Uyuni: Salt of the Earth

12,000 square miles, the Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt plain in the world and one of the biggest marvels in Bolivia.  Leaving the town of Uyuni in 4 wheel drive vehicles we ventured onto the salt plain.  Because it is now the rainy season in this part of the world, there was about a three inch layer of water on the salt which covers this vast area.  Rather than ruining our shoes we walked around barefoot on the coarse salt crust and brine. The salt is a pure white colour, cristal shape and on the surface.  In places it is only 10 t0 15cm but in other places it is as deep as three metres.  The salt is processed by local residents, mostly by family members.  In the one operation that we visited, the father was working at keeping the fire going to dry the salt and 3 children betwen the approximate ages of 8 to 13 were kneeling on the ground packaging the salt in 2kg. portions.  The salt is sold in Bolivia for about 7 cents a kilo, but you could buy 8 kilos here for 30 cents.  The conditions in the plant were quite primitive and your heart went out to the kids who spent their days shovelling and packaging, kneeling on a pile of salt in a dingy shack.  They wear ski masks to protect themselves from breathing the salt dust.  After lunch in the "Salt Hotel" a building constructed entirely of salt blocks, we left for the remainder of the expedition into the Andes.

The landscape here is unlike anything in the world.  Multicolored mountains, volcanoes, ever-changing top strata and essentially desert, at 4,000 t0 5,000 metres elevation.  We stayed the first night in basic accommodation and actually lucked in having our own room, but sharing washroom facilities with the other 18 people in our group.  We had the same driver, Louis for the duration of the expedition and there we only four of us in his Toyota Land Cruiser.  He did not speak English and our Spanish being limited, we could not have any meaningful conversations as we covered kilometres upon kilometres of the rough mountain terrain. Where the convoy of 4 x 4s would stop an English speaking guide would give us information about what we were seing.

On the second day we awoke at 5:30am and drove across a rocky area where the rocks looked liked like stacks of pancakes several stories high.  There we saw a few Biscachas, a large rabbit that looks like a small kangaroo. The Biscachas would perch themselselves up on the rocks and watch us until we got closer and then run away.  Almost everywhere there were also herds of vicunas or wild llamas.  They are a light brown in color, are smaller and have shorter hair than the domestic llamas.  Reaching Laguna Edionda (Smelly Lake) we observed  hundreds of pink and white flamingoes feeding in the water.  Even more flamingoes were waiting for us at Laguna Colorado a lake where the water was a pink red colour.   We ended the day staying in primitive quarters, six to a room and about 40 of us lining up to use the washroom facitities.  Dinner was downright awfull, spaggetti with a sickly sweet lard laden sauce.  Vicky got rice instead of the noodles because she is intolerant to gluten.  But being hungry, and it was food, we ate it and went to bed early.

On the third day we left the hostel at 5am to see a whole series of geysers at sunrise.  The volcanic zone is known as "sol de manana" or "the morning sun" and is a large active geyser basin at 4,850 metres elevation.  Next was a dip in a natural hot spring and then breakfast.  A tour of the area followed: beautiful barren mountains in a multitude of monochromatic earthtone colors; the Dali Rocks, a geographic area resembling Dali´s paintings; and Laguna Verde a green lake due to the high deposits of sulphur and calcium.  This particular region is in the southrnmost tip of Bolivia, close to the borders with Chile and Argentina.  On the return leg we also saw about a dozen Rias, a smaller cousin of the ostrich.  Tired but overall happy with the expedition, we returned to Uyuni for the night where we really appreciated having our own room, shower and toilet.