Having to be up at 4:45am would never be Laura's favourite way to start a birthday, but that's how our schedule worked out for this trip. Though it turns out that we needn't have been quite so quick off the mark, because by 5:40am we had made it to the airport, checked in, passed through security checks and seated ourselves at our departure gate with plenty of time for our 6:50am flight. Compounding the early start for Laura was the fact that she wasn't feeling 100%.
When boarding time came we had to walk, outside, what seemed like the length of the airport to the very last plane parked on the tarmac. Otherwise the flight went very smoothly and we were actually on the ground in Uyuni slightly early. There was no taxi waiting specifically for us as Red Planet Expeditions had led us to believe though, so we ended up just getting one ourselves.
Our initial impression of Uyuni was that it would be a waste to have to spend any more time here than necessary - dusty unpaved streets, drab buildings and a general lack of any entertainment. Still, we were only due to be here for 2-3 hours. At the office of Red Planet we completed the formalities and paid for our trip. More importantly I was able to collect the parcel I had sent on ahead from home about six weeks ago containing three birthday presents for Laura. The parcel had evidently been scrutinised closely by Bolivian Customs - the t-shirt had been unwrapped and the wrapping discarded, and the packet of scorched almonds had been opened before being roughly re-wrapped. At least the mixed bag of macadamias and cashews was intact.
With a couple of hours to fill in we went for a stroll round the block. We had to buy a few litres of drinking water and some fruit to supplement our supplies for the 48 hours we would be on the 4WD tour. And although Laura didn't have much of an appetite I was able to have some breakfast to tide me over. We also visited the Migration Office to get our Bolivian exit stamps, since we will be transferring to Chile on Thursday at a remote border crossing.
Soon enough it was time to meet our travel companions for the next couple of days and get underway. Our party consisted of 11 trekkers - two middle aged French guys, two French woman in their twenties, three Canadian air hostesses, two Danish girls and ourselves. Plus Lucio, our English speaking guide and of course a driver for each of two Toyota 4WDs.
Our first stop was just on the edge of town to see the railway graveyard - the final rusting place of numerous old steam trains and carriages. These were abandoned after the 1940 collapse of the mining industry, which used to transport minerals to ports on the Pacific coast. A lot of the metal has now been salvaged from the old engines and boilers and sold as scrap metal.
Our next stop was a "salt factory" on the edge of the salt flats. This really amounted to a small family concern where salt was dried and bagged. It was part of a small community where there were, of course, the obligatory collection of market stalls selling local crafts and wares. It was also our lunch stop, which included llama meat as well as quinoa.
After lunch it was on to drive over the salt flats proper. A little way out we stopped for about 10 minutes just to see what it was like and take a few photos. We continued on to the Salt Hotel - the only place built actually on the salt flats and considered to be something of an environmental pariah. Not that we actually patronised the establishment, it was mostly an opportunity to take funny photos by making use of the absence of any reference for perspective in the all white environment.
Our next stop was at Isla Incahuasi, an island in the salt flats that was created from an outcrop of coral when the area was originally under the ocean millions of years ago. This "island" in the salt flats was covered in cactus plants and rose fairly high above the surrounding plain. There were some nice views from the top.
It was late in the afternoon by the time we left there and we drove west off the salt flats to our first night's accommodation. It was a very basic hostel but all the groups had their own room. There was only electricity until about 9:00pm so there was no scope for sitting up and partying on - not that we felt like it anyway, after being on the go since 4:45am. At least (for a modest fee) there was a low-pressure, but at least adequate hot shower, before turning in.
The next morning was arctically cold in our little room made of salt bricks. Breakfast helped us get started though, and Laura was feeling better. I was able to get a photo of Isla Incahuasi in the distance in the early morning light before we set off. Today Lucio transferred to our vehicle (one of the Danish girls moved to the other one to make room) so we had more ongoing commentary than we had yesterday. No more driving on the big salt flats today, though we did pass close to or over a couple of much smaller ones.
Our first stop was an unscheduled one to assist another Toyota 4WD which had managed to get a second flat tyre after having already used the spare. We lent him our spare and drove on to the next little town to wait for him to catch up. Once he arrived he apparently wanted to keep using our spare wheel until the end of his tour (rather than spend the time getting at least one of his flat tyres fixed) on the basis that we were travelling with another vehicle that still had a spare. However Lucio and our driver Pedro were having none of that and apparently some words were exchanged before we got our spare wheel back.
So after our unscheduled stay in this little town we hit the road again. At one point we piled out while the 4WD negotiated the crossing of a steep railway embankment - which provided a few photo opportunties of the surrounding mountains and the dead straight railway tracks vanishing into the distance in each direction. The next stop was to explore what had once been a lava field, and now consisted of a surreal arrangement of little gullies and caves. Some of the rocks also had a moss-like plant growing on them that in some cases is hundreds of years old. It is still used for medicinal purposes by the locals.
From there it was on to our lunch stop at Flamingo Lake. We had time to take photos of the flamingos and the surrounding mountains as the crew first setup and later cleaned up after our picnic lunch of chicken and salad. It was a short drive after lunch to the next lake, where there were more flamingos and more photo opportunities.
It was a little further on before we came to the "Rock Tree", which is actually one of a number of rocks that have been sand blasted in winds of up to 100km/hr over thousands of years. The Rock Tree and its less shapely companions rise from the soft sand between two large dunes.
Due to our delay earlier in the day we had to hot foot it on to the thermally active area where numerous mud pools and steam vents bubbled and spurted. The light was fading fast as we left the sulphorous odour behind and continued in the twilight to our night's accommodation.
As basic as last nights lodgings were, tonight's was more basic still. There was one mixed dorm for the passengers of each vehicle and shared bathroom for all. I use the term "bathroom" advisedly as it consisted of one pit toilet (up from which drifted a cold and foul smelling breeze, which assaulted the nostrils annd chilled any exposed bits) and a basin with no running water. There was no shower, heated or otherwise.
About 50 metres away there was a pool fed by water from a hot spring that there was initially some enthusiasm for (despite reports we had heard from other travellers in recent times about nearly everyone who used it getting sick). However by the time we had eaten dinner and the outside temperature had dropped below zero, the only person still willing to go down for a dip changed his mind when he found that it also involved getting changed in the open air, because the change rooms were locked. As per the first night there was electricity for only a limited time so we were all in bed early.
Most salt flats tours start the third day early in order to make it to the aforementioned hot pool by about 7:00am. Since we were staying just across the road we were able to "sleep in" until 6:30am. One of the Frenchmen in our party did have a quick dip after breakfast and by the time we hit the road a little before 8:00am there were eight 4WDs parked alongside the hot pool from various other tour parties.
Our first photo stop was in the midst of a desert landscape that has been described as looking like a Salvador Dali painting, and it did indeed have a sort of surreal quality about it. The next site was the Green Lake, where a combination of sun and wind on the mineral content used to make the surface turn green about noon. However Lucio explained that this change seemed to be far less reliable now as a result of climate change.
At this point our two vehicles diverged - ours taking us to the Chilean border while the other one heading back to a rendousvouz point. Laura and I were the only ones taking the option of the transfer to Chile and we were dropped at the border at 9:30am for our connecting service. Despite the sun it was quite cold in the morning breeze and we were pleased when the bus arrived shortly after 10:00am. We were even invited to share in the breakfast supplied for others catching the bus, who were at the end of their four day round-trip excursion that had started in San Pedro.
Thereafter it was a pleasure to be sitting in a warm bus on a sealed road driving down to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile at an elevation of about 2,400m - no more travelling at altitude on this trip.
When boarding time came we had to walk, outside, what seemed like the length of the airport to the very last plane parked on the tarmac. Otherwise the flight went very smoothly and we were actually on the ground in Uyuni slightly early. There was no taxi waiting specifically for us as Red Planet Expeditions had led us to believe though, so we ended up just getting one ourselves.
Our initial impression of Uyuni was that it would be a waste to have to spend any more time here than necessary - dusty unpaved streets, drab buildings and a general lack of any entertainment. Still, we were only due to be here for 2-3 hours. At the office of Red Planet we completed the formalities and paid for our trip. More importantly I was able to collect the parcel I had sent on ahead from home about six weeks ago containing three birthday presents for Laura. The parcel had evidently been scrutinised closely by Bolivian Customs - the t-shirt had been unwrapped and the wrapping discarded, and the packet of scorched almonds had been opened before being roughly re-wrapped. At least the mixed bag of macadamias and cashews was intact.
With a couple of hours to fill in we went for a stroll round the block. We had to buy a few litres of drinking water and some fruit to supplement our supplies for the 48 hours we would be on the 4WD tour. And although Laura didn't have much of an appetite I was able to have some breakfast to tide me over. We also visited the Migration Office to get our Bolivian exit stamps, since we will be transferring to Chile on Thursday at a remote border crossing.
Soon enough it was time to meet our travel companions for the next couple of days and get underway. Our party consisted of 11 trekkers - two middle aged French guys, two French woman in their twenties, three Canadian air hostesses, two Danish girls and ourselves. Plus Lucio, our English speaking guide and of course a driver for each of two Toyota 4WDs.
 |
| An exhibit at the railway graveyard |
Our next stop was a "salt factory" on the edge of the salt flats. This really amounted to a small family concern where salt was dried and bagged. It was part of a small community where there were, of course, the obligatory collection of market stalls selling local crafts and wares. It was also our lunch stop, which included llama meat as well as quinoa.
 |
| Harvesting the salt flats |
 |
| View of the salt flats from Isla Incahuasi |
It was late in the afternoon by the time we left there and we drove west off the salt flats to our first night's accommodation. It was a very basic hostel but all the groups had their own room. There was only electricity until about 9:00pm so there was no scope for sitting up and partying on - not that we felt like it anyway, after being on the go since 4:45am. At least (for a modest fee) there was a low-pressure, but at least adequate hot shower, before turning in.
The next morning was arctically cold in our little room made of salt bricks. Breakfast helped us get started though, and Laura was feeling better. I was able to get a photo of Isla Incahuasi in the distance in the early morning light before we set off. Today Lucio transferred to our vehicle (one of the Danish girls moved to the other one to make room) so we had more ongoing commentary than we had yesterday. No more driving on the big salt flats today, though we did pass close to or over a couple of much smaller ones.
Our first stop was an unscheduled one to assist another Toyota 4WD which had managed to get a second flat tyre after having already used the spare. We lent him our spare and drove on to the next little town to wait for him to catch up. Once he arrived he apparently wanted to keep using our spare wheel until the end of his tour (rather than spend the time getting at least one of his flat tyres fixed) on the basis that we were travelling with another vehicle that still had a spare. However Lucio and our driver Pedro were having none of that and apparently some words were exchanged before we got our spare wheel back.
 |
| In a landscape of gullies and caves... |
 |
| Flamingo feeding on the lake |
 |
| The rock tree |
Due to our delay earlier in the day we had to hot foot it on to the thermally active area where numerous mud pools and steam vents bubbled and spurted. The light was fading fast as we left the sulphorous odour behind and continued in the twilight to our night's accommodation.
As basic as last nights lodgings were, tonight's was more basic still. There was one mixed dorm for the passengers of each vehicle and shared bathroom for all. I use the term "bathroom" advisedly as it consisted of one pit toilet (up from which drifted a cold and foul smelling breeze, which assaulted the nostrils annd chilled any exposed bits) and a basin with no running water. There was no shower, heated or otherwise.
About 50 metres away there was a pool fed by water from a hot spring that there was initially some enthusiasm for (despite reports we had heard from other travellers in recent times about nearly everyone who used it getting sick). However by the time we had eaten dinner and the outside temperature had dropped below zero, the only person still willing to go down for a dip changed his mind when he found that it also involved getting changed in the open air, because the change rooms were locked. As per the first night there was electricity for only a limited time so we were all in bed early.
Most salt flats tours start the third day early in order to make it to the aforementioned hot pool by about 7:00am. Since we were staying just across the road we were able to "sleep in" until 6:30am. One of the Frenchmen in our party did have a quick dip after breakfast and by the time we hit the road a little before 8:00am there were eight 4WDs parked alongside the hot pool from various other tour parties.
 |
| The Salvador Dali landscape |
 |
| The Bolivia-Chile border |
Thereafter it was a pleasure to be sitting in a warm bus on a sealed road driving down to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile at an elevation of about 2,400m - no more travelling at altitude on this trip.
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