Saltier than Mcdonalds Fries
Trip Start
Oct 14, 2005
1
69
71
Trip End
??? ??, 2006
Salar de Uyuni,
Bolivia
Monday, May 8, 2006
Now I had never even heard of Salt Plains, let alone Uyuni, but they are the worlds largest salt flats, The Salar de Uyuni covers approximately 8000 square kilometers (3100 square miles), and it is pure white and flat. So like a good little tourist I stumped up the cash hired our 4X4 and driver, and explored the salty desert with Martin and Freddie, our guide Obidio, and a German couple we had previously met on a bus, and helped them with the Spanish, and an Israeli couple.
The salt plains are as you imagine, big and white and flat, they were also very reflective, note everyone in shades in the pictures, they were almost blinding, can you imagine getting salt blindness, like going snow blind but not as cool. It did look like you were walking on snow, and it was a constant surprise that it wasnīt cold and fluffy under foot, but actually warm hard and salty. The salt is surprisingly versatile, and there is at least 3 salt hotels, many handicraft stalls selling salty products, and a salt museum full of sculptures made from salt. It is also a large source of employment in the area, not only for tourism, but also salt farming (Iīm not sure if farming is the right word).
01 Salt mountains
Thousands of people each day, work for a pittance to create large salt mounds to be picked up by the drivers, and then turned into table salt. They didnīt look too appreciative of the tourists climbing on and jumping over the salty creations.After driving around in this most barren of landscapes for a while, we came across la isla de pescados, which I thought meant Island of Fish. but also means Island of Cactuses, apparently. It was a bizarre oasis of prickly life in the middle of absolutely nothing, flat and empty all the way to the surrounding mountains.
At the Cactus Islnd we had our first meal of the tour, llama. Llama is kinda like cow but, in my opinion, tougher and saltier, although that didnīt stop Freddie scooping up a lump of salt off the ground and adding some extra seasoning.
That evening we stayed in a hostel in a little village near the salt plains, and whilst wandering around, scaring vicunas (like llamas but wild and not very hairy) and enjoying the scenery, me and Martin, were invited to join in a game of Football, did I mention we were at 3800m above sea level. O to the MG, I nearly died, and after a bad start, some poor passes and an own goal, I was not giving a good account of English skills, but I soon got used to the altitude and after a shaky start, starred in a dramatic come back to nearly win, and beat Martinīs team, providing a good omen for the World Cup (Martin is Swedish) but alas the poor start was too much to over come.
After 40 minutes of football I was ready to curl up and sleep, it was fortunate I was tired, because it was so cold at night that I think if I hadnīt got to sleep quickly I would have been too cold to sleep.
The second day and we were out of the Salt plains, and heading off road to see some more sights, including some mountains, funny rock formations, the White lagoon, and other lakes with some flamingoes in.
02 leaping loons
Our guide promised us many lakes with some flamingoes, or we could go straight to the Red Lagoon, which has around 40,000 flamingoes, and is a dark red colour. We decided on the Red Lagoon, and boy it was red, made the pink lake in Australia look mildly discoloured. This lake could have been the site for a huge bloody battle, and the thousands of flamingoes speckling the surface was also incredible. I had already taken a lot of pictures of flamingoes, so I wanted something a bit special, aided by my 12X optical zoom, and Martin and Freddieīs throwing arms, we succeeded in scaring a few thousand flamingoes, getting them to fly off in unison and arc towards the mountains in the distance. I have had moral dilemmas about our actions, but I was assured that no flamingoes were hit and it did make for some good pictures, I have no regrets...The second night was a more subdued affair than the first with the 4am start looming over our heads, although we still managed to polish off a couple of bottles of wine. The ridiculously early start was in part compensated for by a visit to some hot gas vents, dry geysers, and then a dip in a hot spring. The only hesitation was it was -10 in the open and 30 in the hot springs, this meant we had to remove clothes and make a made dash for the warm water before we froze. We made it and didnīt freeze, which is more than I can say for my swimming shorts, which I left to dry on a nearby rock, in the sun, and came back and they were frozen solid.
After the hot springs it was a quick visit to the green lagoon, that wasnīt actually green, the guide blamed it on a lack of wind to stir up the micro organisms, and then a driving to the Chilean border to drop off the Germans, and then speeding back to Uyuni, in time for our bus to Potosi, which we looked in danger of missing after a puncture, and running out of gas, but fortunately our guide/driver/cook, was also a bit of a mechanic, and with a little assistance from other vehicles (happy Noel) we were on our way and made it back in plenty of time for Martin and Freddie to be late for the bus because they were buying stupid hats...
