Salar de Uyuni and Inca Huasi

To get to the area of the salt flats where there was still standing water, we had to leave the car and Edgar at a dry area of the flats and walk a little way in to the water.

We got out of the car and immediately were blown away by the not only the vastness of the place, but also the emptiness. It is just flat and white as far as the eye can see, with the odd glimmer on the surface where the water still sat catching the sun. Walking on it was even stranger. It was a bit like walking on ice, as there were parts of the surface that were solid salt and then other areas that cracked under your feet, exposing them to the water below. Annoyingly it was really hard to tell the difference. Pablo also informed us that under the salt there is a massive lake, that reaches 120m in depth in places...amazing! We won't fall through though, the salt is meters thick.

Half of us immediately regretted opting for lighter trainers for this walk. Finding a safe dry route was impossible and we all ended up with wet feet, despite balancing and hopping between the patches of dry looking salt. We also didn't get a reflection picture as the wind was too strong and had produced too many ripples. We still got a couple of good group photos though and then we were told to head back to the Jeep for lunch, which was a lovely picnic on the salt flats!

They had set up a table and chairs with a lovely bright table cloth and we were served up a feast of lama steaks, pink quinoa, avocado and salad. It was delicious! Dessert was slices of a huge watermelon, which the others said was amazing (unfortunately I'm not a fan). It was such a lovely setting for a picnic and another nice opportunity for us all to have a chat and get to know each other better.

After lunch we headed to a dry area of the salt flats where we could take some of the popular, forced perspective pictures that everyone looks forward to. I don't know of many other places that you can get this effect quite so well. The guide was clearly well practiced at this and had some good suggestions. We were dancing out of a pringles tube, fighting dinosaurs and running from oversized bottles. It was a good laugh and we all got some good, funny photos!

Eventually though, the chore of laying on the sharp and hard floor to take pictures was not so fun and we clambered back into the jeep to visit the Isla Incahuasi.

Isla de Inca Huasi (ancient lake) is an island that seems to appear from nowhere and is full of cactus plants, that tower high in the air and blow gently in the strong winds, which almost blew us off our feet. We learnt that the males cactus' have no branches and the females, well, they obviously do. They also grow just 1cm a year, which is crazy considering how tall some of these plants are. Some of these giants are over 900 years old which is just incredible!

With the altitude (and my lack of physical fitness), I found it a little more of a difficult climb to the top of the island, especially as the air is so dry that panting just makes you incredibly thirsty and the rest of the group had walked ahead with the water...yay! But I made it in the end and the view was awesome. White salty desert as far as you could see in almost every direction, bordered by great, towering volcanoes in the distance. The only sense of scale that you could get of the place occurred when you saw the odd jeep speeding across the surface in the distance, a tiny ant size dot against the white.

What an incredible place and how lucky we are to be here. The island itself is so small in comparison to the expansive salt flats, but to find so much plant life in the middle of something so seemingly void of anything living was quite special.

We headed to another Island after this one which was much more rocky and had only a couple of large cactus'. The rock here was old coral, that used to be under the sea and was incredibly sharp to the touch. Again, how unbelievably incredible to think that we are so high up and yet climbing on rocks that were once below the ocean.
It was a pretty hard climb up too, due to the sharp rocks and the tiny cactus plants, all just waiting to get you. I slipped at one point and ended up with nine cactus splinters in the end of my finger...ouch! Fortunately they are harmless, well, except for the pain! We walked through a pretty interesting, but small, cave like structure and spotted a wild bunny that looked a lot like a chinchilla. Rich then put his climbing skills to the test to save himself a short hike around and up a large ledge that hid the top of the Island from view. I think he is a bit crazy considering how sharp the rocks are, but he made it unscathed. After stopping for photos at the top, we headed back down to a large cave.

The way down to the large cave was even more treacherous than the way up. It was quite sheer, unstable and with more rocks that were more like shards of broken glass. There was a strong wind too and yet more incredibly sharp cactus plants. Poor Rob managed to slip and now has some lovely cuts on his hands and legs to show for it. Even Richard, our avid climber, thought it was a little mad to be walking this somewhat treacherous route.

The cave it all led towards was pretty awesome though. It was massive and had stalactites on the ceiling from the days when there was moisture here. A huge, lone cactus stood as sentry at the entrance and Pablo told us how this cave was often used for meditation and considered important to the Inca civilisation. We had a silly 'evolution of man' photo op and were then quizzed by Pablo on our relationships, which was a little strange and also a little stinging for those recently single.

After sitting and enjoying the tranquility of the cave for a little while, we made our way back to the car and headed to our accommodation for the night.Read more