Salar de Uyuni

From la paz we caught an overnight bus to Uyuni where the salt flats tours leave from. 
Mark had picked us up tickets from the bus station on his way through to Copacabana from the only window which was open.they had shown him some pictures of a flash bus with proper semi cama (reclining) seats so he booked. The thing we have learnt in Bolivia is that they are happy to lie to your face. "is this bus semi cama?"  "is thus bus direct?" Will the bread be toasted?" "will there be boats?" "Si", "Si", "Si" but actually no! The bus was the shittest bus ever! (and we never got toasted bread at any point in Bolivia!). Luckily we had what were probably the best seats in the bus but Meredith and Mark had the front seat and so were subjected to full view of the death defying collection of unpaved potholes which they call the la paz to Uyuni road.

At first we thought we might be able to spread out across a few seats but it appears that the system is to load on the gringos at the main bus station, then at another location to load in as many locals with all their stuff as will possibly fit into every last space. There were people sleeping in the aisles and everything. Not only was it crazy there was mad Spanish music coming from somewhere as well as a movie and its noise playing at full blare!!

We did manage to get a wee but of sleep, there was a 2am toilet stop in the middle if a desert somewhere. Every make on the bus got off and peed in the desert, all of our group was asleep so I ventured into the tiny seedy cafe to try find a banos, most quick pee ever cos I didn't understand the explanation in Spanish of how long we were stopping for and didn't want the bus to leave without me without anyone knowing I was gone. Weird thing about Bolivia, maybe its some cost saving measure but there is no loo paper provided anywhere! And the loos are gross!! I needn't have rushed, the driver got off and ordered a full meal so the 10 min stop ended up being about an hour!!

Eventually we arrived in Uyuni.  Tired and a bit dopey we piled off the bus to be accosted by tour operators trying to convince us that theirs is the best way to see the salt flats. Eventually we gathered our wits and allowed one to offer us a lift (with our packs) to his office where he would explain it all then we could go compare other companies. Any chance not to have to carry our packs is good  and his spiel about the tour was very slick including an English speaking guide. We had also been recommend another company so we checked them out but we less impressed. Sorted.

Breakfast, then chilled out on the dusty street like hippies for a while before we got on the way. Six people in each Jeep, all our packs loaded in top with the supplies for 3 days in the middle of nowhere and we were off.

The first stop was the grave of trains, all the rusted locomotives and carriages from the hay day of Uyuni's railway. Obviously being Bolivia there is no health and safety so we could climb all over them and pretend to be train robbers or James Bond. Awesome!!

We visited a small village at the edge of the salar where they process the saltto see how its done then we were out in the salt flat proper.
Its very hard to describe, white flat salt as far as the horizon in every direction, some far off mountains are viable. The mirage makes all the distances impossible to tell.black dots resolve into other Jeeps then disappear. The salt is dried into hexagon shapes.

Apparently in the middle the salt crust is up to ten meters thick of salt and in places you can break through the first layer to the water underneath to grab out the fresh salt crystals. they are so beautiful, huge cubes of salt.
We stopped a number of times to look at the salt and to take crazy perspective pictures. Us holding reach other on our hands out Cushing each other underfoot.the possibilities are pretty endless! Lunch was alpaca steaks and was had in a hotel built of salt, even the chairs and tables were salt blocks.

In the afternoon we continued to drive across the salar, visiting Isla de los Pescados, the fish island where crazy cacti grow and there are amazing views over the salar. Jeremy had become the panorama king, slightly obsessed with the panorama function on his phone so is taking a million of these whether we stop.

The evening of our trip was a bit of an experience. There were two Jeeps in our tour, we were in the following Jeep.after the final stop on the salt for last pictures we headed off again to apparently drop our stuff at the hostel and return to the salt for sunset.we stopped at the first hostel and the drivers got out and conferred then we were off again. this happened again at the next place during which time the sun is beginning to set and we're starting to wonder what's going on. Our driver only speaks Spanish.this time the lead Jeep gets way ahead of us and vanishes, the driver starts to drive like a crazy person in an effort to catch up. Sunset comes and goes. Now its dark and we have no idea what's going on. Finally we find the other Jeep, there is some arm waving by the drivers and we're off up a hill. at the top is an empty salt hostel with the owners scrambling to get beds made and the generator going for us. Turns out they don't book the accommodation ahead, just rock up and hope, hence the mad dash to get ahead of the other groups! The place was amazing, everything, including the beds was made from salt and it was so warm inside after the freezing night air. remember we are still at 3600m here.

After missing the sunset lay night we braved the chilly pre dawn to be rewarded with a beautiful sunrise over salt and surrounding hills (mountains?). Today we let the salt and drove through a whole range of scenery and landscapes and saw so many different places and sights. Multi coloured lakes with flamingos; invented the flamingo (aka penguin) pose; mars or moon like rocky deserts; so many different rock formations; caves with stalactites; caves with mummies; a volcano smoking in Chile; more rocks; more lakes; more flamingos! It was a massive day.

That night we stayed in a basic hostel near the shore of lake Colorado. We treked out across the rocky landscape to try catch another sunset but the sun was too fast for us so all we got was frozen faces. Nice walk tho.

Day three of the tour started at 4 am to drive to see the geysers at dawn. Seriously impressive to watch the sun come up through the steam. They've obviously never heard of health and safety cos we were able to walk up close and peer right into the bubbling mud. a very impressive way to start the day followed closely by dulce de leche on pancakes and a two hour soak in hot springs on the edge of another lake. Oh yeah!! So glad the guide had convinced us out of visiting another lake in favour of more hot springs time. It was still  below freezing outside so getting changed into our togs was interesting!!

More lakes, more rocks and a different soundtrack of Spanish rap music on the way back to Uyuni.

Overall it was a pretty fantastic trip and we saw some awesome stuff. The tour company we used was reasonable and I would probably recommend them: safety seemed fine (had to change a flat tire on the last day), guide was informative (so glad we paid extra for English speaking), food started good and got progressively worse.

Back to Uyuni and we grabbed dinner before or next adventure began.

Love
Gem and Jez