Sloth Journeys

From Toro Toro and Cochabamba our next (and last) destination in Bolivia was to be Salar de Uyuni, otherwise known as the Bolivian Salts Flats.

If anyone has watched series 2 of Race Across The World, you might recall seeing this otherworldly landscape, which is one of (actually, probably THE) best known tourist attractions in Bolivia.

We were somewhat sceptical about what this part of the trip would be like, having read a range of posts about the experience, and knew that we were likely to be heading into a bit of a tourist trap. However, the landscapes were said to be unlike anything we’d have experienced so far and so we decided to brave yet another overnight bus to get to the town of Uyuni, from where we would start our 3-day tour of the salt flats and other altiplano landscapes.

Arriving into Uyuni after the gruelling bus journey (one thing that we will not miss when we get home is the double-digit length bus journeys on terrible buses and terrible roads), we were immediately hit by a) just how bloomin’ freezing it was and b) how desolate the town was! It was like something out of an old western movie, except with less horses and guns, and more litter and half constructed buildings!

Having got to the hotel and finally warmed up a bit, we ventured into town to try and find a coffee (of course) as well as a couple of woolly hats, as we realised this leg of the journey was likely to be the coldest and our shorts and t-shirts from our time in Costa Rica and Ecuador were not going to cut it here!! Arriving into town on Sunday didn’t help matters with our hunt though, at least for coffee, with most of the cafes and restaurants that were around closed. Nonetheless, we finally found somewhere to grab a coffee and while  away a bit of time in a town that doesn’t offer a lot to tourists other than the salt flats tour that we weren’t starting until the following morning!

We also had time to head to the office of the tour agency that we’d booked with, as we’d had radio silence on a pick up time for the following morning. Good job we did amble down as it turned out that even though we’d arranged the tour with them on WhatsApp (the primary medium for contacting anyone in South America) they hadn’t actually then written it down into their order book and so had no record of us!! Thankfully they still space for us on the tour the next morning, although it did make us wonder how competent they were to be taking us out into the wilds for 3 days!

Nonetheless the next morning, having thankfully received a message confirming our pick-up time, we headed out.

What followed was a strange mix of epic landscapes and crazy long drives in the 4×4 between viewpoints that were mostly either too cold to stop at for more that 5 minutes, or pretty cynical tourist stops where we’re pretty sure every tour agency has a deal going with the tat sellers (Admin – don’t you mean souvenir sellers?!) to bring their tours there and encourage the tourists to part with their cash.

Day 1 – Trains, Bikes and 4x4s

The first stop saw us at a ‘train graveyard’ just outside Uyuni. The defunct trains are scrap from the dwindling mining industry of the area, although we’re not really sure why this has found favour as part of the tour, as the actual site didn’t seem that interesting to us, although I did nevertheless clamber up onto one of the rusted shells of a train and have a photo.

Despite it being called a 3 day salt flats tour, it’s really only Day 1 that’s on the salt flats (although you do pass by a couple of smaller salt flats on the other days), and which we headed to for the afternoon. After driving across the flats for a while we were to change transport for a short time, as our tour was the only only to include a cycle ride on the salt flats. As with everything in Bolivia, our bikes were definitely sub-par, with mine not being able to change gear at all and Richards continually doing so of its own accord! I don’t think the brakes were up to much either but thankfully there are no hills on the salt flats so we could just slowly roll to a stop! Despite the condition of the bikes (admittedly the salt can’t be much good for them!) we still had fun for half hour or so and it’s definitely the strangest place we’ve ever biked!

Our afternoon on the salt flats also included visits to a couple of ‘islands’ where rocks rise out of the salt plains and life (mostly in the form of cactuses and a few birds) manages to exist. Some of the cactuses are apparently 2000-3000 years old. Crazy!

We also stopped to watch the sun go down over the salt flats, complete with a glass of wine and some nibbles. It was beautiful, although the temperature plummets as the sun drops and so we were all quite glad to get back into the 4×4 eventually to head to our overnight accommodation in a salt hotel.

Yes, you did read right, a hotel made of salt! However, whilst the main walls and even the basic structure of the beds was made from salt, there were areas of more traditional construction, which in some ways was disappointing, although I don’t suppose a bathroom made out of salt bricks would last too long with all the heat and humidity from the showers (not that we had any intention of trying out the showers given just how cold it was and with no heating on the hotel rooms)!

Day 2 – Mummies, Flamingos & Volcanoes

For Day 2 we headed away from the salt flats and into the desert, lagoons and volcanoes or the Altiplano.

The landscapes of this region are vast and even though we were on a pretty well defined tourist route, between stops you could often go an hour or more without seeing anyone else, as there aren’t roads as such around here, just multiple (very) rough tracks that wend their way to the next destination, and it’s very much down to your drivers preference as to which you take.

First stop was a cemetery of sorts, where ancient tribes used fossilized coral formations (much like a giant egg shape) to bury their dead and the cold and dry atmosphere of the altiplano partially mummified the remains. It was an interesting half hour, although we decided only to photograph the coral ‘eggs’ rather than the mummies within.

We then headed on to a series of lagoons with flamingos, including the Lagoons Colorada, known for its red colour, which was otherworldly and beautiful, albeit windy and freezing!

We also passed dozens of volcanoes (mostly inactive or dormant I believe) before heading in the late afternoon to an area of fumaroles caused by volcanic activity. Fumaroles (for the non-geologists amongst you) are essentially vents in the earth, where steam and volcanic gasses are emitted. We would both have liked to have spent longer here as it’s so unlike anything we’ve ever seen, although I admit the sulphurous smell wasn’t something we were sad to leave behind!

Finally, shortly before nightfall we arrived at our second nights accommodation. This one was pretty basic, not made of salt and we’d be sharing a dorm room with our 3 fellow tour companions. Thankfully, our fellow ‘inmates’ were pretty relaxed and courteous, which was good as you don’t get to pick who’s in your group and have to spend 3 days with! Today also happened to be my birthday, and although after 42 of them previously they aren’t always quite as exciting as they used to be, this was certainly a bit different to the norm and the most unusual place I’ve ever spent the day!

Whilst at this hostel we also had the opportunity to go to some hot springs a 5 minute walk away. However, given the subzero nighttime temperatures, whilst the hot springs themselves might have been good, we couldn’t bear the idea of getting out wet into the freezing night and so passed on that, instead, enjoying getting into our dorm beds with about 4 layers of duvets and sleeping bags to keep us alive through the night!

Day 3 – Chile and an Oasis

Day 3 wasn’t so much about a tour, as getting said tourists to their destination, be that the Chilean border (where we dropped off our 2 Italian companions) or back to Uyuni like we were headed.

So this was a very long day in the 4×4, getting bounced around for hours. That said, after our lunch stop, we did stop at an oasis in the Altiplano which (whilst nothing like the oasis in the desert back in Peru) was beautiful and actually one of the highlights of the tour for us.

Finally reaching Uyuni we reflected, over a beer in the same cafe we’d been to before the tour (because it turns out there’s bugger all open on a Wednesday as well as a Sunday!) that whilst we were glad (or that, at least, I was glad) to have experienced these places and landscapes that are like nothing else we’ve seen, the tour format definitely could do with some work and we’re not convinced we’d recommend it to others (unlike the Madidi, Pampas and Toro Toro tours we’d recently been on).

Oh well, only one more horrific overnight bus journey to get us back to the civilisation of La Paz, before heading back into Peru for the last leg of our journey!