Getting to Know Bolivia : Salt Flats, Alpine Lagoons, Deserts and Geysers DAY 1

We left Uyuni on January 25th, jumped into a jeep with five other people and headed off into the wilderness. The tour we signed up for had two jeeps, two drivers, of course, one guide and 11 adventurous and eager backpackers. Amongst us we counted 4 Aussies, 2 Kiwis, 2 gringos, 1 Limie, a Canuk and a Viking. In case you were wondering, Jens and I were the oldest in the group by about 20 years. I guess people our age don't do these kinds of trips??

Our first stop was the train cemetery. These were old steam locomotives that had been abandoned when they were replaced by diesel locomotives back in the 50's. They had been stripped of all valuable items and were to be sold for scrap, but over the years the transactions never materialized. They have now become part of the landscape and a favorite stop on the tours.

Then it was off to the salt flats. This is the rainy season (or so they say, cause we haven't seen rain since we left La Paz) so the salt flats had about 15-30 cm of water on them. The salt flats in Uyuni are the largest in the world. They are the result of the earth's plates shifting up creating a new mountain range and trapping part of the sea between the land. Over the millenniums the water evaporated leaving behind a hard layer of salt more than one meter thick that spreads out as far as the eye can see. We had lunch at a hotel made of salt bricks and then we drove out to the salt flats to stand in the water and experience the vastness of this phenomenon.

In the dry season we would have stayed at a hostel on an island in the salt flats but with all the water it was not accessible. Instead we went around the flats and continued our journey traveling south to a small town in the middle of the desert. We passed lots of llamas roaming wild, fields of quinoa and the odd group of vicuña. Vicuña are a wild camelid, smaller than an alpaca with a more slender profile and an incredibly soft coat. They are a protected species and although we could buy the hide in Peru, it is extremely expensive and you need a certificate to bring it out of the country. They say the wool is the rarest in the world.

The hostel was a one floor mud brick construction, very basic but clean and functional. We had our own room with ensuite toilet. Snacks and dinner and a fun evening with the help of a little beer and wine and a boisterous game of UNO before we called it a night.