The Salar De Uyuni is the worlds largest salt flat, and is at an altitude of about 3600m. We went on a 3 day tour, which covered the Salar, situated close to Uyuni, several high altitude lakes, many of which are inhabited by several species of pink coloured flamingos, and spectacular volcanic landscapes, situated south of Uyuni, as far away as the Chilean border. The tour included the Eduardo Avaroa National Park.
There are 101 agencies in Uyuni offering tours, and many of them are reputed to be crap (although which ones depends on who you talk to). We scoped out 4 or 5 places, and settled on Oasis Tours, based on the fact that we'd heard good reports of them and their food, that they were good to deal with, and promised that we'd be riding in a late model landcruiser (there are HJ60 model landcruisers still being used - most of these appeared to come complete with a mechanic to get them thru the 3 days).
Tour, Day 1:
We rocked up at the oasis office on tuesday, and were told that there was only enuf room for 1 of our 2 big backpacks on the roofrack (would have been handy if they'd mentioned this the day before), so we had to hastily repack. Oasis had 2 tours going that day (and luckily, the 2 groups shared a cook, meaning we had 7 people in our landcruiser, rather than a very squashy 8). Our tour group consisted of an American Couple, Rick and Holly, and a French Canadian couple, Melanie and Mark. We all had a common interest in the outdoors, and everyone was a good laugh, so this contributed heaps to the tour being such good fun. Fuel, stoves and our backpacks went up on the roofrack, and food behind the back seat.
We left around 10 or 10.30, and made a quick stop at the train cemetry outside Uyuni - this is basically a graveyard of old Bolivian, Chilean and Argentian steam trains which seem to have partly been used for scrap metal, and partly left to rust (which takes a long time in the dry, cold climate). From here, we drove to the Salar De Uyuni, and stopped to take a look at the 'salt mines'; the salt miners scrape the top layer of salt into heaps to dry (its quite damp just under the surface, although it feels very hard), and later cart them off to market. Each wet season, the lake is covered in a foot or so of water, which later evaporates to leave a new, clean salt layer. During the dry season, the surface of the lake is made up of hard salt (very soft around the lake edges).
After a stop at a now defunct salt hotel (they shut it down due to effluent disposal problems), we drove out to Isla Pescado, one of several islands that dot the lake. (If all roads in Bolivia were as flat as the lake, is would make for much more pleasant bus journeys). The islands are former coral outcrops, and the limestone structures built by the coral are still clearly visible. Isla Pescado is covered in Cacti, and has a population of small birds - its really quite unusual given the surrounding salt lake, which stretches almost to the horizon. After a good walk around, we had a great lunch of steak and other tasty stuff.
At about this point, we realised that we had a great guide/driver; he was very informative and interested in the place (between everyone in the group, we could usually figure out his explanations in spanish), was a skillful and careful driver, and had a a good sense of humour. The cook was also fantastic!!
A couple of hours drive took us to a cave in a coral outcrop near San Pedro. The formations in the cave were made from calcified sheets of algae, which were suspended from the ceiling. Very pretty, and very unusual. Next to this cave was another, filled will small, man made caverns. The ádversiting´outside the cave reckons it is filled with graves, but according to our driver, no-one really knows what the story with it is. He grew up in a small pueblo nearby, and used to shelter in the cave during hail storms as a child.
We spent our first night in a small hostal in San Pedro. A lovely place, and the sky was unbelieveable clear. Couldn´t see the Southern Cross tho - I think its only visible for some of the year at this latitude. Dinner was great, and a few drinks and a game of cards made for a great finish to the day. Everyone in our Landcruiser voted to smell together rather than try the ´hot´shower...
Day 2:
Our second day consisted of a long drive south to Laguna Colorado in Eduardo Avaroa National Park, stopping to look at lakes full of pink flamingoes, massive volvanoes in a multitude of colours, strangely shaped lava flows, and unusual rocks scattered in the desert landscape. Basically, we spent the time gaping at the view. Its amazing how pink the flamingoes really are - apparently, the pink colouration comes from something in the water of the lakes in which they spend most of their time. Most of the lakes we saw flamingoes in looked fairly inhospitable; they were muddy and somethimes salty, often stank of sulfur, and looked like they contained a lot of minerals that had just come out of a volcano. Defo not somewhere I´d like to go for a swim...
Laguna Colorado is massive, and coloured a stunning dark red. Its surrounded by volcanoes, and filled with pink flamingoes- what a mad sight... Its also bloody cold there - I´m not sure I´d like to be there in winter...
We spent the second night in a simple hostel which accomodated about 10 tour groups, a kilometer or 2 from Laguna Colorado. It was cold, but dinner was great! Unfortunately, Grace started coming down with a cold in the afternoon, and she was helped by the combination of altitude, cold and dust.
Day 3:
We began at 4.30 or something - can´t remember because it was too early... We jumped straight in the car and headed off to a geothermally active area to look at bubbling mud pools and jets of steam. Personally, I thought that looking at the landscape as the sun rose was way more interesting - the colours were muy bonito. Breakfast was by a thermal pool - I chickened out cos while the water was about 30 degrees, it wasn´t much above zero outside, and there was breeze...
After brekky, we drove south to the Chilean border to drop off our 2 Canadians, stopping at the arsenic filled Laguna Verde (a mad green colour), and Laguna Blanco. We drove down a long valley to the border, surrounded by snow capped volcanoes. Everything appeared in shades of red, white or black, and the valley floor was a couple of kilometers wide in places, and filled with red gravel, and the odd herd of Vicunas (got knows what they were eating...). This was, in my opioion, one of the most scenic parts of the journey.
The rest of the day consisted of a very long drive back to Uyuni, with a few stops to look at the mad scenery. Not nearly as interesting as what came before, but quite nice all the same.
Afterwards:
All in all, we had a superb trip. I would recommend Oasis tours for the professionalism, friendliness, and great tucker! I think its worth noting that many people we met seemed to find 3 days in a 4wd on rough roads (or no roads), and staying in basic accomodation to be too much. Many people also seemed to get a bit bored with the scenery. I think these things may contribute to the negative comments some of the tour agencies receive. The Salar is best appreciated if you love to look at lots and lots of unusual scenery and animal life, and don´t expect that doing so will be like going for a trip to the park.
We caught the train back to Oruro, and then a bus to La Paz where we stayed in a much swankier Hostal than usual (Hostal Fuentes - really nice, and great views from the top floor) while Grace got rid of her cold, and I got rid of the the runs given to me by a dodgy chicken sandwich...
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