Salar de Uyuni

Imagine standing in the middle of nowhere and the only thing you can see is miles and miles of white stretching out in front of you. In the far far distance there are mountains and volcanoes, but really all there is is whiteness. That's exactly what it's like at Salar de Uyuni, the salt flats in southern Bolivia. The sky was bright blue, there were a few clouds but they were the fluffy kind, like the ones you drew as a child. It's an awesome sight!

We took a three day tour from the town of Uyuni, in a jeep with two of the American and English guys we met in Paraguay, plus another couple we met that morning in our 4x4, who were from France and Korea. Our driver was a Bolivian guy who'd been doing tours of the salt flats for 8 years; he was also to be our guide and cook for the three days too.

The first day we saw the Salar (salt flats) which apparently used to be flooded and possibly a part of an ocean, but the water is long gone and it just left a big salt desert in its place. The boys in our jeep decided to go streaking across the flats, conpletely butt naked! It was hilarious seeing four very white bottoms running away from you; they all had great tan lines from their swimming trunks. A lot of people stopped, stared, and then proceeded to take photos! So there are lots of gringos out there with a picture of Josh's bum!

We had llama chops and quinoa for lunch, two staples in the Bolivian diet. Quinoa is grown everywhere and they export most of it to the US and Europe because we've just decided how 'fashionable' it is to eat! Both were really tasty, although the Korean girl refused to eat the llama, because there was a live llama grazing nearby to where we were eating and she couldn't bring herself to eat its cousin. Naturally, that thought had never even crossed my mind while I was chomping away!

There are areas of the Salar that are still a little bit flooded at certain times of the year. Because the land is so flat, and the water is so clear, it turns the ground into a huge mirror. It's a bit trippy, as you're looking at a mountain in the distance and right below it is a perfect reflection upside down. It's absolutely amazing to look at though.

Reflection

That night we stayed in a hotel entirely made of salt; the bricks, the tables and chairs, even the bed! We played cards and then when the lights were turned off (electricity and running water is rationed in a lot of Bolivia) the boys climbed the mountain behind our hostel in the dark. This mountain was absolutely covered in cacti, some were over ten feet tall, so I opted for bed instead!

Mountain in the mirror

The next day we spent a lot of time in the car, driving to various lakes and through a lot of mountain scenery. We saw loads of wild flamingos which was pretty cool! The altitude in places was as high as 5000 metres above sea level and you really feel it; I had a mild but constant headache for the whole tour. You also need to drink a lot of water to stay hydrated as the sun I really strong (I managed to burn my whole face on day one, so I was REALLY red for a few days after; the photos aren't pretty). The trouble with drinking lots of water when you're driving through the middle of nowhere for hours at a time, is there are obviously no toilets. Nature pees became very frequent, but the land is so dry that there are hardly any 'private' places to go, as there are no trees or bushes! So I had to make the boys swear to look the other way, leg it into the distance and attempt to hide behind a small shrub to maintain a very small amount of dignity! So ladylike.

Mountain scenery

That night we stayed at a very basic hostel next to a bright red lake. We went for a walk up a hill that looks over the lake to get a good view, but it was freezing and so windy and we didn't stay up there for long.

That night we played cards in the dining room of the hostel, but a very rude grumpy Austrian lady came out of her room and shouted at us for keeping everyone in the hotel awake and told us 'this isn't a casino!' We politely pointed out that it was only 8.30pm and we hadn't realised anyone had gone to bed yet! She shouted at us an hour later too, at which point Josh told her that if she was really bothered by the noise, why didn't she shut her bedroom door, as it had been wide open all that time and all the rooms backed onto the dining room. It was almost like she just wanted an excuse to pick a fight! She walked off in a huff and according to some girls we'd made friends with that were sleeping in her dorm, she kept insulting us in German to her poor husband, who was really nice.

The final day we left the hotel by 5.30am to watch the sunrise over the mountains. We went to some geysers which smelt very eggy, then we went to some natural hot springs and spent an hour warming up in them; it had been so hard to drag ourselves out of bed that morning as the hotel was freezing. Josh and I slept under seven blankets! Most of day three was spent driving as we had gone so far from Uyuni by this point that we were nearly in Chile. It was a fairly uneventful day, although we stopped by some big rocks which we had a bit of a climb on. We overtook the jeep that the grumpy Austrian lady was in at one point, and two of the boys mooned out of the jeep windows which our driver was very unhappy about!

All in all it was a really fun trip, with some incredible sights and scenery, plus more llama herds than I ever thought I'd see, even in Bolivia. I have my llama wool jumper, hat and gloves now too, so I stand out as a tourist more than ever! Result.

Windy mountain roads