Bolivia: Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni
3 days/2 nights
Over 500km in a Toyota Land Cruiser in the middle of the Bolivian nowhere...

With an extra day in La Paz after our WMDR ride we decided to head down to Uyuni in Southern Bolivia to do the very popular Salar de Uyuni tour. We first headed to the Brazilian Embassy to pick up our passports with newly issued Brazilian visas (more on that later...) and after some enquiries finally found someone who could satisfy our requests for information on buses and tours.

We caught a tourist bus of only travelers out of La Paz to Uyuni direct (10hrs) at 9pm. The tourist bus is definitely the only way to go when it is available as the seats are nicer, the toilet is generally more accommodating, we had an English movie, dinner, blankets and pillows as well as temperature control. Very important when crossing the altiplano at night when the temperatures plummet to -10C or less.

The trip was pretty good, save the last 180km into Uyuni thru the desert which was a washboard, potholed road that made any effort to sleep impossible. We finally arrived into Uyuni at about 0730 whipped by travel and hit in the face by a cold, stiff wind and a quiet, desolate town at that time of the morning.

We walked a few blocks to find our tour operator, who found us in the main square, and we checked in. We still had at least 3 hours (turned in to 4hrs) for our tour to depart for the first day´s travels so we grabbed some breakfast, snacks and waited. We ended up having 3 Land Cruisers with a group of 25 all inclusive of 2 cooks, 3 drivers, one French sort-of-along-for-the-ride-guide and the rest made up of travelers from Belgium, Czech, England, France and Australia.

The entire trip is not like anything you would expect from Bolivia. The landscape is so diverse and impressive that our photos almost don’t do it any justice. So much rugged terrain and colors that every hour revealed something newer and better. We constantly noted the blueness of the altiplano sky which kept us at altitudes of 3800m - 4800m for the entire trip. Even the colors of the desert and salt plains were so impressive that it made the long, butt-busting, hot/cold, cramped rides worthwhile. It is the only way to see this area and again another top highlight of our trip to Bolivia.

We set off for the salt plains and were blown away by the vastness of the white. So many square kilometers of salt. Supposedly, nearly one half of the world’s supply lies here in Bolivia, only no one has taken on the financially aspect of exploiting it and the political arena has kept others at bay. Irregardless of that boring stuff, this place was unbelievable. We hit islands of cactus and mounds of salt that were cultivated every day by the locals. And then it was gone. We left the salt plains behind and headed off into the desert to our hostel for the night.

Bare bones, but at least a place to sleep. Only one toilet and no shower for the entire group, but hot soup and some grub put us to bed after a very long bus ride the night before and truck ride thru the desert. By 0815 we were gone again for more sightseeing the next day. Volcanoes, mountains and lagoons filled with pink flamingoes and llamas and vicunas in the desert made up our second day. Even during the day, the altiplano is not warm. Multiple layers helped to fend off the cold, but the biting wind cut right thru making our time outside the Land Cruiser minimal at best. And this was September. The dead of winter in June and July is frigid at -20C or less!

Our second night’s accommodation was even more simple than the first night. Basically, the compound consisted of a structure to block the wind filled with six bedded rooms and at least this place had two toilets and two sinks with freezing water. No shower and not even a thought had it been hot! We shared a room with the 2 English couples from our Land Cruiser which we lucked out. They were a good laugh and kept the atmosphere fun even during the long travel days and cold temperatures.

By the time dinner rolled around, the wind was blowing a gale, the temperature was already below 0C, heading towards -10C for the night. Everybody gathered around the table for dinner bundled up in so many layers it was hard to tell who was who. Hats, scarves, gloves and many layers underneath as the vapor trails from our mouths billowed off above our heads.

Immediately after dinner, almost the entire group retired to their beds to try and get warm, while a few diehards hit the rum and tequila for a few hours. The lights went out at 9pm, but candles kept the drunken conversations going. One of the English girls decided to keep the party going and stumbled in sometime around midnight, after a futile attempt by her fella to get her to come back earlier. After some mumbling, one-way conversation to a sound asleep boyfriend, some more crying and muttering she finally drifter off only to be kicked out of bed at 0510 for our sunrise departure the next morning. Thankfully, Rachel and I had sleeping bags under the two wool blankets and our entire daytime clothes to sleep with. Getting out of bed in the dark of the morning was not fun. It was so damn cold!!

We cruised down the road about 45 minutes to the thermal geysers as the sun came up. Altitude 4800m and frigid cold. Our driver said that the June and July photo ops only last a few minutes, especially with the stiff, constant 20-30mph winds blowing. Looks warm with the sun, but as you can see from the photos, we are rarely without all our skin covered save our faces.

We had a deadline of 1030 to get our English companions to the Chilean border to catch their bus to San Pedro de Atacama. They were hoping for a possible 20hr bus connection to Santiago where they would be flying to Oz for 3 weeks, then on to Laos and Vietnam for another 5 weeks before returning to the UK. We have run into many travelers doing this similar circuit. Whether coming to/from the UK or Oz, they hit Asia, NZ and Oz and head over to S.A. for a spell before returning home to plan the next adventure.

Rachel and I had the Land Cruiser to ourselves for the 1 1/2 hr journey to meet the rest of the troops for lunch. After lunch we joined 4 Belgians for another brutal 6 hour journey back to Uyuni so that they could catch the overnight bus at 9pm to La Paz and we could catch our 0230 train (6hrs) south to Tupiza. The rest of the group had decided to stay an extra night and prolong the time in the Land Cruiser one more bone-jarring day.

We got back to Uyuni, crashed for 4 hours and then had to wait for the train to leave finally at 0300. We had left the tour agent in charge of getting us 2 seats in Ejectivo, but we ended up having to push and shove our way to our assigned seats in popular class (evidently Ejectivo was sold out and so was Salon class) aka with the locals as it was half the price and crowded. We had 2 seats of six facing each other with barely leg room to stretch out. After 3 days crammed in a Land Cruiser, bumping along we were not happy at 0300 in the morning for our 6hr trundle south to Tupiza. And a trundle is was. SLOW!!!

But we arrived, checked in to our hotel and slept for most of the day. After many nights of no sleep, in the cold, and on the road, we were beat. We planned the next day to rest as well and do some horse riding in the famed land of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
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