Quick trip to the Uyuni Salt Pans

Trip Start Aug 06, 2007

Trip End Ongoing

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Flag of Bolivia Uyuni, Bolivia
Sunday, September 9, 2007

Well, the bus trip to Uyuni from Sucre was long and tedious. We boarded our bus at 8am and after a relatively sweet trip to Potosi - we stopped on the dirty streets for a quick toilet stop (the worst corrugated iron toilet shed i think i have ever seen) and then were transfered onto a severely packed crappy bus for the next leg to Uyuni (felt sorry for the unpaying locals that were forced to stand for the next 6 hours). The roads got steadily more and more bumpy, but I got chatting to a fellow kiwi girl which was nice (agreeing that NZ was THE most beautiful country in the world...hehe) - and made it to Uyuni in one piece.

After checking into a nice hotel we missioned it (in the cold Uyuni evening) towards the main square to try and suss something to eat and tomorrows day trip onto the salt pans. We decided to do the day option - as after reading many travel blogs (that werent overly positive) that 3 days in a 4x4 packed with 7 people could be a tad tedious

Hannah and a giant cactus

. And we are hearing more and more good things about Argentina too (Paul is dying for some Argentinean Steak and a beer).

So we booked an easy one day tour with Andrea Tours - which left the next morning at 10.30am and arrived back at 5pm. Farely short and sweet - our hightlights of Bolivia trip!

Our guide could only speak spanish - so we pieced together what we could from his commentary. The salt pans are extensive - and the landscape is white like snow for as far as the eye can see. Against the backdrop of the blue cloudless sky - it is quite beautiful. We stopped at an island a few hours drive from Uyuni for lunch - this island is made from coral (as originally was under sea level) and is covered in huge cactuses - which again casts an amazing contrast to the white salt pans.

We have organised to catch the train from Uyuni to the Bolivian border town of Villazon (the border with Argentina) which leaves at 2am.....and have moved our bags to the cheap backpackers accross the road from the station so we can get a few hours rest before we board the train. We will arrive in Villazon at 12noon - to walk across the border into Argentina (La Quiaca) and then we plan to bus to Salta - it will be a long day travelling - so we will see how we go! Im sure we will be hammered after all that travelling!

Lots of Love, xo