Chop etilgan: 19.06.2017
The fourth and last day of our Uyuni Tour was by far the best, even though it was only half a day. We had been looking forward to the salt flats the whole time, and now the time had finally come!
But first, we had to get up at 5 in the morning to be at the Island of Incahuasi (Inkahaus) for the sunrise.
It was cold without the sun in the middle of nowhere! And we had to wait for about 1 hour until it finally happened. The dawn was more beautiful than the sunrise itself, especially with the cacti around us that are up to 1000 years old (1m = 100 years).
After that, we finally started taking the 'Crazy pictures' as our guide called them. I had already seen a lot on the internet about what you can do and had chosen my favorites.
When you see the pictures, you can't believe how much work is behind it! But since you sometimes have to stand in position for minutes to position the other person, it's quite tiring.
There was also a big hole next to us, where you could see how close the water is under the salt.
The holes are mainly created by cars, but they seem to close during the rainy season. Elvis fished out salt crystals for us.
After 2 hours of photoshoot, we went to the Flag Island. Formerly a hotel, it is now only a souvenir shop and restaurant, as there is no drainage in the salt flats and the pollution would be too great.
Next stop was at the water remnants in the Salar de Uyuni to see the reflection. The water was about 1-3cm deep and made my sneakers slightly wet. With a lot of effort and pain, we managed to close the circle with the reflection.
But the salt crust under the water is extremely sharp. We still had the imprints for the rest of the day.
The water is still from the rainy season (sometime between December and April, not exactly predictable due to climate change), but these are the last remnants.
Then we ended our tour at the Train Cemetery (cementario de tren), where there is surprisingly a lot of trash.
This was less impressive, but still a nice photo motif. Tourists don't seem to be very popular here. :P
After that, we bought our ticket to San Pedro de Atacama for the next day and spent the rest of the day at Casa Andino - another salt hotel. In the beginning, Tom didn't like it because it's quite expensive for Bolivia. But once he was inside (I had a little shock from the outside), he was convinced 😉
Other than that, we bought some gloves and socks, hopefully made of llama or alpaca fur 😉 at least they're warm and fluffy.