Getting to Uyuni from Santa Cruz was a rude awakening to the Bolivian bus style. We purchased our tickets from one vendor and were told that it was a direct bus to Uyuni that left at 4 pm. Needless to say, 4 different buses later we arrived in Uyuni. Oh well, such is life.
Luckily we met some Brits on the bus to Uyuni from Potosi that hadn´t signed up for a tour yet either so when we arrived we went to the same hostel to get a few hours of sleep before trying to sign up for a tour. We hit two agencies at about 8 am and were determined to find one that left that day - Uyuni is not a town you want to spend time in! We signed up with an agency that left a 10 am which gave us about 30 minutes to pack up our stuff and buy enough water for the trip. We had a good group- 3 Brits and an American from NYC. Our first day was spent at the actual salt flats which are really amazing. It is just like a huge desert of nothing but salt, compeltely flat and white as far as you can see. Because the landscape is so flat, and just the two colors, white salt, and blue sky, you can take some really cool looking pics becausee there is no depth perception. We attempted a few, but were not that successful.
We then went to fish island which is in the middle of the salt flats and someone had the idea of stranding a poor imu out there was not much to do but pick at leftover lunches from tourists. We stayed that night at a hotel made entirely of salt and you could see where some of the rain was eroding the salt bricks but overall a sturdy little house. For dinner we had soup and a native dish that is basically like french fries nachos - the best I can do at an explaination!
The next day we spent travelling to various lagoons that had flamingoes, a volcano, and the famous tree rock in the middle of the desert. The lagoons were cool and we got to see different types of flamingoes walking around in the water. At one I saw a small cyclo form across the lake, travel over the water, and then form again on the other side. It was crazy! We viewed the volcano from far away and while we were there one of our Brits, Johnny, set his camera bag down to take some pics. While he was snapping photos another car pulled up, let its passengers out, and then continued to drive on. Ben jumped in front of the car as the front tire was hitting the corner of his bag (he had about 6 cameras in it). The tire busted the screen of his most expensive camera which put a damper on the morning, but atleast he didn´t run over the entire bag - Ben to the rescue! The tree rock was not that great, it is just a rock in the middle of the desert that sort of resembles a tree. They had the whole thing roped off probably from someone climbing it or writing their names on it previously. That night we stayed in a ¨hotel¨ where all of us had beds in the same room. There were a few snorers in our group! . We all expected the last day to be exteremly awful since we were told you basically are in the car all day. But it wasn´t that bad. We rode to 2 more lagoons and then had breakfast at a hot springs which were really nice against the cold air. Then we loaded up and headed to some more rock formations in the middle of the desert where Ben and I chased a Viscacha which is like a rabbit that lives in the Andes but hops like a kangaroo with a long tail. They were cool and definately scared of us. We ended our trip in Uyuni at about 6 and had some dinner before catching our 8 pm bus to La Paz. For this bus trip we made sure we booked a direct non-stop bus straight there!!
Luckily we met some Brits on the bus to Uyuni from Potosi that hadn´t signed up for a tour yet either so when we arrived we went to the same hostel to get a few hours of sleep before trying to sign up for a tour. We hit two agencies at about 8 am and were determined to find one that left that day - Uyuni is not a town you want to spend time in! We signed up with an agency that left a 10 am which gave us about 30 minutes to pack up our stuff and buy enough water for the trip. We had a good group- 3 Brits and an American from NYC. Our first day was spent at the actual salt flats which are really amazing. It is just like a huge desert of nothing but salt, compeltely flat and white as far as you can see. Because the landscape is so flat, and just the two colors, white salt, and blue sky, you can take some really cool looking pics becausee there is no depth perception. We attempted a few, but were not that successful.
We then went to fish island which is in the middle of the salt flats and someone had the idea of stranding a poor imu out there was not much to do but pick at leftover lunches from tourists. We stayed that night at a hotel made entirely of salt and you could see where some of the rain was eroding the salt bricks but overall a sturdy little house. For dinner we had soup and a native dish that is basically like french fries nachos - the best I can do at an explaination!The next day we spent travelling to various lagoons that had flamingoes, a volcano, and the famous tree rock in the middle of the desert. The lagoons were cool and we got to see different types of flamingoes walking around in the water. At one I saw a small cyclo form across the lake, travel over the water, and then form again on the other side. It was crazy! We viewed the volcano from far away and while we were there one of our Brits, Johnny, set his camera bag down to take some pics. While he was snapping photos another car pulled up, let its passengers out, and then continued to drive on. Ben jumped in front of the car as the front tire was hitting the corner of his bag (he had about 6 cameras in it). The tire busted the screen of his most expensive camera which put a damper on the morning, but atleast he didn´t run over the entire bag - Ben to the rescue! The tree rock was not that great, it is just a rock in the middle of the desert that sort of resembles a tree. They had the whole thing roped off probably from someone climbing it or writing their names on it previously. That night we stayed in a ¨hotel¨ where all of us had beds in the same room. There were a few snorers in our group! . We all expected the last day to be exteremly awful since we were told you basically are in the car all day. But it wasn´t that bad. We rode to 2 more lagoons and then had breakfast at a hot springs which were really nice against the cold air. Then we loaded up and headed to some more rock formations in the middle of the desert where Ben and I chased a Viscacha which is like a rabbit that lives in the Andes but hops like a kangaroo with a long tail. They were cool and definately scared of us. We ended our trip in Uyuni at about 6 and had some dinner before catching our 8 pm bus to La Paz. For this bus trip we made sure we booked a direct non-stop bus straight there!!
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