Salar de Uyuni revised

Too many people we have talked to in the last while who have tried to drive into the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia have had horror stories to tell. Damage to their bikes, stuck in mud, which way do you go "lost" and just plain didn´t have a lot of fun trying to see the salt flats solo, without a guide. So what do we do? We hired a guide! Took a tour! And it was worth every penny. 1220 km in 4 days, a driver, a cook, Ken and I and 4 other people ( Valentine from France and his girlfriend Gisele from Brasil, and 2 girls from Austria, Ava and Liz) . What a luxury! Someone to look after all the little details like your bed, meals, and luggage. And to top it all off we actually got to drive in the Salar de Uyuni flats the largest salt flats in the world, 12,000 sq. km. and 11 meters deep. During the rainy season the flats are submerged in water, in the dry season you can get lost in immensity of it all. We sat back and let Don Felix do the driving. All meals awaited us with nothing for us to do but enjoy them. All we had to do was get up at 6:00 am everyday and sit and enjoy the scenery. Every night our bed was made and ready when we were. I have to mention here that the accomodations were fairly basic (Ken´s first experience in a dormroom and shared bathroom) but on one night we actually slept in beds made from salt from the salt flats and they were pretty comfy.

Mountains, lakes of many colours, volcanoes, geysers, hot springs and wildlife such as flamingos, guanacos, emus and vicuñas (rock bunnies). Breathtaking!! And talking about breathtaking, the second night on the trip we spent at 4400 meters, and the geysers were just short of 5000 meters. What a trip...see for yourself.

The first views of the snow capped mountains

Ken can´t believe the things you find in the middle of know where, sweet ride!

Ahh! A little soak in a desert oasis... is that dinner bell I hear?

Laguna Verde, what a colour.

Letting off a little hot steam, don´t get too close.



Flamingos, too many to count.



Arbol de Piedra, Tree of rock



Laguna Cañapa, calming.

Partly under water. It didn´t stop us!

Kiss me Ken!

Still a happy couple.

When we arrived at Uyuni the 4 other people left the tour to catch a bus north, what luck we had the jeep it ourselves. Well not quite. The driver and cook decided to stop for dinner before we started the last 220 km back to Tupiza ( leaving us in the vehicle wondering what was up!). This little stop put us a little behind schedule and we ended up driving the last 150 km of the 220 km in the dark. To Ken and I this wouldn´t have been a problem except it seemed the driver had night blindness. This was a road you had to be able to see to drive on, riverbeds for roads, part of the road was steep and sat on top of a ridge with cliffs on both sides. After loosing control once or twice, missing a head on with another vehicle by cm., ( we both saw the other cars lights coming) stopping only meters before plunging off a bank into a river because he didn´t see the detour and last but not least taking a wrong road and getting lost for a short time....We were more than happy to see the tour come to an end and have Ken at the helm again.

A great tour though, we´d do it again in a heartbeat. But maybe write another ending .