Alright, after a couple of easy days just hanging around La Paz, it was time for another adventure.

Today was going to be a long day but it’ll definitely be worth it.

I went to bed nice and early last night because I had to wake up at the ungodly hour of 5:30 this morning.

I had a flight at 7:40 and Oscar, the man who owns the hostel, not only arranged a taxi for me but he also was there this morning to direct the taxi driver.

I mean, what a guy!   He’s here late at night to greet people and then up bright and early to see them off.

An early flight

By 6:00 I was ready and waiting for the taxi.   Oscar soon appeared with a little gift of a llama keychain.   I mean, seriously, what a guy!

The taxi to the airport soon arrived.   It took about 20 minutes to get there and cost $15US, which for Bolivian prices, is on the steep end but it beats trying to navigate a shared minibus at this time of day that takes God knows how long.

The driver was trying to make small talk with me which, I’m not against, but having to use Google Translate to communicate back and forth at this time in the morning, well, man, it’s just too early for that.

We arrived at the airport a little over an hour before my flight and even that was too much time because I was in and out of security within 5 minutes.

My hour long flight to Uyuni was actually delayed by 40 minutes but we were finally off at 8:20 and on our way.

Hola Uyuni!

Uyuni is just over 500km south of La Paz and is home to the Uyuni Salt Flat.

The Salt Flat is a 12,000 square kilometer patch of salt located just outside the tiny town of Uyuni.

As for the town of Uyuni itself, there’s not much here.   It’s literally 100% tourism based to the Salt Flat.

To that end, when we got off the plane there were easily two dozen men waiting outside the exit with little signs with people’s names on them.

These taxi drivers are hired by the different tour agencies that offer free pickup service and transport us all into town.

Anyway, I found my guy and off we went into town.

After quickly checking in at the tour office, I had just under an hour until I met the rest of the group and were on our way.

Just enough time to grab some breakfast.

Well, barely enough time.

I popped in a restaurant and sat down.   I was the only one in there and the two people working there were setting up the tables.

They were obviously just opening up and my inner voice was saying “go somewhere else, they’re not ready for you, it’s gonna take forever to get my food”.

Did I listen to my inner voice though?

Haha, no, of course not.

Anyway, long story short, it took about 30 minutes for me to get my food and I was left with just mere minutes to wolf down an omelet and an the hugest glass of orange juice known to man.

The breakfast was great by the way.

It was just before 10:30, time to pay and meet my fellow travelers.

Our little group

First, let’s start with our driver and guide for the day.

Nelson would be behind the wheel all day.   In total we’d be driving for about 200km so he had his work cut out for him.

Guiding us today was our English speaking guide Ezekiel.

He’s been guiding the Salt Flat tours for over 6 years and said he’s probably been out there over 1000 times.

That’s alot of salt!

Our little group today consisted of 5 people – myself, a German couple, and a couple of Swiss friends.

The German couple with the oh so German names of Rebecca and David were seated next to me in the car so I spoke with them the most.

They’re on the tail end of a huge trip through South America and will be going to Thailand in a few months.

There’s part of me that’s so jealous of their multi month trip through this continent but I’ve also learned 3-4 weeks is kind of my comfort zone.

I’m also pretty damn excited for them to experience Thailand for the first time.   It’ll be amazing.

The Swiss friends, Dario and Luka, sat behind us in the car and seemed for reserved so I didn’t chat with them as much.

They’re also on a longer trip going to places I hope to visit sometime soon.

Train Cemetery

Located about 15 minutes outside of the town was our first stop, the Train Cemetery.

It’s exactly what you think it’d be.

A collection of rusted out abandoned trains sitting in the middle of nowhere.

There are at least a dozen different tour companies that do this tour and this is the first stop for all of them which means there were multiple tour groups there.

We toured around the area for about a half hour and I actually ran into Mimi and Harriet who I had visited Isla del Sol with a few days ago.

After a quick catch up, they were on their way with their tour and I was on my way with ours.

Colchani Village

After a bit of a drive we stopped at our second location, a museum/shop in Colchani Village.

Here we saw our first look at the salt.   Not quite the salt flats yet, but there were a couple of piles of salt outside the museum.

Ezekial talked about some of the history and how the salt was formed before letting us wander off on our own into the shop.

Despite all of us saying we weren’t buying souvenirs, we all ended up at the counter with payment in hand at the end.

So many flags!

A short ride from there we finally entered the Salt Flat.

White ground as far as the eye could see.

It was here where we stopped at The Flags monument to the Dakar.

Along with a dozen or so other flags, there was a Canadian flag blowing in the wind.   No Swiss or German flags to be found though.

At this point the sunglasses had to come out as the sun’s reflection on the pitch white ground was a bit blinding and I found myself squinting my eyes to see anything.

While we were taking all our photos, Nelson and Ezekial were busy setting up our lunch.

Lunch

It was just after 1:00 and, I don’t know about everyone else, but I was hungry.

There’s a building right next to the flags that serves as the dining place for many of the groups.

Each group has it’s own little table where the guides bring out the food they packed with them and we all have little picnics.

Our picnic today was beef, sausage, rice, potatoes, raw veggies, and watermelon.

They also had a little container of some vegetarian food for Rebecca which I thought was a nice touch.

Over lunch Ezekial told a story of how he was also vegetarian for awhile but not by choice.

When he was younger the economy was so bad and money was so tight that all he ate for a month was rice and potatoes.   No meat to be found anywhere.

The Uyuni Salt Flat

After lunch it was time for the main event…

The Uyuni Salt Flat!

I previously said that the Salt Flat covered 12,000 square kilometers but it once belonged to a 40,000 square kilometer lake reaching all the way up to Lake Titicaca.

The salt flat itself probably has about 1100 tons of salt in it and it literally feels like you’re walking on snow.

We drove for about 40 minutes to a secluded spot in the middle of nowhere so we could take all the unique perspective photos we had seen in the travel brochures.

And when I say the middle of nowhere, I mean it.   All you could see was white ground in all directions with mountains over 50km away in the distance.

You could also see other groups in their own secluded spots in the region.

This being the low season, there are about 100 people who visit the Salt Flat every day while in the high season, the number of people is 2-3 times as many.

It was kind of cool watching Ezekial setting up the shots and directing us on how to act out in the distance.

Here’s the end result…

By the way, there’s tons of photos and videos at the end of this blog.

A whole lotta cactii

After messing around for about an hour, we were off to the National Park Isla Incahuasi.

It’s a little mountainous area lined with all sorts of cactus big and small.

We each paid our 30bs ($6) to enter the park and after Ezekial gave us a brief description of traditions and culture, we had time to climb to the top of this hill to get a nice 360 degree view of the Flat down below.

Now this wasn’t quite as big a climb as those I’d done last week in Cusco but, man, it was still a climb.

Have a mentioned I need to get in better shape?

Yeah, yeah I do.

Anyway, we got to the top, some of us huffing and puffing more than the others, and the view was spectacular.

There’s only so many photos one can take of cactii so, after an hour here, we were on our way to our final stop of the tour.

Hopping in puddles

We drove a good hour to get to an area where there is water, or brine, on the ground called The Mirrors.

This created a magnificent mirror effect that, again, made for some really cool photos and videos.

We each put on these big rubber boots and basically hopped in puddles for a while waiting for the sun to set.

Just before the sun set, Ezekial and Nelson had one more surprise.

There, on the tailgate of the 4×4, was a setup of glasses of red wine and yuka chips.

Nice!

Soon the sun set and I couldn’t think of a better place to be.

At 6:30 we were all packed up and on our way back to Uyuni.

The drive back

On the way talk turned to a variety of subjects including the Olympics, football, and Bolivian politics.

Ezekial, after overhearing me chat about my website with David, started asking me about websites as he wants to eventually branch off onto his own.

Well, turns out David, also has a website where he buys and resells old turntables and record players, so we both kind of guided him on some stuff and gave him some suggestions to make himself stand out.

Our trip into Uyuni wasn’t without some last minute drama as we had to go through a police checkpoint entering the town and we were told to pull over to the side.

Turns out that Nelson’s driving paperwork was in his other car and, despite going through the same checkpoint in the morning explaining it, the officers pulled us over.

Poor Nelson got a 300bs ($60) ticket which was kind of a damper to end the tour.

Hopefully our tips at the end help somewhat for the fine.

So tired and so hungry

We got into town about 7:15 and each of us were dropped off at our various drop off locations.

David and Rebecca were dropped off at a hotel where they’d soon be picked up again to catch an overnight bus in less than an hour.

Wow, now that’s a long day.

Dario and Luka also had an overnight bus but that at least didn’t leave until 10:00.

Myself, I picked up my bag from the tour office and was dropped off at my hostel for the night.

This hostel, the Piedra Blanca Hostel, is amazing.

Not at all what I’d expect from a little town in the middle of nowhere.

Hot water, multiple bathroom and shower stalls, a heater in the room.

Yes, a heater!

Finally I wouldn’t have to sleep under 3 blankets tonight!

I quickly unpacked and setup and went out for a late dinner.

I had my heart set on this highly recommended restaurant nearby that offered a 5 course meal but, sadly, despite my best efforts with Google Maps, I just couldn’t find the damn place.

Like, it literally didn’t exist.

Sigh.

Oh well, back to the area where I had breakfast this morning.

I ended up getting a grilled Llama chop with potatoes and veggies.

The meal was actually exactly what I needed.   I was nice and hearty and the mix of veggies was perfect.

After dinner I was back at the hostel and by 10:00 I was snoozing for the night.

Tomorrow is another long day bringing me back to Peru where I’ll be spending the final week of my trip.