Uyuni Salt Flats

Salt Flats
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I spent three days two nights on the salt flats near Uyuni in Southern Bolivia. I hadn´t realised it got quite so cold there! The temperature at this time of year can fall down to -15 degrees centigrade and I hadn´t really come prepared for that! I decided the best defence was to wear most of my clothes from my rucksack and I have survived relatively unscathed!

Transportation was 4 wheel drives for the whole time which was hilarious. Ours was the crap slow one with no suspension and a grumpy driver!And we still had fun!

Lifting Cars with one hand

Fish Island
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DAY 1

On our first day we drove out of Uyuni and stopped at a train cemetery. All the old and poorly trains go here to die. Its great you can climb all over them and if you´re really crazy jump from one carriage to the next like in the films. I declined this option as breaking my leg a month into my trip didn´t appeal!

We then drove onto the salt flats and spent the rest of the day on them. They are amazing so large as far as your eye can see. It looks like snow. The reflection is so bright that all the people working there cover their faces as their chances of skin cancer are greatly increased. The salt is chiselled out and transported to plants for purification. The salt is not exported it is used domestically only. The flats used to be a huge saltwater lake but this evaporated and left the salt.

Me on fish island
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We visited a place called Fish Island that is supposed to be shaped like a fish, this is the island in the photos. It had lots of cactus and is protected so some are really old.

We then spent the afternoon taking the daft photos you have seen with us holding cars etc! That night we spent in a village on the edge of the flats. The hotel there is made of salt!Believe me, we licked the walls to check! We shared a dorm of 5 and one of 6 that night.

DAY 2

On day 2 we got up at 5am to see the sunrise over the salt flats.

Salt flats
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After breakfast we headed out to the lagoons. We visited Colorado Lagoon (the red one) and some of the mountains and that weird rock there is a photo of. The scenery was really spectacular. We had lunch at the red lagoon and then drove on to our next nights accomodation. This was also dorm rooms but more basic than the night before, though to be honest nicer than I expected.

DAY 3

We got up early again after a brief stop at the geysers we went to a hot spring by the side of the road. A few people were brave enough to take all the clothes off in the freezing cold and go in, and you guys will be proud to know that I was one of them! Stiff british upper lip and all that! It was fabulous so clean and warm that I would have been happy if they had left me there!

Salt Flats
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After that we drove to the Lagoon Verde and the Lagoon Blanco and had lunch at 3pm. We then spent a lot of time driving back to Uyuni.

When we got back to Uyuni we had dinner at Minuteman pizza in Tonito hotel, mmm! Then we got a night train for 7 hours and a bus for 5 hours to get back to La Paz before lunch. The train was great it was just over 1 pound and the chairs reclined back, i slept better on the train than the two nights before!