Salt Flats

This is a recount of some of the highlights of the three day jeep adventure through Bolivia's Salt flats.

The salt flats are one of Bolivia's biggest tourist attractions and is the world's largest salt flat. They offer 1, 2 or three day tours through the area..we opted for the traditional three day tour.

Our jeep companions for the adventure included Michael of Switzerland and Josh and Elle of England.  They were kind, fun companions.

Day 1:
First stop the train graveyard with abandoned trains driven into the salt flat. Quite a sight to see.

Surprisingly a three day tour of salt flats isn't composed entirely of salt flats but day one was. It is kilometers of white hexagons with a few mountains in the distance. We took the typical perspective photos and enjoyed lunch in the middle of the flats.

The tour then continued on to a island of Cactuses that had grown on top of coral. It is amazing to think that the earth can change so much and that an ocean in such a large area could disappear. Apparently the world's oldest cactus is one the island but I haven't Google to confirm the accuracy of this factoid.

Night 1:
Surprisingly not as frigid as we had been anticipating. Our lodging for the evening was partially made of salt and had cement beds with mattresses on top. We spent the evening eating and playing cards and dice with our car mates. It was an enjoyable evening.

Shortly after we had gone to bed we all heard a pounding at the door. Some traveller's had gotten locked out of the hostel were trying to get back in. The joke of the trip became an imitation of the French accents yelling "SOS somebody help us its so cold". 

Day 2: The day of lakes

It was a spectacular day of seeing Bolivia's country side. It honestly seemed like the view changed from rocky desert to rolling mountains and hills every 15 minutes. The hills were often a faint yellow from little tuffs of grass that randomly arose from the rocky ground. Rarely there were little shrubs that mixed green in with the soft yellow. The jeep rumbled along and I strained to keep my eyes open (successfully I might add) so I wouldn't miss any of the sights. We stopped at 4 different lakes which unfortunately I can't remember the names of. My favorite was the last and was called Lagoon Colorado, the blue contrasted nicely with the pastel colors surrounding it. Also,   each time we jumped out of the vehicle we had to bundle up as the cold winter air was being whipped against us by the wind. I often find myself wondering why I vacationed somewhere so chilly...but at least it has been dry.

Along with the four lakes we saw a rock forest which is basically massive boulders randomly in the middle of the desert. It is shocking when you first arrive upon the structures.

Night 2 was much cooler. Our lodging had limited resources and the fire to heat the common area was hidden by the bathrooms. We all huddled around our table playing cards and dice again but this time listening to another rowdy van sing and play the guitar it made for a fun atmosphere.

Day 3:

A long day back driving back to Uyuani that started at 5:30 am. Along the route home we stopped and saw geysers which were pretty interesting but it was hard to take them in since we were freezing. From there we headed to hot springs.  I almost bailed at the idea of heading out into what felt like artic air to get into the water but I am glad that I didn't. It was so nice to warm up, view the mountains and lake, and watch little snowflakes fall. I think the springs were the highlight of the day for me. Jesse's favorite part was the massive rock formation that we stopped at for lunch...he and Sidney had a jolly good time climbing.

Overall the salt flat tour was well worth the time and my favorite part was getting to see Bolivia's vast land scape.