A White (Salty) Christmas in Uyuni

The first day of our three-day tour of the Bolivian salt flats commenced early, around 6:30am. We were told we would be picked up by a mini-van and that we needed to wait outside our hostel. So when a mini-van pulled up, we assumed that it was our ride. We threw our backpacks in the back of the van only to realise that the driver was here to collect someone else. We could have ended up at the airport instead of the salt flats in Bolivia!

When the correct mini-van arrived, we noticed that there were already two people from our tour inside. We both looked at each other and said “please don't let them be Australian”. Our wishes were granted. They were a recently married couple from Milan, Italy, Karin and Stefano. Our next stop was to pick up the remaining people on our tour, a Romanian couple, Denisa and Beny. Immediately, we all hit it off, exchanging travel stories and chatting about all kinds of things. Fortunately, otherwise it could've been three very long days.

Next was exiting Chilean immigration. The immigration office was a small building, with two officers on duty. All of the tour groups have similar itineraries so the line filed outside of the building, spilling into the streets. It was as if there was a mass exodus of San Pedro de Atacama. This allowed our tour group to get more acquainted, and also to become more accustomed to standing in queues. The next queue, after a forty minute drive, was Bolivian immigration. This time, we had everyone who had crossed from Chile as well as those who were existing Bolivia. After an hour waiting for the two immigration officers to process everyone (and after a bite to eat), we were on our way to the salt flats of Bolivia, the largest in the world and the highest desert.

At this point, we were joined by our Spanish-speaking tour guide and driver, Andreas. We knew that our Spanish would be put to the test on this tour because the guide spoke very little English. Luckily for us, our new Italian and Romanian friends were fluent in Spanish and were able to translate anything we didn't pick-up. At times, it felt like our Spanish was improving and, at other times, as if we are treading water to stay afloat.

On the first day, all of us took turns in suffering from altitude sickness. Andreas came to the rescue with freshly picked coca leaves to chew. For most of the day, we all looked like cows ruminating, but at least it assisted with the nausea. It didn't help that we had gone from 2403 metres to almost 5000 metres in one day. But the scenery made-up for any ill-feelings we may have been experiencing. The landscapes were like none that we had seen before. It was almost out of this world, especially the Dali Rock desert, which resembles a Dali painting with its surrealist-like terrain. The first day also took in the sights of some stunning lagoons: White Lagoon, Green Lagoon and Red Lagoon. The Red Lagoon was where we saw a flamboyance of pink flamingos. Apparently the flamingos are pink because of the algae and brine shrimp that they eat in the lagoon. We also experienced the extra-terrestrial-like landscapes of the Morning Sun Geyser Basin, with its sulphuric fumes, and the Salt Lagoon Baths, where Karin got to work on her tan, inspired by Donatella Versace’s Living Leather Collection.

At the end of the first day, we ended up at the Hostel Villa Mar in a tiny town called Villamar Mallcu, 159 kilometres southwest of Uyuni. It certainly wasn't a luxury villa on the sea as the name would imply, but after a whole day of travelling in a 4WD, a nice hot shower and some food was all we needed. We soon learnt that in Bolivia we had to pay for additional extras, such as hot water, and that we needed to provide our own toilet paper. Hostels don't provide toilet paper, though they do provide the toilet-roll holder. Karin and Stefano were the first to venture into the unknown and take a shower. Ricky needed to prepare Jason for the experience he was about to undertake. Fortunately there wasn't a light in the shower to expose all the dirt and grime. We survived the shower experience without contracting some kind of disease or some strange parasite from the Amazon. Well, we think so, only time can tell. The evening was capped off with food prepared by some of the local women: soup and spaghetti with tomato salsa. Needless to say, the pasta couldn't match the standard that the Italians were used to, leaving poor Stefano disappointed. This was the first in a series of disappoints for Stefano.

The second day commenced with a few cold pancakes and dulce de leche, before we set off to see Rock Valley. Within the Valley, the landscape is surround by rock formations, many that resemble man-made objects, such as the World Cup, ET and a camel. Afterwards, we headed to the Inca Canyon and then onto a wetlands, where we got to get up-and-close with the llamas. Before filling up on some food prepared by Andreas, we explored the Catal Lagoon and Black Lagoon. Later we indulged in some craft beers made from quinoa, coca and cactus, near the Old Train Station. We needed to cut our drinking session short so that we could get to the hostel before other tour groups. We arrived minutes before the deluge of tour groups and secured our place in line for the showers. The hostel was made from salt: the walls, the bed, side-table and floor. The rock salt on the floor wasn't the most practical material for flooring but it saved the hostel on vacuum cleaners.

For Christmas Eve dinner, our hopes we raised when we saw some of the other tour groups tuck into some chicken. Stefano was hoping for a traditional Christmas Eve dish, but was left disappointed when all that arrived was (more) soup and a dish made with sausage, egg, salsa and papas fritas / hot chips / french fries. With the anticlimactic dinner over, we all headed off to bed early, a little disappointed and a little hungry, as we had to leave by 4:30 the next morning.

One of the highlights of the tour was climbing up the Isla Incahuasi to watch the sunrise across the salt flats. The views from the hill were breath-taking, and so was the freezing cold air. We weren't quite prepared for this kind of weather, and the two Aussies ended up in the car trying to stay warm while the thick-skinned Europeans braved the cold weather. After some breakfast, and after the sun thawed us out, we hit the salt flats to take some cliché photos. Anyone would have thought that it was a photo shoot for one of the big Italian fashion houses, but with less attitude from the models. After the supermodel shoot in the desert, we travelled to the Salt Museum and Salt Mine, before finishing up the tour at the Railway and Train cemetery. It was sad to leave our new found friends after such a great experience but we were all taking off on separate adventures.

Next stop: Sucre.Read more