Bolivia Jeep Tour: Southwest Circuit and Salar de Uyuni (Day 4)

By
Laura
– March 11, 2011

Are you sick of them yet? This is the final post in a series detailing our recent Bolivian Jeep tour from Tupiza to Uyuni. See day one, day two, day three and some llamas to catch up.

On day three we rose before the sun for the chance to take in the sunrise on the Salar de Uyuni. Even though our guesthouse that night was just adjacent to the salt flat, we really didn’t get a good look at it until we were basically in the middle of it and the sun rose high enough to light up the vast whiteness. Shivering in the pre-dawn cold, we got out of the Jeep to fully absorb the magical moment of the sunrise on the Salar.

jeep salt flat

Once the salt flats were lit with the morning sun, we began to take in our surroundings. Although just this morning we had left the salt hotel with 10 other Jeeps, all we could see was the incredible vast whiteness. I stood on the salar and mentally crossed this item off my bucket list.

sunrise salar de uyuni

Feeling newly energized by the other-worldly scenery, Roberto and I started running and jumping around like children and attempting to take silly photos.

salar de uynui perspective

Next we made our way to the Fish Island, a hill that seemingly just grew right out of the Salar. Apparently, years and years ago when the salt flat was a giant sea, this was a coral reef at the bottom! Now this “island” is covered in cacti and home to a visitor’s center. We hiked to the top then had breakfast and set off to explore the salt flat.

Fish Island Uyuni

After breakfast we set off to the middle of the Salar to take some crazy perspective photos. Since the salt flats are so vast and white it’s difficult to perceive depth in an image, which can result in some fun pictures if done correctly. We were left alone to take photos with our tour companions Lucie and Guadeloupe – I would have liked some help from our guide since we were all inexperienced at lining up these shots. Roberto and I had to rely on the girls to take the fun pictures of us and I wish we could have had help from someone more experienced and interested. But, we still got some fun ones!

crazy perspective photo uyuni

salar de uyuni

salar de uyuni

Here’s a behind the scenes shot of Roberto lining up a crazy photo.

bolivia salt flats

We had a blast on the crazy salt flat!

salar de uyuni

Once we had our fill of photos and jumping, we hopped back in the Jeep to go see a visitor’s center and museum. We didn’t stay there long as they charged for admission AND restrooms, but I liked the flag display out front.

flags on salar de uyuni

Finally around lunchtime we drove to the end of the Salar. This place was like nothing I’ve ever seen before, and the contrast of the vast whiteness with the sky was just stunning!

salar de uyuni

After our final lunch with our tour group, in a touristy pueblo on the edge of the Salar, we made our way to the town on Uyuni. Entering the outskirts we were taken aback by all the garbage everywhere, and we were generally not impressed with the town. Once our Jeep driver deposited us on the sidewalk ending the tour, we set out to leave Uyuni as soon as possible.

Finding that no trains (the preferable option) were departing Uyuni that day, we splurged on probably the most expensive “semi-cama” bus straight to La Paz. We spent the afternoon in the touristy hotel-lined square of Uyuni then set out on the absolute bumpiest 12 hour bus ride of our lives.

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