Crossing Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni

I was really looking forward to the next part of my trip: crossing Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni in a four-wheel drive. It had been a “must do” for me ever since I started planning my travels back in the summer, and many other travellers I'd met had said it had been a highlight, which only increased my excitement!

Unfortunately the end experience didn't quite live up to my expectations. An amazing experience is as much about the people you're with as the places you go, and I learnt this the hard way. You are put into groups of 5-6 people for this three-day tour, and my group consisted of five 20-year-old Israeli friends, and me. It was always going to be difficult being added on to a group of five friends, as I felt like I was infringing on their own personal trip, but it was worsened by the fact that they were immature, rude, selfish and spoiled. I was really disappointed as I'd been hoping to be in a nice mixed group of different ages and nationalities and to be with people I could have a laugh with and make friends with.  Instead I spent most of the trip gritting my teeth while they blasted out Israeli dance music on repeat in the car, or staring into space as they yelled at each other in Hebrew around the dinner table (they didn't bother to speak English on my behalf).

It certainly put a dampener on the experience, but it didn't ruin it completely, as the scenery we passed was some of the most spectacular I have seen so far.

The first day was the most visually impressive. After a quick stop at a “locomotive graveyard” to see Bolivia’s first trains (apparently made in Sheffield?!), we headed straight out onto the Salar de Uyuni: the largest salt flat in the world. At the edge of the flats, people were mining the salt, and since it's wet in this part, they pile it into pyramids to dry out.

Pyramids of Salt

As we drove further and further in, the landscape became more and more surreal and mesmerising: vast plains of salt, stretching out as far as the eye can see, completely flat and completely white against the deep blue sky. 

The Salt Flat

Since it's so flat and the horizon is unspoiled, you can take funny, perspective-defying photos. We spent quite a while messing around with this but again it would have been brilliant to do it with friends! Anyone want to come back with me?! :)

Midgets!

Courageously battling a toy dinosaur

See? I'm having a great time really...

We also visited Inca Wasy Island (Fish Island) which is covered in cacti and had great views over the flats.

Fish Island: named for all the.... fish?

The next morning we were up bright and early at 5am, ready for a long day of driving. The scenery was very different today: we crossed from the salt flat into the desert, fringed by a huge number of volcanoes, of many different colours. We also visited several salt-water lagoons, where the water was perfectly still and reflective. There were flamingos feeding on many of them. Finally we crossed the Siloli desert: the highest and driest desert in the world, and this is where we spent the night.

First Lagoon

Second Lagoon

Crossing the desert

Red Lagoon

On the final day we were up even earlier, at 4am, in order to visit the geysers in the crater of the Sol de Mañana volcano (which are most active first thing in the morning!).   

Finally found a nice geyser... (sorry)

The next stop was at some thermal springs, which was one of the highlights of the trip for me. The sun was only just up and we were at 5000m altitude so it was pretty darn cold when I stripped down to my swimsuit, but the water in the springs was 35°c! Scalding hot at first but absolutely gorgeous after a few minutes. It was a lovely experience to just drift around as the sun came out and then go inside for a delicious breakfast of pancakes, yoghurt, cereal and juice afterwards!

That's me, with the feet...

The trip came to an end right at the Bolivian border so from there I hopped onto a different bus and crossed over into Chile, and the Atacama Desert….