The reason I´d planned to spend the day in Uyuni was to get some much needed sleep, and so that I´d be on the tour for Christmas day. But at about 6am I kept getting approach by tour operators saying that I could go that day.
One of the guy´s (from Andean Salt Tours) had a tour in English (which no one else had within the near future), which had three French and two Canadians on it. After thinking about it, I thought - what the heck - I´d had no sleep, but I´d go on the tour. I´ve survived days at work with zero sleep in 36 hours when hit by Insomnia - I could manage it after one sleepless night.
I looked around Uyuni (a nice place, but not much to see), and then joined the tour.
Ayn Rand style worker:
Here´s a summary of what we did, with pics:
Day 1
Set off at 10:30am for the Salt Flats. As Uyuni is a mining town, they have a railroad, and the first port of call is the Train Cemetery. They plan to restore some of them (just like in Haworth), to make a tourist attraction. Interestingly - all of the trains were made in York! Here´s some pics:
And then it was on to see the Salar De Uyuni - the world´s largest Salt Flat - about the same size as Northern Island. Nothing can live there as the salt is so corrosive. It´s also famous for having more than half of the world´s Lithium.
It´s an amazing place. Here are some pics:
Amazing sky:
Floating islands caused by the mirages:
So much salt:
Rita and me - tasting the salt:
Of which there is lots, and lots:
Weird perspcetive shots:
A salt man:
Incredible colors caused by chemicals in the salt crystals:
On the way to the Hostal we stopped at Fish Island, where giant cactus grow - basically an island in a sea of salt - some of the cacti are over 9 feet tall:
Rita, Liang, and me:
A final stop that day and we went to see two caves - one with fossilized plants, and the other a burial site:
Talking heads:
Fossilised Plants:
That night we stayed in a Salt Hotel - made entirely of Salt - even the floor is made of salt:
The view from the Salt Hotel:
Day 2
An early start, and we were off. This was the least favourite day for everyone. We seemed to sit in the jeep for hours driving through a desert, occasionally getting out to take a photo:
Lama´s on route to see an active volcano:
An incredible view:
An active volcano (the plume of cloud on the left is caused by volcanic activity):
Then on to see the flamingoes at one of the lagoons, followed by lunch:
YES lunch - with Tomato Sauce!!!!
After lunch we drove through the desert, and a bolt in the suspension sheared off. Juan (the guide) went back to find it, while the driver repaired it using a piece of rope:
A stop at the stone tree, and other rock formations (like Brimham Rocks - just in a desert - hence the sand in the title):
And finally, a lagoon which is red because of algae in the water. It was cold and a fierce wind was blowing - hence my dodgy expression:
That night we got together to have dinner (fired egg, mashed potatoes, and fried onion and tomato), and had a few bottles of wine to celebrate. So glad I took this trip, as we had a great night. We ended up talking until 11:30pm, even though we had a 4:15 am start! We even talked (amongst other things) about etymology (should Gr8 be added to the dictionary), and the sociology of language, and whether we should have a common European language (French gets my vote).
We were over 4000meters in altitude, and the stars are incredible at night. It´s also incredibly cold. In fact it´s freezing - literally. It was so cold I didn´t sleep at all that night - kind of ironic, given I´m trying to have a one year long summer!
Day 3
The early start was so we could go and see geysers at dawn. It was worth the early start. We also saw some mud bubbling from volcanic activity.
Then it was on to the hot springs. There was ice on the floor, and we had to change at the side of the springs - but the water was really hot:
We then drove through Dali´s Desert - so named because it inspired Dali - it was like being in one of his paintings:
How Dali should have painted it:
Colors on the monutains caused by chemicals:
And then it was off to the Laguna Verde. The water is green because of arsenic in the water. It reacts with other base metals and creates a weird foam and whit powder - just like walking on the moon:
And then off we went to drop me at the border with Chile, while the rest of the guy´s returned to Uyuni on their way to Sucre.
Absolutely fantastic trip - with great company, and a fantastic Christmas.
(From left to right: Jean Baptiste, Mailys, Rita, Me, Juan, Liang, Jhibaut).
1 comment:
Dude - that's awesome - and I never knew that the dali lama painted (its great that you're on first name terms too - was he on the tour? I didnt see him, maybe he was holding the camera.)
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