Roadtrip Peru, Bolivia & Chili - Part 4
Uyuni - Monday 11-09-2023
We arrive in Uyuni around 7.30 am. We stop at the Todo Turismo office where we get delicious hot coffee and tea. Lara soon gets a call from Pedrito. With Pedrito, Lara has arranged the trip across the salt lakes to San Pedro de Atacama. We are picked up by Pedrito and in his little office we are given an explanation of our three-day trip. After exchanging the necessary information, we are dropped off at our hotel Kachi de Uyuni.
A beautiful hotel built from salt blocks. We are also given a beautiful room. As desolate as it is outside, our room is so cosy and convivial. We enjoy a nice hot shower and all the peace and quietness. In the afternoon we walk to the centre of Uyuni for some shopping and a bite to eat and a drink. Since last night, I stopped taking my altitude sickness medication. Alcohol and this medication don't mix well so now a beer is a pleasure.
Uyuni and area
Uyuni was founded in 1890 as a trading post and has a population of 29,672 (according to the 2012 official census). It lies at an elevation of 3,700 meters above sea level, with more mountainous terrain to the east. The city is an important transport hub, hosting a major railway junction where four lines converge: from La Paz (via Oruro), Calama (Chile), Potosí, and Villazón (Argentina border). Uyuni is also connected by road to Oruro - La Paz, Sucre, Villazón, and Ollagüe (Chile).
One of the major attractions in the area is the antique train cemetery, located about 3 km outside Uyuni. Connected to the city by old train tracks, this cemetery was once a distribution hub for trains carrying minerals to Pacific Ocean ports. The train lines were constructed by British engineers in the late 19th century, forming a sizable community in Uyuni.
These engineers were invited by the British-sponsored Antofagasta and Bolivia Railway Companies. The rail construction began in 1888 and concluded in 1892. Despite encouragement from then-Bolivian President Aniceto Arce, who believed Bolivia would flourish with a good transport system, the project faced constant sabotage by local indigenous people who saw it as an intrusion into their lives. The trains were primarily used by mining companies. However, in the 1940s, the mining industry collapsed, partly due to mineral depletion.
The Salar de Uyuni, also known as Salar de Tunupa, is the world’s largest salt flat, covering over 10,000 square kilometers. It lies in the Daniel Campos Province in Potosí, southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes at an elevation of 3,656 meters above sea level.
Train cemetery Artesanias - Tuesday 12-09-2023
Today we started slowly with a delicious breakfast. At half past ten, Louis Mario will pick us up and we will leave for the train cemetery Artesanias de Colchani just outside Uyuni. What a lovely urbex place. We walking around and keep on shooting beautiful pictures. The lines and the bright blue sky!!! Awesome!!!
Hotel de Sal Playa Blanca - Tuesday 12-09-2023
After some hour's we drive towards Salar de Uyuni, the salt flats. This is breathtakingly beautiful!!! What an amazing views and everything is snow white with beautiful patterns!!! After some time, we stop at a kind of springs in the middle of the plain. At this place, water comes bubbling up. An extraordinary phenomenon!!!
We drive on to the first salt hotel/restaurant - Hotel de Sal Playa Blanca - in the world a well-known starting point of the Dakar rally. The first one started here in 2016. In total, this course has been run five times.
We have lunch at this salt hotel, lunch being catered entirely by Mario. A very elaborate lunch made by Mario's wife. Salads, eggs/cheese omelette quinoa.
The hexagonal shapes of the salt flats, which form on the ground and go beyond the horizon, are formed naturally by the water flowing underneath, and the dots or lines that form are their breathing points. Very interesting! This makes the salt flat even more beautiful and unique. They say it was once a great ocean.
Salar de Uyuni
· 12,000 square kilometres
· 36 islands
· The patterns are called “water eyes”! In Portuguese "olhos d'água"!
Salar de Uyuni – Photo-shoot - Isla Incahuasi - Tuesday 12-09-2023
After lunch, we do a photo shoot. Playing a bit with distorted perspective. We had a lot of fun doing this.
After the shoot we drive across the stretched snow-white salt flats to Isla Incahuasi. Isla Incahuasi is a rocky island in the middle of the salt flats is full of huge cactuses. And to think that a cactus grows 1 cm per year. Here are giants as tall as 12 metres.
Isla Incahuasi is an island in the middle of the salt flat. Incas inhabited it.
Imagine how long these cactuses 🌵 have been there.... how many things they have accompanied during the evolution of the world... imposing giants and what a contrast of colours!
Salar de Uyuni – Sunset - Tuesday 12-09-2023
After a beautiful sunset, we drive to Hostel Puerto Chuvica. A salt hotel, cold, colourful, no heaters and a shower with a tiny stream coming out of it. It is -5 degrees so we go to bed without showering.
Once again, you discover what a wealth we live in. Always heating and hot running water. And when the heater has to be turned down a degree, it causes a lot of consternation in our little country!
Today we drove about 150 km. All off-road. We are glad to have Mario as our guide. Without a guide, it becomes a lot of searching and navigating with a very high chance of getting lost.
