Lofalitsidwa: 07.04.2017
Hello dear ones,
Our first stop in Bolivia was Uyuni. Uyuni is a small town near the Chilean border and has only about 18,000 inhabitants. In Uyuni itself, there is not much to see (except for 1000 souvenir shops and a small market), but you don't come here to explore the city, but to see the largest salt flat in the world. The Salar de Uyuni!
There are numerous tour operators offering various tours. From one-day tours to the salt flat to 4-day tours with overnight stays and the surrounding natural highlights, you have all the options to choose from.
Tanja and I opted for a 3-day tour in a jeep, including two overnight stays. And I'm not exaggerating when I say that this jeep tour has been one of our highlights so far.
We had to be at our agency (Salty Desert, which I can highly recommend to anyone who wants to make such a trip) at 20 past 9 in the morning. Here we were divided into the jeeps. One jeep can accommodate 6 people + driver. Tanja and I were once again luckier than smart because we immediately got along well with the two nice French women and the couple from Amsterdam. The average age of our jeep was 23, and it was not uncommon for us to sing along loudly to the Sugarbabes or James Blut. Our driver had excellent taste in music.
On the first day, we made stops at the railway cemetery, a small village, and various points in the salt flat. Photos were taken at each stop, and new poses were tried out. Our driver never tired of taking one group photo after another (Unfortunately, I haven't received all the photos yet, the internet here in Bolivia is not always the best :/). I won't even try to describe what the nature around us looked like, it's best to look at the photos!
We spent the night in a salt hotel. However, it was very short because we played a few rounds of taboo and drank a few beers, and our alarm clock woke us up for breakfast at 6 a.m. We started the day with a 'rock cemetery', where we could do some climbing and, of course, take photos again. Then we went to the xxx National Park, where a red lagoon with countless flamingos was waiting for us. We had lunch at a lake and enjoyed the nature around us a bit.
Then we went to geysers, but they were not as impressive as those in the Atacama Desert. Our last stop of the day was a green lagoon, from where we had a good view of an still active volcano.
After dinner in our hostel, we grabbed a bottle of wine and went swimming in the nearby hot spring with everyone. From here, we had an incredible view of the beautiful starry sky above us.
On our last day, we stopped twice at special stone formations, and then it was already time to go back to Uyuni!
Tanja and I were both extremely tired and exhausted, but this tour was definitely worth it!!!
Best regards,
Anna