SALAR DE UYUNI (And More). The Bolivian South West. 34 640Km

A trip to Salar de Uyuni is pretty common these days. But really this trip is more than an outing to one of the worlds largest salt flats and really should be called a trip to South West Bolivia. When it comes to making a travel bucket list, I'm pretty sure it would be on most peoples top 10. I know it has been siting on mine for more than a little while.

There are loads of ways to do this including by exiting in and out of San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. And you can see just the Salt flats as a one day trip from Uyuni but where's the fun in that. We spent a while trying to find the perfect tour operator and somewhere in the minefield we stumbled upon a 7 day tour of South West Bolivia that would take us from Uyuni, down tot he boarder with Chile, and back north to La Paz.

This would be our ride for the next 7 days....

We were picked up from our hostel at a respectable early hour and headed not to far away to a train graveyard. Whilst travel by train is still possible, the trains are few and far between, not so comfortable, take a long time to get places, but are apparently cheaper than the bus. The main use for trains these days is still to move the large amounts of salts and minerals that are still mined in this high altitude desert.

From Uyuni we headed south towards the Chilean boarder and up higher into the Bolivian Altiplano. Through most of this post I'm going to lack the vocabulary to adequately describe the things we saw but suffice to say the landscape out here is amazing.

Our first lunch stop was in a small area that had been formed from a previous volcanic eruption that left volcanic rock strewn around the place. It is currently private property where a family grow Llamas but they are happy for tourists to come for a spot of lunch and enjoy the view.

This first day involved mostly a lot of driving with some short stops along the way. Before arriving towards some lakes and our night accommodation, there was a chance for a dip in the local thermal springs and we were on it. Just the 2 of us, and for a short time one other couple. Not a bad view really.

Heading away from the thermal springs we had planned to stop off at a lake on the way to the accommodation but as luck would have it the weather turned and started snowing. So we bypassed the lake and headed for the hostel at 4500m. The mountains were bare when we arrived but the next morning we woke to this....

Thankfully we also woke to clear skies and we pressed on (and upwards) to see some off the amazing landscape we had traveled so far to see.

After reaching an altitude of 4900m we started heading back down to around 4200m. Along the way we passed via several lagoons and also some natural rock formations. The "tree" formation is found on pretty much any advertisement for an Uyuni tour and it did not disappoint.

We also came across a few little curious animals. Particularly when we stopped for lunch.

After lunch we continued our way heading north, passing more amazing mountain ranges and lakes, Vacuña, and flamingos. Every now and then we would also pass along the still used train lines. At times I'm not sure what was stranger to see, the animals, the geography, or the train line running at over 4000m.

We also were taken to some places we had never expected to see such as the place below, the result of yet another volcano explosion that left a large area covered in these odd shaped rocks.

And as we settled into the 2nd nights hotel, we saw that even the clouds like to be a little different...

Day 3. This is what we excited about. This was the day to explore the Uyuni Salt flats. I'm not going to describe this place more than to say its the worlds biggest salt flat, set at over 3800m. We were here in the dry season so there are no photos of the famous endless reflections but given it was dry we could get out to some of the islands on the salt flats, and of course we did the obligatory distorted perspective photos.

At the end of the day we waited out for the sun to fall over the salt flats. The photos will never do it justice but here is one to give just a small impression of this unbelievable place.

At the arrival of day 4 we were due to start ascending once again into higher mountains on the way to La Paz. Unfortunately I had started to not feel very well, and given previous illness at altitude, we decided the safest option was not to continue on the tour, and instead head directly to La Paz and the slightly lower altitude.

We were sad to be leaving the tour early but a previous experience with altitude sickness and a hospital stay was enough for us to call it early. We would miss the other parts of South West Bolivia but La Paz and the north awaited.

34 640 Km (14011Km Flights, 7876Km Sailing, 12 623Km Bus, 112km Hiking, 18Km Horse riding)