Salar de Uyuni

We organised the tour of the Salar de Uyuni (Salt Flats) in San Pedro de Atacama. We were picked up by a mini bus from our hostel at 7am and drove to the Chilean/Bolivian border which was an hour away. After getting our thirteenth passport stamp of this trip we met our guides for the trip Johnathan and Alfonso. There were eleven of us on the trip so we were split between two 4X4 Toyota Landcruisers. Johnathan was our driven and he spoke a small bit of English. The tour was a three day two night tour ending in Uyuni. On the first day we visited a couple of Lagoons; green lagoon, blue lagoon, white lagoon and the red lagoon. The red lagoon had loads of flamingos walking around in it so made some scenic pictures. The highlight of the first day though was the hot springs. We were freezing cold due to the bitter wind and altitude so when we arrived at the hot springs everyone was delighted to be able to warm up for a little bit. That evening we stayed in a small community home in the desert and were fed a delicious three course meal by the family of the house. There was no heat in the house so we were each given a bed with four duvets on them and a sleeping bag. Unfortunately due to the high altitude and the extreme cold we all had problems breathing that night which made for a very restless cold night.

Nevertheless the following morning we were all up bright and early to travel further along the tour in our 4x4. We drove mainly through the desert today and learned about the multiple volcanos helped form the colourful rocks in the desert. We stopped at the Arbol del Piedra which is a volcanic rock that appears like a tree statue. That night we stayed in a salt hotel. The foundations of the hotel was made from concrete however the walls, tables, seat and beds were made from salt. It was quite interesting walking around the hostel with salt as all the decoration.

The following morning we got up at five am to drive to the salt flats in order to watch the sunrise. There had been a small bit of rain the night before so the surface water helped form a stunning reflection of the rising sun. It was still very cold watching the sunrise however it was very scenic. We then headed to an island in the middle of the salt flats which contains hundreds of cactus plants. It was very strange walking around this island looking out onto the sea of salt that extended to the horizon in all directions. We learned that the salt flats was initially the sea in the Pacific Ocean however as the volcanos developed they blocked the flow of water out to the ocean. This water then evaporated leaving behind the salt falts. This salt flats is the largest in the world and the salt is sold within Bolivia for dinner after it has been cleaned.

After breakfast we got to create the famous pictures on the slat flats. Johnathan got very excited about this part of the tour and was very creative with our photo poses. It was actually quite fun being part of the photo shoot especially when we got to see the end results of the photos and videos. As we headed to Uyuni the final stop was to a train cemetery where the first trains that used to transport minerals and goods from Bolivia to Chile and Argentina now remain. We took some fun photos in the trains and on the old railway lines before saying goodbye to Johnathan and Alfonso after a brilliant tour.Meer informatie