The Salt Lakes

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We decided to book the Salt Lake tour from Tupiza as the sceneries are meant to be much more outstanding than from the popular route from Uyuni, which is also much more touristy. Plus Tupiza is located near the boarder with Argentina which was our next stop.

After a hectic bus journey from Potosi, we reached Tupiza at 3am and hoped to get on a tour that very morning. We were fairly lucky as 4 people had already signed up for it (2 French girls and 2 Argentinian lads) so we were able to join the group. Off we went in the jeep with Ruben, his wife and their 2 year old daughter.

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In total we drove over 800km in 3 and a half days and saw the most stunning and spectacular sceneries. We saw 5 lagunes on the second day, all so different from each other. Laguna Verde which is on the boarder with Chile was mind blowing, like a green sea. We saw the sunrise from a small oasis on the salt lake and none of us could put our cameras down. It was well worth getting up at 4am for! We got to take some perspective pictures too, where the person a few meters behind the other looks like a midget. That was a lot of fun!

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Our group was friendly and we all got on well, the 2 French girls suffered from altitude sickness when we peaked to an altitude higher than the Mont Blanc, but we were fine. The cactuses along the way were really disparsed and they all had such an odd look about them. They were all different from one another.

As we reached the famous Arbol del Piedro, we heard a noise in the distance, turned back and saw a neanderthal man come out from behind a rock. He asked our driver for some water... and he was French. His face was burnt by the sun, his shoes were falling apart... he had been walking for 4 and a half months!! Lima to Buenos Aires!!! How on earth was he able to find his way in the Salt Lake? With a compass? Some people are simply unbelievable! When I think we were moaning that our bums were sore sat in the jeep...

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Starting the trip from Tupiza meant that  we didn´t come across many tourists on the way and the open space seemed to belong to us. The whole trip was a unique experience and although we were tired at the end of it the memories of some of the natural beauties that we saw will remain with us forever.