be seen for miles around in any direction; the dominating figure of Licancabur whose beautifully symmetrical peak soars 5,940m above sea level. Despite the fact Licancabur has not erupted for over 1,000 years, it ominously looms over much of the Salar de Atacama, beautiful and sinister. After our star gazing exploits out in the desert of San Pedro de Atacama, our ‘Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy’ style week continued into this strange, vast, desolate part of the world. There ... read more