Tuesday, March 1st - Uyuni and Salt Flats, Bolivia

This morning started much the same as last night ended.  We were still on the night bus from La Paz to Uyuni.  As dawn approached we could see more and more of the horizon and it was incredibly flat and rather boring and desolate looking.  The sunrise was quite nice but it was hard to get a picture of since I was on the wrong side of the bus and everyone was sleeping and some folks on the other side had their window blinds pulled.  However, I did enjoy what I could see of it.  We stopped just outside of town near the airport and had breakfast around 7:00.  It was nothing too impressive but it was simple and good.  We arrived in Uyuni about 8:00 and went directly to our hotel.  We had about an hour and a half to freshen up and repack to leave some things behind in our big suitcases and head out for the next three days with just our backpacks.  Just before leaving we all found a bit of time to have some more breakfast as our rooms had been included for last night and breakfast came with it.  

We piled into our three 4x4 vehicles with four of us and a driver in each one to head to the Uyuni Salt Flats.  There were paved roads for a while and then it just became a dirt or sand road.  We stopped at a small village - Colchani I think - where there was a market area with people selling lots of stuff for tourists.  The main reason people stop here is that the town is right on the edge of the salt flats and the people here "harvest" the salt.  We went through the one small complex, probably just a one to two family operation, where they had piles of the dirty looking salt that have been gathered from the flats.  This salt is then cleaned and processed in a small room to get the salt that is sold to the locals.  There is likely a much more complicated process used for the salt that is sold commercially.  I'd explain the whole process in more detail but I really didn't hear much of what was said in the tour so can't really explain it at all.  I do know they clean it and break the salt chunks into smaller and smaller pieces and at one point they have to heat it.  Even that is a challenge when there is little or no fuel around.  They seemed to be just burning small sage-brush like bushes - the only thing that grows here.  

Many of the houses in this town were made of salt bricks, which were interesting to see.  I guess the salt is so prevalent that even digging up the sand to make the bricks means digging up the salt.  The interesting thing was that the bricks actually looked like they had layers of salt and sand mixed in them.  The overall effect was a light sandy coloured building, which was very clean looking and also looked like it was made of designer bricks.  I didn't see any cows around but I did wonder if they ever decided to use the houses as salt licks.  Or perhaps there is just so much salt around the area that they don't even care.  Who knows?

From there we drove out to the salt flats themselves.  The flats were much rougher than I expected.  For some reason I thought they would be very smooth but in fact they are very chunky and crunchy or scaly looking.  As this is rainy season, the whole area should be covered with water.  However, since they have had very little rain this season there are areas that are dry and there are areas with a bit of water on them.  The dry areas are all white with salt on top.  They look very much like snow and are almost too white to look at in the glaring sun.  They are interesting to see but definitely nothing as beautiful as the section that is covered with water so I was happy it was rainy season and there was water lying around.

In the water-covered sections, we got out and walked around for quite a while.  Most of us had some form of footwear on (flip-flops, water shoes, etc.) but some were barefoot.  They definitely said the crunchy scaly bottom was hard on the feet after a while.  I had my water shoes on and I found it hard on my feet as the salt and flakes would get caught in my shoes.  At one point I thought barefoot might have been better but I left my shoes on anyway.  I had my pants rolled up to my knees and by the time we were done walking around and taking pictures, I had salt caked all over my lower legs and on my pants.  However, it was well worth it.

We had a beautiful day with a bright blue sky and fluffy white clouds.  This made for some fantastic reflections on the water.  We took lots of pictures and although some of them turned out well, they did not do justice to the whole area.  The flats are of course flat but there are some hills in the background.  At times the hills, which were reflected in the water on the salt flats, just seemed to be floating in the air which was neat to see.  With the hills, sky, clouds and of course the people, it was all wonderful to see and experience and photograph.  Some members of our group tried to do some trick photography and it turned out great.  One person holding another tinier person in the palm of their hand or stepping on the other person or flicking them away.  They had fun with that and it was definitely fun to watch them.  

We went to a couple of different places on the flats and in one they had a salt hotel.  It was quite unusual but didn't really impress me so I was glad we weren't staying there.  Lots of groups were having their lunch inside though so that would have been nice.  And the hotel had flags of many countries on a display outside so it was beautiful to see the many colours reflected on the water.  I didn't see a Canadian flag though.  The area has hosted several DAKAR events and there is another one planned for 2016 so there is a big salt sculpture to represent that.  Personally I didn't even know what DAKAR was so it didn't mean a lot to me.

The salt flats really were quite unique and with the water on top of the salt it is referred to as the largest mirror on earth.  Apparently even the astronauts have commented on the huge mirror that reflects the sun so brightly.  It was an interesting experience and we were only out there for a few hours.  The water on your feet is quite warm and the sun is hot because you are up around 4,000 metres above sea level but the breeze is still cool because of the altitude.  The breeze also causes ripples on some of the water which distorts the reflections so you have to find calm waters to take your photos.  There are a lot of vehicles, mainly 4x4's out on the flats and lots of tourists taking pictures.  This too causes ripples on the water and the tire tracks cause dark lines through the white salt.  We kept trying to tell our driver to stay in the tracks in front of him but they just seem to drive all over which means there are tracks everywhere.  I'm not sure if that can ever be controlled but it was an irritant to me for some reason.  Otherwise it was a perfect morning.

The Salar de Uyuni or Salar de Tunupa is the world's largest salt flat at 10,582 square kilometres.  It is located in southwest Bolivia near the crest of the Andes at 3,656 metres above sea level.  The salt flat was formed from several prehistoric lakes and the whole area is covered by a few metres of salt crust that doesn't vary more than one metres in altitude over the whole area.  The salt covers a pool of brine which is extraordinarily rich in lithium (50-70% of the world's reserves).  The large area, clear skies and exceptional flatness of the surface makes the area an ideal place for calibrating the altimeters of earth's observation satellites.  (This information came from the GAdventures tour booklet but I thought it was interesting so included it.)

We went Back to Uyuni for lunch at our hotel from the morning as that was the fastest place to get something to eat and to wash the salt off our feet.  We actually made quite a mess of the hotel bathroom but I got the impression they were quite used to that.  From there we were off to the desert.  I was in the lead car and yet we were the last getting to our first stop.  We had a flat tire along the way and, because the guide who was with us had to make a stop in town, we were at the end of the group (not in the lead) as we left town so no one knew what had happened to us.  However, our driver was pretty fast at getting the spare down and replacing the punctured tire and getting us on our way.  One of the other vehicles got held up at a roadside check as the driver couldn't find his licence.  It was a good example of how things could go wrong on this part of the journey as no one seems able to contact anyone else in the group - no cell phone service or any other kind of communication.

As we were later than expected at our first stop we didn't stay too long.  San Cristobal is a small town built just in the last ten years to relocate all the people from the original location of the town that is now part of the silver mine.  The mining company or the government actually even tore down and rebuilt the old 17th century church in the new location.  It is a very new looking town with wide roads and well laid out with lots of facilities, especially for children.  The activities centre certainly seemed busy on the afternoon we were there.  As well, they have lots of tourist shops or stalls near the public bathrooms so they are trying to get all the tourist dollars they can get.

The land is very barren all around this area.  There is a large flat valley with some short grass and small shrubs but nothing else.  There are rolling hills in the background but the hillsides are also pretty bare.  Every once in a while there are strange rock formations that pop up out of nowhere and then nothing but flat land again.  At one. point we saw some quinoa fields and they did made the area look quite green.  Obviously there is irrigation available in some of the areas to make any crops survive in this landscape.  And where there was a river bed, even if it now looked totally dry, there were trees along the bank so they were obviously surviving with the underground water.   We saw llamas along the way, sometimes just one or two together and sometimes larger herds.  We also saw some cows and sheep and some donkeys, again some in very large herds and some on their own.    We didn't see many people with any of the herds so I assume they are allowed to just wander freely about the land in search of food.  And we also saw some vicuña, which are wild animals not domestic.  They were usually in large herds.

The roads are just sand and there is sand on both sides of the road, but at least the roads can be identified so you know where you are supposed to drive (unlike on the salt flats).  While you are driving along this high altitude dessert you also catch glimpses of snow-covered mountains but they are just peaking up over the horizon so they seem tiny and the whole thing looks surreal.  However, they are at about 6,000 metres and we are about 4,000 metres so I guess we just can't see them all the time and only see part of them when we do see them.  It seemed very strange but looked quite amazing at the same time.

We also drove past some lagoons in the late afternoon.  Some were small and some were larger, and they seemed to have different colours in them: red, green, white, etc.  But predominantly white.  I can't name any of these ones but they were neat.  Besides there were more to come.

Because of several delays during the day, we didn't arrive at our hotel for the night until it was almost dark.  The hotel was in the small town or area of Alota.  They had warned us that the hotels were "basic" but this one was really basic.  Randy, Gillian and I shared a room.  Some of the couples were only two to a room but other folks were six to a room, and a room was all you got.  The bathrooms - coed - were down at the end of the building and they left a lot to be desired.  By the end of the evening they were very muddy and dirty and you really did not want to visit them.  However, nature calls so you had to visit from time to time.  I think I preferred the South African camping experience and the washrooms there better than this washroom.  Oh well, such is life on a tour.

Dinner was served about 7:30 or 8:00 and we sat around in the dining room for a while.  Then we all went to bed.  I got up once in the night to go to the bathroom and survived the experience so I guess I shouldn't complain.  The next morning I was up reasonably early trying to avoid the rush in the bathroom with at least 20 people trying to use three toilets, two sinks and two showers all in one small area.  I skipped the shower part and just went with a quick wash but those details are not for this blog anyway.  I should just say that I slept well under a heavy pile of blankets.  The evenings definitely cool off in the desert at 4,000 metres above sea level.