The Incredible Salar de Uyuni

We got up at 5am to see the sun rise over the salt plain and it was an incredible site. The lake is pure white from start to finish with islands dotted inbetween. Right in the centre is an island with hundreds of cactus´ on it, each growing only 1 cm per year. Some of these cactus´ were massive - well over 5 metres and so had been there over 500 years.

This is the biggest salt lake in Bolivia (possibly South America). It´s around 12,000m squared in size and over 200m deep. Stu worked out how much salt that was, and it was a least 240m cubed for each person on the planet! In places the salt gives way to small "eyes" which allow you to see down into an underground river that flows beneath the salt. The water in these little holes is really sulphuric from all the volcanic action at the edges of the lake. Further to the edge of the lake are small geysers where oxygen bubbles to the top and again sulphur causes deposits of an orangey brown residue around the edge of the geyser. The site is so strange, that it looks like something from another planet.

The entire day was spent driving through this incredible expanse of salt, until we came to edge where local Bolivians dig up salt for a living. They earn so little for such hard work in extremely unhospitable weather. The temperatures are freezing and the sun is so strong. They wear balaclava´s and sunglasses to protect their skin from the strong UV reflection from the salt.

Volcanic Rocks

The second day of the tour was spent traveling further into the Bolivian countryside. Our first stop was a field of rocks known as the Salvador Dali rocks, so named for obvious reasons. Our second stop was more strange rock formations, these were weathered volcanic rocks shaped from the wind and rain. Most of the rest of day was spent travelling closer to the Salar de Uyuni and admiring the landscape along the way. By dusk we had reached our destination - the Hotel de Sal at the edge of the salt lake. This was a hotel completely made from blocks of salt. Quite incredible, even the floor was covered in rock salt! We watched the sun go down with a beer and gazed in awe at the vast white space in front us which we were going to explore the following day.