The Uyuni Tour (BOL)

So my trip took me from Chile to Bolivia. In a jeep for seven people (1 Mexican, 1 Chinese, 1 Dutch, 1 French, 1 Bolivian driver, and myself), we drove about 400km passing lagoons and mountains, along gravel, sand, rock, and salt roads, through incredible landscapes.

The journey started a bit slow as around 200 people gathered in the morning at the Chilean-Bolivian border to complete the immigration formalities. Two hours later, the jeep was packed and we were ready to go. We passed several lagoons, the Salvador Dalí Hill (the landscape is named after the colors), a thermal spring for swimming, and another lagoon where flamingos live. Lunch and dinner were prepared in a simple hostel where we also slept.

The next day was similar - in the jeep through the endless landscape with regular stops at the most beautiful spots. However, we arrived at the salt hotel in the afternoon (yes, everything here is actually made of salt) because the next day we had to leave at 5 am for the sunrise at the main highlight - the Uyuni Salt Flats.

As the 120km2 wide salt flats are partly flooded during the current rainy season, the sunrise was reflected in the water on the horizon. An incredible sight. By the way, the salt layer is on average 10 meters deep, and the area was once a large lake. For breakfast, we walked on dry salt flats as our shoes were mostly soaked. After taking various photos, we continued across the endless salt flats to a small town on 'normal' ground, where we had lunch and there were various souvenir stands. By the way, they also had souvenirs from the Dakar Rally - I didn't know that it regularly goes through Bolivia and other South American countries?!

After visiting the train cemetery in Uyuni, the tour ended at the office of the travel agency Atacama Mistica (definitely recommended).

I continued from Uyuni to Potosí by bus, while the others stayed in Uyuni for a night, returned to Chile, or continued to La Paz.

The tour was an incredible experience with landscapes that you probably won't see again. Now I'm continuing my journey in Bolivia - unfortunately, it's the rainy season here. But I spent the first month in warm weather.

Greetings to currently warmer Germany,

Kai