Visiting the Salt flats of Uyuni

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  Uyuni, Bolivia
Friday, September 19, 2008

So, let's see.. I took the bus leaving from Potosi to Uyuni last night.  It was supposed to leave around 7pm, but left around 7.30pm or so, as usual (30 Bolivianos).  Before boarding, I met up with my Potosi mines guide and I helped him with some English in exchange for (he insisted) a coke (instead of the beer he offered).  Then he came along with me near the bus station, where I still had an hour or so to kill, so we hung out at the really cool street party that was going on nearby.  Lots of great live music and dancing; priceless stuff.

So anywho, I board the bus, and we leave.  About half an hour into the trip we stop; a couple that had missed the departure had caught up by taxi and boarded.  Then some police came on board the bus looking for drugs and what not.  I freaked out for a minute, since I was in the very back row, and the cop pulled out some random like canvas bags from behind the back row and asked me if they were mine.  I immediately said it was not mine, afraid that maybe somebody was trying to plant drugs or something.   I was happy to find out that there were no drugs, and after a throgouh search of my backpack and of the others no the bus, we left again.

I arrived around 2.30am and shared a room with a Spanish girl and 2 dutch guys for 25 Bolivianos each (which I later changed to a single, when I found out I could have a private room for 5 bolivianos (less than 1USD) more.  After sleeping for a few hours, got up around 8am or so, and asked around for the different tour prices.  After much though, I finally ended up just going for the day tour, which cost me 150 Bolivianos.  I know I'm missing out on some really pretty lagoons and scenery, but I was mainly just interested in checking out the salt flats and the price was right.  Also, the train to Villazon, at the Argentinian border leaves tomorrow night, and if I did the three day tour, I would have had to wait another whole day for the train, so there you have it.  The train cost 63 bolivianos and leaves tomorrow night at 10pm.

So anywho, I really enjoyed my one day trip, took way too many pictures, met some new friends, and had a good time overall.  I was kind of not so enthused about visiting the flats, but I'm glad I did; it really is a pretty surreal landscape, and I enjoyed it quite a bit.  We drove by the train cemetary, which is where all of the really old, first-in-Bolivia trains were dumped which was really cool to walk around and check out.  Then we drove into the salt flat, surrounded by pure white salt everywhere you looked.  We visited the "island" in the middle of the flat, which was full of cacti and had some nice views.  Then we went by the volcano on one of the edges of the salt flat, saw some flamingos near a small lake, and then headed back.  We stopped at lots of different locations taking lots of pictures, and had a nice, easy day-trip.

So anyways, that was my day.  Tomorrow I have a free day, where I'll just relax, try and get some laundry done, and maybe upload some pictures finally.  Argentina is just a couple of days away...

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