Salar De Uyuni (24.07.08 - 26.07.08)

We set off for our three day tour of Uyuni’s great salt lake on Thursday morning. Our travel buddies were Emanuel (a Swede) and Clara (from Germany): a young couple who had recently hooked up, Andrew (a US teacher – fluent in Spanish and French) and Will (an 18 year old Bolivian/ German/ American who had a thing for group photos. His family lost everything in Hurricane Katrina). Altogether an enjoyable bunch of people to hang out with over the next couple of days. We all fitted snugly into the four wheel drive (this was good as it was freezing) along with our driver Chriso and his girlfriend Maria, our cook.

Our first stop was the rubbish strewn Cemeterio de Trenes (a graveyard for rusting locomotives 3km out of town). We then crossed over the dazzling white salt plains (they cover an area of approximately 12,000Km squared and used to be an ocean once upon a time) where we saw locals at work digging up the salt and visited a small salt factory. Thankfully everyone in our group understood Spanish and could explain things to us (ignorant Australians who only speak one language) as the tour guide spoke no English. I believe the people here sell about 50kg of salt for $1US – back breaking work. At this place there was a spitting Alpaca who got an Asian girl right in the eye – unfortunately I missed the spectacle. Afterwards we headed over to the salt hotel. When this place was in operation it cost $50US to spend a night in a freezing building where everything except the dunnies was constructed from salt.

Lunch was at Fish Island (supposedly it looks like a fish), an outcrop of land covered in cactuses. It really was beautiful and I can see why it was sacred to the Incas. Following this we stopped at the Devil’s Cave/ Galaxy Cavern – a cave discovered by a local in 2003 that has petrified algae in it. It looks to me like an enterprising Bolivian went crazy with plaster in the cave and constructed it themselves in order to get a few tourist dollars. The cavern next door was the cemetery of the Chullpas (a group of people who existed at some stage in the past) and you could see their remains, including some skulls. An interesting thing about this island was the petrified cactuses. I can’t work them out.

In the evening we stayed in San Pedro which is a small collection of abodes and a dirt soccer field. Our shack was apparently rated four stars. I have no idea how or why. It consisted of a collection of rooms with metal doors containing beds with inadequate blankets. The toilet was outside and there was no heating and no hot water and the power went out at 10pm. I am not sure why someone hasn’t actually built a nice resort with central heating, open fireplaces, and a bar out here. I think a lot of people would pay extra to stay there. At dinner we were harassed by some local kids who played the worst music I have ever heard (I am not sure the noise warrants being called music). I don’t think they actually knew how to play their instruments. We paid them to go away. That night I froze.

Day two, we stopped to take photos of the Volcano Ollague. Our guide said it was ´no activo´ but I saw smoke coming out the top. It was a pretty spectacular view, especially with the moon setting behind it. We then moved on to Cañapa Lagoon. Jon and I went crazy with the photos as this was the first time we saw flamingos. There were only a couple on this lake and no one informed us that at the next lagoon we would see hundreds of them. So all up I think we took a few thousand pics of pink birds. We also saw a family of vicuñas (look like alpacas and lamas) drinking at the waters edge.

All the scenery here is stunning. The mountains (mostly extinct volcanoes) are multi coloured, some with snow on top, and the lakes are partially frozen and reflect amazing colours. When there aren’t salt plains, there are desert sands and rocky outcrops. It looks like the land time forgot. Sometimes you think you are on the moon and other times you expect to see dinosaurs wandering about.

That night we stayed near the Red Lagoon (absolutely breathtakingly beautiful with even more flamingos) in two star accommodation (although it looked no worse than the last place). Everyone we met prior to the tour who had been this way, told us the place was bloody freezing and that they were still cold despite wearing all their clothes and sleeping in a sleeping bag under the blankets provided. Apparently it gets to -20 degrees here. With this prior knowledge Jon and I had stocked up on extra thermals, knee high socks, leg warmers, multiple beanies and thick gloves. I felt I was prepared for the worst and was glad that I had been lugging Emily’s sleeping bag around the world for this moment. I think I am one of the only people that overheated in this place. I woke up at 2am thinking I was going to die of heat stroke. I should have worn all my layers the night before, I might have slept. The young couple in our group made their own heat. There was a bit of doona dancing and heavy breathing happening in the corner of our room throughout the night. Bring on private rooms please!

The following day, we were up at 5.30am and out the door at 6am in order to see the sunrise (I think I nodded off during that period). I opted to stay under the blankets in the car when we drove past the geysers. I did however brave the cold to get changed into bathers and jump into the hot springs. I am glad I did as it was deliciously warm and I could finally feel my toes after two days of numbness. Jon’s hair got icicles in it as he sat defrosting in the pool. Getting out was a different matter – very painful and totally awkward trying to stay modest whilst changing at the edge of a pool full of tourists. However, there was no way I was going to run all the way to the toilets. I think a few people got a nice view of Jon’s lilly white butt.

After our first bath in a couple of days, we set off to the Green Lagoon. It wasn’t as green as it sometimes is due to the lack of wind. Must say, I wasn’t upset it wasn’t windy. Here we posed for our last group shot (one of many due to Will’s strange obsession for group pics). We then drove to the Chile border where Andrew departed us and headed onwards to San Pedro. The rest of us made our way back to the Red Lagoon for lunch. We were joined by a herd of lamas at the water’s edge. After this, it was a 5 hour drive back to Uyuni so we could jump on the 8pm bus to La Paz.
On our return we took some bumpy back roads across the mountain passes. At one point we were forced to stop due to two stationary cars in front of us. Jon used this opportunity as a toilet break. I thought, oh no they are broken down and we are now going to miss our bus as we can’t get around them. Thankfully the cars started. They honked angrily at us to move out of their way, so we reversed to let them pass. As they drove by they gave us some very dirty looks. Turns out they were well known, armed drug runners making a shipment of cocaine to the Chile border. I was very glad when Jon got out of the car he didn’t start taking photos of them. It could have been a different story.

We made it back in time for our bus. All in all it was an amazing trip - such spectacular scenery and such a harsh environment. I don’t want to ever be that cold again. I am definitely not cut out to live in Europe or anywhere it snows or gets below 0 degrees.