Wednesday
27th April
Went
to the World White Travel agency about 8.15 to confirm and pay for the tour.
Uyuni looks a bit like a Wild West town with wide roads lined with one and two
storey modest buildings. Apparently it was on the route of the Dakkar rally and
one of their sponsors, a cement company, has its logo all over the town. Had
quite good breakfast, some scrambled egg, the usual ham, cheese, bread, fruit
and instant coffee.
 |
| Downtown Uyuni |
 |
| Downtown Uyuni |
Checked out of the hotel and back down to the travel
agency. Met up with our guide Jeaneth, driver Felix, and other tour group
members, Sam who works in construction in Bristol, Michelle an Australian/English interior designer working in London, Jeffrey and Chung two
young guys from Hong Kong. All of them in their 20's or early 30's.
The
vehicle is quite cramped and I was initially rather surprised that Jeaneth didn't
seem to know what the plan was. Turned out the problem was due to protesters
blocking one or more roads, which I learnt was the cause of the road blockage
last night.
First
stop was the train cemetery just outside the town where the shells of old steam
locomotives were dumped when they were no longer serviceable. Amazed at how
many tourists were there, mostly young people getting photos of themselves
standing or sitting on the old locos.
 |
| Locos in the Desert |
 |
| Locos in the Desert |
From
there we set off for the salt flat along dirt tracks we reached the place where
the protesters had blocked the road so there were about 20 Toyota Land Cruisers
full of tourists stuck behind the protesters who had a pick-up truck across the
road where it is raised up above the mud of the edge of the salt flat so the
pick up cannot be easily by-passed. If I understand correctly the protesters have a grievance over land rights. We got out and walked on the salt which was
quite wet and soft here.
 |
| Road block |
 |
| Stuck |
Later, after some negotiations, the protesters allowed the tourist vehicles
through and we drove off along the flats. Away from the edge the salt is rock
hard and gleaming white. After driving for several km across a totally
featureless salt flat we stopped to take funny photos using false perspective;
Jeaneth knows all the tricks. Looking closely at the surface, the ice is in
cells about 1 m across with individual crystal a couple of mm in size. It's rock
hard and the crystals are sharp. Easy to think it is soft snow but not a good
idea. After taking lots of photos we drove a short distance to a salt cafe,
which used to be a hotel, where we had lunch of beef, salad, onions and quinoa.
It was nice to get out of the cold wind which roars across the flat.
 |
| Salt Flat >360 Panorama |
 |
| Big Boots |
 |
| Michelle |
 |
| Salt Cafe |
 |
| Nice and Warm inside the Salt Cafe |
After
lunch we set of for an "island", Casa Inca, a rocky outcrop of long
dead coral, in the middle of a sea of
white, and home to hundreds of tall cactus's which, according to Jeaneth grow
only 1 cm a year making them many hundreds of years old. Climbed up to the
summit of the island for an amazing view over the salt flat. It is approx 100km
by 200km and apart from a couple of other rocky outcrops totally flat.
 |
| Cactuses on Casa Inca |
 |
| Dance of the Cactuses |
From
the island we continued driving across the salt flats until we reached our
accommodation for the night, also built largely out of salt where we were welcomed
by tea and biscuits. I got a room to
myself and there were showers which started hot but then went cold. Dinner was
more beef, sausage, sauteed vegetables, chips and a bottle of very acceptable
Bolivian wine. Sadly they didn't have any more for sale or a bar; they could have made a lot of money.
Thursday 28 April
Had
early breakfast of bread and spread with more tea before leaving about at 7.30,
driving along dirt tracks through the desert, mostly dried up lakes, until we
reached a railway line just in time to see a long train, carrying minerals
according to Jeaneth, go thundering by. Stopped at a lava flow with amazing
shaped rocks and strange green boulders which I learn were a plant called Llareta.
 |
| Freight Train through the Desert |
 |
| Freight Train through the Desert |
 |
| Green Boulder of Llareta |
From
there we headed to a beautiful white lake, home to large flocks of brilliant pink
flamingos. The scenery is amazing. Most of the time we are driving across huge
flat expanses of gravel with volcanic mountains on either side; in several
areas there are huge boulder fields. We see several herds of llamas, one herd
of vicunas and a very mangy fox. None of
the volcanoes is active although one of them does have little puffs of smoke
coming from the top.
 |
| Flamingos on the Lake |
 |
| Flamingo |
Arrive at another lake with flamingos and llamas and then drive into a strange canyon, called Inca Trail according
to Jeaneth, with shattered rocks on either side, in places looking like a huge
drystone wall. See some rabbit like Viscachas, large rodents that hop around
like wallabies and have curly tails. Stop in the canyon for a picnic lunch of
chicken, rice and vegetable salad. It is bright and sunny but feels cold due to the
biting wind.
 |
| Llamas by the Lake |
 |
| More Flamingos |
 |
| Viscacha |
 |
| Lunch is Served |
 |
| Shattered Rocks |
After
lunch we drive over more fairly flat gravel fields until we arrive at a
collection of wind eroded rocks in weird shapes including one huge rock
supported on a narrow base with a sign
asking people not to climb it. It has a a name "Arbol de Piedra" or "Stone Tree". Guess it is only a matter of time before it
topples over. Think the elevation is well over 4000 metres and the wind is piercing.
 |
| Arbol de Piedra |
 |
| More Eroded Rocks |
From there we drove to the
entrance of the national park where we had to pay 150 Bollivianos. Just inside
the park we came to the reddish coloured Colorado lake, and yet more flamingos and llamas.
Having had our fill of looking at and taking photos of the wildlife we returned
the park entrance where we found our accommodation for the night, and more tea
and biscuits.
 |
| Pink Flamingos in a Pink Lake |
The accommodation was basic again shared dormitory and no showers.
It is COLD. Dinner of vegetable soup and vegetarian spaghetti bolonaise. Went
to bed before 10pm wearing as many layers as possible. Turned out I was
actually too hot and had to shed a layer.
Friday
29th April
Horrendously
early start with 5am breakfast of
pancakes, spread and tea. Still pitch dark outside as we set off at 5.30.
First
stop, after driving across the desert in the dark, were the geysers, which
don't actually shoot columns of water in
the air so I think it is a bit of a cheat to call them geysers. But there was
lots of steam and bubbling pools of grey mud. Watched as the sun rose
illuminating the rust coloured mountains. It's bitterly cold, even when the sun
comes up and at this elevation, about 4900 metres, the land looks totally
lifeless, volcanic gravel, boulders and a few patches of snow.
 |
| Sun Rising Through the Steam of the "Geysers" |
 |
| Early Morning in the Desert |
From the geysers
we descend a few hundred metres and little clumps of yellowish green coarse
grass appear together with a small herd of vicunas grazing on it. Our next stop
was the hot springs where I think only Michelle actually went in. Sam and I
found the little cafe where a mug of instant coffee (5 B) helped wake me up and
turned me into something resembling a human being. The springs are close to the
shore of another lake, which looked pretty in the early morning sun.
 |
| Lake next to the Hot Springs |
By this
time we had all woken up and had a brief stop at the so called Dali desert
before visiting the "white" and "green" lakes neither of
which lived up to their names. According to Jeaneth the weather conditions have
to be perfect for the colours to show. But despite their lack of colour, the
lakes and the snow capped mountains behind made for an impressive view.
From
there it was a short journey to the Chilean border where the Bolivian Immigration Offuice was
a small concrete hut in the middle of the desert. Sam and I took our leave of
the others and paid 15 Bolivianos for the privilege of leaving the country. At
the car park we joined a minibus to take us into San Pedro de Atacama along a
smart tarmac road, very different from the gravel roads on the Bolivian side. From
the road there is an amazing view of the flat desert several hundred metres
below us. At the outskirts of San Pedro, Chilean immigration and customs
control took much longer. There weren't many people at the Bolivian border post
but there was a whole queue of tourist filled minibuses waiting at Chilean
immigration. Later learnt that the immigration office also services people
coming across from Argentina. From there it was just a few minutes to the town
centre and a walk to Hostal Desert which is a bit further out of town than I
expected. Had a cup of tea and connected into the WiFi while waiting for the
room to be cleaned. End of my totally amazing tour of the Bolivian desert,
definitely one of the high spots, in all senses, of my travels in South
America.
