Bolivia 5: Salt everywhere

This next leg of our trip was THE REASON for our epic journey to Bolivia. Apparently, HS was so impressed with the bizarre but breathtaking landscapes of the Salar de Uyuni that he strongly recommended Bolivia to Eujin. Eujin then became a firm convert and passed on this info to me.

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The bus ride from La Paz to Uyuni was awful. 7pm-6am, initially with flashing lights and loud music, followed by an earnest attempt to hit every pothole along the way. 1am: toilet stop at a restaurant with modern toilet bowls, but non-functional plumbing-- 'flushing' was accomplished by scooping water from a large tub outside, and pouring it into the bowl. I guess we were lucky to have toilets at all, but I remember being extremely upset at that time.

6am at Uyuni. Cold. The guidebook claimed that hordes of tour agents throng the bus terminal hawking their tours, but we saw only one man there. Also, there was no terminal, just a street junction. HRM. We walk to the town center, feeling slightly lost. Everything was still closed. Finally, we see 2 agencies near the train station that were open. We decide on a 3day-2night tour of the Salar de Uyuni with Lipez tours, then tottered to the cafe next door for food and rejuvenation.

Sometime after 10am, 2 land cruisers pulled up outside the office, and the tour operators (2 women) returned from their marketing with bags of groceries for our trip. We were a group of 11-- 4 (crazy) Australians, 1 Swiss, 2 Argentinians, 1 Dutch, 2 S'poreans.

First stop, the Train Cemetery. Trains used to run from Bolivia to Chile, and when no longer fit for service, were retired into this spot in the desert to rust gracefully. Now, they serve as an attraction for tourists, and Uyuni youths with too much time and spray paint.

Next was the obligatory tourist souvenir stop, full of unenticing ashtrays and llama figurines carved from salt. The next souvenir stop was more interesting, because the entire hut, including furniture, was made from blocks of salt.

All this salt comes from the Uyuni salt flats-- once upon a time, this area was part of a massive inland lake. But the water has mostly dried up, leaving Uyuni with a bizarre landscape of endless salt. Water still lurks under the surface, and the Salar is dangerous during the rainy season. The endless white salt distorts depth perception, and we had fun taking cool 'optical illusion' pictures. Clear blue skies + sparkling white ground = pretty pictures.

Lunch was at the Isla de Pescado (Fish Island), so named because it's shaped like a fish. We hiked up to the summit of the little hill, enjoying the views of the landscape (dotted with little tourist-filled jeeps) and the cacti that grew on the island.

"Un momentito", one might ask. "Island? aren't you in a salt desert?"

Er. Yes. The salar is endless salt and wiry brush, punctuated with random rocky 'island' oases that harbor cacti, flowers and butterflies.
Another long jeep ride, before arriving at our abode for the night, a salt hotel. I ask the driver if he ever gets lost in this endless roadless signless desert. He says he uses the distant mountains as landmarks, but when it's cloudy during the rainy season, people have gotten lost and died in the desert. I give quick thanks to the cloudless skies.The salt hotel was really awesome. The walls and furniture are salt, and the supporting beams are dead cacti. Although it became really COLD at night, we were snugly insulated in our house of salt. After dinner, some kids from the village came in and started playing instruments, with the littlest ones singing and dancing. The little girls were SO CUTE. augmented by their out-of-tune singing and off-rhythm dancing. total tourist trap, but equipped with trusting big eyes and hesitant smiles.

After emptying our coin pouches, we braved the cold and went outside. If I were Van Gough I would have whipped out oils and canvas. However, that night we were content to simply stand and stare at the cosmos above.

The next day I wake up feeling pretty good-- it wasn't too cold at night, which is one of my very few minimum requirements for a hostel. It must have been the salt that was the insulator, because the generator shut off at 10pm.

The day was marked by multiple cycles of Jeep -> lagoon/rock formation -> Jeep. I was very excited to see many flamingoes at the lagoons. I read somewhere that they come here to breed. But superficial observation yielded only eating and flying and sleeping behavior.... *shrug* Maybe it was the wrong season. I took many flamingo pictures. But the coolest ones are those taken through Julia's binoculars. Charmaine will attest to how my pictorial record of the day can be summarized with just one representative 'Flamingoes in Lagoon' composition. The lagoons are also really interesting. Due to different mineral sediments and algae, they have different colors.

We also visited these awesome but random rock formations in the middle of the desert. I climbed a big rock with the Argentian guy, but it was v.v. windy up there, so we didn't linger.

Spent the night at random hostel near the Laguna Colorada, together with huge numbers of other tour groups. Another band of children came by to busk.

Side note: I was really quite proud of my photography skills from Uyuni. But today I found the National Geographic Antiplano feature by George Steinmetz, and realized that the landscape is so astounding any idiot with a point and shoot will go home satisfied. For truly brilliant compositions, check this out.