Salar de Uyuni

It is incredible how short a time it takes for humans to feel at home in a new place. After an incredible five-day journey to the Salar de Uyuni, a sort of comfort came over me as we wound our way down the Prado into the heart of La Paz and everything became familiar again.

Before our journey to the Salar began, we had a big weekend in La Paz jumping from club to club to explore some of the most interesting nightspots in the city. Accompanied by our roommate Vampi and his friend Darko, we discovered the different atmosphere of Mongos (the club for ‘gringos’- foreigners), Traffic (known for its electric beats) and Blue (the quirky, slightly illegal spot that opens later than is allowed).

One by one we awoke on Sunday to the beautiful sunshine of La Paz and prepared ourselves for another ‘first time’ experience…a live football match between Bolivar and La Paz. This was not just any match however; it was in fact the battle for the championship trophy. Having attended and enjoyed a number of live sporting events back in Australia, I was curious to see how everything was treated in such a different country.

On arriving at the entrance to the stadium there were a number of cholitas selling what looked strangely like rectangular pieces of Styrofoam. The boys informed me that these serve as a cushion for the chairs in the stadium which I was told without the ‘cushions’, give you a very painful experience. As you can probably imagine things seemed a lot less serious in the stadium in La Paz compared to Australia…security was far more relaxed, the crowd was relatively tame (although still fun) and there was no alcohol sold on the premises.

The other obvious difference was the standard of the teams. As a group we had to laugh as ball after ball drifted far from the goalposts and resulted in a nil all draw at half time. In the second half the standard improved slightly with the end result seeing the popular Bolivar winning the game. It was definitely a worthwhile experience spent in good company.

The same evening we spent a dreadful ten hours on the bus to the Salar. Having been warned by a number of travellers of the horror that is the journey to the salt flats, I still remained surprisingly positive about the journey ahead. That is, however, until I experienced the serious rattling and bumping of the bus as it drove along the unsteady roads towards the Salar. Nina and I were also given the pleasure of sitting at the emergency exit (a sliding window that continued to open and blow freezing air over us for the entire duration of the journey)!

Functioning on a few minutes of sleep, we managed to bargain a 600 Bolivianos deal for a two night/three day tour of the Salar. Along with two French boys, two Korean women, two Australians, one Hungarian and one American guy we packed into the two jeeps that would become our means of transport for the following days.

It was at our first stop just out of Uyuni at the train cemetery that I had a devastating realisation. Having been rushed to pack due to the late start of the soccer match, I had left my camera battery on charge back in La Paz. Between us we were now left with only one digital camera.

After a few upsetting moments I decided to be positive about the fact that we at least had one camera, and that I would have a million other fantastic destinations to photograph over the next seven months.

From the train cemetery we moved on to a little village responsible for treating the salt and packaging it to then distribute to the surrounding cities. Incredibly the salt reserves that are found in Bolivia are hardly utilised, meaning the salt that is produced is transported only within the country. There are no exports of the salt meaning the poor economy misses out on the benefits from such a wealth of natural resources.

I will try to describe the absolute beauty of the Salt Flats however I feel photos and first hand experience are the only true way to appreciate the exquisiteness of the place. An incredible 2000km in circumference, the Salt Flats stretch out like a white blanket for as far as the eye can see. There are a number of layers of different minerals that compose the flats, with potassium, sodium, lithium, salt and water being the main ones. Along the flats are a number of pyramidal shaped igloos designed to dry out the salt so it can be taken to the next stage of the process. What is so fascinating about the salt flats is that while it seems there is a finite amount of salt, it is inexhaustible due to the fact that it ‘grows back’ after only a few days.

We spent an hour playing around with different camera effects and taking in the sheer enormity of the place before we were served with a traditional Bolivian delicacy, llama meat. It was served with vegetables and the typical Bolivian accompaniment of quinoa, and was rather tasteful.

After an hour or so driving across the salt flats we visited Isla Pescado, an island covered entirely in cacti. At the top of the Island we were treated to a stunning view of the salt flats which stretched for miles in every direction.

Before arriving at our hostel for the night, we made one last stop just as the sun was setting over the Salt flats. By this stage the water (which was previously absent) was now over a foot deep and as a result there were incredible reflections on the water of the surrounding mountains. Mouths agape we stood and admired the peacefulness of the site before we returned to the vehicles and drove the remaining hour to the hostel.  

Made entirely of salt, the hostel was a very basic structure positioned at the foot of one of the surrounding mountains. By this stage it was the evening and we could feel the temperature dropping rapidly, Nina and I both incredibly grateful for our down jackets. The building was made of salt bricks, the floor was composed of big salt rocks and the beds were concrete slabs with a mattress on top. As you can imagine, salt does not serve as a means of insulation and as a result we spent the evening clothed in every layer we had packed for the trip.

The following day was a busy one, with our first stop at the Volcan Tunupa. At the top of the volcano were a number of holes spitting smoke, the foot of the volcano was covered in orange boulders and the remains of previous lava explosions. After the volcano we spent the day moving from lake to lake, the most impressive in my opinion being Laguna Colorada. Maryam, Nina, Seneca and I had to laugh as we sat down to another delicious lunch with the most fantastic views of the lake and the mountains encompassing it. Lunch in the midst of the mountains was a truly surreal experience.

On making our way between the lakes we were forced to stop over at a check point at which sat five armed guards. After some seemingly relaxed conversation the driver of our vehicle handed over our bottle of fizzy orange drink and we were suddenly on our way again. After questioning our guide to settle my curiosity, I learned that the men were in fact soldiers that had been punished for failing to serve the captains’ orders during training. This could be firing two shots instead of one, or failing to move fast enough in the course of action. The reason they were so eager for a drink and not money was because as a punishment they were forced to race each other around the never-ending plains and only the winner was rewarded with a small portion of food or a drink.

As the sun began to set for the end to our second day we stopped over at the final lake which was a fantastic pink in colour. Also, the most exciting factor that differentiated this last lake from the others was that it was also the home of the native Bolivian flamingos. There were flocks positioned across the diameter of the lake and having never seen these birds in the flesh before I was amazed.

The second evening was spent in dormitory-style accommodation that, despite having been warned it would be less comfortable than the previous evening, I was pleasantly surprised at how much of a relief it was to have a concrete instead of a salt floor.

The evening was spent enjoying another delicious meal cooked by our friendly cholita and some red wine to try and warm up our insides. After dinner Abel, our tour guide, treated us to some of his famous jokes…many of which caused excessive laughter from the rest of us due to the meanings being lost in translation. With our 5am start in mind, I headed to bed at 11 to try and get some sleep.

Early the next morning in absolutely freezing temperatures we made our way to Laguna Verde. While its name translates to ‘green lake’, unfortunately it is only in summer that it is indeed green however we were still able to appreciate the site. Interestingly enough we were also informed that it is an important spot for scientists from around the world who visit the site frequently due to its stark similarities to Mars.

As the temperature had dropped freakishly low the next step in our journey was close to being the most satisfying. We shed our eight layers and dived into the hot spring which was at a comfortable 38 degrees. After our bodies had defrosted, we sadly had to dress and begin our eight hour journey back to Uyuni. Unfortunately our driver had a passion for Christian preaching music and so much of our journey was spent trying to heighten the volume on our iPods to block out the ranting.

Our bus trip from Uyuni to La Paz was much the same as the first trip, a horrible and uncomfortable ten hours. However this is such a small downside to the experience that even now I struggle to remember it. The lonely planet recommends this trip as one of the top ten things to do in Bolivia, and this is definitely the case. It is a breathtaking exhibition of the many wonders of nature and their power to capture the attention of travellers from across the globe.