Salar de Uyuni: Part Two

Day 2 – Swimming in the starlight

Breakfast is at 6.30am … no such thing as a lie-in on these tours. Alex gives her stomach a break while I devour the first batch of fresh tasty bread I’ve had in Bolivia, the rest has resembled cardboard. Benedict discovers the joys of dulce leche, basically a caramel spread that is very popular across South America. We pile back into the jeep and as I’m feeling much more refreshed today I ride shotgun next to Walter while Alex has a lie down across the backseats. Ben and Julia kindly ride in the back row to give Alex some space to spread out.

Our first stop is in a small town where local farmers live. On the way we pass one toiling away in the field by the roadside, an elderly man planting quinoa seeds one by one with his hands. In the town, there is a museum where Walter explains the lifecycle of growing quinoa, protecting it from the local wildlife, how to remove the spice and colours from the plant and how modernisation has helped evolve the process. He tells us that even though they are different colours plants, once processed the grain beneath is always white, and the colour is then added back in (although have been unable to verify this).

Next up is a photo opportunity at the railway line that passes through the area going all the way to Antofagasta in Chile. The train only passes through twice per day, once in the early morning and again late at night, so it’s perfectly safe for us to take some pictures! The train line used to be used for transporting minerals and other cargo as well as passengers around the area. Nowadays however this is mostly done using trucks and cars.

As we cruise through the desert we occasionally see a couple of cyclists who have opted to ride a challenging 5 day course across the Salar. We don’t envy their slog through this dusty, rocky, hot and windy environment. The main wildlife here is llamas and vicuñas and we spot many packs of each as we rumble across the plains.

The next viewpoint is where we can see the Volcàn Ollague, a cool 5870m tall. It may look like it has a snow covered peak but it is in fact sulphur. The local shop here sells llama sausages ‘hot dog style’ to daring tourists. Baring in mind how much we usually get for lunch, I pass up on the opportunity.

Our next couple of stops are to see the famous local wildlife, flamingos. There are 3 species here, the Andean, the Chilean and the James flamingo! Seemingly named after the person who discovered them. The pink on their tails is unbelievably vibrant. We learn that the ones without colour are actually the younglings, yet to get the pigment through. It feels as though we are in an episode of Planet Earth and we long for the dulcet tones of David Attenborough to narrate what we are witness to.

We sit on the banks of the lagoon while Walter busies himself preparing our lunch table. We have an incredible view of the surrounding area while we eat pasta, roast chicken, fresh and steamed vegetables, sweet potatoes, normal potatoes and fried banana. I’m glad I skipped the llama sausage!

Driving along after lunch we ask Walter about his personal life. His parents don’t live too far from here and own farmland where they grow quinoa and look after alpacas. Walter grew up there and learned to drive at 14 years old, after that he went to university in Sucre where he also learned English. He does these trips as often as he can to make money and pay off the loan he took out to buy his Toyota. Not all of the drivers own their tour cars but Walter likes it as it gives him flexibility. One day he would love to start his own business, offering motorcycle tours of this area as there seems to be a gap in the market as all other tour companies use jeeps. All the way through this trip he’s looked after us, informed us about the area, joked with us and asked questions about our home countries. Once again we’ve been blessed with a wonderful human as our guide and mentor.

The desert landscape morphs into a Mars-like plateau, we’ve driven for hours today and it’s impressive Walter knows his way around without any maps or road signs in this vast area with little to navigate by.

This afternoon we stop to see Viscacha, rabbit-like creatures populating the rocks and posing for photos.

We also stop at an unusual rock formation Ben appropriately dubs the ‘Stone Henge of Bolivia’, with the bright moon creating an extra layer of beauty to the contrasting colours of the area.

Pig or tree? You decide:

We then need to purchase tickets to the National Park, around £18 each… I’m slightly miffed as we’ve already paid quite a lot for this tour but in the end it is worthwhile. Nearby is the next viewpoint which looks out over the red lagoon, once again populated by flamingos. This is the spot where they lay their eggs, on the white islands in the distance that look a bit like icebergs or glaciers, safely out of reach of the desert foxes.

Our final stop of the day is the geysers. Here hot sulphuric gas rushes out of the ground and there are bubbling pits full of liquid that can reach up to 200 degrees! Due to frequent earthquakes in the area, the geysers can move location roughly every 3 months. We get out of the jeep to take pictures and watch our step, Walter warns us one wrong move and our legs will be “boiled like a chicken”. The gas howls furiously out of small holes in the ground, giant white clouds of steam form in the cold air.

We’re around 4800m up and in the shade it’s quite cold, the evening wind chills us to the bone. We take our pictures and get back in the warm jeep. As we drive to our hostel the sun sets behind us and the sky turns from dark blue to light, to dusty orange to lilac and peach. The pictures do no justice to nature’s masterpiece in the skies.

The hostel once again exceeds our expectations. I had envisioned bunk beds in a shared dorm with very basic facilities. Instead we have a nice spacious room with 5 comfortable beds that Alex and I will share with Ben and Julia. Ok there’s no WiFi but we’re used to that by now.

We’re soon summoned for tea and coffee followed by dinner. Tonight’s meal is vegetable soup followed by spaghetti bolognese with grated cheese and another bottle of red, result. As Alex is still recovering, I ferry supplies to her from the dining room to the bedroom where she is having a lie down.

The excitement isn’t over for the day as we’re invited to try the local hot springs under the twinkling stars and beaming moon. There are two options, a 40 degree pool or a 20 degree pool a bit further away. To no one’s surprise everyone opted for the 40 degree option but there is still plenty of room to find peace under the twinkling stars. I point out the constellations of Scorpio and Sagittarius I’d learned from our jungle experience. I also check my stargazer app and amazingly we can spot the Hubble Telescope blinking through the universe above us.

Day 3 – Onto Planet Chile

After a breakfast of pancakes and dulce leche we are off to see a final few viewpoints on the way to the border with Chile. First up is the Salvador Dali desert. It is called this because it is similar to some landscapes painted by the Spanish painter, although he never knew of the existence of this site. You can’t really see it well here, but at the far end of the photo is a big dune of sand with lumps of rock scattered across it:

Of the volcanoes facing it:

We drive to a spot between the green lagoon and white lagoon. However due to the weather and the time of day the colours are not particularly strong. Still, the backdrop is stunning with views of the Volcàn Licancabur that tops out around 5950 meters tall.

The next time we stop it’s sadly time to say goodbye to Walter, Ben and Julia as they are not crossing into Chile and will instead return to Uyuni. We pay a dubious 15 bolivianos “fee” to customs control and board a minibus full of strangers. We fill out a few forms, throw away some food we don’t want to risk being found by customs and cross the border. Our minibus enters a bizarre industrial building where our passports are stamped and our bags scanned for any contraband.

Before long we’re descending down towards the desert town of San Pedro de Atacama where our next adventure awaits…

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Adventure – Discovering so much more to this area than ‘just’ the salt flats, star-gazing from a hot pool

Excitement – Seeing flamingos in the wild for the first time, surprise bottles of red wine, feeling like we were on another planet

Trauma – Alex counting down until the next stomach cramps, James losing a Chasing Lights sock in the hot springs