+ We had heard and read that El Salar de Uyuni (the largest salt desert in the word) was the best of Bolivia. And actually, just the 8 hours bus ride from Tupiza to there was already worth it going. We crossed the river several times (yes, of course, without any bridge), we drove on a dirt-road through a 3500m high desert full of cliffs and had so much fun with the unique passangers. Sometimes, the bus stopped to leave some people in the middle of nowhere in the desert.
On the way to Uyuni
+ We did a three-day jeep tour to visit the salt desert (Salar de Uyuni) and the volcanos, deserts and lagoons in the Southwest of Bolivia. We would end up our tour in the border with Chile where we needed a bus to go to San Pedro de Atacama. The tour was incredible and we shared this unforgetable experience with two guys from Chile and a couple from Spain and our funny guide & driver "Figo". Really cool the whole trip!
DAY 1
+ The first day we visited the Salar and spent the night in a salt hotel. Everything was made of salt: the tables, chairs, walls, even the beds! Kinga was overexcited about all the salt around her.
+ The Salar has different areas. At the borders of the desert, you find salt piles that they sell and use for food, handcrafts, furniture... In the middle of the Salar, there is an island with vegetation. Well, the only vegetation which grows there is a special type of cactus.... Cactuses of up to 13m high and hundreds of years!! Otherwise, most of the place is just nothing but salt (which actually looks like snow and sometimes we were ridiculously afraid to slipper, but of course you don't on salt...).
+ Before entering the Salar, we visited some old trains left in the desert.
+ And what could we do in the middle of a salty desert ?? Well...
+ The cold night at the salt hotel at about 3700m with no heater but lots of wine to warm up...
DAY 2
+ The second day we drove through a small village in the middle of nowhere, crossed different types of deserts and visited some amazing lagoons, home to different species of flamingos. On the way, we stopped to observe some volcanos at 4700m.
+ Snow in the middle of a sandy desert?? Well, everything is possible in Bolivia...
+ And one of the many highlights: "Laguna colorada" (red lagoon). The red-orange color of the water is due to some type of algies that react with the wind... Beautiful, cold and windy! Again, we felt like being on some other planet.
DAY 3
+ The second night wasn´t the warmest of our life. We sleep in a small house in the middle of the desert, at around 4500m and with -15ºC outside. Since the house didn´t have any heater, the house must have been at 0ºC or less. Not even hot water for a shower or anything. The solution was again: wine.
+ Next day, we woke up in the middle of the night (at 5am) to continue our long trip through the desert and be in time at the Chilenean border to catch a bus. The first stop was at the geysers which are located at 5000m high. The highest we have ever been, but what bothered us more than the altitude was the cold!! All the coldness, waking up in the middle of the night, difficulties to breath, headaches and insomnia we shared with the others these 3 days were totaly worth the spectacular places!
+ We then stop for breakfast at thermal baths but we were to sissy to get into the water. It was really cold outside and we were wearing the pijamas under the trousers, two pair of thick socks, the boots and all the polars and jackets and still... cold!
+ We finaly visited the "Laguna Verde" (green lagoon) which gets the green color due to some mineral the water has. However, it needs wind to get the green color. When we were there, it wan´t windy and we couldn't see the green color... Who cares? At least it wans´t cold any more as we were back down at 3500m :)
+ The volcano on the back of the lake is a 6000m one which defines the border with Chile.
The awesome crew with Figo
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