This 4 day and 3 day tour was about to bring us into the biggest salt desert of the world. We would spend the next days and over 1200km in a Toyota Land Cruiser together with our guide Ruben and our chef Victoria. We were 5 people in total.
As usual, our tour started 1 hour late as we had a last minute addition to the tour. After everything was packed on top of the Toyota we started. The first 2-3 hours went uphill and through a beautiful scenery. Wind, water and time shaped the mountains and left some spectacular formations.
Our path lead into a wide space where lamas and alpacas where the only living things we saw for a long time. At our highest point we could enjoy the evening atmosphere and surrounding.
We drove into the night for our first nights rest. I didn't feel good and had to rest in bed to get rid of a fewer which came over me. After some delicious soup, which my lovely Chrisy brought to my bed, I had a good rest and felt a lot better next day.
We started very early in the morning and came to a lake which is white and people started to use the minerals as washing detergents. There is plenty, so it became a little industry.
If you wonder how flamingos manage to stay clean and some of them even turn white, then here is the answer for you!
However, it didn't work for this car.
We travelled close to the Chilean boarder and saw the mountain chain of the seven colors. See if you can get them together.
The day brought us to different lagoons. All of them had different colors.
Different minerals and alleges made the colors so different in these locations. Here is the green lagoon with a volcano in the background.
As traveling is so hard, we had lunch and time to relax in the probably most beautiful hot spring I've ever seen. With flamingos, ducks, doves and many other different birds around the spring, there was plenty to see whilst relaxing in the hot water. The outside temperatures asked for long sleeves, but the hot water let us forget the harsh environment.
After this treat and amazing experience we drove on for many more hours. We came to the red lagoon. And if you wonder why flamingos are red, then here is proof and explanation for this question.
We passed some geysers and an area which seemed from another world. Everywhere we heard the earth talking to us. There where ponds of liquid soil in different colors which were bubbling like hot custard. The air was full of sulfite and phosphor. However, the best was the crack in the earth were a cloud of hot air came out. The wind blew it in high speed around our heads and you were not able to stand it for a long time because of the heat.
The night we spent again in a basic accommodation and dinner was as usual: rice, potato, chicken with ketchup and mayo. The soup was great though!
After another early start we drove to the rock trees. This is an area with huge rocks in the middle of nowhere and one specific with the form of a tree.
We came to more lagoons with more flamingos. Why would you be up here in this cold climate where you could be in Kenya or Florida? Well, they didn't want to let me come close so that I could have asked them this question. Might this have been because I didn't take the cold shower the night before?
There were some animals which didn't bother too much our smelly shoes and came close to the car. And that in the middle of the day!?!
And for all who didn't know yet, here is the official anti smoking campaign from the Bolivian health department. The fumes of this lagoon would have caught fire immediately and so would have the smoker. I guess this would have been your last one...
Our last night we slept in a house made of salt blocks and on top of a bed made of salt. The blocks were cut in the salt dessert right in front of the door. Even the tables and chairs where we had dinner were made of salt. It is true! I tried it personally.
In the evening before we went to bed we had another visitor in our bedroom. Luckily it was only on the floor (which is actually known as rock salt for most of you)
Our even earlier start the next morning was going to be the highlight of the tour. We rose in the dark and started driving into the Salar de Uyunin, the world biggest salt desert. Because of the rain we soon had to drive through 10cm deep water. Without any further rain it would take almost 10 days until all the water would be gone again. The sun slowly started to rise at the horizon and it was an incredible view.
Because of the water and the salt our in otherwise reliable Toyota started to play funny. It suddenly stopped working and Ruben had to get his feet wet to do some magic on the electronic of the car. After 10-15 min the car started again. Unfortunately this didn't last long and after 50m the car stopped again. It went on for 4 times and I already thought we would never make it. So we used the time and had our breakfast in the car. Victoria baked a cake in the night before and we enjoyed some coffee with it. After we finally arrived the dryer and higher part of the desert we came to an island in the middle of this vast area. On top of the island was a forest of cactus trees. An amazing place!
Then we had some time to take more pictures. We had many more ideas, but not enough time. So we just made these fun pictures.
After all this many kilometers we arrived in Uyunin. There we had time till the 9pm. We walked through the streets and browsed through the markets. Then it started: my worst bus experience ever! First I thought people didn't trust each other, as they tight their bags onto seats and the overhead compartments. We had a supposed 10hrs ride to La Paz. For the first 4 hours we drove through the desert or over carrot fields with 80kph. We sometimes lifted of our seats and had a flight time of up to 27seconds. During the ride the driver already had his differences with the gearbox as he stirred around like a chef who tries to whip a hollandaise. So the bus had to stop several times and we could hear the driver negotiate with the gearbox with a hammer. I think afterwards he was able to use three or so gears again. However, after 14 hrs, still 30min before La Paz the gears didn't want to cooperate at all anymore. So we got out of the bus. We were able to stop another bus. When he opened the luggage compartment, a sheep looked at us. Our bags got thrown in as well. Poor thing! After our final arrival I was happy that the sheep didn't shit on my bag and that I survived this ride. This will ever stay in my memories!
I guess and hope our bus stands now on the same place like this car!
For more amazing pictures follow the link Salar de Uyunin
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