Travel Highlights - Salar de Uyuni

First up in our series of travel highlights is Kate Roadknight telling us about her experiences at Bolivias famous salt flats!

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Shortly after returning from potosí base camp, a few of us embarked on a trip to the gorgeous Salt flats in Uyuni. starting off with a 9 hour overnight bus, we armed ourselves with snacks, thermals, earplugs and eye masks.

After a brief pick me up of a coffee and some toast, we were picked up by our guides, Felix and Marco in our 4x4s. We shoved our overpacked bags in the boot, hopped in, and were whisked away to the train cemetery.

Full of ruins of british and japanese trains, once used for mineral transport, the rusting frames were accompanied by some more modern art (which some of our party preferred) - various transformers, aliens, animals and silhouettes constructed out of scrap metal. A quick trip to the edge of Uyuni allowed some of our members to pick up some salt for their own cooking back home, with a brief explanation from our guides on how it was collected and purified.

After this, we travelled into the vast expanse of the salt flats themselves. White as far as the eye could see, seemingly endless. Our guides (thankfully), were every bit as dedicated to the instagram pictures as we were.

2 sets of world flags and some hot springs (which Samanyu and Winston drank from, despite the lithium warnings) later, we settled down for a surprisingly decadent lunch - a patio umbrella, table and chairs set, and hot food. We felt as if we were eating on the edge of the world, or perhaps that we’d all gone loopy up the mountain and that this was a rather extravagant dream.

The photoshoot continued, including some classic shots such as running from a dinosaur, a high school musical-esque jump, and a time lapse of various poses. Our tour guides were particularly fond of the warrior III yoga pose, and we found ourselves doing said pose in a line in front of all major attractions in the salt flats.

We had a flying visit to Isla Incahuasi, an incan rest stop covered in cacti. A quick 30 minutes around the island circuit gave us some gorgeous views, and a newfound respect for how old it actually was - each cactus grows ~8cm per year, yet were up to 10 or 12 metres high. We snapped some more family-esque photos, and continued on.

We stopped for one night in the village of Tahua, a small lodging at the base of the Tunupa volcano. We were the only guests, but had a lovely dinner, played some cards, and finally relaxed under some extra thick blankets after a long day of travel.

The next morning, we split off into two groups. Half of our number (the non-HAPE affected, braver group) set off to summit the volcano, at an altitude of almost 5500m.

The lazier (although potentially smarter) group of us set off to explore some caves, and get up close and personal with the flamingos that live on the flats.

We started with a brief stop at a canyon not far from Tahua. The scenery was gorgeous, and we received a brief history from Felix on the geology of the area, as well as seeing many vizcachas, but failing to successfully photograph them.

We set off from the canyon to our next adventure. The caves were full of thin sheets of rock, formed over hundreds of years due to mineral-rich water dripping from the ceiling, producing an almost skin-like appearance. The flamingos were happily resting at the edge of the flats, consuming their weight’s worth of brine shrimp. We wandered along the waterside, enjoying the sun, the wildlife, and the beautiful views of the volcano our companions were climbing.

We then were shown some archaeological sites - burial & sacrificial grounds, as well as pre-incan ruins atop a hill. Most of us were about to embark on the Inca trail, so we were wary of injury (and Samanyu’s HAPE) whilst climbing, but we all made it to the top to enjoy the views of the quinoa fields. We also took the liberty of being the first group of people (we assumed) to play KNEECAP, Fontaines DC, and Imogen Heap to some llamas.

We returned to civilisation to meet the other half of our group for lunch. They returned from the volcano dusty, exhausted, and grumpy, but post-lunch they realised their bragging rights had increased (definitely some type 2 fun) and perked up a bit.

We continued on and were given some fashionable white wellies to put on, at a rest stop not far from the edge of the flats. Notably, Winston left his hiking boots on the ground, and forgot about them. A clever move, considering he was doing to Salkantay shortly after our trip.

We stopped at the most photogenic point on the salt flats, where there was a layer of water about 2 inches deep. Thinking of our instagram stories, we got to work.

After a lengthy amount of time spent taking and retaking photos, our guides produced a charcuterie board, and 2 bottles of Bolivian wine, to our surprise. We enjoyed cheese, meats and nuts, and had a (one-sided) competition with a neighbouring tour group on who could play their music the loudest.

After recreating a kick-line from our favourite Reveal dance, inspired by our white boots (and maybe the wine), we returned back to Uyuni to catch our overnight bus back to La Paz. Half of the group was dropped off to take a hot shower, and the rest were returned to the bus station. We said goodbye to Felix and Marco with a hug, and wished them well.