Uyuni and the Salt Flats

Trip Start Jun 03, 2008
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Trip End Aug 11, 2008


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Flag of Bolivia  ,
Sunday, July 13, 2008

On Sunday we left La Paz, slightly hungover!! It was a horrible day travelling, three hours by bus and six hours by train, with a three hour wait in between until we arrived in Uyuni. This is basically a town in the middle of nowhere which is just used as a base for exploring the Salt Flats. The Salt Flats are the largest in the world and it is 240km north to south and 152 km east to west. We were going to drive through them in 4x4 jeeps.

We left on the Monday morning and first visited a "train graveyard" where we saw old trains that were robbed by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. We then visited a place where salt is produced and after seeing it was very reluctant to have salt again in Bolivia, not very hygenic!! We then entered the Salt Plains and the sceanry is undescribable, just all white as far as the eye could see. Was very unusual, we stopped and played a bit of football and then got the opportunity to take photos. We brought a pringles box, wine bottle, action figures etc.. because the whiteness creates an optical illusion making things larger than they appear. We stayed that night in the salt hotel which was made completely of salt and was bloodly freezing at night!!

The next day we visited some caves and Isla Pescada(the fish island) which is famous for its huge cactus and views over the Salt Plains. We also visited an extinct volcano and a mummy cave where 7 mummies resided of various ages. We finished our tour on Tuesday evening returning to Uyuni. Overall it was a wonderful experience which can not be recreated anywhere else in the world..
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