– After crossing the border to Bolivia…we knew it was going to be quite the 3 day adventure trip. What I didn´t know was it was all going to come to blows at the border crossing.
– US citizens are required to have a visa to enter Bolivia, and I was extra careful to ask many times to make sure I could exit Chile on my US passport and then enter on my Canadian passport (to avoid the $135 visa fee). I was told over and over again I could do this (and I have a few other times in other countries). Unfortunately, when I got to the border of Bolivia, they would not allow me since I didn´t have an exit stamp from Chile in my Canadian passport. I tried everything in my Spanish, got some help from others that spoke both languages fluently, and finally had to accept the fact that if I wanted to continue, I would have to get a visa when I arrived in Uyuni three days later. I was upset…angry…and annoyed, but at that point, there was nothing I could do and I told Colin I will just let it go. No reason to cry over spilled milk and it`s not like I wasn`t going to go over $135 (especially at this stage in my travels) I don`t think he believed me as he made a joke and brought it up to me an hour later (to test me) and I said it sucked, but its over and I`ve moved on. End of story. (I also thought to myself I would try again when I arrived in Uyuni to see if I could use my Canadian passport there, as Colin had to go to the migration office to get his visa)
– So after breakfast, on Monday, March 30th, we were off in our Land cruiser with our driver Richard, who spoke no English and really was just our driver. The good news was, he was a happy Bolivian and a careful driver, and that´s all we wanted. We heard bad stories about bad drivers, drivers drinking alcohol before and during the driving and always yelling “vamos” or lets go. So we were happy with Richard and kept giving him snacks, candy and chatter to keep him happy while he drove.
– The roads were not the best and I would have never wanted to drive myself as there are no roads, no signs and its really all off roading. Glad Richard has made this trip across the Salt Flat over 180 times and knows the way.
– The others in our group were Frank and Emily who live together in Liverpool, England (28 and 29 years old). We also had Greg from Canada and Monica from Italy. Colin and I were thrilled as it was a young and fun group. There was another Land cruiser with our company, and that group was much older, smoked all the time and spoke mostly French, German and some English, we we were happy with our fun group.
We after the border controls, we started our drive and started our three day adventure.
Day 1 – Monday, March 30th:
1. Laguna Blanca (White Lake)- This was a milky white lake with some of the most amazing mountain reflections in the water. There were a few flamingos as well.
2. Laguna Verde (Green Lake) – This was a very blue-green lake. The color came from the high concentration of lead,sulfur, arsenic and calcium carbonates. The colors were just so vivid.
3. Rocas de Dali – This was like a zen rock garden which looked much better from a distance. These rocks were supposedly placed here by the master Salvador Dali himself…but as we got closer, it just looked like a lot of rocks to me. The photos from a far could look like some of the famous clock and rock paintings he did.
4. Termas de Polques – this was a small hot spring pool about 85 degrees Fahrenheit and a nice way to relax for 30 minutes. As we were at such a high altitude, changing from our clothes to our swimsuits and moving around gave a few of us a head rush. Colin had quite a headache for a while, and I think it was from changing, then bending down to tie his shoes and standing up again too quickly. He made sure to make slower movements to avoid the head rushes
5. Sol de Manana Geyser Basin – This is a geothermal project which has a 4,850 meter high geyser (almost 14,000 feet) and all the geysers here had bubbling mud that was 492 degrees hot. We were warmed not to go to close as it could splatter and hit us. The mud was so cool! All around we could smell sulfur and the steam was warm and one pool was a bright orange color from the heavy sulfur concentration. Even the dried mud was fun to look at.
6. Laguna Colorada (Red Lake) – This was a fiery red lake at 4,278 meters above sea level. Just climbing the hill back to the jeep was exhausting. This was one of the largest lakes in the region and is about 60 square km. The deep red color is from the algae and plankton that thrive in the mineral rich water. Yet all around the shoreline, there is bright white foam which is deposits of sodium, magnesium and borax. This lake was the most populous with flamingos and we just walked and walked around it lake to get a better view. Too bad some of the grassy areas close to the lake were really hidden mud pools and I got my sneakers soaking wet and muddy. Oh well, all the the fun of seeing more flamingos up close. I was watching one group of flamingos and then they started to run on the lake (as this is how they start to fly) and I was able to get this take off photo which was really fun. Besides all the pretty pink flamingos, this lake also had baby flamingos that were white and were molting feathers, so that was fun to see the furry babies.
– At this point, it was 6pm and we headed back to our “simple accommodations”. We were warned this meant our group stayed in one dorm room and there was a bathroom, but no showers and no electricity. We were all expecting the worst and were pleased to find a nice place to stay in the middle of no where. Our beds were great, we had 2 flush toilets and thanks to me…we got electricity. One of the drivers was trying to find an ipod charger and no one had one. He was asking in Spanish and I didn´t understand. Finally I asked what he wanted and when I found out, I said I had one. When I gave him the charger, I asked if I could also charge my camera battery…and they said I could and then offered the remaining electronic plugs to our groups to use for 1 hour when they turned the generator on. Glad I´m always prepared with gadgets and it paid off for our group!
-We heard this simple accommodation was also in one of the coldest places and we needed a warm sleeping bag. Too bad Colin and I didn´t have this. We asked nicely and got extra blankets and I dressed in all my Antarctica clothing that I still had with me. Silly, but thermals, turtlenecks, sweaters, wool socks, and a wool hat and I was more than warm all night.
Day 2 – Tuesday, March 31st
– We returned to the red lake to see the furthest part of it and as we drove up, we saw wild lama feeding close to the edge with the Flamingos. So everyone was feeding, drinking and our group was just watching. It was quite a contrast from the furry alpaca and sleek flamingos.
7. Arbol de Piedra (Stone Tree) – This was a patch of huge rocks in the middle of no where and one is quite famous as it looks like a stone tree. Just as we arrived, so stupid tourist was trying to climb the rock tree, and all of us in our group were angry as that is how these treasures break. Finally his driver came running over and yelled at him so he stopped and we were able to enjoy the location. After this, we had to run around and climb the other larger rocks (that you are allowed to climb). Amazing views and different rocks to play with. I even tried (and succeed) to climb through a little crevice between two large rocks. Colin said there was no way I could fit (which of course made me want to climb through it even more). Who knew that climbing all over rocks would be so fun (and at this high altitude…so tiring). We were happy to get back in the jeep to rest from all the exercise.
8. Four Lagoons – Next stops were four similar lagoons with reflective pools, flamingos and beautiful shores to walk around. We stopped for lunch at one of them, and as Richard was preparing our lunch, we just sat by the lagoon and watched these three flamingos drag their beaks all over the water looking for plankton. They would just drag back and forth scooping up water and filtering the food. It was like flamingo TV for us. At this location, there were many signs saying not find a “friendly bush/rock” to go to the bathroom. I started laughing when I saw the printed sign of the man peeing with a line through it. Silly but made me chuckle.
9. Much needed Valley for a walk – At this point, we drove for a long time…on really bumpy road and dusty roads and it was really time for a walk to stretch the legs out. As we were all dying…Richard stops to let us walk in a valley while he continues driving the roads. He said to just walk down the hill and we would find him. Sounds easy enough so we walked through dry desert, with some green and yellow vegetation and even saw a chinchilla perched high up and hopping around rocks. It was a beautiful valley.
– At this point, we had a long drive to reach our Salt Hotel for the night. We passed many tiny homes made from stone, farmers harvesting quinoa (which came from the hot pink flowers I have a photo of) and even a few old leathery looking women that were tending to their lamas.
10. Salt Hotel – I was looking forward to staying in a salt hotel as we were told it was made almost all from salt. There are some bad salt hotels on the Salt Flat (that do not manage waste), so we made sure the one we stayed in was a proper hotel and it was. The hotel was great as the walls were all salt, the bed frame was salt (with a mattress on top), the dining tables and stools were salt and even the bar was salt. I had to make sure it was really salt, so I licked the outside of the building (which Colin thought was so gross), but with the high concentration of salt, any bad stuff would die. Plus, I am tall, so I licked a part that I doubt others have.
– Colin and I tried to walk and find the Salt Museum that we were told was only 150 meters away but couldn`t find it. We were lucky to see hillside after hillside of cactus so that was fun.
Day 3 – Wednesday, April 1st (April Fools Day)
-I was so excited to see the great Salt Flats in Bolivia as it is the largest in the world (Salt Lake is the second and San Pedro de Atacama in Chile is third). Funny as I´ve been to all three now. Anyways, I have seen photos of this never ending white salt flat that is smooth and amazing. I just had to see it. So finally…it´s my time!
11. Wake up call at 5:30 am…why…to see the sunrise over the World´s Largest Salt Flat! It was pitch dark, but we were up and again dressed in warm layers to go see the sun rise. We arrived and waited about 30 minutes and it was worth every minute. This may have been Colin´s first sunrise in nature, and it ended up being magnificent! The contrast of the white salt flat, nothing around us and the sun rising with a few clouds was so picturesque. We even had some fun with our shadows as our legs looked so long in the photos and I found a way to jump over the sun…well almost. With this high altitude…jumping was tough but I got almost over in in my photo.
12. Isla Incahuasi/Isla del Pescado – We stopped at this large island in the middle of the Salt Flat and there was nothing else around. As we started to walk up, all we saw was cactus of all different shapes and sizes. Then we started to hike around the island and really understand how large the salt flat was as everywhere we looked, it was just salt. We later learned this island, used to be living coral in the salt lake (as the entire salt flat used to be a salt lake before it all evaporated). So what is left on this island is a rough, dead coral rock with many cactus growing on it. The oldest living cactus is 900 years old and is 9 meters tall (about 27 feet). There was another cactus that was 1200 years old, but it died in 2007 and the and we could see what was left of it. Sad little cactus 🙁
13. Fun photos – After hiking around this island, we got to stop in the middle of the Salt Flat and play with photos. There is something about being in the middle of no where, with just salt all around us. We played a little with scope and scale and I even got to lean on my Bolivian beer and it held me up. Crazy how that works!
14. Illegal Salt Hotel – We stopped at the one hotel that is illegally on the Salt Flat. I didn´t want to take any photos or support them in any way as they are ruining the salt flat. I actually thought the Salt Hotel we stayed at right outside the Salt Flat was way better. But it was a stop on our tour.
15. Salt Farming – Very close to the edge of the Salt Flat, farmers were farming salt. I didn´t k now what this was, but they essentially use a pick axe to scrape salt from the ground, then shape it into a cone to dry and then shovel it into a truck to take elsewhere to process. So all around us were cones of salt and it was so hot…it wasn´t a job I wanted to do. We took a few photos on the remaining circles where cones of salt used to be.
16. Lunch in a small town – We stopped in a little small town and got to shop around for handicrafts. I hadn´t bought anything yet, but since my gloves never made it back from the laundry (sad day as I know I washed them after the Geysers in San Pedro), I decided to buy an alpaca pair for 15 Bolivianos ($2.50). So warm hands and supporting little old ladies that knit all day. These even had removable fingers in the mittens (very useful to take photos without removing the whole mitten).
17. Train Cemetery in Uyuni – The last stop was the train cemetery in Uyuni. This is the end of the line for trains and was sort of like a graveyard. Lots of old rusty trains, one with spray paint reading in need of a mechanic, but good mechanic couldn´t save that train.
That ended our tour…but our fun group decided to meet up for drinks and dinner in Uyuni that night. Emily and i choose the only pub in town, from our guide books. Too bad when we met there at 8pm, it was out of business. Colin and I waited for all to show and and directed to another place for one last fun night.
Bolivian Migration and Visa Issues
-When we arrived in Uyuni, we had to get our passports from our driver who held them all three days. He gave them to his tour boss in Uyuni and said we must go to Migration with him now…but it was closed. So he took our passports, put them under a stuff dog in the tour office and said to come back at 3:30 and we would go to migration together. I was NOT going to leave my passport in Bolivia under a stuff dog. No way! He saw I was upset with this and he finally gave me our passports and told us to come back our there would be big problems for us (which I knew) and we came back.
– I was going to try to show my Canadian passport again. After some discussion, I didn´t think it would happen and I showed the migration officer my US passport and said I could use this, but wanted to use Canada…and in the end, I was able to use Canada. All I had to do was pay for an entry stamp as a duel passport holder and this fee was $40 vs the $135 Visa fee that Colin had to pay. So in the end, I feel like I won and was happy to pay something, just not the whole visa amount. So I´m back to being an Canadian for a while longer. There was actually a sign in the migration office that spoke to this, so I´m legally a Canadian in this country.
– The city of Uyuni turned out to be so small, with so little to do, and our biggest challenge was getting money. There was no ATM, and most places wouldn´t accept the cash we had as there were microscopic tears in the bills. I had to sort out the cleanest bills possible to make it happen. Finally, we were able to exchange money to purchase train tickets out of there and food.