Salt flats

Salt flats
Day one

We where picked up from our hostel at 8am and taken to the Chilean border for our exit stamps, this took about 40 minutes, despite our drivers best attempts at queue jumping 16 people!

After another 30 minutes in the mini bus we arrived at the Bolivian border, here we got our entry stamps, and met up with the 4x4's, in which the most part of the next three days where to be spent! After a hearty breakfast of bread, dulce, fruit, yoghurt, coffee, and coca leaf tea we set off to the first attraction, the White lake, here we got our first glimpse of flamingos. Stop number two of the day was the copper saturated, green lake, with impressive mountainous and deserty surroundings! After an hour or so in the car we stopped at the hot springs, and our first days lunch, smash and hot dog sausages! After lunch we made the climb to a mighty 4,800m and went driving through the geyser fields, with photo opportunities galore! We finally made a small descent to 4,200m and here we found the red lake and our first nights accommodation, a residencial with no running water! Highlights of day one include the drivers door swinging open whilst driving, finding the driver had his wife and child with him, meeting a french guy who is cycling around the world, and discovering toilets worse than Glastonbury!

Day two

We Rose to a crisp morning having had a decent nights sleep despite the altitude and we were the first car on the road, only for Habib to realise he had left his hat in the hostel, so our lead was less than it should have been

First point of call today was the rock tree, a piece of volcanic rock that if you squinted and had the sun in your eyes looked remotely like a tree! The drivers wife took up a position in the rear of the car next to katie allowing me to move into the middle of the car for a much smoother journey!

From the rock tree we drove to a number if lagoons, including the ironic deep lagoon, it was only 20-30cm deep, and the aptly named stinky lagoon, due to the high sulphur content, this lagoon is home to the largest population of flamingos in south america.

Our lunch stop on day two came at timely point, the car got a flat tire just as we were pulling into a huge collection of rocks, the scheduled stopping point, but funnily enough the road leading here had been the smoothest we experienced! The six of us found shelter under an overhang and set about watching 3 men, a woman, and child trying to repair the puncture, the jack was in place and the wheel off in a time a F1 pit crew would of been proud of, as was the smoothness of the spare tire! Thankfully they decided against using the slick, and instead replaced the inner tube of the original wheel! All was well and lunch was good, then the health and safety issues started, as the spare wheel wasn't being used Habib lay under the car to reattach it to the van, at the same time, with the car still jacked up, his son and another thought it a good idea to climb into the car! Fortunately no one came to any harm!

After lunch we drive continuously for about 3 hours, onto and across a smaller salt flat than the main one we had come to visit. it was at this point I was thankful to be in the middle of the car, no banging of heads on ceiling, no curved spine from bending, and no knees under my chin. Seeing one of the other cars from our tour group broken down was a welcome sight as it allowed us 10 minutes to stretch our legs!

Once across the flats we stopped in a small town called San juan and the car then sounded like it wasn't going to start! The final leg of today's journey we were told would take an hour, and it was the longest hour in a car ever! driving over mud, sand, grass, pretty much anything other than Tarmac, all that kept us going was the promise of a hot shower and flushing toilets, at the salt hotel! After praying that each corner was the last, we finally made it to the hotel, and everything, including the beds was made from salt or cactus wood! Our hopes and dreams were dashed when we were told that there was no hot water and that there was very little water to shower with, fortunately we had been the first to arrive, and took advantage of the limited resources! Once "clean" and settled we sat about playing cards again, only for a brief interruption of a sand/salt storm brewing in the distance!

Day three

Again another early start, this time before sunrise, and a race across the salts followed, to reach incahuasi island to see the sunrise. As we reached the island the first signs of Dawn were emerging, so a run up to the top of the island was required, we just about made it in time to catch the sunrise! The island itself was quite a sight with an abundance of cacti ranging in sizes, some as big as 12 feet!

We ate a pancake breakfast at the island before speeding out across the salt flats, an our next stop to take the obligatory depth perception photos, with a volcano luming in the background!

Next we saw the salt refining plants, and a stop off in a small village, showed us the manufacturing process, that makes the salt edible, all of which done by hand, and in what looks like someones garage!

The final stop on the tour was in the train cemetery in Uyuni, the start of the first railway system in south America, the cemetery housed trains dating back to the 1800's!

The tour left us in Uyuni a small town that thrives on the tourist industry, from the salt flats. Here we spent the afternoon eating and drinking with the guys from the tour!