Looks like yoga postures in the desert. On the left you can see Tina in a nice handstand. Where were we, didn't I say we are going on a tour through the SALAR de UYUNI all the way to San PEDRO de ATACAMA, which is in CHILE. Sure we did, but sitting in a Jeep all day just makes you tired. Driving around, getting off, taking a piss, taking a picture, having food....some exercise would be nice. So I decided to practice my handstands. Our tour started in UYUNI, Bolivia. Which is a town that lives mostly on tourism and from trades with Chile. They also mine some salt from their gigantic salt flats in 3600 m above sea level. We chose CORDILLERA TRAVELERS, because a german girl had recommended them to me. So we went there the day before we wanted to leave UYUNI and payed 850 Bol. (app. 106 Euro) for hotel, transport and food for 3 days and 2 nights. The entrance fee for the national park (150 Bol.), the cactus coral island (30 Bol.) and hot springs (6 Bol.) were not included. What you shouldn't forget is some extra money for all the toilet fees (5 Bol.), hot showers (10-15 Bol.), Wifi (10 Bol.) and leaving Bolivia (15 Bol.). Well, you could take a piss in the wild, but sometimes signs with 1000 Bolivianos. fine warn you. Then you are a polite and pay 5 Bolivianos.
#Day 1:
Six people, one driver, a Toyota Land Cruiser and the stuff you might need (camera, water, food...). That is about the set up for a journey like this. We left Uyuni at 10:30 and drove just outside of town where we had our first "parada" (spanish for stop). When the Spanish were here the had build a railway with connects Uyuni and Chile, so they could mine some salt or whatever and transport it to Chile and then probably on a ship...
The indigenous people weren't really happy about the project. They thought that's kind of a cut through their land and culture. And at some point the railway wasn't used anymore. Sure there are some details missing and now you can see a graveyard of old trains just outside of Uyuni.
The rest of the day we spend in the SALAR DE UYUNI, the world biggest high plateau salt flat. Surely it is massive and white. Unfortunately on that day we couldn't see the sun, even though INTI (Quechua for sun) was shining behind the clouds. Anyway, we drove to a salt Hotel, where the drivers from "DAKAR" had passed a few years ago. Our driver prepared some (vegetarian) lunch for us and then we took off to see the cactus island with corals. As we got to know each other better on the tour we found out that Robin and Edwin (NL) where geologists.
Damn! So they taught us in a small "classa de geologia", the board was the dusty back window of the jeep, how this high plateau, corals, volcanos, magma and so on had developed over millions of years.
On the first day we left the salt flat and drove to San Juan, where we spent the night. Before we drove to our salty accommodation (made out of salt bricks) we visited the cactus island in the middle of the salt flat. We also discovered corals?! Which was kind of strange to us. Corals in 3800 m above sea level?! how? Well, the geologists told us that the oceanic plate is moving under the continental plate, this creates friction, the water from the ocean is heated up and is pressed under the continental plate. The heated up water is moving through the continental plate and builds up pressure and this creates volcanos. That is the short form and I hope this is correct. In real time this takes ages... As the continental plate started to rise slowly, seawater was captured between the volcanoes and the corals had the perfect habitat in a salty environment. The Andes were created due to this movement. All rivers from the Andes are flowing to the amazonian rainforest. If there weren't the Andes, there wouldn't be the lung of our planet the Amazonas!
#Day 2 and #Day 3:
A cold night in our salt accommodation and the tour continued. On this day we saw many lagoons, more volcanos, flamingos. The flamingos are mainly eating algae that would make them rosa. Also the lagoon where the algae lives was rosa. We passed the railway again that connects Chile and Bolivia.
The last night we spend in 4400 m and it was freezing cold (-10). Lucky that we could warm us up in the kitchen of the accommodation, as we were the only guests. The last day we got up early (4:30) to see geysers, volcanoes, hot springs and Salvador Dali land. He was inspired by the landscapes and so he painted some pictures and you can definitely see the similarities. And the landscapes, wow, they really feel like a dream. No sound except the wind passing your ears, sun, dust, no movement except your own, no people, sky, clouds, sand....
At around 9:00 am we passed the boarder to enter Chile. Observation and time consumption, boarder stuff. annoying!
A bus picked us up and we drove down to San Pedro de Atacama where we spend one night. Luckily we had a clear night so we went on a small star gazing tour and wow...you can see the milky way, different star formations, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars very clearly!
Be prepared traveling to Chile. If you are used to Peruvian and Bolivian prices this will kick your ass. So after one night we left San Pedro to get back to Peru.