Flamingo´s and Salt

Goodbye La Paz, hello Salar de Uyuni.

We finally made it out of that crazy city (actually a pretty cool city when all said and done), and headed for Uyuni (a small town in Southern Bolivia) for the frequently recommended 3 day jeep tour of the Salar de Uyuni.

We stopped at an old train graveyard just before the tour started which had some really cool old rusty trains. Jeff, you would love it.

The tour starts by cramming 6 tourists into a "jeep" which is really an old land cruiser. Our group consisted of a a guy from Montreal and a couple from New York (funny, the same couple that we had the pleasure of spending those heart wrenching, never ending minutes in the airport trying to leave La Paz). They bought an extra "jeep seat" so our car only had five, which still seemed a bit crammed but much better than having 6 (or seven like some tour companies try to pull off).

The first part of the tour was amazing as we drove along a blinding and vast Salt Flat. It was beautifully white as far and the eye could see. (Jared and I thought it was funny that we flew all the way to Bolivia to see this when we have one in our back yard that we have never seen.) There were random islands on the salt flats that had huge Cacti sticking up all over the whole island. The color was amazing against the white sea around the island. There are also a few hotels and restaraunts scattered on the salt flat that are made completely out of salt (this includes beds and tables).

We stayed the night in a very small village called San Juan just outside of the salt flat. The next morning we headed up (and up) to a moon scape. Actually, it was a Doctor Suess scape. It consisted of mountain peaks, red sand dunes and lakes that were bright red or green or black. They were erie and beautiful and full of Flamigos. Thats right, flamigos but apparently not the species native to Boca Raton. For these Flamigos were in lakes at 4995 meters (16,387 feet!) and not tropical, but desertish (aka dry and baren but freezing).

The last morning we woke up at 5:00 to catch the sunrise over a geyser field. It was amazing but really, really cold. After, we soaked in some hot springs. Very nice. The last part of the trip consisted of "Salvador Dali" rocks and more colorful lagoons.

If anyone is planning on coming to Bolivia, this is a definate must. It was absolutely breathtaking. Or a better word might be surreal. Or Bizzar. And of course "pictures never do a place justice"...

Bolivia is an amazing country and super cheap!
The tour ended in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. It is a great little town, but there is more to come on this place.